part1 · 003-ep3

Episode 3: The Cave

Where was he going? Ren himself didn't know. It was just that being at home had become unbearable.

As he walked, he found himself leaving town behind without noticing. Through the residential district. The people thinned out. Eventually even the paved road disappeared, and he was walking a narrow trail leading into the mountains.

"...Where am I?"

Ren stopped. Somewhere unfamiliar. But he didn't feel like turning back, either.

The wind blew. The trees swayed. He could hear birdsong. That was all.

Ren kept walking the mountain path for a while.

And then—

"...Hm?"

Beyond the trees, he could see something black. A rock face. A large opening gaped at its center.

"A cave...?"

Ren drew closer. The entrance was big enough for one person to pass through easily.

There was no signpost anywhere. No fence. Not even a trace that people had ever come here.

"Out here...?"

Ren peered inside the cave. Pitch black. He couldn't see a thing.

A cold wind blew out from the depths.

—Whooo.

"..."

Ren hesitated, just for a moment. Under normal circumstances, he shouldn't go in. He knew that perfectly well.

But.

Right now, Ren couldn't bring himself to go home. Go back, and he'd be alone. Stay home, and he'd be alone. Wherever he was, the reality came back to him — his parents were gone.

In that case.

"...Just for a little."

Ren stepped into the cave. One step. Two. Three.

The light outside grew distant.

"...It's dark."

He looked back. He could see the light spilling in from the entrance. I can still turn back. That was what he thought.

It happened the instant he took a few more steps.

—Gooonn.

"...Huh?"

The ground shook. The entire cave trembled.

"Wh-what...?"

Ren whirled toward the entrance in a panic.

And.

"...You've gotta be kidding me."

The exit that should have been there was gone.

"...What?"

Rock wall. Solid rock wall. The entrance that had definitely been there moments ago was sealed over, as if it had never existed at all.

"Wait..."

Ren ran. He pressed his hands against the rock.

"Open up!"

He pounded it. Pounded again and again.

"Somebody!"

His voice echoed into the depths of the cave.

"Is anyone there?!"

No answer. Ren pushed against the rock with everything he had. It wouldn't move.

"...Why..."

His breathing grew ragged.

"Why, damn it..."

Ren sank down where he stood. His mind couldn't keep up. Just moments ago, he'd been outside. He had only been walking.

And yet.

Now—

He was completely sealed in.

"...I can't go home?"

The moment he said it, something clenched deep in his chest.

Going home. Even if he went home, no one would be there. Even so. Out there, there were people. There was school.

Mizuki was there.

His everyday life was there.

"...I want to go home."

Ren whispered it, barely audible. But the exit did not open.

In the darkness, the fifteen-year-old boy was alone.

He checked the clock on his phone. It was still evening. His phone had no signal. And the battery — there was no telling how long it would last.

No food. No water.

"...What do I do?"

Ren stood up. He looked into the darkness ahead. There was no way out. Which meant there was no choice but to go deeper.

"...I've got no choice but to go on."

Ren switched on his phone's flashlight. A small light lit up the dark. Beyond it, the cave stretched on — a cave unlike anything he had ever seen.

Rock. Water.

And—

Something's footprints.

"...?"

Ren stopped. Big. Not human.

Even so, Ren still didn't know. That this cave was no ordinary cave. That beyond this point existed things utterly unlike the world he knew.

And—

That the ten years about to begin from this place. Would change his life completely.

Ren still knew nothing.

Just one thing.

To make it back to the outside, alive.

For that alone.

The fifteen-year-old boy began to walk, into the depths of the darkness.