NovelCat

That corridor. Those footsteps. And Tanaka’s figure from behind.

hiss……hiss……hiss……

Mixed with the sound of water, another sound becomes audible.

tap……tap……tap……

Mio turns off the water. Silence returns to the bathroom.

However, the footsteps continue.

tap……tap……tap……

“Auditory hallucination……”

Mio tells herself. As an HSP symptom, auditory hypersensitivity often worsens during times of stress.

But the footsteps don’t stop.

clatter……clatter……clatter……

On her way to work at the hospital, Mio was organizing patient files on the train.

Tanaka Masahiko’s file remained blank as before. However, in Mio’s memory, the conversation with him was definitely etched.

rattle……rattle……rattle……

The train’s vibration stimulates Mio’s nerves. The breathing of surrounding passengers, the sound of rustling clothes, mobile phone ringtones. Everything directly hits her sensory organs.

And between the train announcements——

tap……tap……tap……

Those footsteps are mixed in.

Mio looks around. No one is walking. The train is packed, and all passengers are holding onto seats or hanging straps.

tap……tap……tap……

Only the sound continues to reach Mio’s ears.

tick……tick……tick……

The hospital clock announces Mio’s arrival.

8:30 AM.

Mio heads to the counseling room. The fluorescent lights in the corridor evoke the scene from last night’s dream.

patter……patter……patter……

Her own footsteps overlap with the sounds from the dream.

Upon entering the counseling room, a new patient file was placed on the desk.

“Yamada Hanako, 28 years old, Dissociative Identity Disorder……”

Mio shakes her head. Today was supposed to be Tanaka Masahiko’s follow-up appointment.

She calls reception to confirm.

“What about Tanaka Masahiko-san’s appointment?”

“There is no such name on today’s appointment schedule……”

Mio hangs up the receiver. Confusion dominates her thoughts.

Yesterday, she definitely had a conversation with Tanaka. His voice, breathing, the sound of him sitting in the chair. Everything was vividly remembered.

However, no record remained.

knock……knock……knock……

The sound of knocking on the door.

“Excuse me.”

A woman’s voice. Mio looks up.

The person who entered was a woman in her late twenties. Yamada Hanako.

“Please take a seat.”

Mio puts on a professional smile. However, warning signals are ringing inside her.

rustle……rustle……rustle……

The sound of Yamada sitting in the chair. Mio senses her breathing rhythm.

Irregular. Shallow. And——

wheeze……huff……wheeze……huff……

The same breathing pattern as Tanaka Masahiko.

scratch……scratch……scratch……scratch……

Mio grips her pen and opens the patient record.

“Please tell me about your symptoms.”

“There’s another personality inside me,” Yamada’s voice is thin and trembling. “At night, that personality appears and……”

scratch……scratch……

Every time Mio moves her pen, minute friction sounds vibrate the air.

“What kind of personality is it?”

“Male. Around his thirties……”

Mio’s hand stops.

“Does that personality have a name?”

Yamada’s eyes gaze at Mio. In the depths of those pupils dwells a familiar light.

“He calls himself Tanaka Masahiko.”

static……static……static……

White noise flows into Mio’s skull. The same phenomenon as yesterday.

static……static……static……

Yamada’s voice gradually becomes lower.

“Doctor, how was your dream last night?”

That voice was no longer Yamada’s.

It was Tanaka Masahiko’s voice.

Mio tries to stand up from her chair. However, her body won’t move.

“We talked for a long time in the dream, didn’t we?”

Tanaka’s voice coming from Yamada’s mouth. Her expression is also gradually changing. The angle of her eyebrows, the shape of her mouth, the frequency of blinking.

blink……blink……blink……

Each time Mio blinks, Yamada’s face draws closer to Tanaka’s.

wheeze……huff……wheeze……huff……

Their breathing synchronizes.

Mio feels her consciousness flowing into Yamada. Boundaries are dissolving. The distinction between self and other becomes ambiguous.

Is this the extreme state of HSP, or——

“Doctor, you also have another personality inside you, don’t you?”

Tanaka’s voice leaks from Yamada’s lips.

“A personality called Mio that can only exist in dreams.”

Mio looks in the mirror. What was reflected there was not her own face.

Pale skin, black hair, and the face of an unknown woman with vacant eyes.

scratch……scratch……scratch……scratch……

Someone is moving a pen. Mio’s hand moves by itself, carving letters into the patient record.

“Patient: Kitagawa Mio, 29 years old, Dissociative Identity Disorder”

“Chief complaint: Ambiguous boundary between reality and dreams. Mixing of other personalities with self”

“Progress: Loss of psychological boundaries due to excessive empathy”

tick……tick……tick……

The clock’s second hand chips away at Mio’s remaining reason.

“Doctor.”

Yamada’s voice returns. No, was it Yamada’s voice or Tanaka’s voice? She can no longer tell the difference.

“Tonight, let’s meet in our dreams again.”

Mio stands up. She tries to leave the room.

However, the door won’t open.

rattle……rattle……rattle……

The sound of turning the doorknob echoes emptily.

“This is inside a dream.”

A voice comes from behind. When she turns around, Yamada’s figure is gone.

Instead, Tanaka Masahiko is sitting there.

“The real you is still inside the dream.”

silence……

Complete silence.

All sound disappears from Mio’s world.

She no longer knows where she is or who she is.

tap……tap……tap……

Footsteps can be heard from far away. Someone is walking down the corridor.

Mio heads in the direction of the sound.

A white corridor. An endlessly continuing passage.

And the back of a walking figure.

tap……tap……tap……

Mio realizes.

The one walking was herself.

blink……

Mio opens her eyes.

The counseling room. 9 AM.

Yamada Hanako’s file is placed on the desk.

However, that file was blank.

Mio calls reception.

“What about Yamada Hanako-san?”

“She has not come to the hospital today……”

Mio looks at the patient record.

There, in her handwriting, letters were written.

“Patient: Kitagawa Mio, 29 years old, Dissociative Identity Disorder”

“Symptoms: Empathists lose boundaries”

“There are those who can only exist in dreams”

“They make the dreams of the living their dwelling place”

thud……thud……thud……

Mio’s heartbeat strikes her eardrums.

She is beginning to understand.

Whether she is a patient or a counselor.

Whether she is in reality or inside a dream.

scratch……scratch……scratch……scratch……

Mio’s hand moves by itself and begins writing new records.

“The empathist’s symptoms are progressive”

“Acquires the ability to intrude into others’ dreams”

“Eventually, the distinction between reality and dreams disappears completely”

That night, Mio refused to sleep.

However, at 3 AM, her consciousness sinks into darkness.

tap……tap……tap……

The white corridor is waiting for her.

And beyond the corridor, a new patient is waiting for Mio.

Whose dream will she wander into tonight?