Starting a Night Shift Part-time Job at a Convenience Store.

Itialways began with me looking down at Hyuga, who was drenched in blood and had all four limbs thrown to the ground. An extraordinary amount of sweatiwas produced from head to toe. My respiration hasibeen shallow and labored for quite some time now.

The impactiwas so jarring that I even thought a knife might have split my heart in half.

From theihandrail on the rooftop, I watched Hyuga jumping off the roof. Looking like a squashed frog, Hyuga floated in a pool of blood, squirming on the concrete, yet her eyes were still glaring inimy direction.

Even though I wanted to scream and get out of here at any second, my hands gripped the railing and wouldn’t let go. My body remained in a forward slump, stuck. Only pathetic moans escaped myimouth instead.

And then…

I becameiaware of a presence standing right next to me. I onlyimoved my eyeballs to confirm that existence.

ItiwasiHyuga―

Theisame Hyuga who should have committed suicide by jumping off a building.

Without lookingiat me, her long hair fluttering in the wind, she climbed over the railing with her hands and landed on the other side of the railing. She then positioned her feet on the rooftop’s edge before falling forward with her arms outstretched.

Right in frontiof me, she jumped down again. The sound of something soft falling and crushing atrociously persisted.

Onceimore, my sight shifted unilaterally and settled right beneath me. My eyes intersected with the freshly bleeding corpse of Hyuga.

I moaned, and again, Hyuga stoodiright next to me.

With theisame motion again, she jumped down repeatedly and endlessly.

And oniand on.

Hyugainever ceased jumping down before my eyes.

Spreading her hands out towardithe bright blue sky.

Falling.

Sinkingiinto the sea of red.

For the 99thior 100th time.

At last, I lostimy mind.

No more.

Pleaseistop.

Please.

Stopiit. Stopiit.

Stopiit. No.

I didn’t want toisee it anymore.

Noimore―

I hatediit.

Despiteimy thoughts, myigaze drifted down arbitrarily.

The body of Hyuga, stained inideep red.

No―

Wrong―

That was…

The one from that time…

The face of a familiar woman. Pure white with blood gushing from her mouth.

She looked at me with a resentful look on her face and finally said…

“Join me. Come on.”Translator: MadHatter

Aishriek erupted fromime until I wasiunconscious.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!! Stop, stop, stop!! Stopppppppppppppp!――!!”

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I wasiawakened byimy own piercing screams. Itiwas followed byithe landlord’s raging voice rising up from below. Ahead of me was the filthy, stained ceiling of an over-familiar, shabby apartment.

Ah… Ahhhhh…

While leaking outia strange voice, I covered my face with my arms. My body was trembling profusely with relief that I was finally free from the nightmare as I let out hot breath from my mouth and nostrils. My breathing was still uncoordinated and I was still struggling. Even though I had already suffered that dream over and over again, it didn’t even strike me as a dream within a dream.

Only when I awoke after the nightmare did I recognize it as a dream. I thought I would have gotten familiar with it, but this was the pattern every time. Nevertheless, it may be no wonder that I couldn’t believe that it was a dream.

Everything was too lifelike.

The corpse of Hyuga that appeared in my nightmare… The incessant flow of red…

“Ugh…”

When I recalled it, I felt like my gastric juices were surging up from the back of my throat. I crawled out from under the futon to escape.

Bearing a heavy sluggishness that was not drowsiness, I put my hands against the wall and made my way to the bathroom. My head was dizzy and all over my body was hot.

Since it was summer, it was natural to feel hot… no, that wasn’t it. Rather, I felt like my body was sweltering inside. Well, I have been in this condition recently, so I didn’t necessarily make a fuss, and I have already gotten used to it.

When I scratched my head, my body was soaked in sweat and felt sticky.

…Huh?

Did I… change my clothes when I returned?

Or rather, at what time did I return?

My recollection was a bit vague…

Looking at my pallid complexion in front of the mirror, I twisted the faucet to turn on the water.

I should have been on the night shift yesterday, but somehow… I couldn’t remember clearly.

Ah―

Right when I was about to plunge my face into the water, I felt light-headed and staggered, and my vision began to whirl around.

I couldn’t tell if I was moving up, down, left, or right; it was like being placed on a rotating rollercoaster at an amusement park. It was such a sensation.

A relentless dizziness―

Oh, not good―This would knock me backward…

On top of my revolving vision, my head was tilted directly back, and I was convinced of this. Here, the floor was so thin that if I collapsed and made a noise, the landlord would become furious again.

All I could think was, “Oh, my brain must have melted.”

“…Um. Are you alright?”

While my mind was on edge, I didn’t even bother to take a breath and just let gravity do the work for me.

“…Hakamada.”

I was supported from behind with a voice carrying a hint of impatience and good timing. In my feverishly fading consciousness, I shifted my eyeballs in the direction of the charming voice, which I would have fallen in love with if I were a girl.

Someone who was not supposed to be here was looking at me with a concerned expression.

So it was another dream huh. Two seconds after I thought that with my eyes closed, I looked at that face again.

It was not a dream. It was real.

It was late afternoon in the middle of a sweltering day.

For some reason, Takenaka was in the dressing room of my house.

I was so taken aback that I almost blacked out, and I thought I was totally screwed.

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