Short Story: 'From Outside That World'

The walk home from junior high school was the same asphalt slope as always. I chased my long shadow, cast by the low setting sun, trying to step on it. My feet naturally quickened as the shadow followed me everywhere.

“Huh...?”
Watching the movement of that shadow, I suddenly stopped.

—Could it be that only the range I can see is actually moving?

That thought was like a small seed in the corner of my mind, but it sprouted suddenly at that moment. Once it sprouted, it kept expanding until I couldn't get it out of my head.

I turned around in the middle of the slope. The row of houses behind me stood quietly as always. ...But is that really true?
Beyond that, outside of my field of vision, is the world actually stopped? That thought wouldn't stop.

“...Should I check?”
Maybe the truth of a world I didn't know was hidden there.

Clutching my school bag, I started running with all my might. I ran down the slope, turned the usual corner, and cut through the familiar residential area. I ran while shaking my head violently so as not to miss anything from one end of my vision to the other.

Behind those houses, deep in the back alleys, on the other side of the park trees—

Everything, everything, places I had never 'seen' before.
I ran, out of breath, wondering if... But the more I ran, the more the world ahead was moving just the same.

A woman on a bicycle passed by normally while ringing her bell, and a man with a dog and an old man were chatting and laughing. The automatic doors of a convenience store opened and closed, and the traffic light changed colors properly.

No matter how far I went, there wasn't a single place where the world had stopped. Could it be that it's being rewritten to match where I'm going? If so, how could I ever find the truth of the world...?

—Hah, hah...

I kept running desperately until I was out of breath and my legs were about to tangle. But no matter how far I went, there was no way such a truth existed... Exhausted, I leaned against a utility pole in a back alley and panted.

That... so it was all just my imagination after all.
What truth of the world... That disappointment sank heavily into the depths of my chest. The world spins on its own, just as always, without any regard for my convenience.

—At that moment, a shadow, just as out of breath as I was, approached from the other side.

It was a male student about my age, wearing the same junior high school uniform. He was drenched in sweat, his shoulders heaving, and he made eye contact with me.

“...It’s the same...” he said quietly.

With those words, I was convinced. He had come running, thinking the same thing. The boy looked at me straight, though a bit hesitantly, and said,

“Hey, by any chance... did you come chasing after the world that isn't visible?”
I nodded. Still unable to catch my breath, I squeezed out the words.

“Yeah... that's right, but wait... if you came running from that way, then the world really is moving even where I can't see it...”
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a wry smile.

"Yeah, it seems that way. It's not like in a video game where everything outside your field of vision stops..."
"Haha, I never imagined someone else in the same school would have the same question and come running."
"They say it's a small world, but maybe this is what they mean."
"You're right."
We looked at each other and laughed, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"But I feel relieved."
"Yeah, I was feeling uneasy, but now I feel relieved."

The setting sun dyed the alley red, and the sound of crows echoed in the distance. We waved lightly and parted ways. That night, lying in bed, I pulled out my smartphone. Under the covers, relying only on the light from the screen, I searched for things like "does the world stop outside what I see" and "does anything exist outside my field of vision."

It seems that is called "solipsism."

It is an ancient philosophical idea that the world exists only within one's own consciousness, and that all other people are merely projections created by one's own mind. As I scrolled through the screen, I felt a strange sense of relief, and at the same time, a flutter in the depths of my chest.

...That male student I met today wasn't a projection of mine. He had the same question, was just as out of breath, and had the same relieved look on his face.

He had walked here on his own two feet, from outside my field of vision.

The world is not a stage built just for me. It is like a vast ocean where countless millions of consciousnesses overlap.

—The next morning, I saw him walking on the other side of the road. Same uniform, same bag, same profile as yesterday. When our eyes met, he smiled. Before I knew it, I was running toward him lightly.

As we started walking side by side, he spoke up, looking a little shy.
"Hey, I was thinking, if there are two of us, does the world we can see expand?"
"Oh, a continuation of yesterday? That's interesting."
I laughed, and he scratched his head, looking embarrassed.

"Sorry, it's a bit late, but I'm Yuma. You are?"
"I'm Kota. Nice to meet you, Yuma."

The cool morning breeze blew between us. The question I had been carrying alone until yesterday now felt like it had become a little bigger, as it was now shared by two people's perspectives.

The world is certainly moving even where my eyes cannot reach. And from now on, Yuma's perspective beside me will likely expand my world. I thought it would be interesting to gradually expand the world we can see in that way.

"It's simple, but it's amazing how the world expands just by having more eyes to see it, right?"
"Yeah, I'd never thought about that before."

The morning slope we walked up together while laughing felt brighter than usual—