Where Hashina stood was a narrow alley, dark and empty.No streetlight, no footsteps, no trace of a passerby.
As if this place had been cut away from the flow of the city.
On both sides stood rows of old rental buildings, walls peeled and paint stained. Rusted metal doors trembled softly every time the wind passed. The ground was uneven, covered with gravel and scattered puddles reflecting a faint, shaky glow from the mouth of the alley — as if that weak, fragile light was trying to mirror the sorrow of the world itself.
The air smelled of dampness and garbage.
Hashina stood there, looking up at the sky — where all light had been swallowed by darkness.
If one could pin stars onto dreams and ambitions, then their glow now would surely be fading — swallowed by a brutal reality where forgotten hopes die quietly, unnoticed by anyone.
He stared into that void — deep, cold, like staring into a reflection of himself inside the night.
There was a time when he was a strong bird flying high across a vast sky.But now, that bird could only watch the trails of its past flight — watching its wings rot away with time.
The wind drifted past, carrying dust and silence.
And he… he still stood there, like someone lost between memory and reality.
After a while, he walked deeper into the alley and pulled a wrinkled paper from his pocket.
"Meet me at this address. Next week."
This was the place.
Hashina stood in front of an old toy shop.
There was a large display window, walls cracked and stained, the paint peeling. The glass door sat still in the broken wall, like a silent witness of time. Scratches crossed over each other on its surface — traces of countless hands that once pushed it open, then left without a sound.
He could still see the sign hanging there, though dust covered it thick:
Come here and have fun.
Hashina pushed the door open. Inside was pitch black, with only a flickering ceiling light shining down.
Around him were dusty empty shelves, dirty stains, and puddles on the floor — as if this place had been abandoned for years.
Yet… Hashina felt as if he had been here before.
A dark room.
Silence.
No people.
Only a fragile light from above.
Not yet.
That voice still lived in the pages of his memory.
A nightmare he never wanted to revisit — familiar, yet chilling in a way he could not describe.
Ting... Ting...
Suddenly, from the corner of the room, light began to grow.
Hashina instantly recognized it — an elevator, hidden behind the shelves.
Someone stepped out. He squinted, trying to see.
Footsteps echoed as the person approached — heavy, hollow, falling into the silence like stones into a bottomless pit.
Under the flickering light, the face became clear.
Not a stranger.
"Hello, Hashina. Long time no see."
Under the blinking ceiling light, Hashina could see Saito clearly — dressed in a black suit and a blue tie, looking more like someone arriving for a business deal than someone offering a job.
That outfit shone with an odd elegance in this ruined, forgotten place — like a bright spot thrown into a colorless world.
"Come with me," Saito said, voice calm and cold. "We have somewhere to go."
Hashina walked past the empty shelves and the wet floor. Every step made a wet, sticky sound, echoing tight and suffocating in the silence.
When he stopped in front of the elevator, he froze.
It was plated in gold.
Impossible — in a place like this, decayed and forgotten, something so luxurious existed.
It looked like a lone star in a dead sky; shining, out of place, and painfully alone. A final spark trying to cut through darkness — only to show how endless the darkness was.
"This elevator was made for this purpose," Saito said quietly, as if he had seen this surprise many times. "People outside can't see it."
The elevator door closed slowly, with a long creak like the dying breath of the darkness outside. Cold golden light wrapped around them, distorting Hashina's reflection.
Saito stood silent beside him.
In that tight space, countless questions spun inside Hashina's mind.
What kind of work was this?
Why so secret?
And why him — someone who had long lost his light?
Doubt tightened around him like a noose. But mixed inside it was something else — a faint feeling, as if he was standing before a turning point he could not escape.
Maybe… this was a chance to stand again.Or maybe it was the final path leading him down.
Ding.
The elevator shook. Numbers dropped one by one on the display — like a countdown to something he could not name.
Hashina stared at his reflection in the polished metal.
A tired face. Empty eyes. Hair messy as if he had just crawled out of a dark dream.
He realized — what scared him wasn't what waited below.
It was the fact that he didn't know if he had anything left to lose.
Saito finally spoke, voice calm, like fate had long been written:
"Only those with nothing left dare to look for a way."
Hashina turned to him — wanting to ask something — but his throat was dry, no words came out.
The elevator stopped. The light flickered once, died, then returned — like a soul hesitating between two worlds.
Ding.
The doors slowly opened.