Who are You?

“This is crazy. How is this possible?! This is my room,” she said, surprised.

“What?! This is your room?!” I asked, completely taken aback. “Is the view from the window exactly the same as it’s always been? It might be that you're locked in another room that just looks like yours.”

She walked over to the window and checked again, even though she had already seen the same view several times today.

“It’s the same view. It couldn’t be anywhere else... this is my room.”

I turned the phone back to the front camera and saw her start to bite her thumb nail while she thought. Then, almost crazily, I let out a laugh. To me, it all seemed like a joke. It had to be a joke.

“Look at the date on your phone, it could be a situation like in that movie... what was the name...?”

“08/03/2025,” she answered the date before I even remembered the movie’s name.

“Yeah... that’s today’s date here too, so it can’t be a trip to the past...” I replied.

“Maybe parallel worlds?” she suggested.

Yeah, she had a good idea, but how could that even be possible? I didn’t know. All I knew was that after realizing she wasn’t physically in the room and was still talking to me from her own, a chill ran down my spine.

So, I left her room.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I'm going to check the other rooms. Maybe I'll find a clue or something that could help us.”

Then, still anxious and holding the knife in my hand, I opened the door to the next room.

“This room looks pretty well-preserved. Here, take a look.” I switched to the rear camera so she could see it more clearly.

“It's my parents’ room,” she said as I showed her around the corners, still standing outside.

So I put the phone in my shirt pocket at chest level so she could see what was happening, then stepped fully into the room. I left the door open and began inspecting the desk to the right of the door.

The first thing I saw was a picture of her mother and father holding little Inertia’s hands, one on each side.

“Your parents... I can try to find something here and call them. Where’s the phone?”

There was no answer.

“Inertia?”

She didn’t respond, so I took the phone to check why. To my dismay and misfortune, the phone had just died.

I tried turning it on several times, but each time it only showed a low battery warning.

“Oh, great! It just couldn’t get any worse!”

It was at that moment I realized just how dangerous the situation really was. Talking to her on the phone while exploring the house had given me a false sense of calm, which was a mistake since I had been alone the entire time.

My priority now was to get out of there. I quickly scanned the room for any clues, but nothing stood out. As I rifled through the desk drawers, I suddenly heard the front door slam shut downstairs.

‘Did someone come in?!’ I went to the window to look outside, and the gate was open. Apparently, someone had gotten in.

At that same moment, I felt a chill run down my spine and my chest tightened. ‘Is this the end of me?’

I quickly shut the door behind me and began dialing the police.

“Shit, I can’t involve anyone.”

I turned off the phone, dragged the desk in front of the door, and sat on the floor with my back pressed against it, gripping the knife tightly with both hands.

A noise came from the stairs leading to the next room, followed by several footsteps approaching the door of the room I was in. Then, silence. Suddenly, something began banging and scratching violently at the door. The impact echoed through my back, and I held on with all the strength I had

The banging stopped, and I heard sniffing under the door followed by a bark. Was it a dog?! ‘Now what do I do?’

I sat on the bed and waited for a few minutes. Then I went to the window, but there was no more movement outside. What if I started shouting for help?

I opened the curtains to let in more light and decided to open the door. If they wanted to kill me, they would have done it already. So, I dragged the desk back to its place and opened the door just a crack.

Indeed, it was a medium-sized black and white dog, emaciated and resembling a Border Collie. It was wearing a collar with a leash attached to its neck. There was also a metal tag displaying its identification and some other writing beneath it.

“What is this?!” I opened the door wider to get a better look.

Looking closer, it seemed like a number, similar to coordinates, was engraved on the dog’s collar. I took the metal tag off the collar and put it in my pants pocket; it could be a clue.

‘Alright, I don’t have time to waste. I need to get out of this house as fast as possible.’ So, I grabbed a random photo from the desk as evidence and left the room.

I hurried down the stairs with the dog following close behind. As I stepped outside, I noticed the backyard was littered with food scraps and scattered feces.

“Yeah... looks like someone abandoned you here,” I said, looking at him.

As suspicious as this situation seemed, it didn’t convince me to just abandon him again. So, without thinking twice, I left the house and took the dog along on the leash. 

At least now I was safe, and somehow with a new phone and a new dog.

After leaving, the first thing I thought of was charging the phone. Thinking about electronics, I immediately thought of Saori. Her family owns an electronics store, so they should have a charger that fits this phone model.

The store was close to my house, so I took the train back home.

When I entered the store, I saw two young women behind the counter, both wearing the same uniform as mine. One had shoulder-length, wavy light brown hair and eyes that matched her hair color, her expression warm and empathetic. The other had shorter, reddish hair, half tied up, and a more distrustful look. Clearly, they were Saori and Eri, respectively.

But what were they doing there? Had it gotten that late?

As I entered, Saori smiled, waved, and greeted me. Eri did the opposite, wiped the smile off her face, looked away, and went back into the warehouse.

The store was small because they had adapted the garage space to serve as the shop, but it was large enough to display the main merchandise. A corridor lined with item displays led to the payment counter at the back. Behind it, a noren curtain hung over a doorway.

“Rei! You missed class today... I was starting to get worried,” Saori said.

“It’s fine, I ended up running late. Did class end early today?” I asked.

“Yes, we were dismissed early. Yesterday you—”

Before she could finish her sentence, I showed her the new phone and asked what I needed. "Do you have a charger for this phone’s brand and model?" I asked, interrupting her, I already knew what she was about to say.

I noticed she caught on to my intention to cut the conversation short by the startled look in her eyes, but she still fulfilled my request.

“...Let me check... yes, we do.”

She seemed disappointed, but what could I do?

***

On the other hand, my phone still had half a battery. When Rei’s phone died, I had no options left and decided to wait for him to come back.

I put the phone in my pocket and started checking the objects in the room. Everything was very identical, it didn't feel like a replica of my room, it was the same room.

Suddenly, a bluish light flashed through the keyhole of the door like a quick flash, then disappeared. I quickly went to the keyhole to see what it was.

“What?!”

Through the keyhole, I saw the silhouette of a girl who seemed to have her eyes closed. I stood up, placed my hand on the doorknob, turned it, and pulled the door open. Right in front of me, only a few feet away, a girl was asleep in her bed.

It felt like I was right above her, directly overhead. Her long black hair contrasted sharply with her pale skin. She had a well-toned figure and appeared to be of Asian descent.

“Hey, who are you?” I asked her.

The girl didn’t seem to hear me, so I held the edge of the door with my left hand and reached out to her with my other hand. Suddenly, I was pulled by an extremely strong force and fell on top of her and the bed she was lying on. I believe it was the force of gravity.

The door to my room was apparently connected to the underside of the top bunk where the girl lay, almost like a portal.

She reacted to my fall by pushing me against the wall to her left and pressing a taser gun to the side of my neck.

“What the...?! The taser isn’t working?” she said, continuing to press it against my neck.

“I'm sorry, I won’t hurt you! I won’t hurt you!” I repeated, raising my hands to show I was defenseless. If that thing actually works… I’m toast. I really don’t want to be electrocuted.

The unidentified young woman seemed to sense something unusual when she touched me and stood frozen for a few seconds, her left hand resting on my shoulder.

“How is this possible... a human?” she said in astonishment, looking at me.

“What?! Of course I am! What kind of nonsense question is that? Who are you?!”

End of Report 02.