Whispers Of the Glass

POV — Natsuki

The shrill sound of my alarm jolted me awake.

I sat up in bed, gasping, my heart pounding. I was in my own room. In my own bed.(...Huh?)

A splitting headache threatened to explode at any moment. Fragments of last night flashed through my mind: the blood-red moon, that twisted smiling face, the uncontrollable laughter… and then nothing but darkness.

I staggered out of bed and headed straight for the window. I yanked the curtains open.Bright sunlight greeted me. The sky was a perfect blue. No red moon in sight.

(Was… all of that really just a nightmare?)A deep sigh of relief escaped me. It had to be. A face projected on the moon? People collapsing while laughing like lunatics? I must have hit my head harder than I thought on the rooftop.

(How ridiculous… Wait, what the hell is this?!)My reflection appeared on the glass. My clothes were completely different—ones I’d never seen before. A dark shirt and pants, and right on the chest… a strange symbol: a purple apple pierced by a vivid red lightning bolt.

I had definitely never bought anything like this.A knock at the front door pulled me out of my thoughts.I sighed and went to open it, staying on guard.It was Mikami.She stood there with a stern, almost threatening expression. And on her jacket… the exact same symbol: purple apple and red lightning.

“Oh, Mikami… what’s up?” I asked, trying to smile.She stared straight into my eyes.“I see you have that symbol on your strange clothes too,” she said simply.This was starting to get seriously creepy.“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”“Uh… sorry.”I stepped aside. She entered without another word and walked straight into the living room. She sat down in seiza on a zabuton, rigid as a statue, without waiting for me to offer.

I sat across from her, feeling uneasy.“What happened last night… the moon, these clothes… it wasn’t a dream, was it?” she asked, clenching her fists on her knees.“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I replied automatically.She narrowed her eyes.“Oh, you know exactly what I mean. You thought it was just a collective nightmare, right?”

I stayed silent. Knowing Mikami, she wasn’t the type to pull childish pranks.“Listen to me carefully, Natsuki… We might not actually be in Japan anymore.”(...What?)She looked completely serious.I wanted to protest, to tell her I’d dedicated my life to logic, not the supernatural. But the words got stuck in my throat.“You don’t believe me, do you?”Before I could answer, she stood up abruptly, her eyes burning with icy certainty.“Follow me. Now.”

We stepped out into the streets of Tokyo. The air felt normal, but an invisible tension hung over everyone. And most importantly… almost every person I saw wore the same purple apple and red lightning symbol on their clothes.

Near a crosswalk, a little boy tugged at his mother’s sleeve.“Mom… I had a weird dream last night. There was a red moon with a face staring at me…”His mother froze, her shopping bag nearly slipping from her fingers. Her silence said everything.Mikami turned to me.“Natsuki, look at the sun. Now shift your gaze slightly to the right. Don’t blink.”I did as she said, squinting against the daylight. And then my heart skipped a beat.A massive crack of light, like a reflection on giant crystal, cut across the blue sky. An enormous, invisible barrier stretched endlessly, trapping the entire city inside a glass-like dome.

“Okay… you win,” I muttered in resignation. “We really are inside a copy of Japan.”She simply nodded, looking satisfied.Suddenly, my phone vibrated. Then Mikami’s. Then every phone around us at the same time.An eerie silence fell over the street.I slowly pulled out my phone.There was only one message. No sender. No app.

“Please proceed to the nearest point.”“Do not resist.”A man next to me frowned.“What kind of spam is this?”But he took a step forward. Then another. As if his legs were no longer under his control. All around us, people began walking in the same direction, their eyes vacant.

“Hey, Mikami… do you know where this ‘point’ is?”She nodded quietly.“Yeah. I think it’s near an old industrial warehouse.”She started following the crowd. I followed too, curiosity overpowering any logical reasoning.(I really hope this is worth it…)The warehouse was enormous and mostly empty inside, easily able to hold thousands. Over a million people seemed to have gathered, murmuring nervously among themselves.I finally spotted Takano a little further away, easy to recognize with his blond hair.Suddenly, smoke appeared out of nowhere. Some people panicked, while others remained strangely calm.A silhouette slowly materialized in the middle of the crowd, causing everyone to step back.

A loud voice, amplified as if through a microphone, echoed through the space:“Hello Everyone~.”“I have observed how you all behave for a long time… and it has piqued my curiosity.”“Today… I would like to see just how far you can go in this game that is about to begin.”