BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I stirred under the blanket, my body heavy with sleep, and groggily reached out for my phone. My fingers fumbled around the bed until I finally grabbed it, squinting at the screen.

It was Ethan.

[Naoto]: "Huh? Hello?"

[Ethan]: "DUDE! You still at home? The party's already started, and everyone's waiting for you. You said you'd be here an hour ago!"

I snapped awake, my heart skipping a beat. I tossed the blanket off, blinking around the dim room as the realization hit me like a bucket of cold water.

[Naoto]: "Wait… What time is it?"

[Ethan]: "Time for you to get your butt over here! Hurry up, man!"

I glanced at the clock. My stomach sank. I'd passed out after work, fully intending to take a quick nap, but now I was late. Again. And my friends would never let me hear the end of it.

[Naoto]: "I'm coming, I'm coming! Just… give me ten minutes!"

[Ethan]: "Better make it five!"

He hung up before I could respond. I tossed my phone onto the bed with a groan. There was no time to waste.

I scrambled to get dressed, my room a chaotic mess of clothes. Jackets, wrinkled shirts, and a pair of socks I didn't even remember putting on the desk. I grabbed a crumpled shirt, sniffed it, winced, and threw it on anyway.

I didn't bother with anything fancy. I just needed to get there.

In less than ten minutes, I was ready—my hair was a mess, but whatever. I checked the mirror one last time. Eh, good enough for a party.

I grabbed my keys off the desk, digging them out from under an avalanche of receipts and empty soda cans. My phone buzzed again—Ethan, of course.

I shoved the phone in my pocket and didn't bother answering. I had to move.

I yanked open the door to my apartment, and the cool night air hit me hard. No time for a taxi or train—bike it was.

Minutes later, I was speeding through the streets, weaving around potholes and trying not to collapse from the effort. God, I was too old for this. Or maybe just out of shape. Either way, no way I was letting myself bail now.

I made it in less than ten minutes, and as I leaned my bike against the wall of the building, the familiar sounds of the party hit me—the laughter, the music spilling out of the windows. I took a deep breath. I was late, but at least I wasn't bailing.

I pushed through the door, and instantly, the party's energy hit me—laughter, chatter, the smell of alcohol and smoke. The music blasted from the speakers. And of course, as soon as Ethan spotted me, the energy shifted.

"Finally! There he is!" Ethan called out from across the room.

I waved him off, grinning. "I'm here, I'm here. You know I had a lot of work today, so—"

Ethan threw his hands up dramatically. "Yeah, well, we've all got jobs, Naoto-kun. No more excuses! We were about to start without you!"

Same old Ethan. He loved calling me out for being late, but he also knew exactly how to get me in the door with a drink in hand.

I made my way into the living room, where the usual gang was gathered. Kaito was standing in the corner, surrounded by a group, his usual scruffy look on full display—messy hair, half-drunk beer in hand.

But tonight, he seemed more energized than usual, bouncing between people and cracking jokes. Kaito was still in university, working on his degree, and he was the youngest one in the group. The rest of us were already doing the full-time job thing, but Kaito was still figuring out his place in the adult world.

It made him a bit different, but that didn't stop him from being the loudest, most energetic guy in the room.

When Kaito spotted me, he grinned. "Oh, look who finally decided to show up! You're late as always, huh?"

I laughed and threw my hands up. "I told you I'd be here. It's just… you know, work stuff."

Kaito smirked. "I get it, old man. We're all working hard, but you're the only one who works overtime and still shows up fashionably late."

Emi, Kaito's girlfriend, leaned in from behind him, her arms crossed, a teasing smile on her face. "You really are impossible to get ahold of, you know that?"

I shot her a grin. "You're all just too impatient. I was busy trying to survive a Monday."

She laughed and handed me a drink without another word.

"No excuses," she said, a wink in her eye. "Drink up, you've got a lot of catching up to do."

I accepted it with a chuckle. Emi knew how much I liked to drink, and tonight, I wasn't planning to hold back. The stress of work had been gnawing at me all week, and I needed this.

I took a sip and scanned the room. It was the usual crowd—friends from work, school, and life in Tokyo, all unwinding after another exhausting week. The conversations were relaxed, the air filled with easy laughter.

But even with the group's laid-back vibe, Kaito's situation was a little different. He was still a student, still in that weird in-between phase of life that we'd all left behind.

It made him stand out sometimes, but it didn't stop him from being the loudest, most energetic guy in the room.

Miki waved me over from across the room, holding her own drink and grinning. "Yo, you're finally here. We thought you bailed on us. You know, the usual, 'Naoto's always late!'"

I raised my cup with a grin. "I wouldn't leave you guys hanging. You know I wouldn't miss out on the fun."

Kaito overheard and grinned mischievously, raising his beer bottle. "Yeah, the fun that involves you getting way too drunk by the end of the night."

I laughed, raising my cup to him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Kaito smirked, taking a swig from his beer. "I'm just saying, we're all a little worried about you, man. You're always so serious at work, but then you show up here, and it's like you're trying to drink away all your problems."

I took a long sip from my cup, feeling the warmth spread through me. "Maybe I am. But who else is gonna keep up with you guys if I'm not?"

Kaito didn't respond—he just laughed and clinked his beer bottle against my cup.

Miki, still holding her drink, shot me a look. "Well, while you're at it, we're doing karaoke soon. You're gonna have to get up there, or I'll never hear the end of it."

I sighed, already dreading the thought of being on stage, but there was no way out. They were all counting on me, as usual.

Kaito, smirking, grabbed another drink. "Can you sing 'I'm a Barbie Girl' again? It was hilarious last time."

I grinned, already feeling the alcohol kick in. "Maybe. But only if you join me."

Kaito laughed, raising his beer in a mock salute. "Deal."

I handed him the mic, and before I could back out, Kaito belted out, "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world!" with all the dramatic flair he could muster, swaying from side to side like he was in a music video.

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help laughing. "Alright, alright, my turn!"

I grabbed the mic from him, and in my best exaggerated voice, I shouted, "Life in plastic, it's fantastic!"

Kaito laughed, grabbing a drink from Emi and raising it to us both. "We're going to regret this in the morning."

But for now, the alcohol, the laughter, and the ridiculous karaoke were all I needed. Tonight, I didn't have to be the serious guy, the one who had it all together. I could just be Naoto—the guy who was always late and drank too much. And that was enough.

But then, something shifted.

The music from the karaoke machine seemed to fade out, like someone was slowly turning down the volume. The laughter and chatter around me blurred, muffled, as if I was hearing it underwater.

I blinked, trying to focus, but my vision kept swimming in and out of focus. My stomach churned, and my heart started to pound.

"What the hell…?" The words barely left my mouth before the room around me began to distort. The lights flickered like dying stars, and the walls seemed to warp and stretch.

The air grew thick, heavy, like it was pressing in on me from all sides. Everything felt wrong.

I tried to stand, but my legs were unsteady, like I was swimming through molasses. The floor beneath me seemed to tilt, just a little, and I stumbled. Panic shot through me, my breath quickening.

"Guys? Guys—what the hell is happening?"

But the voices of my friends were fading, growing distant as though they were slipping away into another world. I tried to shout, but the words caught in my throat.

Everything around me felt unreal—too unreal, like I was caught between two realities. My hand reached for the nearest table, but it went right through it, like it wasn't even there.

I froze.

"What… the hell?"

And then, as if the world itself had been unplugged, everything went silent. No music. No voices. Nothing.

I gasped, my chest tightening as the shadows around me deepened, folding in on themselves. My feet shifted, and before I could even react, the floor beneath me vanished.

I was falling.

The floor disappeared beneath me like a trapdoor opening underfoot, and for a moment, I couldn't process anything. My mind was too foggy, too disoriented. Everything around me felt wrong, like I was no longer in the same world.

The noise—the party, the music, the chatter—it was all gone. It was just me, falling into nothingness.

My stomach lurched as the ground, or whatever it was, seemed to drop farther and farther away. The feeling of weightlessness consumed me, like I was drifting through some kind of limbo.

I reached out, instinctively trying to grab something—anything—but my hands just sliced through empty air.

What the hell is happening?

My heart was racing, my breathing shallow. I could feel panic crawling up my chest, tight and suffocating.

My body was screaming to wake up, to snap out of it, but no matter how much I willed myself to move, to stop falling, I couldn't.

I closed my eyes. I had to center myself. This is just a dream. Just a dream. It's the alcohol.

But even as I told myself that, I knew something was off. This wasn't like any kind of drunk haziness I'd ever experienced.

The air around me was cold, too cold, and the darkness… it wasn't the kind of darkness you get when you close your eyes. It felt… endless.

The fall slowed.

My descent became more gradual, like I was gently drifting down instead of plummeting, but the sensation didn't ease my panic.

I kept my eyes squeezed shut, focusing all my energy on holding on to something—some shred of reality. The deep chill in the air pressed against my skin, reminding me that this wasn't a dream.

I felt a shift in the air. The heavy silence that had swallowed everything around me seemed to pull tighter, almost suffocating.

And then, a faint whisper.

It wasn't a voice I recognized. It was a low, soft sound—like a murmur, barely audible, but somehow it felt like it was right there. In my ear.

Naoto...

I froze. My name, whispered in the dark. It didn't sound like any of my friends. It wasn't anyone I knew.

I tried to speak, but my voice was caught in my throat, strangled by the cold, empty air.

Naoto... come closer...

My heart skipped. The voice—it sounded wrong, like something ancient, twisted. I couldn't tell where it was coming from. It felt like it was coming from all around me, pressing in on every side.

The ground finally solidified under me—soft at first, but quickly firming into something solid, like a patch of ground in the middle of an open space.

I opened my eyes, my chest tight, every muscle in my body screaming at me to get out of wherever I was.

But I couldn't move.

I was in a vast, open place, though there were no clear boundaries. I couldn't see the end of it. The darkness stretched in every direction, and in the distance, a faint glow flickered.

It was like some distant light, suspended in the air, just out of reach. My brain struggled to make sense of it, but the longer I looked, the more it felt like the glow was waiting for me.

The whisper came again.

Naoto...

I turned my head sharply, trying to find the source. My breath caught when I saw something move in the corner of my vision. At first, I thought it was just the shadows shifting, but then I realized—no, it wasn't the shadows. It was a figure.

A silhouette, faint, almost ethereal, standing just out of reach, like it was made of the very darkness itself. I couldn't make out any details, but the shape was unmistakable. A person.

Come closer, Naoto…

The voice was clearer now, though still hauntingly distorted. But there was something unnerving about it. Like an invitation I should refuse.

Don't go…

A part of me wanted to turn and run. My instincts screamed at me to get the hell out of there, to leave this place, to wake up.

But another part of me, a deeper, more curious part, couldn't stop staring at that figure, feeling an undeniable pull toward it.

Without realizing it, my legs moved.

It was slow at first, my feet dragging through the unseen terrain beneath me. The darkness made it difficult to tell if I was walking or just stumbling, but I couldn't stop myself.

The figure, still distant, remained in my line of sight, moving ever so slightly, like it was drawing me closer.

Naoto…

The whisper again. Closer. Come closer…

I was only a few steps away now. I could almost make out the outline of the figure, but it was still too faint to discern anything about it. No features, no face. Just an outline, like a shadow trying to be a person.

But then, as I got closer, something shifted in the air. A crackling sound, like static on a broken radio. The figure's shape flickered—shuddered, like it was glitching, like it was something that didn't belong in this world.

I froze.

What… what the hell is that?

The voice seemed to distort, stretching unnaturally, until it no longer sounded like a human at all. It wasn't even a whisper anymore, but a low growl, vibrating through the air. The figure's outline twisted, as though the darkness itself was folding in on it.

I took a step back, instinctively reaching for something—anything—to steady myself. But before I could fully process what was happening, the figure lurched forward.

And then… it was gone.

The darkness surged in, swallowing everything. The ground beneath me vanished again, and I fell, faster this time, a free-fall into the abyss.

No. No, no, no.

I screamed—though I wasn't sure if my mouth even moved. I couldn't tell if I was still falling or if I had somehow dropped into a new layer of this dark, endless place. My mind was swimming, the panic rising with every passing moment.

And then, before I could brace myself for whatever was next, I hit the ground.

I gasped, feeling the sting of impact all through my body. My chest burned. My head was spinning.

But then, slowly, I opened my eyes.

I wasn't in the same place anymore.

…