Chapter 1:
Chapter 1
Shinya No Manako
"Yamashita-san, I need the data from Kawaya right now!"
"Yamashita!"
"Yamashita!"
"Yamashita-san!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Yamashita Saeko, age twenty four, single. Ever since she has graduated from a local college, she has been working for what some would call a black company. It has been almost two years, and she was working every single day without a single day off. She takes a thirty minutes' break each for lunch and dinner, and that's it.
As Saeko is tackling the mountain load of documents handed to her by her manager Asakura, another pile is added on top of it. Now the pile is even taller than her.
Saeko stares at the pile in despair.
"Um, Asakura-san?" she begins in a rare attempt to ask for mercy.
"What?"
"Is it possible to, well, cut down on my load?"
"Of course not! Do you know how much work has been piled up while you were gone? Just be glad that I even approved the unpaid leave! Seriously, one week? Who even..."
The rest of his words are left unheard as Saeko is deep in thought. Try as she might; she could never recall the reason she took the leave. Heck, she doesn't even remember that she took one. She does vaguely remember that she handed the Leave Approval Form with trembling hands; her head bowed as low as she could, to the seething Asakura. What on earth was she even-
"Yamashita!"
That yell brought her back to reality.
"Y-Y-Y-Yes?"
"Your hands aren't moving! Do you want to go home or not?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then get to work!"
"Yes!"
Miraculously, she actually finished them all. It's now 5:27 in the morning, but still. Saeko stretches her body and looks around. Once again, she is the last one to leave. Ah well, such is the life of a wage slave.
At least that never appears around this time.
She turns off her computer, gets up from her seat and promptly leaves the office. She then heads to the nearby train station, which thankfully has already operated. Even better, her apartment is only two stations away. In other words, she has more time to take a quick shower, have some breakfast and most importantly, have some shut-eye. The only downside is that her apartment is a twenty minutes' walk from the station.
Before hitting the showers, Saeko stops by the sink so that she could brush her teeth. She looks at her reflection at the tiny mirror placed right above the sink. What she saw made her pause.
"Wow, that's a face even a mother won't love...." Saeko mutters.
Her skin is dry and full of wrinkles, and there are heavy layers of bags under her eyes. Pretty ironic, considering that Saeko used to spent hours in order to apply makeup on her face back in her student days. And there's also her eyes.
They're soulless and completely devoid of life.
Sure, they're also dry and red, but Saeko noticed the lack of light first. As she continues to stare at her reflection, her right hand reaches for her toothbrush she placed inside the cup she put on top of the sink-
-And grasped empty air instead.
Saeko looks towards the cup and blinks. No toothbrush is found there. She leans slightly backwards so that she could take a better look at the small waste bin directly below the cup. Once or twice, she has accidentally tossed her toothbrush inside the bin, and had to wash it thoroughly afterwards. This time, however, was not the case.
...Strange. She could've sworn that the toothbrush was still there after she used it before she left for work this morning.
Saeko shrugs. She has probably threw it away with the rest of the content inside the bin as she was heading outside.
...Wait. Did she even take out the trash this morning? The half-filled bin full of tissues seemed to suggest otherwise.
She shakes her head. It doesn't matter anymore. That said, she has to buy a new one during her lunch break or something.
And so, Saeko begins her shower without having her teeth cleaned. The freezing water from the shower head encouraged her to make it quick. She could, of course, use the hot water to revitalize herself. However, she wouldn't want to weep at the sight of her gas bill when it arrives next month.
Once done, she turns off the shower head and grabs a dry towel. A few quick rubs on her hair and body were all it took for her to become dry. With that out of the way, she could finally go to her bed.
After she changed into her loungewear, of course. It's not only for decency's sake, but also to prevent herself from catching a cold.
She goes to her cabinet and grabs a random T-shirt and a pair of shorts. While fully clothed, she dives head first towards her bed. Finally, finally she could get a brief rest. Bit by slowly bit, she closes her eyes...
And opens them so quickly her eyeballs were close to bulging out. She crawls out of her bed and runs to the spot where she left her work uniform. Then, she begins her search for her phone.
"Where is it...... Where is it...... Oh, there you are..."
She fishes out the device she was looking for successfully. She taps the screen a few times. There. Now the alarm is turned on and set to go off at 7:15am.Phew, that was close. Saeko shudders as she recalled the last time she forgot to set her alarm. The outcome was so catastrophic she swore never to make the same mistake again.
Now, finally, she could get some well-deserved sleep.
***
Saeko was jolted awake by the sudden cry of her phone alarm. She made sure to get up immediately. Time is of the essence, and sleep inertia is her worst enemy.Like a trained soldier, she strips away her loungewear, takes her work uniforms from her closet and gets changed with quick efficiency. Can't forget her phone. One fluid motion, and it's now inside her skirt pocket. Her breakfast comes next. She marches towards her small refrigerator and takes out a plate from it. On said plate are two pieces of bread spread with peanut butter.
She didn't even bother to sit down. She devours the breads while still standing. Once she's done eating, she takes out two fresh pieces of bread from the bread package and spreads one side with peanut butter before storing them just like how she has been storing the previous batches. Good. Now her future breakfast is secure. She then takes out two rice balls she bought last night and stuffs them inside her pocket. Both of them are meant as her lunch and dinner. With these done, it's time to head out.
She takes two steps before realizing that something is off.
Case in point: the old work uniforms she left on the floor just a few hours ago. She has picked up her skirt so that she could retrieve her phone. Once that was done, she has simply let the skirt to fall to the floor, where it landed on top of her buttoned shirt. Now, both the shirt and the skirt lie side by side.
Saeko decides to take a quick look around her apartment, even if it meant sacrificing a few precious seconds. When she is done with the inspection, she realizes that a few of the things inside has been moved. The alignment of the socks inside her drawer seemed different. The handle of her mug has shifted a few degrees to the left. The spoon she left inside the sink is facing the tap instead of against it. Aside from her work uniforms, it would have been almost impossible to notice-
BRR! BRR! BRR!
The sudden vibration caused by her phone almost made her jump out of her skin. She takes it out fearfully, thinking that it was from Asakura. He probably called her to yell at her for ignoring his L*NE message or something. But no, it was just her alarm in the snooze mode.
...Ah, right. She still has to go to work. Playing detective can wait. Right now, her top priority is reaching her work place.
"I'm heading out!"
***
Even though it's still early, the waiting area is already packed with commuters. Office workers, students, tourists with luggage bags, all of them are waiting patiently for the train to arrive. Saeko scans her surroundings. Thankfully, no one brought their babies along.
Soon, the train arrives at the platform. All the doors open at the same time, and the passengers whose destination is this station come pouring out. Once they stop, the passengers who had been waiting patiently to get on board, including Saeko, begin to do so. There are more passengers lining up in front of her, and for a moment she's rather worried that the train won't have enough space to accommodate her. She was proven wrong when she managed to enter the train with some spaces to spare. Her relief was short-lived, however. More and more passengers enter the train, and they keep on coming. What little breathing space Saeko had was quickly taken away. The train became so packed and cramped Saeko can't even move her arms. Several suffocating seconds later, the doors finally closed on themselves, and the train departs towards the next station.
As the train is moving, Saeko couldn't help but think about the incident of misplaced objects at her apartment. Let's say someone did enter her home. For what reason? She wasn't being robbed, that's for sure. She has no valuable possession to speak of, and what little savings she has is stored safely inside the bank. Besides, her wallet still contains the same amount of money, and she still has her phone.
There's a possibility that her next-door neighbor Souma has entered her apartment by accident. After all, that man always came home while being really drunk. Once or twice, he was hammering on her door with his fists continuously since he mistaken her place with his. After giving it some more thoughts, Saeko dismisses the thought. For starters, he always makes a racket when he's drunk. He would stumble and fall on something, or singing with a tone-deaf voice loudly, or puke out his intestine, or something. There's just no way someone as loud as him could enter her apartment quietly. Even if he could, it still doesn't explain how her belongings were moved without alerting her.
If it's not a robber, and it wasn't her drunk neighbor... then maybe she was sleep-walking. Yeah, that's sound more plausible. It makes absolute sense that she started to sleepwalk from lack of sleep and anxiety. Saeko smiles at herself proudly. The great mystery has finally been solved. She was just being paranoid. The fact that she sleepwalks is still concerning, but that's a problem to be faced another day.
***
Surprisingly, Saeko gets to go back early for once. Maybe it helped that her manager Asakura didn't show up at the office for an entire day. As a result, she could punch out at seventeen minutes to eleven.
She's actually excited. The last train departs at twelve, so she could still catch it if she hurries. In addition, she can get lots of things done using the extra time, such as doing the laundry.
She just has to remember to look at the ground at all times. That's all she has to do. Just do that, and she can avoid from exchanging glances with that.
Okay, let's go.
First, she made sure to stop by at the nearby convenience store to get herself a toothbrush. While's she at it, she might as well buy her lunch and dinner for tomorrow. Nothing complicated, just one salmon rice ball and one egg mayo sandwich. The price of the toothbrush made her wince. She really has to stop losing them.
Saeko is half-running on her way to the train station. It's rather dangerous since she's not looking where she's going at all, but she's fine with it. Eventually, she arrives at her destination. Even at this hour, there are still commuters here and there. And yet, their presence give Saeko zero assurance that she's safe. While she's waiting for the train to arrive at the platform, she takes out her phone to check the time. It shows four minutes to twelve. Any time now.
One minute later, the long-awaited train finally arrives. As a stark contrast to the day, the trains at night barely have any passengers in them. Saeko sits down at one of the many available seats and closes her eyes. She is adamant on keeping them that way until the train stops at her destination. At first, everything was going smoothly. How hard could it be? And then, the train did a sharp turn. It happened so suddenly, so quickly Saeko was startled into opening her eyes.
Ah, drat.
And there they are, as usual. Several hundred feet away, staring right back at her, is a pair of eyes.
"Coming!"
"Yamashita! Where's the document I asked for this morning?"
"Right here!"
"Yamashita! I need this pile of documents settled tonight! You hear me? TONIGHT!"
"Yamashita!"
"Yamashita!"
"Yamashita-san!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Yamashita Saeko, age twenty four, single. Ever since she has graduated from a local college, she has been working for what some would call a black company. It has been almost two years, and she was working every single day without a single day off. She takes a thirty minutes' break each for lunch and dinner, and that's it.
As Saeko is tackling the mountain load of documents handed to her by her manager Asakura, another pile is added on top of it. Now the pile is even taller than her.
Saeko stares at the pile in despair.
"Um, Asakura-san?" she begins in a rare attempt to ask for mercy.
"What?"
"Is it possible to, well, cut down on my load?"
"Of course not! Do you know how much work has been piled up while you were gone? Just be glad that I even approved the unpaid leave! Seriously, one week? Who even..."
The rest of his words are left unheard as Saeko is deep in thought. Try as she might; she could never recall the reason she took the leave. Heck, she doesn't even remember that she took one. She does vaguely remember that she handed the Leave Approval Form with trembling hands; her head bowed as low as she could, to the seething Asakura. What on earth was she even-
"Yamashita!"
That yell brought her back to reality.
"Y-Y-Y-Yes?"
"Your hands aren't moving! Do you want to go home or not?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then get to work!"
"Yes!"
Miraculously, she actually finished them all. It's now 5:27 in the morning, but still. Saeko stretches her body and looks around. Once again, she is the last one to leave. Ah well, such is the life of a wage slave.
At least that never appears around this time.
She turns off her computer, gets up from her seat and promptly leaves the office. She then heads to the nearby train station, which thankfully has already operated. Even better, her apartment is only two stations away. In other words, she has more time to take a quick shower, have some breakfast and most importantly, have some shut-eye. The only downside is that her apartment is a twenty minutes' walk from the station.
Saeko is practically slow-jogging on her way to her apartment. Once she's inside, she turns on the light, strips down her work uniforms and just left them on the floor. She was planning to have them washed tonight anyway, so the crease won't hurt one bit. Every second saved is crucial for her sleep.
Before hitting the showers, Saeko stops by the sink so that she could brush her teeth. She looks at her reflection at the tiny mirror placed right above the sink. What she saw made her pause.
"Wow, that's a face even a mother won't love...." Saeko mutters.
Her skin is dry and full of wrinkles, and there are heavy layers of bags under her eyes. Pretty ironic, considering that Saeko used to spent hours in order to apply makeup on her face back in her student days. And there's also her eyes.
They're soulless and completely devoid of life.
Sure, they're also dry and red, but Saeko noticed the lack of light first. As she continues to stare at her reflection, her right hand reaches for her toothbrush she placed inside the cup she put on top of the sink-
-And grasped empty air instead.
Saeko looks towards the cup and blinks. No toothbrush is found there. She leans slightly backwards so that she could take a better look at the small waste bin directly below the cup. Once or twice, she has accidentally tossed her toothbrush inside the bin, and had to wash it thoroughly afterwards. This time, however, was not the case.
...Strange. She could've sworn that the toothbrush was still there after she used it before she left for work this morning.
Saeko shrugs. She has probably threw it away with the rest of the content inside the bin as she was heading outside.
...Wait. Did she even take out the trash this morning? The half-filled bin full of tissues seemed to suggest otherwise.
She shakes her head. It doesn't matter anymore. That said, she has to buy a new one during her lunch break or something.
And so, Saeko begins her shower without having her teeth cleaned. The freezing water from the shower head encouraged her to make it quick. She could, of course, use the hot water to revitalize herself. However, she wouldn't want to weep at the sight of her gas bill when it arrives next month.
Once done, she turns off the shower head and grabs a dry towel. A few quick rubs on her hair and body were all it took for her to become dry. With that out of the way, she could finally go to her bed.
After she changed into her loungewear, of course. It's not only for decency's sake, but also to prevent herself from catching a cold.
She goes to her cabinet and grabs a random T-shirt and a pair of shorts. While fully clothed, she dives head first towards her bed. Finally, finally she could get a brief rest. Bit by slowly bit, she closes her eyes...
And opens them so quickly her eyeballs were close to bulging out. She crawls out of her bed and runs to the spot where she left her work uniform. Then, she begins her search for her phone.
"Where is it...... Where is it...... Oh, there you are..."
She fishes out the device she was looking for successfully. She taps the screen a few times. There. Now the alarm is turned on and set to go off at 7:15am.Phew, that was close. Saeko shudders as she recalled the last time she forgot to set her alarm. The outcome was so catastrophic she swore never to make the same mistake again.
Now, finally, she could get some well-deserved sleep.
***
Saeko was jolted awake by the sudden cry of her phone alarm. She made sure to get up immediately. Time is of the essence, and sleep inertia is her worst enemy.Like a trained soldier, she strips away her loungewear, takes her work uniforms from her closet and gets changed with quick efficiency. Can't forget her phone. One fluid motion, and it's now inside her skirt pocket. Her breakfast comes next. She marches towards her small refrigerator and takes out a plate from it. On said plate are two pieces of bread spread with peanut butter.
She didn't even bother to sit down. She devours the breads while still standing. Once she's done eating, she takes out two fresh pieces of bread from the bread package and spreads one side with peanut butter before storing them just like how she has been storing the previous batches. Good. Now her future breakfast is secure. She then takes out two rice balls she bought last night and stuffs them inside her pocket. Both of them are meant as her lunch and dinner. With these done, it's time to head out.
She takes two steps before realizing that something is off.
Case in point: the old work uniforms she left on the floor just a few hours ago. She has picked up her skirt so that she could retrieve her phone. Once that was done, she has simply let the skirt to fall to the floor, where it landed on top of her buttoned shirt. Now, both the shirt and the skirt lie side by side.
Saeko decides to take a quick look around her apartment, even if it meant sacrificing a few precious seconds. When she is done with the inspection, she realizes that a few of the things inside has been moved. The alignment of the socks inside her drawer seemed different. The handle of her mug has shifted a few degrees to the left. The spoon she left inside the sink is facing the tap instead of against it. Aside from her work uniforms, it would have been almost impossible to notice-
BRR! BRR! BRR!
The sudden vibration caused by her phone almost made her jump out of her skin. She takes it out fearfully, thinking that it was from Asakura. He probably called her to yell at her for ignoring his L*NE message or something. But no, it was just her alarm in the snooze mode.
...Ah, right. She still has to go to work. Playing detective can wait. Right now, her top priority is reaching her work place.
"I'm heading out!"
***
Even though it's still early, the waiting area is already packed with commuters. Office workers, students, tourists with luggage bags, all of them are waiting patiently for the train to arrive. Saeko scans her surroundings. Thankfully, no one brought their babies along.
Soon, the train arrives at the platform. All the doors open at the same time, and the passengers whose destination is this station come pouring out. Once they stop, the passengers who had been waiting patiently to get on board, including Saeko, begin to do so. There are more passengers lining up in front of her, and for a moment she's rather worried that the train won't have enough space to accommodate her. She was proven wrong when she managed to enter the train with some spaces to spare. Her relief was short-lived, however. More and more passengers enter the train, and they keep on coming. What little breathing space Saeko had was quickly taken away. The train became so packed and cramped Saeko can't even move her arms. Several suffocating seconds later, the doors finally closed on themselves, and the train departs towards the next station.
As the train is moving, Saeko couldn't help but think about the incident of misplaced objects at her apartment. Let's say someone did enter her home. For what reason? She wasn't being robbed, that's for sure. She has no valuable possession to speak of, and what little savings she has is stored safely inside the bank. Besides, her wallet still contains the same amount of money, and she still has her phone.
There's a possibility that her next-door neighbor Souma has entered her apartment by accident. After all, that man always came home while being really drunk. Once or twice, he was hammering on her door with his fists continuously since he mistaken her place with his. After giving it some more thoughts, Saeko dismisses the thought. For starters, he always makes a racket when he's drunk. He would stumble and fall on something, or singing with a tone-deaf voice loudly, or puke out his intestine, or something. There's just no way someone as loud as him could enter her apartment quietly. Even if he could, it still doesn't explain how her belongings were moved without alerting her.
If it's not a robber, and it wasn't her drunk neighbor... then maybe she was sleep-walking. Yeah, that's sound more plausible. It makes absolute sense that she started to sleepwalk from lack of sleep and anxiety. Saeko smiles at herself proudly. The great mystery has finally been solved. She was just being paranoid. The fact that she sleepwalks is still concerning, but that's a problem to be faced another day.
***
Surprisingly, Saeko gets to go back early for once. Maybe it helped that her manager Asakura didn't show up at the office for an entire day. As a result, she could punch out at seventeen minutes to eleven.
She's actually excited. The last train departs at twelve, so she could still catch it if she hurries. In addition, she can get lots of things done using the extra time, such as doing the laundry.
She just has to remember to look at the ground at all times. That's all she has to do. Just do that, and she can avoid from exchanging glances with that.
Okay, let's go.
First, she made sure to stop by at the nearby convenience store to get herself a toothbrush. While's she at it, she might as well buy her lunch and dinner for tomorrow. Nothing complicated, just one salmon rice ball and one egg mayo sandwich. The price of the toothbrush made her wince. She really has to stop losing them.
Saeko is half-running on her way to the train station. It's rather dangerous since she's not looking where she's going at all, but she's fine with it. Eventually, she arrives at her destination. Even at this hour, there are still commuters here and there. And yet, their presence give Saeko zero assurance that she's safe. While she's waiting for the train to arrive at the platform, she takes out her phone to check the time. It shows four minutes to twelve. Any time now.
One minute later, the long-awaited train finally arrives. As a stark contrast to the day, the trains at night barely have any passengers in them. Saeko sits down at one of the many available seats and closes her eyes. She is adamant on keeping them that way until the train stops at her destination. At first, everything was going smoothly. How hard could it be? And then, the train did a sharp turn. It happened so suddenly, so quickly Saeko was startled into opening her eyes.
Ah, drat.
And there they are, as usual. Several hundred feet away, staring right back at her, is a pair of eyes.
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