First Death
White. Everywhere, pure white.
Only moments ago she had been standing in an ordinary station the dull grey of weathered stone. Now, turning to look around her, she found every surface from floor to ceiling sheathed in white tile.
"Ugh……."
The instant she tried to sit up, a splitting headache crashed over her.
Where am I? And what was that voice just now? I just want to go home……
Did I get kidnapped? Did I stumble into some urban legend? Or maybe I fell into the fourth dimension…… no, that can't be it.
She forced her clogged mind to turn over the situation, but it yielded nothing useful. Of course it didn't—none of this made any sense. Then again, by that logic she was already neck-deep in something that made no sense at all.
As she spun out one ridiculous theory after another, the headache slowly began to ebb.
Fine. Better to move than sit here knowing nothing. First priority: get out of this bizarrely clean white place.
That single thought was enough to set her walking. The heels she had worn here were terrible for it, and every step clicked sharply against the tile—a sound that only fed her unease.
An empty corridor. Not a smudge, not even a footprint marred the tiles as she followed them, and not so much as an ant stirred in the stillness. Only the sound of her own footsteps filled the hollow passage.
Walking under a creeping sense of wrongness, eyes fixed on the yellow tactile paving strips underfoot, she eventually found herself before the ticket gates and an information booth.
Ah! Right—find a person. Check the information booth first. Then the station office. There has to be at least one someone here!
The thought of finally escaping this bone-chilling place sent a rush of excitement through her, and before she knew it she was running hard enough that her skirt fluttered around her legs, skidding to a stop in front of the booth.
Her nerves must have been wound tighter than she realized in this unfamiliar place, because the moment she saw a human silhouette through the glass panel—the one with the little speaking holes drilled through it—a sigh of pure relief slipped out of her unbidden.
"Haa…… thank god. Excuse me~"
"……."
The person on the other side gave no answer.
Did I speak too quietly because I was out of breath? I don't think it was that soft, though.
"Excuse me!"
She sucked in a sharp breath, rapped on the glass, and called out loudly—and only then did the station attendant lift their head and start toward her.
Thank goodness. They just didn't hear me!
She was still choosing her words, thinking she ought to speak louder than usual, when—
—THUD!
"Kyaaaaaaah!!!"
A scream tore out of her and she toppled backward.
She tried to get up, but her legs shook so violently she couldn't rise at all.
N-no. What was I supposed to do when that attendant came lunging at me with its mouth stretched wide open!
Through the glass, already beginning to spiderweb with cracks, she could see viscous drool, rows of pointed teeth, and a massive tongue. And a maw vast enough to swallow someone her size in a single bite……
—THUD!
It charged again. The glass fractured further, on the verge of giving way entirely.
What is that thing? Grossgrossgross! I-I have to run. Now……
But her legs, drained of all strength by her first encounter with an unknown creature, showed no sign of obeying. She shoved herself backward across the floor on trembling hands and feet, crawling away.
Of course, at that speed she stood no chance of escaping it.
—CRASH!
W-what is that……?
The thing that clambered out of the booth and cast about its surroundings had a human body crowned with the enormous face of a fish. A grotesque hybrid.
Veins bulging here and there. Eyes bloodshot to the point of bursting. And a mouth split open sideways in a hideous gash. If you took the word "mermaid" and twisted it into something nightmarish, this was what you would get.
The moment she locked eyes with it, every cell in her body seemed to scream. A tinnitus roared in her ears as if they might rupture.
"I-I'm sorry. Hic. P-please, spare……."
That was all she could manage.
The terror flooding every inch of her had swollen into something like awe. Her limbs, having already surrendered, hung limp and still.
Slowly, the creature approached, its jaws yawning wider and wider.
Rows of dense, saw-like fangs gleamed with a dreadful light, as if welcoming her in.
"Ah, aah……."
No more words would come.
Her mind blanked pure white. Her vision flashed and stuttered. Pain stabbed through both temples. All she could do was stare at the vast mouth descending upon her and weep.
—CRUNCH.
And then the world went dark.
Dark.
That was the first thought that came after dying.
So there really is no afterlife.
I lived pretty hard, didn't I…… and it ends with me getting eaten by a fish-man? In some weird place nobody will ever know about?
If I'd known, I would've seen my friends one more time.
If I'd known I was going to die today, I would've gone on a blind date, crashed a club like a maniac, actually dated someone…… ditched the company and gone traveling.
Is this what all that grinding study and backbreaking work was for? To end up alone in a world of nothing but black and white, a brain in a jar?
No. It's too unfair. Way too unfair……
But there was no one to hear her complaints—and the knowledge that no one would even know she was dead squeezed a tear from her eye.
A tiny droplet traced a path down her cheek.
Huh?
A tear?
"……Haha."
She reached up, wiped it away, and let out a hollow laugh.
It was a dream. Crying over a nightmare at my age…… how pathetic.
Even as she wore that self-deprecating smile, another part of her was so relieved she found herself grinning for real.
Still. For a dream, that was insanely vivid. Almost sleep-paralysis level.
The whole thing left a bad taste, so I should eat something sweet before work. What sounds good? A smoothie? A frappé? Cake?
Screw it. I'm grabbing everything in sight. I need at least that much to shake this feeling.
And then she opened her eyes onto an entirely white corridor.
"Huh?"
The dazed sound slipped out on its own.
A hallway tiled white from ceiling to floor. Yellow tactile paving running down its center. She was sprawled in the exact same position as before, staring around with a blank, bewildered face.
It…… wasn't a dream?
She hurriedly hiked up her clothes and checked herself for injuries. Chest, stomach, arms, legs. No matter how hard she looked there wasn't so much as a scratch, let alone a tooth mark—yet the hideous sensation of being chewed whole still clung to every inch of her body, raw and vivid.
Fortunately the pain itself was only a faint ghost of memory. Separate from the terror driven deep into her mind, it didn't actually hurt as much as she expected.
There wasn't even a tear in her clothes. Absurd as it was, she found herself accepting that some kind of time travel had sent her back.
If she hadn't met that monster, she never would have bought it…… but after tasting a fear that overwhelming, she was ready to believe almost anything.
Anyway. It seems like I've been sent back to the moment I first arrived. Which means that monster is still at the information booth, right?
She looked down the path stretching ahead of her and shuddered hard.
But is that the only monster?
……Part of me almost thinks dying would have been easier.
No. I can't think like that. For whatever reason, I've become some kind of unkillable immortal! Sooner or later, I will get out of here!
To shake off the ominous thoughts, she shook her head with deliberately exaggerated vigor and pushed herself to her feet.
So move. If I just sit here forever and run into another monster, then what?
Going that way led to the information booth last time, so this time I'll go the opposite direction and look for an exit.
Before long, mercifully, a ceiling sign glowed yellow amid the white corridor—the only spot of color.
On a normal sign it would have read something like Exits 1–8 straight ahead, Exits 9–10 to the right. This one held nothing but a single arrow pointing forward. Beside it, the same sentence had been translated into three languages.
And of course there was only one path: straight ahead, the way the arrow pointed.
So I don't get a choice anyway. She blew out a heavy sigh and trudged onward.
But the sign fixed to the wall of the L-shaped corner was something else entirely.
Of course. Earlier it said Exit 8, and now the number's changed again.
I never thought this twisted place would just let me walk out!
No. Stay positive.
When I went the other way I died without even a chance to fight back. So that was the wrong path—and going this way means at least that won't happen, right?
She clung to the brightest interpretation she could while her body stayed coiled, ready to bolt at any second, and kept walking.
Thankfully her guess held. The long corridor offered nothing out of the ordinary.
"Whew…… nothing here."
She exhaled in relief and scanned her surroundings with care.
Six posters. Two doors labeled AD and EPS. And a ceiling sign reading Exit 8 with an arrow pointing ahead.
AD? EPS? Not like I'd know what those mean—and I don't have the guts to just open the doors. So she stalled, studying the posters in minute detail, counting stains on the ceiling, anything. Nowhere did she find anything strange.
Do I actually have to open them? They look exactly like the kind of doors a monster would jump out of……
She was still hesitating in front of a grey door when, from some distance down the hall, footsteps began to approach.
Click. Click. Definitely the sound of dress shoes—uncannily like a person's footsteps…… but that monster earlier had human legs too!
In no position to be picky, she slipped inside at once and shut the door with a quiet, quick motion. The metal door was lighter than expected and closed without a sound.
She held her breath in the pitch dark and waited. The clicking footsteps passed in front of her door, continued to the left, and faded away.
"Hoo……."
I'm alive. That was terrifying.
Whether it had been a person or a monster, the simple fact that she had been able to respond at all was a comfort—the memory of being swallowed whole into that wet mouth was still far too fresh. At least nothing like last time had happened.
Having weathered the mystery footsteps, she was about to step back out when—
Grab.
"H-hii……."
Goosebumps exploded across her skin. Something—something stiff and sticky—had coiled around her ankle.