It was a normal day for Takeshi Sato—a really normal day. The sun shone brightly as he woke up at 7 a.m. He brushed his teeth, took a bath, and had breakfast, which was just eggs and toast—a typical breakfast. By 8:10, he was ready for the office.
As he went out of his apartment building, he thought about how he had just gotten this new job in Osaka and was starting a new life here. He walked downstairs and met an old lady there.
"Good morning, Granny Lin," he said cheerfully.
"Good morning, Sato. It has been two months since you started working, right?" she said.
"Yes, you are right," he replied.
"Aren't you bored yet? Because every day is the same, except for weekends."
"Well, it sometimes gets boring, but I have to do it, you know."
"Yes, I suppose it is," she said, looking at her watch. "Oh, it's 8:40 a.m. Aren't you late for your train?"
"Yes, you are right. I have to hurry. Bye, Granny Lin," he said hurriedly and took off.
"What an energetic boy," she said as he rushed off towards the station.
Sato hurried towards the station. On the way, he ignored everything around him and almost collided with an electric pole. He ran quite fast because he was in the track club in high school and had really high stamina. He finally reached the station and gasped for some oxygen but he was not yet exhausted and got into the train.The train was crowded, as usual during the morning rush. Sato was exhausted by the time he got inside. The air was stuffy, and he doubted he would even be able to breathe properly in such conditions. Still, the train would reach his stop in ten minutes, and he wouldn't be late.
The train moved forward, and Sato stood for ten minutes before finally reaching the station. This was just his usual routine—wake up, go to the office, come back, and sleep, then repeat the same cycle again. But this time, he felt something was off. He shrugged the feeling away as he got off the train and stepped onto the platform.
He took a deep breath and walked toward the main road. He stopped at the pavement and checked his watch. It was 8:55 a.m. If he hurried now, he would reach his office in five minutes.
He braced his carb muscles, positioned himself, and took a deep breath. Then he took off with a dash toward his office.
He reached his office at exactly 9:00 a.m.—not late at all, perfectly on time. He marked his attendance on the register and took the elevator to his workplace.
But when the elevator reached his floor, the doors did not open.
"Wait, what?" he exclaimed.
"Hey! Is somebody there?" he shouted.
"Can anyone get me out of here?" he asked anxiously.
He waved his hand in front of the surveillance camera, but there was no response. He pressed the elevator phone, but it was dead. Was this a power cut? Or something else?
He slammed his hands against the elevator doors, but still, nothing happened. He reached into his bag for his phone, but it wasn't working either—it had lost all connection. With no way to call for help, he put his phone back and rested his hands on his wrists, waiting.
He waited and waited, but no help came. He checked his watch again. It still read 9:00 a.m. Either the battery was dead… or time itself had stopped moving.
"What the hell is going on with me?" he muttered. "How did I even get stuck here?" he asked himself in frustration.
Then, when he looked up, he noticed something—a possible way to escape. He forced open the elevator hatch and climbed onto the roof of the elevator. When he looked up, the building seemed to stretch endlessly upward, disappearing into infinity. He couldn't go down, so the only way forward… was up.
He sighed, took a deep breath, and began climbing the rope.
After a while, he reached a point where he could no longer see the elevator below him, but he kept climbing anyway—even though the building still looked unnaturally endless. Soon, fatigue began to take over. His mind grew cloudy from stress and exhaustion.
He looked up—and saw his parents. It was clear that he was hallucinating. He breathed heavily and looked down. Below him, he saw his friends, he sighed heavily. He was truly exhausted now and could barely continue. His hands were bruised, and a little blood seeped from his palms.
Then, he heard a voice inside his head.
"Can't you just give up and let go? You'll die instantly if you fall from this height. You won't feel any pain," the voice said.
Sato sighed heavily. His body trembled as he struggled to breathe. He couldn't bring himself to answer the voice.
"Well, I assure you—it will be a painless death," the voice continued. "Or I have another option, if you're scared of heights. You can always climb back down into the elevator and starve yourself to death. I'm sure you have the strength to go back down."
The voice laughed inside his head. Sato was still struggling to breathe. He slowly opened his mouth, trying to say something.
"F…" he barely managed to utter.
"Hm? What did you say?" the voice mocked him.
Sato took a deep breath and finally screamed what he wanted to say.
"Fuck you!" he screamed his lungs out.
The voice burst into laughter, amused by his final act of resistance against the grip of death.
Sato finally released his grip. He let go and fell, still struggling and trembling. His vision flashed white as he plummeted.
"A painless death, huh? Sounds better than starving," he thought as he fell to his death.
"Sato! Sato—wake up! Are you okay?"
Sato slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Kaori's face, along with several of his other colleagues gathered around him. He tilted his head slightly and noticed banners reading 'Best Employee of the Month' hanging around the office.
He sat up and stared at everyone in confusion.
"Wait… am I dead?" he asked, barely able to breathe.
"What are you saying?" Kaori replied. "We found you unconscious inside the elevator."
"Unconscious? Huh? What? Where? How?"
"You should be more careful, Sato. I think you overworked yourself," she said with a gentle smile, handing him a bottle of water.
"Was that a dream? But how? It felt so real…" he thought.
He looked at his hands. There were no wounds—no blood—yet his body was still drenched in sweat.
"Anyway, congratulations, Sato," she said.
"Congratulations!" everyone echoed together.
"Looks like your hard work finally paid off," Kaori added. "Working overtime every night like an owl… you're really hardworking."
"And that's what I like about you," she added quickly.
"Huh? What?" he asked.
"N-Nothing! It's nothing," she said hastily. "Okay, I've got work to do. Bye!"
She quickly walked away, clearly flustered. Sato sat there silently, his heart still racing from the scary dream.
"I think it was only just a dream," he thought, still recollecting the thoughts and memories from earlier.
He went back to his desk and sat down, lost in thought. Meanwhile, just a little distance away from his cubicle, another colleague watched him—Haku Hikari.
"Tsk, tsk… why does Kaori only like Takeshi?" Haku muttered under his breath.
"I work overtime every night too. Is it because he's good-looking?" he whispered to himself.
"I hate him… that piece of shit," he said quietly.
"Yes, yes… I know what to do with him," he chuckled softly, whispering to himself.
"That piece of shit, Takeshi… I'll show him who Haku Hikari really is."
Sato glanced at his watch. It was almost lunchtime. He smiled—this was his favorite time of the day.
He returned to working on his computer, organizing the accounts and finances of the company. Suddenly, something felt off.
The screen began to glitch—numbers warping, text splitting apart. The display itself seemed to fall apart.
He looked to his left. Everyone was falling apart.
He looked to his right. It was the same.
He stood up—but his body began to fall apart too.
He woke up again. It was lunchtime. He must have just fallen asleep at his desk.
"What a weird dream," he muttered to himself as he gathered his thoughts.
He stood up and opened his bag. He took out the food he had cooked for himself—something he especially liked. Today he would enjoy his lunch more than usual—perhaps because he would eat it after a hard day's work, or perhaps because the haunting thought of starving to death still lingered in his mind. Either way, the food tasted better.
He picked up his lunch box and headed toward the stairs. Soon, he reached the rooftop—far more easily than in his dream.
The scenery was perfect. He genuinely liked the view from up there.
He walked toward the edge—not too close, just a little distance away—and opened his lunch box. But as he picked up an egg with his chopsticks, someone suddenly grabbed him from behind.
The sudden force caused him to lose balance. His lunch box slipped from his hands and flew off the rooftop, falling straight toward the ground below.
"Takeshi, you piece of shit! Today I'll get rid of you," the man shouted. "You've been the blockage in my way every time I try to get close to Kaori!"
Sato was struggling to breathe as the man's grip tightened around him. But Sato had learned a bit of self-defense for situations like this.
He clenched his fist and drove it backward into the man's groin.
The man cried out in pain and released him, collapsing onto the ground. Sato staggered forward, gasping for air, then turned to look at the attacker—who had been trying to choke him from behind.
It was Haku Hikari. Sato remained on his knees, breathing heavily.
"Shit… it was you, Haku," he said between breaths.
Haku stood up and walked toward Sato. Sato stood up at the same time.
"Why are you doing this, Haku?" Sato asked.
"Didn't I just say why while I was choking you?" Haku replied. "It's because of Kaori."
"Hey, listen. We should talk properly—like full-grown adults, okay?" Sato said calmly.
"Oh yeah? I'll show you how a full-grown adult talks," Haku snapped.
He lunged forward and threw a punch at Sato.
Sato managed to dodge the first blow, but the second one connected, striking his left cheek. He stumbled back slightly, but quickly retaliated with a straight punch that landed squarely on Haku's right cheek.
Haku fell to the floor with a thud and lay still.
Sato approached him cautiously and checked to see if he was unconscious. He then turned his back, took a deep breath, and looked out at the view from the rooftop.
Suddenly, Haku grabbed him again from behind and began choking him.
Sato clenched his fists and tried to strike backward, but Haku anticipated the move. He shifted his lower body and drove a hard knee into Sato's back, knocking the breath out of him.
Haku then began dragging Sato toward the edge of the rooftop.
Sato dropped to his knees, unable to breathe properly. His vision blurred, and his mind grew foggy as oxygen left his lungs.
"This is it for you, Sato," Haku said coldly. "Now Kaori will be mine."
Haku tightened his grip as Sato gasped desperately for air. He then moved towards the edge of the building and kicked Sato on the back and threw him off but Sato hung on to the edge of the building with both of his hands as he still gasped for air.
"Can't you just give up and let go? You'll die instantly if you fall from this height. You won't feel any pain." he said
Sato remembered this scenario, it had happened before when he was unconscious.
"Well, I assure you—it will be a painless death," he said as he laughed.
Sato still hung on to the edge with all his strength.
"Still not giving up huh? Looks like I'll have to make you suffer more," he said as he pulled out a pen from his pocket and thrust the pen straight into Sato's hand.
He did not scream. He didn't have the strength to even scream but even so he continued to hang on to the edge. Haku then took out another pen from his pocket and stabbed both hands. He repeatedly stabbed both hands till blood started to gush out. Sato bled as in the dream.
"Now Kaori will be mine!" he laughed as he stepped on his hand and started to crush it.
"F..." the same word came from his mouth.
"Hm? What did you say?" he mocked him 'again'.
Sato took a deep breath and finally screamed his lungs out.
"Fuck You!" he screamed as loudly as he could.
Everything happened the same as in the dream. Haku only laughed as Sato began to fall down and his life flashed before his eyes as he fell to his death....once more.