NovelCat

ring……ring……ring……

Yet the sound doesn’t stop.

click……click……click……

Mio prepares to head to the hospital. The sound of turning keys, opening doors, descending stairs.

All sounds overlap with the acoustics from inside dreams.

patter……patter……patter……

Mio’s footsteps walking down the hallway. However, she cannot distinguish whether these are her own footsteps or someone’s footsteps from inside a dream.

Stepping outside her apartment, the sounds of the city envelop Mio.

vroom……vroom……

Car engine sounds.

chirp……chirp……

Bird songs.

rustle……rustle……

The sound of wind shaking leaves.

However, between these sounds——

tap……tap……tap……

Those footsteps are mixed in.

rattle……rattle……rattle……

On the train, Mio observes the surrounding passengers.

A middle-aged man reading a newspaper. rustle……rustle……

An office lady touching up her makeup. pat……pat……

A student listening to music with earphones. shaka……shaka……

And——

Across the seats, Tanaka Masahiko is sitting.

Mio blinks. blink……

Tanaka’s figure disappears.

blink……

Yamada Hanako is sitting there.

blink……

An unknown elderly man is sitting there.

blink……

Tanaka appears again.

He stares at Mio and silently moves his mouth.

“A third patient will come today.”

No sound is heard. However, Mio can understand his words.

tick……tick……tick……

The hospital clock announces Mio’s arrival.

8:45 AM.

Mio heads to the counseling room. She passes by colleagues in the hallway.

“Good morning, Dr. Kitagawa.”

“Good morning.”

Mio responds, but she cannot see the other person’s face. Only the voice floats in the air.

tap……tap……tap……

Her own footsteps echo in the hallway. However, that sound doesn’t match Mio’s walking rhythm.

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

“Sato Kenta, 35 years old, chronic insomnia……”

Mio sits in her chair. rustle……

And grips her pen.

scratch……scratch……

However, before the pen carves letters into the paper——

knock……knock……knock……

The door is knocked.

“Excuse me.”

The person who entered was a man in his mid-thirties. Thin build, with deep dark circles under his eyes. Features identical to Tanaka Masahiko.

“I’m Sato Kenta.”

His voice was Tanaka’s.

Mio is confused. Is this Tanaka, or Sato? Or——

“Please take a seat.”

rustle……rustle……

The sound of Sato sitting in the chair. Mio senses his breathing.

wheeze……huff……wheeze……huff……

The same rhythm as Tanaka. The same pattern as Yamada.

“Please tell me about your symptoms.”

“I cannot sleep,” Sato’s voice trembles. “Every time I sleep, I wander into other people’s dreams.”

Mio’s pen stops.

“Other people’s dreams?”

“Yes. Into the dreams of a female counselor at the hospital……”

scratch……scratch……

Mio’s hand moves by itself and begins writing letters.

“Patient is intruding into the empathist’s dreams”

“Dream-sharing phenomenon occurring”

“Boundary dissolution is bidirectional”

static……static……static……

White noise flows into Mio’s skull.

Sato’s face changes into Tanaka’s face. And into Yamada’s face as well.

blink……blink……blink……

Each time Mio blinks, the other person’s personality switches.

“I’m Tanaka.”

blink……

“I’m Yamada.”

blink……

“I’m Sato.”

blink……

“I’m Kitagawa Mio.”

Mio looks in the mirror. What was reflected there was Sato’s face.

wheeze……huff……wheeze……huff……

Four breaths synchronize to one rhythm.

Four breaths. Four heartbeats. Four blinks.

But are they really four?

Mio stares at her own hands. Those hands are trembling, but the trembling isn’t from fear. It was resonance.

The air in the room becomes heavy like water.

wheeze……huff……wheeze……huff……

Someone’s breath fills Mio’s lungs. Someone’s memories run through Mio’s nerves.

And from far away——as if heard from underwater——a voice echoes.

“Boundaries never existed in the first place.”

That voice belongs neither to Tanaka nor Yamada nor Sato.

Nor is it Mio’s own voice.

“You have been alone all along.”

Mio tries to stand up. However, she realizes there are multiple bodies. A body that stands up, a body that continues sitting, a body that turns around, a body that looks down.

She can no longer distinguish which is her real self.

tick……tick……tick……

tick……tick……tick……

The clock hands point to multiple times simultaneously.

The clock face reflected in Mio’s pupils. There, she sees countless overlapping hands. Past time, future time, non-existent time.

tick……tick……tick……

However, what is being carved is not time.

It was fragments of Mio’s consciousness.

scratch……scratch……

Someone is gripping a pen. Is it Mio’s hand, or someone else’s hand?

On white paper, letters emerge. However, Mio has no memory of writing them.

“Recorder: Unknown”

“Subject: Unknown”

“Symptoms: Ambiguity of existence”

The letters change shape on the paper like ink dissolving in water.

And the words that remained at the end——

“Who is treating whom?”

silence……

silence……

Silence fills the room.

However, this is not the absence of sound.

It was a state where all sounds had converged to a single point.

Mio realizes.

What she had been searching for. What she had been fearing. What she had been trying to escape from.

They were all the same thing.

Herself.

tap……tap……tap……

Footsteps can be heard.

However, no one is walking.

Only the sound moves through space.

Mio follows the sound and leaves the room. Goes out into the hallway.

A white corridor. An endlessly continuing passage.

There are countless doors there.

All doors have Mio’s name written on them.

Kitagawa Mio

Kitagawa Mio

Kitagawa Mio

Mio opens one door.

There was another examination room.

Another Mio was facing another patient.

tap……tap……tap……

The sound continues from beyond the door.

Mio opens the next door. Opens yet another door.

In every room, there is a Mio.

As a patient. As a counselor. As an observer. As the observed.

“Which one is the real you?”

A voice echoes in the hallway.

Mio turns around.

No one is there.

However, the voice continues.

“Or are they all the real you?”

blink……

Mio opens her eyes.

The counseling room. Looking at the clock——

8:45 AM.

Sato Kenta’s file is placed on the desk.

However, letters were already written in that file. In Mio’s handwriting.

“Patient: Sato Kenta, 35 years old, chronic insomnia”

“Symptoms: Intrusion into others’ dreams”

“Diagnosis: Secondary infection of empathist syndrome”

“Progress: Patient is being absorbed into the therapist’s dream world”

Mio calls reception.

“What about Sato Kenta-san’s appointment?”

“There is an appointment scheduled for 9 AM today.”

She hangs up the phone. Mio’s hands are trembling.

This time, the patient really exists.

However——

knock……knock……knock……

The door is knocked.

“Excuse me.”

The person who entered was Mio herself.

Another Kitagawa Mio wearing a white coat.

“I have come for a consultation as Sato Kenta.”

The other Mio sits across from Mio.

rustle……rustle……

“My symptom is,” the other Mio opens her mouth, “that I intrude into other people’s dreams.”

Mio looks in the mirror. No one was reflected there.

scratch……scratch……scratch……scratch……

Two pens carve the same letters into two records.

“Empathists multiply”

“Boundary between therapist and patient disappears”

“Definition of reality collapses”

That night, Mio feared sleeping.

However, she no longer had any choice.

The distinction between wakefulness and sleep, the boundary between reality and dreams, no longer existed.

tap……tap……tap……

In the white corridor, countless Mios are walking.

Mio as a counselor, Mio as a patient, Mio being treated, Mio providing treatment.

“Who are you?”

“Where are you?”

“Do you exist?”

Mio’s voice echoes in the corridor.

However, there is no one to answer.

scratch……scratch……scratch……scratch……

Only the sound of the pen continues recording the collapsed reality.

Mio’s hand continues carving letters unconsciously.

In dreams, in reality, in places that are neither.

scratch……scratch……scratch……scratch……

Only the sound continues telling the truth.