Novel: 'Visit from the Future'

Synopsis

Stuck in a rut with his job search and confined to his room amidst loneliness and frustration, Ren hears a sound one night that seems to arrive 'a few seconds before' his own actions.

The sound of the refrigerator door closing, the sound of a chair being pulled out. Everything rings out as if it were anticipating the future. The anomaly soon affects Ren's own body, and he becomes tormented by the sensation that even his body, which should be moving by his own will, is being guided and manipulated by these sounds.

Is it just a hallucination, or is the 'sound' a warning of something creeping in from the other side of this world?

Ren uses this power in search of a way to survive, but it only isolates him further. The sounds bring both success and terror, salvation and ruin. Is the 'sound of the future' ringing in Ren's ears a signpost of destiny, or a bell tolling for his destruction?

Chapter 1: The Anomaly Begins

Night. A quiet, one-room apartment.

Ren Yamamoto lives in a small apartment in a corner of Tokyo, a building thirty years old.

The rent is cheap, but the walls are thin, and the sounds of his neighbors' lives often reach his ears. Occasionally, he hears the happy laughter of a young couple or the coughing of an elderly couple, sounds that only seem to highlight Ren's loneliness.

But tonight of all nights, there were no such sounds. An eerie silence. Even the sound of cars outside felt strangely distant today. A sense of anxiety enveloped Ren, as if he alone had been left behind by the world.

In the room, the only light source was a laptop placed on an old wooden desk. Its screen illuminated the dim room in a pale blue light. That light alone seemed to be barely marking the passage of time in this stagnant space.

Ren stared intently at the job application form on the screen. Name, date of birth, educational background, qualifications—he could fill those in without any problem. But the self-promotion section remained blank. It was as if he couldn't find the words to sell himself to others.

The cursor was blinking.

In the center of the blank space, like silent pressure. The blinking of that small light only fueled Ren's sense of frustration. '...Is there anything... anything at all I can write?'

He muttered to himself and leaned back deeply into his chair.

The chair creaked with a sharp, grating sound. That cheap noise seemed to resonate with the anxiety inside Ren's heart.

Ren Yamamoto. Twenty-four years old. It was almost a year since he had graduated from university. He had made excuses about the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic hindering his job search, and had escaped into part-time work, but he had quit that a few months ago as well. Days without goals simply drifted by, and an indescribable sense of impatience only continued to pile up inside him.

Before he knew it, he was unemployed. He lived by whittling away at his savings, telling his parents and friends only that he was "doing his best," while hiding away in his room. In truth, he wanted to ask someone for help, but he couldn't put it into words well, and in the end, he would just retreat back into his shell of loneliness.

"How long do you intend to keep living like this..."

The moment he finished speaking, he was slightly surprised to notice how dry his own voice sounded. It was as if it were proof that he hadn't exchanged words with anyone for a long time.

His throat was parched.

Wondering if there was anything left in the refrigerator, he headed toward the kitchen. Every time his feet touched the cold floor, a faint, snapping sound echoed.

That tiny sound was the only thing that seemed to signal his existence within the silence.

A small refrigerator sat in the corner of the kitchen. It was at the very moment he reached out his hand toward the silver handle.

—Thud.

Somewhere, there was a sound like something closing.

No, to be precise—it was the sound of the refrigerator door closing.

"...Huh?" Bewildered, Ren stopped in his tracks.

He looked around, but there was nothing there. Behind him, there were only walls and shelves. The room, lacking any sense of daily life, felt as if time had stopped.

He returned his gaze to the refrigerator in front of him. It was closed.

I haven't even opened it yet.

And yet—it felt as if the refrigerator door I was about to open had already made the sound of closing. It was a strange sensation, as if the sound of the future had leaked just a little bit into the present.

Ren opens the refrigerator door without a word. A slightly heavy creak echoes through the room.

A weak orange light spills from inside, revealing a convenience store pudding bought last night and a plastic bottle of barley tea sitting side by side.

As he takes out the barley tea and the pudding, he recalls that 'sound' from a moment ago.

He was certain—he was certain he had heard it. The sound of it closing, a few seconds before he actually opened it.

"…That's impossible."

It was just his imagination. It had to be. Lack of sleep, tinnitus, a mistake. By thinking this, Ren tried to escape from this strange feeling.

As if to convince himself, he grabs a spoon and returns to the sofa.

The sweetness of the convenience store pudding felt hollow.

It was a sensation as if, even though he put it in his mouth, it never reached his stomach. He absentmindedly picks up his smartphone and opens his social media.

"Celebrating my job offer with yakiniku!" "Bought a DSLR with my first paycheck!" Such posts flow through his timeline. The brilliant daily lives of others highlight the contrast with his own monochrome existence.

Ren doesn't 'like' each post, nor does he stop scrolling; he just 'watches.' Like a bystander observing events in a distant world.

—"I failed my job hunt. I'll try again next year."

Suddenly, his eyes caught a post from a friend he wasn't even that close with. Those honest words pricked his chest like a small thorn.

Ren put his phone down. A heavy sigh echoed in the quiet room.

He, too, actually wanted to write that. He wanted to tell someone that. But he couldn't. His pride wouldn't allow him to show weakness.

"It's easier to just act tough..."

He looks up at the ceiling.

The yellowed fluorescent light. The stained corner of the ceiling. The low, humming rotation sound of the ventilation fan.

Everything in the room felt as if it were stopping only his own time.

Ren takes a shower and gets into bed. Wrapped in his futon, he launches a radio app on his smartphone. A personality with a calm voice is reading today's news. That voice alone was his thin connection to the outside world.

But it doesn't sink in. The content of the news felt like events from a distant country.

When he closes his eyes, he remembers the sense of unease from earlier.

—Thud.

Once again, that sound echoes in his mind. It felt less like a sound in reality and more like something speaking directly to his consciousness.

Looking at the clock, it is 2:37 AM. The cold light of the digital display accentuates the lonely hours.

Suddenly, his ears become sharp.

The sound of the ventilation fan, the motor sound of the refrigerator, the faint sound of footsteps from the floor above. The subtle sounds he would normally never pay attention to sound strangely loud.

Everything sounds strangely clear.

Only the sense of unease was trembling deep inside his ears. It was an unpleasant sensation, like a small insect crawling.

Chapter 2: Continuing Omens

Several days passed. Since the sound from the refrigerator, no strange phenomena had occurred. It seemed as though peaceful times had returned, but a shadow of anxiety that could not be wiped away remained in Ren's heart.

Ren told himself that it must have been a lack of sleep or an auditory hallucination, and tried to focus on his job hunting once again.

However, the sense of unease that had sprouted once clung to the corner of his mind and would not leave. He opened his laptop screen and entered his criteria into the job site's search bar. But his heart was not moved by any of the listings.

(No matter how desperately I write a self-promotion for any of these job openings, I won't even make it to the interview stage anyway.)

He closed his laptop with a feeling of half-resignation. The weather was unusually nice that day.

Early afternoon. Warm light was streaming into the room. Ren lay down on his bed and opened a novel app on his smartphone. He traced the screen with his finger as he read on through the story. The events within the story were a means of escapism for him.

The rhythm of reading was creating a pleasant silence in the room—that was when it happened.

—Ping.

Suddenly, his smartphone notification sound rang out. The sound felt unusually loud, as if it were cutting through the silence. He looked at the screen reflexively, but nothing was displayed.

"...?"

A few seconds later, the notification finally appeared. It was a reply on social media.

"Wait, it just rang, didn't it?"

He frowned slightly, but left it at that. However, that phenomenon began to occur frequently from that day on.

—Beep beep beep.

In the morning, the alarm he had set on his smartphone went off.

He woke up to it, and when he looked at the screen, it was not yet the time he had set for the alarm.

A few seconds later, the screen lit up, and it matched the displayed time. It was as if time was arriving just a little bit late, chasing after his perception.

(Isn't this smartphone display lagging too much?)

Despite feeling a sense of unease, Ren tried to brush it off, thinking, 'Well, it might just be a common bug.' By thinking that, he was trying to escape from finding any meaning in this strange phenomenon.

However, it happened on the TV as well.

On an afternoon when he had a variety show left on, the laughter played before the performers spoke, and then the studio's reaction was shown.

Sound first, video later.

(It's like watching a satellite broadcast with a bad signal...)

The voice arrived before anyone's mouth moved, and the laughter occurred before the reaction. Yet, there seemed to be no problem with the signal, and the video never cut out.

Ren turned off the TV once and looked out the window.

The sky was clear. There wasn't even the sound of birds chirping. Only the silence seemed to weigh heavily upon him.

In that silence, only a definite 'discrepancy' was eroding his world. It was an eerie presence that, while invisible, was surely distorting his daily life.

That night, while holding his smartphone and casually browsing social media, the name of a friend from his university days caught his eye. On an impulse, he sent a DM, and a light exchange began.

'What have you been up to lately?' 'Enjoying the NEET life.' 'Haha, me too.'

The exchange continued with laughter. The trivial conversation lightened his heart for the first time in a while.

For a while after that, nothing strange happened. Smartphone notifications, video playback, everything was normal.

The sound and video were perfectly synchronized.

Ren suddenly noticed it. (Wait... nothing is lagging now.) It was as if that strange phenomenon had been a lie.

A few hours later. --Ping.

Once again, the notification sound rang out first, and the notification appeared after a delay. The sound echoed emptily, as if mocking his loneliness. (Again... the lag has started again.)

He couldn't even imagine what would happen next. A premonition that something unknown was closing in on him tightened his chest.

Chapter 3: Moving Body

Morning, before the sun had fully risen.

Ren woke up earlier than usual. He woke up as if called by something, even before his phone alarm went off. It was an unpleasant awakening, as if he had been dragged out of a deep sleep.

Lying in bed, he stared blankly at the ceiling and listened intently.

The sound of a crow cawing outside the window. Then, the sound of the ventilation fan quietly starting to spin.

He felt that since last night, something had changed decisively.

Ren quietly sat up and headed to the kitchen in his pajamas. He put instant coffee powder into a cup and poured hot water from the pot. As he watched the steam rise, his thoughts were still not fully awake, remaining hazy.

At that moment,

--Creeak.

The sound of a chair being pulled out in the living room.

"...?"

He turned around, but no one was there. The chair hadn't moved.

At that moment, Ren's body began to move toward the living room on its own. Even though he was supposed to be walking of his own volition, a strange sensation remained, as if he were being moved by something else.

He stood in front of the chair, pulled it out, and sat down in silence. (...Did I just move of my own free will?)

He tried to think about it, but the scent of coffee immediately brushed past his nose, pulling his consciousness back to it.

The 'sound comes first'—he had already experienced that phenomenon, but this was the first time he felt as if even his own movements were being predetermined.

That afternoon.

Ren was tired of paperwork and opened a novel app. He opened the continuation of a short story he had been reading before and sank into the sofa. He tried to escape into the world of the story, but the anomalies of reality would not allow it.

(Something... I can't focus on the story...)

In the corner of his mind, the sense of unease from earlier was still nagging at him.

--Snap. A dry sound echoed on the desk.

The moment he looked up in surprise, what he saw was a mosquito landed on the desk. For just a second or two.

After that, his right hand unconsciously slapped the desk with a snap. Right where the mosquito had been. It felt less like a reflexive action and more like he was being driven by a stronger, irresistible force. (...It's happening again.)

The sound of the action rang out first, and his own movement was being 'matched' to it. It was as if someone were predicting his actions and signaling them with sound.

He felt as though there should have been intent behind the movement, but he was moving as if chasing after the sound. He had a chilling sensation, as if his body were being remotely controlled.

It was as if his body were merely tracing a predetermined route, matching the 'foreshadowed movement'.

Is the 'sound playing his future self in advance'? Or is the 'sound giving him orders'?

Either way, his own senses could no longer be called normal. A deep fear, as if he were becoming unable to remain himself.

That night. After taking a shower, Ren opened his social media again while drinking cold barley tea. Only the light from the screen illuminated his presence in the dimly lit room.

His scrolling finger suddenly stopped.

"#ExperienceOfAlienation" It was a tweet from some psychiatrist.

"Do you ever feel like your thoughts or movements are 'not your own'?"

Ren read the sentence over and over. He felt a strong shock, as if his inner self were being peered into. (...Am I becoming like that too?)

However, the phenomenon was "too clear" to be diagnosed as an illness. It was not something vague like auditory hallucinations or delusions, but rather it invaded his reality as a distinct sound.

The sound of an alarm. The sound of the refrigerator. The sound of a chair. The sound of swatting a mosquito. All of them "actually happened." And they were "heard beforehand."

It was neither an auditory hallucination nor a delusion. It was an undeniable reality captured by his five senses.

The problem was that his actions were being pulled by those sounds.

Everything that happened in the room began to feel as if it were "instructing" his future.

While sitting on the sofa, Ren tried moving his arm several times. Bending his elbow, clenching his hand. Snapping his fingers. The sound, naturally, occurred "simultaneously with the action."

──But that is not the problem.

Next, Ren tried moving his hand slowly on the futon, deliberately trying not to make any sound. The moving fingertips, and the slight sound of the cushion sinking just a moment later.

That felt "normal."

But the problem is that "the sound of an action not yet taken" appears before he does it.

Suddenly, he also realized that he sometimes felt "a presence of something" before a sound occurred. The sensation of the wooden floor creaking before he walked. The feeling of a chair being pulled out before he sat down. All of them were a few seconds early.

It started to feel as if something knew Ren's future actions and was playing the sounds ahead of time.

Ren realized that his breathing had become shallow.

A tightness in his chest, a sensation as if he were running out of oxygen. In this room, he alone was 'lagging behind'.

Led by the sounds, he was being forced to catch up. Fear began to spread slowly deep within his chest.

Chapter 4: The Power to Test

The next morning, Ren suddenly thought.

(...If I can hear the sounds beforehand, couldn't I make some effective use of that?)

He hears sounds before they happen. Ever since he first became aware of this strange phenomenon, Ren had only ever perceived it as eerie. However, he began to wonder if he could apply this mysterious power to something.

It was less of a mere desire and more akin to a spirit of inquiry, a wish to fully understand this special power and make it his own.

Suddenly, he remembered the tennis he had been obsessed with during his university days. (With this power, wouldn't I be able to tell where my opponent is going to hit...?)

He immediately invited a friend from his university tennis club to play a match on the court for the first time in a while. His friend served. Ren got into position. He focused his consciousness, waiting for the 'premonitory sound' of the ball hitting the racket.

──Pop.

He heard the sound of his friend's racket catching the ball. However, the 'sound from the future' that should have indicated the ball's trajectory did not come at all.

It was the same during the rally. Although he could hear the sounds of his friend hitting the ball, he heard absolutely nothing that would signal where the ball was coming next. Moreover, not just the rally sounds, but everything was normal.

In the end, I was defeated by my friend just like in the old days, and my attempt to apply it to tennis was a complete failure. However, I was more relieved that the strange phenomenon had stopped.

On the way home that day, Ren took the train alone because his friend was heading in a different direction, but perhaps due to the exhaustion from tennis, he fell asleep on the train and missed his stop.

He woke up to the announcement that the train had arrived at the terminal station and the sound of the train doors opening.

(The terminal...? Did I miss my stop...)

Ren stood up to get off the train, but the doors had not opened yet.

──I had already heard the sound of the doors opening. The sound is reaching me before it happens again.

Along with a chilling sensation, a part of me felt a little relieved that this power had returned.

Thinking that if he could still use this power, the next thing Ren considered was applying it to his job hunting.

(Maybe I can hear the interviewer's voice before they speak...?)

If that were the case, he could know the questions in advance and respond while gauging the other person's reactions. It might become a secret weapon to secure a job offer.

Remembering the interview scheduled for the very next day, he felt he had found a way to escape this meaningless life.

The next day's interview. He entered the interview room, took a deep breath in front of the multiple interviewers, and waited in his heart for the questions to be 'heard in advance'.

"Now, please give us your self-introduction."

One of the interviewers said this in a calm voice. Ren strained his ears, but the next question did not reach him in advance. Only the coughing of other interviewers and the sound of pens caught his ears. (...I can't hear anything in advance.)

Once the self-introduction was over, another interviewer began to ask a question. 'Could you please tell us your reasons for applying to our company?' As expected, that question did not 'reach him in advance'.

In the end, Ren had no choice but to weave his words on the spot, just like the other job seekers.

His plan to know the interviewer's words beforehand had completely failed, and the interview ended with mediocre results.

A hypothesis surfaced in his mind.

'The lag only stops when I am connected to someone else' (Could it be...)

Ren felt a chill. 'The sound is heard in advance only when I am not being watched by anyone.'

Was his world operating under different rules only during his 'time alone'?

He did not yet know what that meant. However, that anomaly was already becoming his 'reality.' An inescapable, strange reality.

Chapter 5: The Disappearing Victims

That night, as Ren was browsing online news as usual, an article about an unsolved case from several years ago caught his eye.

'Metropolitan Serial Disappearance Case: Still No Leads'.

It was a casual headline, but as he read through the article, Ren's eyes were drawn to a strange sentence.

'A small number of testimonies have been gathered from residents near the victims, stating that they heard 'some kind of eerie sound' just before the disappearances...'.

An eerie sound. That phrase stuck in Ren's mind. It felt like it had something in common with the phenomenon he was experiencing, where the sound came first. It was an unsettling coincidence that he couldn't dismiss as mere chance.

Ren began scouring past news articles and summary sites about the incidents. The victims' ages, occupations, and living areas—there were almost no commonalities. They were disparate elements that seemed as if they had been chosen at random.

However, as he persistently dug deeper, a few small points began to emerge. Among the victims, there were several people who, like Ren, lived alone. And there was no one around who knew their daily routines.

And one of them had a name that he felt he had seen somewhere before.

The next morning, Ren asked the building manager to let him see the list of past tenants for the thirty-year-old apartment building where he lived.

Because of privacy concerns, he couldn't get detailed information, but when he mentioned the name featured in the news, there was a record confirming that the person had indeed lived in this room a few years ago.

The reason it looked familiar was, after all, because they had lived here.

A chilling shudder ran down his spine. It was as if something cold had crept up from behind him.

Furthermore, he went around asking the neighbors about that former tenant. While tracing back old memories, one elderly woman said quietly, 'Ah, that child... they often talked about strange sounds. They said, "I can hear sounds from the future coming from somewhere."' The old woman's eyes seemed to be staring into the distant past.

Sounds from the future. That phrase pierced deep into Ren's chest. It was as if it were describing his own experience exactly.

Unable to sit still, Ren began his own investigation into the series of disappearances. He read through newspaper articles from that time at the library and gathered information about the cases on internet bulletin boards and social media.

While there were many absurd posts unrelated to the cases, he found a few testimonies that caught his attention.

'Near the last place the missing person was seen, I heard a sound like something falling, even though no one was there.' 'Late at night, I heard faint footsteps in a park where no one should have been'...

He fell into the illusion that the 'sounds from the future' happening to him were also being heard at the scenes of past incidents.

Desperate for any lead, Ren visited a retired detective who had once been in charge of the case. The elderly detective seemed to have lingering regrets about the investigation, which had reached a dead end.

'A strange sound, you say... Yes, there was indeed testimony to that effect. At first, we thought it was auditory hallucinations caused by the victim's mental instability, but...' As the detective listened to Ren's story, he began to look suspicious.

His sharp gaze seemed to be trying to see into the depths of Ren's soul. 'Could it be that you, too, hear something?'

The detective's words suddenly made Ren afraid of being in the same situation. Overcome by a sudden terror, Ren fled from the spot as fast as possible.

Ignoring the detective's call to wait, Ren just wanted to get away with all his might. He was driven by an intense urge, as if something invisible were chasing him from behind.

Chapter 6: Misleading Advice

For the next three days, Ren did not speak a word to anyone.

He only nodded at the clerk at the supermarket checkout. Even with his smartphone in hand, no notifications arrived, and he had no desire to contact anyone. It was as if he were shutting himself away in silence, cutting off his connection to the outside world.

During that time, the 'sound' increasingly encroached upon Ren's life.

The moment he went to turn off the bath water, he would hear the 'sound of the water stopping' a few seconds before it actually did, or the sound of a plastic bottle cap opening would ring out before he even reached for it.

It was as if the sounds were 'foreshadowing' everything. The order of actions and sounds was reversed. It felt as if his own actions were merely playing back a recorded video, lacking any sense of reality.

Complete isolation in his room, with no contact with anyone. Was that loneliness amplifying this strange phenomenon? Was that the cause?

Unable to bear it any longer, Ren picked up his smartphone. Suddenly, a name popped into his head.

—Shinji.

He was one of the few friends I had from my university days. We weren't particularly close, but we often sat next to each other and talked at seminar drinking parties, and we kept in touch occasionally even after graduation. He was one of the few 'others' I could talk to with ease. I wonder how he's doing now.

When I opened LINE, the last exchange was from six months ago. To Shinji's message asking, 'Want to grab a drink sometime?', I had replied, 'I can't today, I'll let you know when I'm free.' Considering my current situation, that polite, dismissive reply felt terribly hollow.

Ren hesitated, but then typed a new message. 'Long time no see. Can you talk for a bit now?'

A few minutes later, it was marked as read. 'Oh, Ren! Long time no see. I'm free right now. Want to call?'

The moment the notification arrived, the air in Ren's room 'changed.' The heavy, oppressive air shifted just a little. The hum of the ventilation fan, the operating sound of the refrigerator, the sound of cars driving outside the window—all of those sounds were now being heard 'correctly.'

Ren immediately pressed the 'Call' button. 'Hey, Ren? Can you hear me?' '...Yeah, I can hear you. Long time no see.'

The moment Shinji's voice reached his ears, Ren let out a sigh. It was a sense of relief, as if a little moisture had returned to his parched heart.

'Somehow, hearing your voice properly in the "now" is a relief.' 'Huh? What? Ren, where are you right now? Are you doing okay?'

'Yeah, well... it's hard to say if I'm doing okay.' 'Your voice sounds kind of rough, doesn't it? Actually, to be honest, my job hunting isn't going well either...' Shinji continued in a lighthearted tone.

Ren felt like he was being pulled back into the air of reality little by little. It was the sensation of having a hand extended to him from the edge of loneliness.

'Actually... I wanted to ask for your advice on something.' 'Oh, what is it? Job hunting stuff? Love advice? If you're asking to borrow money, I'm going to laugh.'

'...If I tell you something strange, promise you won't be put off and will just listen?' 'What is it? You've really got me curious now.'

Ren exhaled. He made up his mind to confess this strange experience. 'Lately... inside my house, I hear sounds "before" they happen.' 'Hmm? What do you mean?'

'For example, I hear the sound of the refrigerator opening before I actually open it, or I hear the sound of a chair being pulled out before I stand up...'

Shinji was silent for a moment. The air on the other side of the phone felt like it had tightened just a little bit.

'...You mean you can see the future?' 'No, I can't see it. I only hear the sounds.'

'That's enough! That's future prediction! Why don't you try horse racing? Horse racing! Pachinko! Stocks!' Shinji was laughing.

That optimistic reaction felt like something from a distant world to Ren. But Ren couldn't laugh. What was happening to him wasn't that simple.

'I'm being serious here...' 'No, I'm being serious too. If you're really hearing sounds from the future, that's crazy. That's a talent, man.'

'...But this phenomenon only happens when I'm alone.' 'Huh?'

'Like when I'm talking on the phone like this, or messaging someone on social media, the sounds stop. They don't drift.' 'So, it's like a superpower that happens when you're lonely?'

'...Cut it out, don't put it like that.' 'Sorry, sorry. But, put another way, it means it doesn't happen if you're not alone, right?'

'Yeah. But I can't stay connected to someone forever...' 'I see. That's kind of interesting. It's like something occult.' Even as he said that, Shinji kept a distance of 'just for fun' somewhere in his tone.

Ren felt a little relieved, and a little alienated. (This feeling might not get through to Shinji.)

Even so, Ren was grateful. Because while on the phone, 'nothing happened' at all.

No drifting sounds, no sounds from the future, nothing. When the call ended, the air in the room returned to silence. And the silence that visited again weighed heavily on Ren.

And that silence—it felt like a precursor to something starting again. Ren couldn't move for a while, still holding his smartphone. Like the calm before a storm, an eerie premonition covered his heart.

Chapter 7: Leaking Desires

The next morning, when Ren woke up, he sat in front of his computer without even fixing his bedhead.

Several news notifications had arrived on his smartphone during the night, but he just glanced through them all. The events of the real world didn't matter to him right now.

Instead, I opened a search page. The search terms were 'gambling quick cash' and 'casino instant results'.

The words Shinji said to me over the phone yesterday wouldn't leave my ears. 'If you can know the future, you can make money.' That casual remark felt like an exit from loneliness to Ren right now.

'Knowing the future...' Under normal circumstances, that would be an absurd thing to say. But Ren had already experienced the phenomenon of 'hearing sounds before they happen'.

What if those sounds were 'the sound of a roulette ball dropping,' 'the sound of cards being dealt,' or 'the sound of a slot machine hitting the jackpot'—? If he could know the outcome of a game a few seconds early, he could certainly 'turn it into money.' Those few seconds might just change his future.

The important thing was finding a place where he could act alone and get results in a short amount of time. Gambling that required cooperation with others or a long time to play didn't fit the criteria.

Ren spent several hours researching and found information on a suburban-style casino on the outskirts of Tokyo. It was a members-only 'simulated casino'—a gray-area facility whose legality was questionable. It might be the last refuge for people dreaming of getting rich quick.

Ren changed his clothes and checked his wallet. Only a few tens of thousands of yen remained. The last bastion of his savings, which had been steadily dwindling since he became colorless. 'Let's go...'

His heart beat slightly faster. A complex rhythm, a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

By the time he transferred trains and arrived at his destination, the sun had already begun to set. The sunset sky seemed to stir his sense of impatience.

The casino was on the third floor of a multi-tenant building, and the faint sound of voices and music leaked from behind the heavy door. It felt like an entrance to another dimension, swirling with desire and regret.

He presented his ID at the reception and exchanged cash for chips. (I've never been to a place like this before...)

His stomach ached with tension, but there was another kind of heat deep in his chest. If he could see the future with this, then this power might be the only way to turn his life around.

Once inside, table games were lined up, and a dealer greeted him with a polite smile. How much desire and disappointment, he wondered, was hidden behind that smile?

Ren sat down at a blackjack table. There were no other players. A lonely space was exactly where his ability would be best utilized.

"Are you alone? Is this your first time?" At the dealer's words, Ren gave a small nod.

The dealer shuffles the cards.

—Shhh.

He heard that sound first. A dry sound, announcing the future. There was a lag of a few seconds before the cards were actually dealt. (As I thought... it's coming.)

He hears the sound before the dealer's movements. It is as if he is watching in slow motion, with reality catching up to the sound.

The cards dealt were a "10" and an "8".

The dealer's visible card was a "6".

A few seconds later, two cards were dealt to the dealer, and he heard the sound of chips being pushed toward him. (If that's the case, standing is fine...)

A victory just as he had heard. It was a small victory, but Ren felt his fingertips tremble slightly. The premonition of success burned quietly inside him. I can win.

In the next round, too, he heard the sound first. The shuffle, the sound of dealing, the sound of chips being placed. Everything reached his ears before it happened in reality. The sounds of the future became the compass guiding his actions.

Of course, no matter how much you know the sounds in advance, there are times when you lose regardless.

However, since he can hear the sounds ahead of time, there is no doubt that he has an advantage.

Gradually, the amount of chips increased, piling up on the table. The tension turned into excitement. A faint expectation of striking it rich stirred his heart. (I can win. This easily...)

The depths of his body began to heat up. "That's amazing. It looks like you're on a roll." "..."

Without replying to the dealer's words, the "sound of cards being shuffled" that he heard behind the dealer's voice was already telling him the next result. The sound of the future mercilessly announced the next victory.

That night, Ren headed home having turned 30,000 yen into ten times that amount. The weight of the stack of bills felt heavy in his hand.

The next day, I headed to the same casino. This time, to the roulette table.

The sound tells me the answer first. Clatter, clatter, clatter... click. Murmur... Judging by the reactions of the surrounding customers, it's red. The sound of the future announces the color of victory.

After I hear the sound of the ball stopping, the dealer's hands move, and the ball truly comes to a stop.

Red. Victory.

Little by little, the eyes of the customers and staff begin to gather on Ren. 'You're on a winning streak...' '...'

I cannot respond to the voices around me. Cold sweat runs down my back. The more attention I draw, the more the pressure to maintain my solitude increases.

Ren knows that he cannot use this ability unless he is 'alone.' If he talks to someone, the sound will stop right then and there. That is why he avoids eye contact with anyone as much as possible during a game.

The presence of others is a threat that would strip away his only weapon.

Even when spoken to, he responds with something close to ignoring them to maintain his isolation. He was afraid of the sound disappearing. If this strange power were lost, ironically, he would return to his old, lonely life.

This power could change his life. He was afraid of someone 'stopping' it. The fear of losing it was greater than the joy of success.

Back home, Ren stared at the stack of bills he had exchanged his chips for. 'So easily...'

A laugh escaped him. It came more from a sense of unreality than from joy. The sound brings Ren victory. However, that is 'only when no one is watching.' That condition makes his success constantly unstable.

The smell of the stack of bills he had obtained in that way smelled somewhat like iron. Perhaps it was the smell of greed and loneliness.

Chapter 8: The Accelerating Power

Ren had been frequenting the casino. From morning on weekdays, and until the very last minute before closing on holidays—he would move from table to table, racking up wins while avoiding the gaze of the staff. As if chased by time, he greedily devoured his profits.

The sound did not betray him.

The sound always arrived just a little bit early. The sound of cards being shuffled, the sound of the roulette ball bouncing, the sound of chips being flicked. Each one told him of the "future" a few seconds ahead.

However, he could only hear it when he was "alone." There were times when someone would speak to him or look his way, but each time, the sound would stop abruptly, pulling him back into a fifty-fifty gamble.

That was why Ren remained thoroughly isolated. He made no eye contact. He did not speak. He did not interact with anyone. It was as if he were erasing his own existence from that space.

On a weekend when he had earned hundreds of thousands of yen in profit, Ren was finally invited to the VIP floor reserved for high rollers. In a space close to a private room, he faced a dealer who handled high-value chips. It was a special world, where the remnants of a handful of winners and those who had lost vast sums of money drifted.

"Welcome, Mr. Yamamoto." The moment his name was called, a cold chill ran down his back. (They remembered my name... this might be bad.)

But the sound still came.

—Shhh. The sound of cards being shuffled.

—Clack... thud. The sound of the ball settling.

The ripples of the future brushed against his ears. Ren nodded silently and placed his bet. He was right.

He bet again. He was right again.

He noticed that, somewhere, his body was "getting used to it." (I am adapting to this anomaly.) It was as if it were a part of his daily life.

However, the changes were beginning to appear, little by little, in places other than the sound. At first, it was after he returned home.

As I went to take off my shoes, my foot struck the entryway floor harder than I intended. When I went to wash my hands, I twisted the faucet lever with too much force, and my hands ended up soaking wet.

My movements are becoming a little rough. (Am I tired...?)

However, that tendency is growing stronger by the day. One day, in front of a slot machine at the casino, my hand pressed the button on its own.

A few seconds after I heard the sound, as if manipulated by it, independent of my own will. "...Did I... just press that?"

I certainly remember pressing it. But was it my own will? The boundary was becoming blurred. It felt as if the sound gave a signal, and my body moved in response to it.

Ren became afraid. Even though he was winning, he was afraid. Even though he was making a profit, his heart was restless. It was a primal fear, as if he were being controlled by something unknown.

On the way back from the casino, I took out my smartphone on the train. Even when I opened social media, I couldn't contact anyone. If I talked to someone, the sound would stop. I was afraid that the sound might not come back. That was what scared me.

If I am not lonely, I cannot hear the sounds of the future. But that loneliness is surely eating away at me.

A strange thing happened again at a convenience store on the way home. When I tried to grab a drink, my hand moved and knocked the product next to it flying. Even though no one should have been watching, I constantly had the feeling of being watched from somewhere.

Could it be that 'someone' is making the sound? --When I thought that, the sound stopped.

It was only for a few seconds, but I heard absolutely nothing. A world where the sound had vanished.

It was a silence mixed with relief and fear. An anxiety that made me feel like I was forgetting how to move my limbs. Even though I should have been able to move freely, I felt as if I were no longer myself. Before I knew it, the silence was gone, and the sound began to play again, still out of sync.

That sound brought me relief. (I... had become dependent on this sound.) Like a drug, I had become unable to live without that abnormal sensation.

The illusion that I could win. The sense of superiority that I knew the future. I realized that it was all due to the 'sound.' And now, I also realized that my body had become 'too accustomed' to it.

"...Can I not go back, me?"

Ren returned home and collapsed onto the sofa. An envelope filled with stacks of cash lay carelessly on the desk. Its thickness only served to highlight the emptiness in his heart. The weight of it still lingered in his hands. Yet, that money was all 'obtained without anyone seeing'.

That night, Ren had a dream. He was sitting in a chair in front of someone. But that version of himself didn't speak; it only moved in response to someone else's voice.

A sound rings out. He moves.

The sound stops. He stops too.

It was just like a marionette. The version of himself in the dream was a hollow shell.

Chapter 9: Approaching Causality

'Young entrepreneur commits suicide? Large gambling losses.' It was an article in the corner of the newspaper.

The headline of an online news story that Ren had opened aimlessly while sipping his coffee. He saw it the day after he had won at the casino.

For a moment, Ren was struck by a sensation as if his heart had been gripped.

Reading the article, it seemed the man had embezzled money and was saddled with massive debt. The content stated he had lost a series of high-stakes bets and had become mentally unstable. --Behind the scenes of the day I won.

Of course, there was no direct connection. But he couldn't shake the unpleasant premonition that it wasn't just someone else's problem. It felt as if his own success was built upon someone else's misfortune.

That day, too, the sound in question had clearly 'come.' The sound arrived first, and he had acted accordingly to achieve victory. Thinking that he had met his ruin immediately after that made a chill run down his spine.

(No, surely not... such a coincidence.)

But another coincidence followed. A few days later. Another piece of news.

'Life ruined by side-hustle gambling: Middle-aged man jumps in front of train' Again—the same day.

Ren had won at the casino that day, too. Moreover, it was a day he had won big with high bets. The joy of victory turned into terror in an instant. (...It has nothing to do with me.)

He saved the article and, feeling uneasy, checked social media. 'Lost at gambling,' 'This is the last time,' 'I want it all to disappear'—

There were several unsettling posts. Among them were some that clearly suggested the users had been investing or betting during 'that time frame.' The fragments of anonymous words slowly tormented his conscience. (Could it be...)

By winning, someone else is losing. That in itself is a given in the mechanism of gambling. But—what if it wasn't 'happening unintentionally,' but rather 'the sound was orchestrating it'? What if the future sounds he was hearing were leading to someone's ruin?

The sound comes from the future. However, that future might have been a 'future of misfortune for someone.' Through the sound, Ren is linked to the misfortune of others. (Was I... winning on top of someone else's loss?)

Beyond his lonely victory lay the shadow of a chain reaction of ruin. From the moment he realized that, 'other sounds' began to mix into Ren's ears.

—Tap, tap. Suddenly, he hears a small sound like someone tapping on the floor. It sounds as if someone is asking for help.

—Clatter... A sense that a door had moved.

He goes outside, but no one is there. The silence of the hallway only fuels his anxiety. (No way...)

That night, an envelope with no return address was in his mailbox. Inside was a photo of Ren.

Ren walking outside the casino, looking at his smartphone. —Taken from behind.

Ren instinctively looked around. But there was no one in the apartment hallway.

In the silence, like tinnitus, only the sound of 'shhh' repeated faintly. The sound of shuffling cards. But now—no one was dealing any cards.

'Someone' is watching me. That was the first emotion that came to mind.

And "someone" is beyond this sound. It is just that their presence has not yet revealed itself.

Only the sound faithfully announces the future. Is the future truly something "Ren will gain"? Or is it "something Ren will pay"? Now, that sound felt less like a blessing and more like a curse.

Chapter 10: The Pursuer

In the morning, my feet stopped in front of the entrance. When I opened the mailbox, there was something inside again.

Ren took it out in silence and checked the contents of the envelope. Inside was another photograph.

This time, it was a picture of his own back, standing in front of his room.

──It was clearly taken from the stairs of his apartment building. (Already... I'm being completely watched.) There is no escape. His private space has already been encroached upon.

He does not know who this "watcher" is. But something is definitely closing in on him. Like an invisible chain, it is stripping away his freedom.

Even after returning to his room, the sound of footsteps would not leave the back of his mind. A vague sound, as if he had heard it, or perhaps he hadn't. No──was that "a sound that was about to ring out"? Yes, as always, the sound comes first. Footsteps arriving from the future. (Someone... is approaching me.) Those footsteps are quietly, yet surely, announcing a path toward ruin.

He does not know who that "someone" is. He only knows, by intuition, that their presence is "dangerous" to him. His instincts are sounding an alarm. Run, they say. Since then, small anomalies began to increase around Ren.

The mailbox is open. The doormat is shifted. The laundry is swaying even though there is no wind.

──Even such trivial things become seeds of suspicion. Every minor event in his daily life begins to feel like a malicious omen.

When he logged into social media, a DM from an unknown account had arrived. "You did it, didn't you?" Just one sentence. Within those short words, an invisible anger resided.

Then, from another account. 'I was watching you.' (...This isn't a coincidence.) This is a clear threat. An invisible hand is beginning to tighten around his throat.

He tries to close the screen, but DMs keep arriving one after another. 'Because of the day you won, everything is over.' 'Pay the price.' That night, Ren could not sleep.

In his head, that 'sound' plays over and over. The sound of cards, the sound of a chair, footsteps... And there were sounds mixed in that he hadn't heard yet.

--A dull impact sound. --Someone's groan. --The sound of metal scraping. (What is that sound...?) Is it a fragment of a future ruin?

He tries to remember, but to Ren, they were 'sounds not in his memory.' No, to be precise, they were 'sounds that are about to happen.'

Realizing that those sounds might be 'the sounds of his future self,' Ren felt an illusion as if the blood in his entire body was flowing backward. (Could it be--is this, me...)

At that moment. --Ding-dong.

The doorbell rang. To be precise, it was the sound of the chime that would be rung a few seconds later.

Ren's whole body stiffens. He checks the screen. No one is reflected on the intercom monitor. But he was certain the sound had occurred. An existence that wasn't there was definitely there.

--Thud. This time, a dull sound of knocking on the door. It is not a friendly knock. It feels like a more violent contact. (Something is... coming.)

It was invading Ren's world as a 'phenomenon definitely happening now.' The depths of his body were turning cold as if freezing. He, who should have been manipulating the sounds, was now being cornered by them. He, who should have been controlling the sounds, was now 'being cornered by the sounds.'

It sounded as if the sounds were bells tolling for his own ruin.

Chapter 10.5: The Sinking Man

I am Shota Hattori. A middle-management office worker found anywhere. At first, it was just meant to be a game.

An online casino I opened on my way home from overtime. The roulette I spun for a distraction happened to hit. 10,000 yen increased to 30,000 yen. Just with that, I felt the world had become a little brighter.

'...I think this might actually work.'

I decided to try my hand not just at online casinos, but at real ones as well. From then on, I started moving a little bit of money from my paycheck. For a few days, I kept winning.

But one day, I started losing. And it wasn't just losing. I began to hear sounds with a delay.

When the ball stopped on the roulette wheel and the result was in, the sound that reached my ears was the 'clatter... clack' of the ball falling, echoing a few seconds late.

It was as if the world was leaving me behind, that kind of feeling.

Only after I saw the 'losing result' did the 'sound of the answer' finally reach my ears. That phenomenon occurred repeatedly. Moreover, that 'delay' only happened when I was on a losing streak.

I felt as if I were being toyed with by an invisible force, and my frustration grew.

When I was winning, that never happened. I heard sounds normally. But now it was different. The casino result was 'decided' first, and the sound arrived 'afterward'.

At the table next to me where I was losing, a man was winning a large sum of money. Why only me? Life is so unfair.

I thought my hearing had gone wrong and went to the hospital, but the diagnosis was that there was nothing abnormal. I thought I was mentally exhausted, but the examination showed no particular problems.

However, when I lose at the casino, what I am receiving is the sound of the 'past.' After everything is over, I am just being told the answer through sound.

My choices have no meaning. I am just catching up late to a world where defeat has already been determined. I couldn't tell anyone. There was no way this feeling could be understood. Gradually, sounds began to reach me with a delay in my daily life as well.

I couldn't react when my name was called at work. Even when someone called out to me from behind, I would turn around a breath too late. 'Your reactions have been slow lately. Are you okay?'

Even when told that, it takes me three seconds to nod. It is not that I cannot react. It is that the sounds arrive 'delayed.' My synchronization with the world has gone completely out of alignment.

The 'world' moves first, and I am chasing after it. Before I knew it, I had started muttering 'I didn't make it' like a habit.

My losses at the casino piled up, my debts grew, my life fell apart, and my mind broke. The night I bet my last ten thousand yen. The roulette ball fell into black, and my funds vanished instantly.

Then, a few seconds later, the sound of the ball falling: 'clatter... click.'

--Why couldn't I have bet on black?

I already knew. I was always 'a step behind' in everything. The timing when I should have won had been handed over to someone else. When I closed my eyes, I felt like I heard the sound just a little bit earlier.

But that wasn't 'my sound.' My life had always been the reverberation of 'someone else's win.'

In the shadow of others' success, I was just sinking. Thinking that, everything felt far away.

The man sitting next to me, in contrast, won a big bet and held a large sum of money. He was winning the amount I had lost. Thinking that, I felt an uncontrollable anger toward him.

Looking closely, I realized that even before this, I had been losing right next to this man while he won. Was everything his fault?

My life could no longer be restarted normally. I had no choice but to take it back from this man.

I carefully investigated the man who had obtained the large sum of money and decided to carry out my plan on the night one week later.

Chapter 11: The Will to Lose

Faster than the approaching sound. Fear was cornering Ren.

Since the chime rang, he hadn't been able to muster the courage to check if someone was standing in front of the entrance.

The terror that didn't appear on the monitor was gradually eroding his mind.

Just then—clatter. The sound of a glass falling. On his way to the kitchen to check, crash. A loud sound of shattering. "...Why?"

Immediately after he asked, Ren's right arm moved on its own. It knocked away a mug in the kitchen, which hit the wall and fell.

The order of the sound and the action was completely reversed. No, even before that, he had no control over his body.

More than ever, he couldn't move freely, as if he were being manipulated by someone. It was as if his own body was being controlled by a foreign entity, by sound. His body trembled with fear.

He just knew that the solution was to escape from his isolation.

While he couldn't move his body well, he managed to pick up his smartphone. His trembling thumb pressed Shinji's name in his contacts. —Calling.

A few seconds later, the ringing tone.

"...Hey, Ren? What's wrong?" "Shi... Shinji... help me, I... something..."

His voice was trembling. His breathing was ragged. Above all, he felt as if his "own voice" had finally returned to being his own.

"Hey, are you okay? What is..." At that moment. All the "sounds that played ahead" stopped. A sense of relief, as if he had regained his sense of self.

Ren's body moved according to his own will. He sat down in the corner of the living room, clutching his smartphone. It was a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time—the ability to control his own body.

"Hey, Ren! What happened?" "...Sorry, it's nothing. I just... wanted to hear your voice."

“Seriously, something happened, didn't it? Should I come over now?” “...No, it's fine. I'm hanging up now.”

“Wait, hey—”

It was the moment the call ended. —Crack...

A quiet, shattering sound, like tinnitus, echoed deep within his ears. The sounds were returning once again.

Sounds from the future began to drift around Ren. Footsteps.

The sound of the doorknob turning slowly. His own breathing. And the sound of something dripping onto the floor.

Ren clutched his head. The ray of hope he had finally grasped was being swallowed by darkness once again.

Shinji's voice had certainly brought him back to his senses. But now that the call was over, he had returned to his “solitude.” And solitude brought back those abominable sounds.

And the fact that these sounds were starting again meant—that the time when “no one is watching” had begun once more.

—Ding-dong. The doorbell rang again.

Chapter 12: Ending Solitude

After a violent knock, he heard the sound of the lock clicking open.

Then the sound of the doorknob creaking and the heavy door opening. That sound tore through the silence, vibrating Ren's eardrums.

However, the front door remained closed. Even though he knew someone would enter in a few seconds, his body would not move.

He couldn't hear the sound of his own body moving. For Ren, whose body had been completely controlled by the sounds, he couldn't move a single finger, nor could he even shift his gaze, which was frozen in terror.

Just as a slimy black shadow entered the room, a cold sound, like sharp metal slicing through the air, rang deep within my ears.

Fear, faster than the sound itself, locked Ren's entire body in a cage of ice.

In that instant, the sound of dripping liquid and a raspy groan emanated from within me.

—But I haven't let it out yet. That final, dying scream.

And then, suddenly, every sound was stolen from the world.

Footsteps, the creaking of the door, even the intruder's breathing could no longer be heard. It was a complete silence, as if I had been cast into a vacuum.

The sound... it vanished... why?

This silence... has everything come to an end? I don't want it to end yet. I want to live.

Even as I thought this, it was already too late.

In that silence, Ren realized. The sounds he had heard were a fixed future.

An unchangeable, already determined conclusion.

Perhaps even the fact that I heard the sound and tried to resist it was part of a preordained script.

The future never wavered; everything was proceeding exactly according to its merciless will.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, a dull, hellfire-hot pain shot through his abdomen.

As he cast his gaze downward, he saw a black shadow pulling a blood-stained weapon from Ren's body as if devouring it.

At the same time, a lukewarm liquid dripped onto the floor. He had already heard that sound clearly—the sound of his own blood flowing. (Ah... so this is the fixed future...)

With no way to resist, Ren's consciousness slowly sank into a silent darkness.

The last thing seared into his mind was the sound he had first heard on that quiet night: the sound of his room's refrigerator door closing. That had been the beginning of it all.

The mysterious sounds you occasionally hear around you—they might just be ominous whispers from the future, creeping up right beside you.

And perhaps, that is a fate from which there is no escape.