The year is 2035.
Long after the sky has traded its soft orange hues for the deep ink of midnight, Nanago Ibaki wakes up in a cold sweat.
It wasn't just a dream.
It was something more. A nightmare so vivid, it felt like he'd lived through it.
There was no clear image, no sharp memory to latch onto. Just a feeling. A terrible sense that something was collapsing. As if the world itself was being swallowed into some unseen void, piece by piece.
With a sudden gasp, Nanago sits up in bed. The sound of his own scream fades into the silence of his dark room. His heart pounds in erratic pulses as he blinks rapidly, eyes darting around in panic.
What just happened?
He doesn't speak it aloud, but the question echoes loudly in his mind.
Nanago Ibaki is eighteen years old.
He started his first year of college that spring.
His parents worked hard saving for years, just to see him off to something greater.
Now he lives alone in Almenio, a city of opportunity.
He enrolled in a public university. Nothing flashy, but reputable.
Nanago has always had a sharp mind. The kind of student who rarely studied, yet always managed to score high just by paying attention in class. Enough for his parents to believe he was worth every sacrifice.
He's cold and distant, like someone always a step removed from the world around them. Despite that, he blends in. He's not a troublemaker. He keeps his grades up, even as classes get harder and the rest of his peers start to buckle under pressure.
He has sharp, stylish black hair, just messy enough to look effortless. His dark eyes always seemingly on the cusp of thought. Tall and handsome in an understated way.
When it comes to friendships and romance, Nanago simply isn't the guy.
It's not trauma. It's not some buried emotional wound or tragic past.
It's just how he is.
Wired that way. Built that way.
Like it's etched into his DNA.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Several minutes pass.
He presses a hand to his chest.
The beat is real. The air is real. The stillness is real.
But the dread clings to him, like smoke that refuses to leave his lungs.
The hum of the fridge in the kitchen buzzes faintly through the wall. A fan spins in the corner, its blades whispering a frequency he's too awake to hear.
And yet, he still isn't sure if he's actually here.
The dream felt heavier than this room.
More vivid than this silence.
He draws in a shaky breath, hoping the feeling will pass.
Eventually, he pulls himself together and gets out of bed.
Click.
The room floods with light as he flips the switch. The familiar glare is strangely comforting.
He shuffles into the kitchen, his footsteps soft against the wooden floor. He grabs a glass, fills it to the brim and drinks deeply, desperate for something palpable to ground himself.
Water helps. Just a little.
Nanago isn't the type to waste time. With all the free hours on his hands, thanks to his study habits or lack thereof, he's picked up a few skills. Cooking, for one. He's actually pretty good at it.
Earlier that night, just before bed, he'd made something simple. He'd eaten at the small table in the kitchen, absentmindedly watching the little TV mounted in the corner. He must've left it on.
Now, as he gulps down to the last drop of water, the screen suddenly flickers.
Click.
The channel changes on its own.
Red lines begin crawling rapidly across the screen, like warning signals. A jarring alarm tone plays faintly beneath them. Then, the face of a familiar news anchor appears.
Their expression is frozen in fear.
The emergency broadcast begins.
[LIVE EMERGENCY BROADCAST - CHANNEL 7 NEWS]
"Attention! This is not a drill. I repeat—this is not a drill."
The anchor looks shaken, glancing off-screen before continuing.
"We've just received confirmation of a laboratory breach. A very-"
He pauses.
"No. An extremely dangerous virus has escaped containment."
"All citizens are instructed to remain indoors.
I repeat: remain indoors. Do not leave your homes.
Lock all entrances. Stay where you are."
His voice quivers. The red emergency ticker scrolls rapidly beneath him.
"The nature of the virus will remain undisclosed at this time.
Further updates will be provided as soon as information becomes available."
The screen cuts.
No follow-up. No interviews. No visuals.
Just the same warning on loop.
Nanago's chest tightens.
Deep down, some part of him already knew.
The dream wasn't just a dream.
His phone buzzes sharply on the counter, pulling his eyes away from the TV screen.
It's his mother.
He answers immediately.
"Nanago, dear, have you seen the news?" Her voice trembles slightly, layered with worry.
"Just now." Nanago replies, trying to keep his tone even. "Are you and Dad okay?"
"Don't worry about us. What about you? Are you alright?"
He hesitates.
"Well... I think it's safe to say none of us are really alright right now."
In the background, his father's voice cuts in, loud and unmistakable:
"Stay inside, Nanago! You heard what they said!"
"Don't worry, Dad. I heard it. The door's locked. I'm not going anywhere."
"We're going to wait for an update. Just keep your phone with you. If you need to rest, rest. We'll call you if we hear anything."
"I don't think I can sleep anymore."
They talk for a little while longer, just enough to ease the panic in their voices.
Eventually, they hang up.
Silence returns, but just as Nanago sets his phone down, the screen lights up again. This time, a message.
Not from his mother.
It's from Kita Gasaki.
They weren't exactly friends, but they'd traded homework answers a few times. Enough to be slightly more than strangers.
He wouldn't expect a message from her.
The screen shows only one line.
"If you're in Almenio, get out. It started here."
Nanago stares at the words.
What does that mean? Started here? What started?
The emergency broadcast keeps playing in the background.
He re-reads the message.
Twice.
His throat feels dry again, but this time it's not something water can fix.
He doesn't know what to make of it.
His fingers hover over the screen, then move before he can second-guess.
He dials. No answer. Tries again. Still nothing.
He exhales sharply and sinks into the nearest chair, fingers still curled around the phone.
"What does she mean? How can she just drop that on me with no context? What am I supposed to do? Run into the night because of a half-sentence?"
Ring.
His phone lights up again.
Kita.
Her voice cuts in fast, low, and urgent.
"I know you're confused. I don't have time to explain. I'm leaving too. Just... listen. If you can get out, do it. I'm heading toward Otaka. We need distance. Every minute counts."
"Wait, what are you talking abou-"
But the call drops.
No warning. No sound. Just silence.
Nanago stares at the phone like it might bring her back if he wills it hard enough.
It doesn't.
As Nanago stands frozen, trying to piece together the fragments of the night, a sudden knock shatters the silence.
KNOCK KNOCK.
"Nanago! Open up! Hurry!"
Toji Kuruki. Nanago's best friend since middle school, now his classmate in college. They both came from the same town, and while you'd assume they'd end up sharing an apartment in the city, that didn't happen. Not because they aren't close, but because Nanago didn't want that. Not the right person for shared spaces and constant company. And Toji, to his credit, understood.
Eighteen, just like him. Brown hair. Brown eyes that carry more emotion than he lets on. He's almost as tall as Nanago. Where Nanago is quiet and composed, Toji is animated and impossible to ignore.
"Come on, man! You're sleeping through the end of the world?"
Nanago rushes to the door and swings it open.
Toji shoves a phone in his face.
"Look. Look what Kita just messaged me."
Nanago squints at the screen.
"If you're in Almenio, get out. It started here."
The same message. Word for word.
"I got that too. Weird..."
"You tried calling her?"
"Yeah. She didn't pick up at first, then she called me."
"And?" Toji leans in, urgent.
"And nothing. She doubled down on the text with no explanation. She said she had no time. She was already leaving."
Toji frowns, rubbing the back of his neck. "What is this? Some kind of prank?"
"Hard to believe that with the news we just got."
"So what do we do now?"
"We go."
It was reckless, but something in Nanago's soul said it was already too late to hesitate.
Nanago turns on his heel, grabs his backpack from the corner of the room and starts filling it up. A few bottles of water. Protein bars. A small bottle of sanitary alcohol. Bandages. Medicine. Whatever he has on hand that might matter later.
Toji watches from the doorway, eyebrows drawn tight.
"So... do you actually believe her?"
Nanago keeps packing.
"Not really. But if there's even a sliver of a chance she knows something we don't… and things are actually as bad as they seem, then this could be life or death." He zips up a side pocket and finally looks up. "Worst-case scenario? We lose a night of sleep commuting. We'll get over it."
Toji nods slowly. "Fair enough. Honestly, when I saw the message and the news back to back, I kinda panicked. The first thing I did was come to you."
Nanago slings the backpack over one shoulder. "Go grab what you need. Meet me back here or call me if anything happens."
"Yeah. Got it."
Toji spins around and bolts down the stairwell, footsteps echoing through the concrete hall.
About ten minutes pass. After gathering their things, Nanago and Toji meet on the street. As they walk toward the main road, the silence is almost oppressive.
The main street stretches out ahead of them, empty and eerie under the night sky.
Nanago smirks. "So. We don't have a car. We didn't really plan this out, did we?"
Toji laughs. "Spontaneous is good. I think."
"We probably made the right choice as long as we find a ride."
They scan the road. Still nothing.
Nanago thinks for a moment, then mutters:
"Okay. Suicide mission. First car we see, we jump in front of it. I mean... they have to stop, right?"
Toji chuckles nervously.
"Yeah. They... they have to."
"We'll have to convince them we know something they don't. That we're worth trusting. That they should pick up two strangers and flee the city in the middle of a lockdown."
"That... sounds insane."
"It is. But what's the alternative? We stay here and wait? No way we make it far on foot. We have to give it a shot."
A few more minutes crawl by. Then, finally, a car approaches in the distance.
"Quick. This is it."
They sprint into the road, waving their arms. The car screeches to a halt, tires squealing. The driver slams the brakes just in time.
A girl, probably in her twenties, leans out the window clearly alarmed.
"Are you two out of your damn minds?! Do you have a death wish?"
Nanago quickly responds.
"I know we seem crazy. But if we're crazy enough to do this, maybe we've got a good enough reason. May we come to your window?"
She glares at them, exasperated. Then sighs.
"Fine. Move."
They rush to the driver's side window. Nanago explains the message, who it came from, and how they packed up and decided to leave.
"So, let me get this straight. The city goes on lockdown. A classmate sends you a cryptic message. Doesn't elaborate further. And you don't think it's a prank?"
"That was our first thought, naturally." Toji chimes in, followed by Nanago.
"But what if it's not? Look, we know how this sounds. But if there's even a shred of truth in it, maybe we're saving ourselves. From what? We don't know. But we're committed now."
She looks them over. Silent. Then leans back, thinking.
"And you thought jumping in front of a car would get you a ride?"
Another pause. She exhales slowly.
"Well... you're in luck. I live alone. Got no one waiting on me. Work's off anyway, thanks to the lockdown. And... I hate my job, so that's not a loss."
She gives a half-smile, tired but not unkind.
"Now, picking up two strangers in the middle of the night is probably in the top five dumbest things I've ever done, but you don't give me bad vibes. And maybe I just don't want to be alone with this going down."
She unlocks the doors with a click.
"Get in before I change my mind. Name's Soja, by the way."
Nanago slips into the passenger seat without hesitation. Toji wastes no time either, yanking open the back door and collapsing into the seat.
As the car rolls back onto the road, the girl casts a quick glance at Nanago, then checks Toji in the rearview mirror.
"Alright, mystery boys. I'm already breaking the rules for you, might as well know where the hell we're headed. So, where exactly are we going?"
Nanago stares ahead, voice low.
"Otaka."
She raises an eyebrow, grip steady on the wheel.
"That's… not close."
"That's kind of the point." Toji murmurs.
"Figures. Guess we're all running from something tonight."
"So." Toji said, leaning forward from the back seat. "What's your deal?"
Soja responds after a beat. "Twenty-three. Accountant. I hate numbers."
Nanago glanced at her, something about the way she said it making him chuckle.
They drive on, slowly becoming acquainted.
Toji grins. "Well, Soja... thank you for this very questionable act of kindness."
"You're welcome. If I die because of this, I'm coming back to haunt you both. Just so we're clear."
"To be fair..." Nanago says. "If things really are as bad as they seem, we'll all be ghosts soon enough."
"Very comforting."
The conversation faded again, replaced by the low growl of tires against the pavement.
And then, something strange.
The world outside flickered.
Just once.
So quick that if they blinked, they might've missed it. The streetlamps went out. The sky dimmed unnaturally and then snapped back into place like nothing had happened.
Toji sat forward. "Did you guys-"
"Yeah." Nanago said.
"I saw it too." Soja added, her voice quieter now.
They drove a few more meters in silence, tension thickening by the second.
Then it happened again.
A longer flicker this time.
The stars vanished entirely, like someone had shut off the sky.
The car jerked slightly as Soja's grip tightened on the wheel.
"What the hell is going on?"
No one answered.
Because how do you even begin to explain a blinking sky?
Somewhere between one blink and the next, the night changed.