The Black Thing
It all began on December 25, 2000, sometime after noon on Christmas Day.
On my way home from my part-time job at a convenience store, I walked past the giant screen outside Alta, where a popular daytime television program was playing. As I watched a weary-looking Santa Claus advertising Christmas cakes, I glanced up at the winter sky. A light snowfall drifted down through the cold air.
Happy couples passed by hand in hand.
Families walked together, smiling.
Then my cellphone rang.
I pulled the recently purchased phone from the pocket of my coat and looked at the tiny screen.
It was my mother.
She lived alone in Shizuoka.
Probably another pointless conversation, I thought as I answered.
The moment I picked up, she began speaking in a frantic voice, but before I could understand what she was trying to say, the signal suddenly cut out.
At that exact moment, the cheerful television host wearing sunglasses disappeared from the giant screen.
In his place stood a news anchor in a dark business suit.
"We interrupt our regular programming with breaking news. The United States government has declared a national emergency. Military bases across the world have entered a state of maximum alert."
Even from the screen, it was obvious the anchor was struggling to remain composed.
The festive Christmas atmosphere vanished in an instant.
Expressions of fear spread across the faces of everyone watching.
I stood frozen, staring at the screen, unable to understand what was happening.
The anchor announced that an emergency government press conference was about to begin.
The image switched to Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary.
He looked down at the papers before him.
His voice remained calm.
Too calm.
In his usual measured tone, he declared a nationwide State of Emergency.
Is this... war?
That was the first thought that crossed my mind.
Then the screen changed again.
It showed Mount Fuji.
The footage had been filmed from a television helicopter flying above the mountain and the Aokigahara Forest.
But it was not the Mount Fuji I knew.
Only days earlier, the mountain had received its first snowfall of the season.
Now its beauty had vanished.
From the dense forest at its base all the way to the summit, everything had turned black.
The darkness seemed to ripple.
It looked alive.
The crowd around me reacted immediately.
Fathers scooped up their children and ran.
Mothers pushed strollers as fast as they could.
Couples fled together, hands tightly clasped.
Only then did I remember my mother's interrupted phone call.
She lived at the foot of Mount Fuji.
After my father died, she had raised me alone and worked tirelessly to send me to college.
Without thinking, I started running toward the train station.
I had to get to my mother.
Police officers had already been deployed throughout the city.
Vehicles belonging to the Self-Defense Forces lined the streets.
Many others shared the same idea.
The roads leading to the station quickly became clogged with people.
Before long, the streets outside the station overflowed with panicked crowds.
People screamed.
People shouted.
Desperate to reach Shizuoka, I turned toward the taxi stand.
It was hopeless.
Hundreds of people were already there.
The roadway itself had become a sea of desperate humanity.
Police officers shouted through loudspeakers, urging everyone to remain calm.
Nearby members of the Self-Defense Forces repeated the same pleas.
But panic is not something that disappears simply because someone tells people to stay calm.
I have to reach Shizuoka.
There was only one thing left to do.
Run.
Even though I knew it was impossible to run all the way there.
I sprinted down the middle of the road, weaving between abandoned cars.
Vehicles crashed into one another beside me.
Still I kept running.
Then...
Something strange happened.
The screams.
The shouting.
The chaos.
Everything suddenly disappeared.
I stopped.
Slowly...
I turned around.
And I saw it.
Between the skyscrapers of Shinjuku, something black poured through the streets like an overwhelming flood, swallowing everything in its path.
"What... is that?"
My thoughts came to a complete stop.
Buildings disappeared.
Cars vanished.
People were consumed without leaving a trace.
Then, in an instant, it reached me.
Only then did I see it clearly.
The black mass was covered with countless eyes.
It was...
Alive.
The Black Thing — End