Seven Days Until We Disappear.

Chapter 1

The Meeting.

Rain had been falling since sunset.

By the time Aira Minase left the café, the streets were nearly empty. She pulled her jacket closer around herself and hurried toward the train station, keeping her old silver camera tucked safely beneath her coat.

She had always loved taking photographs of ordinary things.

Rain on windows. Empty streets. People laughing without realizing someone was watching. Moments that would disappear before anyone noticed them.

Maybe that was why she liked photography so much.

A photograph could keep something from disappearing.

When Aira reached the station, she checked the departure board.

The last train had been delayed.

She stared at the screen for a few seconds before sighing.

“Of course.”

She found a dry place beneath the station roof and sat on a bench. There was almost no one around.

Aira took out her camera.

She pointed it toward the empty tracks and pressed the shutter.

Click.

The photograph showed nothing unusual. Wet rails, pale station lights, and rain falling beyond the platform.

She smiled faintly.

Then she noticed the young man sitting several seats away.

He was alone.

His dark hair was slightly wet, and he wore a simple black jacket. An old analog watch was fastened around his wrist.

He wasn't looking at his phone.

He wasn't reading.

He was staring at the station clock.

Aira glanced at it, then back at him.

There was something unusual about his expression.

He looked worried.

After watching him for another moment, Aira finally spoke.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

The young man looked at her.

“No.”

His answer was so quick that Aira almost laughed.

“Then why do you keep looking at the clock?”

He looked up again.

“I don't know.”

“You don't know?”

He shook his head.

“Sometimes I do things without realizing it.”

Aira smiled.

“That sounds dangerous.”

“Probably.”

She laughed quietly.

The young man looked surprised by her reaction.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Aira shook her head.

“You're just strange.”

A small smile appeared on his face.

“So I've been told.”

For a moment, the station didn't feel quite so lonely.

Then Aira's camera suddenly clicked.

She looked down.

She hadn't touched it.

“What?”

The young man stood and came a little closer.

“Did you take a picture?”

“No.”

Aira pressed the screen.

It remained black.

She frowned and tried again.

Nothing.

“Maybe it's broken.”

She turned the camera over, checking the battery.

Then the screen suddenly came alive.

A photograph appeared.

Aira stopped breathing.

It was the station.

The same platform.

The same rain.

The same lights.

And two people were standing beneath the roof.

Aira.

And the young man.

Her fingers tightened around the camera.

“That can't be.”

The young man stared at the photograph.

His expression changed.

“You've seen this?”

He didn't answer immediately.

Finally, he said, “Yes.”

“When?”

“I don't know.”

Aira looked at him.

“That doesn't make sense.”

“I know.”

He pointed toward the photograph.

“I've seen this place before.”

“You mean in a photograph?”

“No.”

His voice became quieter.

“In a dream.”

Aira didn't know what to say.

The station lights flickered.

For a moment, everything around them became strangely still.

Aira looked toward the clock.

The second hand wasn't moving.

Then the clock began moving backward.

Aira stared.

“What is happening?”

The young man didn't answer.

The lights flickered again.

Then everything returned to normal.

The rain continued.

The station sounds returned.

The clock was moving normally again.

But something had changed.

The young man looked down at his wrist.

His old watch had stopped.

Aira noticed a strange mark on her own wrist.

A small black circle had appeared on her skin.

Inside it were seven thin white lines.

Her heart began beating faster.

“Did you have that before?”

The young man looked at her wrist.

His face became pale.

Then he pulled up his sleeve.

He had the same mark.

Aira stared at him.

“What is this?”

“I don't know.”

“You have one too.”

“I know.”

Neither of them spoke.

Aira rubbed her wrist.

The mark didn't disappear.

She took out her phone.

No signal.

She frowned and tried again.

Nothing.

The young man checked his phone.

He had no signal either.

Then Aira noticed something even stranger.

Her contact list was changing.

Names were disappearing.

She stared at the screen.

Her mother's number was gone.

Her best friend Hana's number was gone.

Several university contacts had disappeared too.

“No…”

Aira opened her photographs.

Her stomach tightened.

Pictures of her were disappearing.

One after another.

The young man was staring at his own phone.

His photographs were disappearing too.

Aira looked at him.

“This is happening to you too.”

He nodded.

Neither of them understood what was happening.

But now they knew one thing.

They were connected.

“What is your name?” Aira asked.

“Ren.”

“Ren what?”

“Kisaragi.”

“Aira.”

He looked at her.

“Aira Minase.”

Something changed in his eyes.

He repeated her name quietly.

“Aira…”

She noticed.

“You know me?”

“No.”

“Then why did you react like that?”

Ren looked toward the tracks.

“I've heard your name before.”

“Where?”

He hesitated.

“In my dreams.”

Aira stared at him.

“What kind of dream?”

“There's a train station.”

Her expression changed.

“This station?”

Ren nodded.

“And there's always a girl standing across the tracks.”

Aira's voice became softer.

“What does she look like?”

“I never saw her face.”

“Why?”

“I don't know.”

He looked at Aira.

“But tonight was different.”

Aira felt a chill run through her.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw her face.”

He didn't look away.

“It was yours.”

Aira's camera suddenly turned on by itself.

The photograph on the screen changed.

A white number appeared in the corner.

Seven.

Aira blinked.

The number disappeared.

Then another image appeared.

This time, it showed an empty train platform.

Aira looked at Ren.

“What is this?”

Before he could answer, the station speaker came alive.

Static filled the station.

Then a woman's voice whispered through it.

“Aira…”

Aira froze.

She knew that voice.

She hadn't heard it in years.

Her sister.

Aira stood slowly.

“No…”

Ren looked at her.

“What happened?”

The voice came again.

“Aira…”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“That's my sister.”

Ren stared at the speaker.

The voice became weaker.

Then came the words that made Aira's blood run cold.

“Don't let him get on the train.”

A distant light appeared through the rain.

A train approached the station.

It stopped in front of them.

The doors opened.

There was no one inside.

Not a single passenger.

Aira didn't move.

Ren stared into the empty carriage.

Something was written across one of the windows.

YOU HAVE SEVEN DAYS LEFT TOGETHER.

Aira felt the world around her disappear.

Seven days.

She looked down at her wrist.

One of the seven lines was gone.

Only six remained.

Ren looked at his own wrist.

The same thing had happened to him.

The train doors closed.

The words vanished.

The train disappeared into the darkness.

Aira stood silently.

Ren finally spoke.

“Tomorrow, we will find out what this means.”

Aira looked at him.

“And if we can't?”

“Then we keep looking.”

She stared at the strange mark on her wrist.

Six days.

She didn't know who Ren Kisaragi really was.

She didn't know why her sister's voice had returned.

She didn't know why the train had brought them together.

But she knew one thing.

For some reason, the thought of facing those six days alone frightened her.

She looked at Ren.

He was already looking at her.

Neither of them said anything.

Outside, the rain continued to fall.

And somewhere beyond the station, something was waiting for them.