The next morning, the thread returned.
Only this ti, I didn't wake up right away.
I held it again, let the golden strand curl through my fingers, impossibly light but carrying a weight I couldn't na. I wasn't falling through the void like before. I was still. As if I stood at the center of sothing. Sothing vast and unfinished.
The thread pulsed faintly.
And then it unraveled.
I woke up with my hand outstretched.
***
Outside, the scent carried the weight of early autumn—damp earth, fallen leaves, faint charcoal from the nearby blacksmith's forge. The shop felt colder than usual, like the warmth of the ticking clocks hadn't reached yet.
Shuji didn't greet when I ca downstairs.
He was hunched over a cluttered table, poring through old maintenance ledgers. His brow furrowed as his finger moved slowly across a line of nas. When he noticed , he closed the book without a word and nudged a half-disassembled clock toward .
"Balance wheel's off. Fix it"
"Good morning to you too."
He didn't smile.
I rolled up my sleeves and got to work, but the air between us held sothing quieter than usual. Not cold. Just... still.
After a while, he spoke.
"You've been quiet."
"You're the one who hasn't said a word."
"Hmph."
I looked up from the clock. "Can I ask you sothing?"
He didn't look up. "That hasn't stopped you before."
"Have you ever—" I hesitated, "—seen sothing that wasn't there?"
He set down his tools with a soft clink. "Is this about your dream again?"
"Not just the dream..." I hesitated again. "sothing happened yesterday. On the way back."
His eyes narrowed, unreadable. "Go on."
"There was this cart—out of control. I should've been hit. I was hit. I felt the impact—sharp, sudden. And then... I wasn't. I was three steps back. As if it never happened, the world was quiet."
He said nothing.
"I didn't imagine it."
"I didn't say you did."
I leaned forward. "Have you ever heard of sothing like that?"
He scratched the back of his neck. "I've heard a lot of things, Ren. Most of them nonsense."
"This didn't feel like nonsense."
Shuji sighed and stood, wiping his hands on a cloth. "So things can't be explained by logic. That doesn't an they aren't real. But it also doesn't an you should chase them without knowing what they are."
"I'm not chasing anything," I said quickly. "I just... want to understand."
He paused, then gave a long look. "Understanding cos slowly. Like learning a new gear pattern—it won't turn until the rest is aligned."
That was as close to advice as he'd ever give.
***
That evening, I walked to the Tachibana estate again.
I wasn't delivering anything.
Just walking by. Just passing through. Just wondering if I'd see her again.
I didn't.
Instead, I stood by the old bridge, hands tucked in my sleeves, watching the current pass below the wooden stats. The air was cool. A few fireflies blinked into life between the reeds.
My thoughts wouldn't stay still. Every ti I closed my eyes, I saw fragnts. A thread hanging in space. A voice I couldn't place. The way Rin looked at —like she already knew who I was.
I didn't understand what was happening.
I just knew sothing had started.
***
The sky had dimd by the ti I returned to the shop.
I sat on the back step behind the shop, watching the sky darken.
A few stars had begun to appear, faint pinpricks behind the clouds.
You shouldn't say things like that to a stranger...
Then call Rin.
I rubbed my eyes. That mont in the hallway—whatever it had been—was still tugging at the back of my mind like a loose thread.
Had I really seen her before?
Or was she just... familiar in the way dreams sotis were?
The door creaked behind . Shuji stepped out, a cup of barley tea in each hand. He handed one wordlessly and sat down beside .
We drank in silence.
After a while, I said, "I think sothing is wrong with ."
He took a slow sip. "Why?"
"I don't feel like myself anymore. The dreams. The thing with the cart." I shook my head. "It all feels like it's happening to , not from ."
"You're young. That's how life feels until it starts repeating."
I smiled faintly. "That's bleak."
"But true."
I glanced at him. "Do you think the dreams an sothing?"
He didn't answer right away.
"I think," he said slowly, "that if the sa dream keeps pressing at your gate, it's worth a glance through the watcher's slit."
"That's not an answer."
"No," he agreed, "but it's the truth."
I sat there in silence, contemplating what he said.
He sighed, then turned his gaze towards . "You've got that look again," he paused, "sa one I had when I saw the edge of the sky crack."
I stared at him.
"You're not the only one who dreams strange things, Ren." he said. "You're just the first in a long ti who says them out loud."
He stood, walking back inside the shop, the sounds of rummaging ca, then he walked back out.
He pulled out a slim journal bound in faded leather.
"Start writing it down," he said, handing it over. "Every dream. Every shift. Every ti the world feels... off."
"Why?"
"Because if you're not crazy, you'll need it."
"And if I am?"
"Then you'll still need it."
Reviews
All reviews (0)