He walked with a steady rhythm, each step carrying a quiet confidence that didn't need to be proven. The late afternoon sun stretched long shadows across the street, brushing everything in a soft golden light.
That's when he saw her.
An old woman, fragile and trembling, standing in front of two young men. Her hands shook as she tried to hold onto them, but they kept pulling away, their faces twisted with irritation.
Arashi slowed down, watching for a moment. Something about the scene felt wrong—too cold, too empty.
He stepped closer. "What happened here?" he asked, his voice calm but firm. "Why are you treating her like this?"
One of them turned sharply, eyes narrowing. "And who are you supposed to be?" he said, his tone dripping with disdain. "Get lost before I break that attitude of yours."
Arashi didn't even look at him.
His gaze shifted to the woman instead. "Are you alright?"
Her lips trembled. Tears welled up slowly, like they had been waiting for someone to notice.
The other son clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Didn't you hear him? Walk away. Or are you looking for trouble?"
For the first time, Arashi looked back at them.
His eyes were quiet… but there was something heavy behind them. Not anger. Not fear. Just a cold, distant indifference that made the air feel tighter.
The silence stretched.
Then, as if losing interest, the sons shoved their mother aside and walked off, muttering under their breath.
The woman nearly fell.
Arashi caught her before she hit the ground.
"What happened?" he asked again, more gently this time.
She took a shaky breath. "My sons… after their father died…" Her voice cracked. "They don't want me anymore. I've become… something they need to get rid of."
Her words hung in the air, fragile and painful.
Arashi lowered his gaze slightly. For a brief moment, something flickered in his expression—something human.
"My situation isn't easy either," he said quietly. "But… this might help."
He reached into his pocket and handed her some money.
The woman stared at it as if it was something unreal, something she didn't deserve to touch. Her fingers hesitated before slowly closing around it.
"Thank you…" she whispered. "Thank you, my son…"
Arashi shook his head lightly. "You don't need to thank me."
He stood up and walked away without looking back.
The shop was warm, filled with the faint scent of dust and old wood. When Arashi entered, the owner greeted him with an easy smile, the kind that came from routine more than emotion.
Arashi nodded and took his place.
Time passed quietly.
Customers came and went, their voices blending into a low, constant murmur. Coins clinked. Doors opened and closed. The world moved, but Arashi felt distant from it, like he was only watching.
He leaned slightly against the counter, scrolling through his phone between transactions, his movements mechanical, almost automatic.
By the end of the day, he exhaled slowly. "Not bad… I got through a lot."
Night had already settled outside, pressing its darkness against the windows.
As he turned to leave, the owner spoke. "Take tomorrow off."
Arashi paused. "Seriously?"
"Yeah."
He gave a faint, almost amused smile. "That's new."
The owner frowned. "You've taken plenty of days off without telling me."
Arashi tilted his head slightly. "Did you pay me for those days?"
"…No."
"Then you just answered your own question."
And just like that, the conversation ended.
The night air hit him the moment he stepped outside—cold, sharp, and biting against his skin.
The streets were alive.
Lights flickered across buildings, cars rushed by in restless streams, and voices filled the air—laughter, arguments, conversations that overlapped into noise.
Joy and sorrow coexisted here, tangled together in ways no one noticed.
Arashi walked through it all, hands in his pockets, eyes unfocused.
Then he stopped.
A crowd.
People gathered in a tight circle, whispering, murmuring, some standing on their toes to see.
Something had happened.
Arashi pushed through, slipping between bodies until he reached the center.
A car.
Twisted metal.
Shattered glass reflecting the city lights like broken stars.
And then—
A face.
His breath caught.
He didn't know it.
He was sure he didn't.
And yet…
Something inside him reacted violently, like a memory trying to tear its way out of nothing.
His vision blurred.
Fragments—images—feelings—things that didn't belong to him—began to surface.
A door.
Standing alone in darkness.
He reached for it without thinking.
And opened it.
A scream tore through him—
But his body didn't move.
In the real world, he stood completely still, frozen in place, his eyes empty.
The scream existed only inside his mind.
White.
An endless, suffocating white.
No sky. No ground. No horizon.
Just nothing.
Arashi stood there, his footsteps echoing even though there was nothing to echo against.
"Is anyone here?" he called out.
His voice came back to him, distorted… wrong.
The silence that followed felt alive.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then—
A figure.
It appeared suddenly, without warning, as if it had always been there and he had only just noticed.
Others stood behind it.
Still. Silent.
Then the figure moved.
Its body twisted unnaturally, bones shifting, skin stretching—until it became something else.
A serpent.
Huge.
Its eyes locked onto him.
And it lunged.
Arashi jumped back, his heart slamming violently against his chest.
Too slow.
The creature rose behind him, its presence swallowing the space around him.
Its jaws opened—
And everything went dark.
He was inside it.
The world shattered.
Cracks spread through reality like broken glass, and everything turned red.
Deep. Violent. Suffocating red.
Shapes moved in the distance.
No—
Not shapes.
Creatures.
They crawled, slithered, watched him with hollow, empty eyes.
The air burned.
Each breath felt like fire tearing through his lungs.
They came closer.
Then they attacked.
Claws. Teeth. Shadows.
Tearing into him.
Piece by piece.
His screams echoed endlessly, swallowed and repeated by the broken world around him.
And then—
Silence.
Everything changed again.
Darkness.
But not empty.
This time, it was vast.
Infinite.
Stars stretched across the void, cold and distant. Planets drifted slowly, massive and silent.
Space.
Arashi floated in it, weightless.
He tried to breathe.
Nothing.
Tried to move.
Nothing.
Even his voice… was gone.
Time stopped.
Then accelerated.
Then twisted into something incomprehensible.
Shapes began to form in the void—massive, undefined, impossible to understand.
And then—
A voice.
Not loud.
Not soft.
But absolute.
"Who allowed you to enter my world?"
In reality—
Only a single second had passed.
People surrounded Arashi, their faces filled with confusion and unease.
"What happened to him?"
"Why isn't he moving?"
"Hey—can you hear me?"
But he stood there…
Like a statue.
Unmoving.
Unaware.
As if something far beyond their world had already taken hold of him.