17/4/2020 - 11:30pm

Usually, at this time I would have been sitting at my desk watching an anime or reading manga, in hindsight, I should have been studying for the upcoming test but I was never a good student, unexpectedly that night I had an urge to go pick up some new volumes from my local bookstore.

The bookstore was a massive multi-story building associated with the largest publisher in the country.

It didn’t take much time to arrive at the bookstore, a ten-minute ride on bike was all it took. Of course, the bookstore was practically empty, being almost midnight in a not so busy town, that came as no surprise.

I was greeted with an eerie feeling of emptiness once I stepped into the store. I headed straight for the manga corner and found some titles that piqued my interest. After about 10 minutes of skimming through some manga I chose the five that most interested me and headed to the counter to pay. To my surprise there wasn’t a soul in sight.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

I wandered around the store looking for an employee or another customer, but it was completely empty. I thought to myself that the employees were just being lazy and didn’t expect and customers to stroll in, so they decided to go back and relax.

I returned to the counter and called out,

“Hello, anyone here?” in a low, almost hushed voice.

……, No response came my way

“Hellooo, anyone there?” this time I spoke up.

……, Still no answer.

I decided to leave the cash on the counter with a little more just in case and was on my way out.

But to my surprise there was no longer an exit, the building suddenly became pitch black.

In a panic I tripped and started falling face first, I tried to brace for impact by putting my elbows in front of my chest but what had happened left me dumbstruck, there was no end to my fall, I was flipping around in the air, no longer knowing up from down, left to right or front to back. I blacked out after twenty seconds.

The sun was shining on my face, so bright, so warm, a pleasant sensation.

Was it morning already?

Was it all a dream?

When I opened my eyes, I was reassured that what I experienced the night before was no dream.