Chapter 10: Nightmare and identity

NOAH

I crouched down, holding Melody in my arms, trying to make sense of the chaos around us. She was trembling, writhing in pain, and I had no idea what was happening.

Then, those things appeared.

Dark, humanoid figures emerged from the other side of the passing bullet train, stepping out of the shadows like living nightmares.

Melody said she’d been living alone.
So who were they?
And what in the world was a Hollow?

"Melody," I asked, my voice low but shaking, "tell me what’s going on. Are these… things friendly?"

Her voice quivered.
"They’re the Hollows and they’re bad news. Please, just run."

"To hell with that."

I lifted her, one arm under her back and the other beneath her legs. Her body leaned weakly against my chest. But as soon as I turned around, there were more of them.

They were closing in, walking in that unnatural, broken motion, like their bones didn’t remember how to move. Each step dragged against the concrete, echoing like dry whispers in a tomb.

I gently set Melody down against the wall, my heart pounding.

My eyes darted around for anything to fight with, nothing. Nothing but my guitar.

I hesitated. Then I gripped it by the neck, turning it upside down, using the body like a bat.

"Come on," I muttered.

I charged straight at the nearest Hollow.

"NOAH, DON’T!!!"

Her voice barely reached me before my guitar connected with its head.

The impact sounded dull, like hitting fog made of glass.

Then a shockwave burst through me.

It wasn’t sound or force, it was something else, something deeper. My nerves screamed. Every muscle seized. My whole body went numb, like my soul had been unplugged.

The guitar slipped from my hand. My knees gave out.

My vision began to collapse into eternal darkness.

And just before everything faded, the last thing I saw—
was the Hollow turning its head toward Melody.
When I opened my eyes, my body jolted upright.
"Melody!" I shouted, my hand reaching forward instinctively—
But the Underground Starline was gone.

The air felt cold.
My breath turned to mist.

I blinked and realized I was lying on the ground, staring up at a sky washed in gray. Snow drifted gently from above, flakes melting against my cheeks.

Slowly, I rose to my feet. My boots sank into the soft snow, and that’s when I noticed the sound of a river nearby, calm, steady, almost too familiar.

When I looked around, my chest tightened.
This place… I knew it.

I was standing in Shirakawa-Mura, a small riverside town in northern Japan, grandpa’s hometown. The same place my mother grew up. The same place they once took me when I was still a kid.

And this was also where…

I froze.

Across the river, through the falling snow, I saw a little girl. She couldn’t have been older than six or seven. Her coat was pure white, and she wore fluffy earmuffs that made her look like a snow sprite.

She was smiling at me.

My throat went dry. My body refused to move.

Then, without a sound, the river began to swell. The gentle current turned wild, churning and foaming.

The girl took a step forward.
Then she jumped.

"ASUKA!!!" I screamed, my voice breaking through the winter air.

The moment she disappeared beneath the water—
The world cracked.

The color drained.
The sound of the river warped into a metallic hum.
The sky shattered into black shards.

I fell to my knees as the snow turned to ash. The air grew thick with whispers, distorted, looping, hollow. Buildings twisted like melting paper, their forms warping into grotesque shadows. The river itself split open, revealing an abyss of writhing shapes beneath the surface.

Pain shot through my skull—
Like nails being driven through bone.

My chest tightened.
Each heartbeat was a hammer strike, echoing louder and louder until I thought it might burst.

I pressed a trembling hand to my heart.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t think.

My body felt like it was tearing itself apart.

And then—
Somewhere through the chaos,
I heard it.
"So sing, little hummingbird, fly,
paint your song across the sky!"

That song…
I’ve heard it before.
But from where?

"Every note a shining tear,
every breath a dream sincere."

Is this… Melody’s voice?

"Even if the world is new,
and all you loved slips out of view…
The dawn will come — because you flew.
The song remembers you."

As the last note faded, a calm washed over me.
The nightmare dissolved, its twisted colors and screaming echoes tearing away like dust in the wind.

Then I felt it—
A cold, gentle hand caressing my face.

I opened my eyes.

Melody was crying. Her tears shimmered softly, almost like stars.

"You’re okay!" she said, voice trembling.
"No— you’re okay!" She suddenly threw her arms around me, holding tight.

I brushed my hand through her hair, still dazed.
"What… what happened?"

She looked down for a moment, then said quietly,
"Those things you saw… they were Hollows. The manifestations of self-harm and pain."

I froze.
"And they’ve been living in the same world as you?"

Melody nodded.
"They used to be only marks, a spot, shadows that tainted certain places. But this… this was the first time they took human form."

I glanced around. The Hollows were gone.
"Did they leave us?"

"No," she whispered. "I defeated them with my song. When I sing, they disappear."

"Sing?" I echoed.

She nodded again, her voice trembling.
"It was a mistake bringing you here, Noah. I’m so sorry for all this."

"What are you talking about?"

"I’m sorry, Noah."

Before I could say another word, she pressed her fingertip against my chest, right over my heart and a sudden light burst from her touch.
Then everything vanished.

I gasped, blinking.
I was lying on cold pavement again.

People were staring down at me, murmuring.

My head spun. The white utopia, the Hollows, Melody… all gone.

Then a voice.

"Noah?"

I turned.

A girl stood there, short magenta hair in soft waves, massive round glasses slipping down her nose, clutching two books to her chest.

"Noah? What are you doing lying on the pavement?"

I opened my mouth, about to say I was sleeping, but something stopped me.

She knew my name.

So I lied.
"Noah? My name’s… Michael. Michael Mercury."

She frowned. "Come on, stop joking around. We have to prepare for the OCSE exam, remember?"

"OCSE exam…?" I muttered.

My pulse quickened.
She was from the medical school, the one my parents sent me to, the one where I refused to enroll and let some random person take my place.

Then a terrifying thought hit me.

Where did Wolfgang’s uncle find someone who looked exactly like me? Someone who copied everything about me, so perfectly that everyone recognizes me, believing I’m him?