A sound came from the door
That sound alone was enough to erase every other noise
The metal handle shook, as if someone was testing its strength
Then it stopped
Then came a slow knock…
And with every knock, my heart sank deeper
Miyuko turned toward us
"Genso—quick, the back door, Now"
We didn't wait
We ran through the narrow hallway, dust rising in the air
Riko pushed the back door open and we rushed into the cold alley
Dark steps… a noise… I couldn't tell if it was behind me or inside my head
And then something happened—
Something I wasn't ready for
A vision
Sudden
Like an electric spark hitting my brain
The hospital street
The sun past its peak
A bus approaching the sidewalk
Light reflecting off its front window
An electronic sign above a shop flashing the time:
1
:
6
PM
Then the vision cut—
as if someone pulled me out of it violently
I shouted, "What time is it?!
Riko—quick! What time?!"
Riko looked at his phone, still out of breath
"It's…1:01 "
Genso: "We have five minutes
We need to move. Now!"
We ran through the street
We didn't think
We didn't stop
The wind hit our faces as our feet carried us away from something we couldn't see… and didn't want to see
We turned a corner
Then another
Until we reached the street from my vision
I stopped
My heart nearly exploded
But-
There was no bus
No engine sound
No bright lights
Nothing
I bent down, breath shaking
The vision felt like a lie—
like I was chasing something that didn't exist
Fear slipped into my mind… whispering:
Your visions are lying
You don't see anything
But before the whisper could finish,
a loud engine roared from behind the corner
Light reflected on the ground
I raised my head
The bus
The same one
Stopping in front of us slowly
I didn't think
We jumped inside—
me, then Riko, then Miyuko
The doors closed and the bus moved
For the first time that day,
air filled my chest without pain
Riko sat down, breathing hard
"I swear… it feels like we escaped death today"
But Genso couldn't ignore one thing
I turned my eyes toward Miyuko
She was calm
Too calm
As if nothing surprised her
As if she expected this
I asked in a low voice, "Miyuko…
how can a normal person's name be written in blood…
on the wall of a murder scene?"
Riko looked at her too
"Yeah. Something doesn't match
How is your name involved in all of this?"
Miyuko's face froze for a moment
…then she said:
"The man with the black coat…
he worked with me…
in a private research project… years ago.
And after I left…
I don't know why he's following me"
She was lying
I didn't know how—
but something inside me whispered it
She didn't give enough details
Not about the project
Not about her past
Like she was choosing her words carefully…
leaving the truth in the shadows
Miyuko continued,
"But I know one thing
If he catches us…
no one will live to tell what happened"
After some time,
the bus stopped in a quiet area far from the city center
We got off
The street was calm,
and the air was getting colder
Riko stood in front of us
"I… I'm stopping here
I can't keep going
This is all too much for me
And I… I don't want to end up in something that might kill me"
A long silence
Then I said,
"I respect your decision, Riko"
He tapped my shoulder with a shaky smile
Then he turned… and walked away
Leaving me alone
Just me… and Miyuko
And the city standing before us,
as if it was hiding something enormous behind its curtain
I breathed in deeply—
but the tension I thought had ended…
came back suddenly,
like it was waiting for me right at the door
Another vision
Shorter
And more dangerous
Smoke
An alarm
The man in the black coat presses a button
a building looked like a bank
People running
A distant alarm echoing
The vision ended,
leaving my heart pounding violently
I whispered to myself,
"I can't tell…
if this is a real vision…
or just another possibility"
"But something this dangerous…
I can't ignore it"
"The black coat man , what's your story"
I lifted my head slowly
I felt it clearly—
today wasn't the end of danger
It was only the beginning