I checked my wristwatch as I ran down the corridor. Eighteen minutes past midnight. I’d made a point of stepping through the first torii at exactly midnight, which meant I’d been in tunnel time for just under twenty minutes—nearly a month in real-world time. Out there, my summer vacation was over. I assumed Anzu had probably read my letter by now too. Given that she was a much faster runner than I was, the fact that I hadn’t heard her chasing me was pretty much proof positive that she’d taken my advice and decided not to come inside the tunnel, which was a relief. A huge relief.
I’m sorry, Hanashiro. Sorry for forcing you to make such a painful decision. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to you. I know you have feelings for me. I can tell. I can also tell that I’m falling for you too. But your feelings for me are different—they’re a product of a misguided desire to play the role of tragic heroine by proxy. You crave the drama and emotional intensity you feel is lacking in your life, and you think I can provide fulfillment or growth for you in that regard, as someone who’s experienced a lot of loss of his own. But I can’t give you that. I literally do not have it.
If you really want to be someone extraordinary, don’t waste your time getting involved with a hopeless wreck like me. Just focus on being the best version of you that you can be. Don’t go out hunting for supernatural shortcuts or a tragic backstory that’ll earn you fast notoriety or cheap sympathy. You’ve gotta buckle down and put in the work to climb that ladder like everyone else. I know you hate doing things the normal way, but I can promise the view from the top will be that much sweeter when you feel like you’ve truly earned it.
And you will reach the top. I know you will.
I mean, look at how long you’ve been creating your own manga, and without ever sharing any of it with anybody before you met me. I’m sure there had to have been times when you felt discouraged because a story wasn’t coming together and thought about putting down that pencil for good. Or maybe you really do love drawing with all your heart, and you never once considered giving up on it, no matter what the rest of the world might say. Either way, you didn’t give up on that dream. And here you are today, having your work officially recognized by industry professionals. That, to me, seems pretty goddamn extraordinary. Far more so than stumbling on a magic tunnel could ever be, and way more meaningful to boot. So please, Hanashiro, don’t let this opportunity go to waste. Live your life while you can, because tomorrow’s never a given. Especially when you have a chance to be someone right here, today.
Go out there and live like you mean it.
And no matter what you do, don’t ever end up like me.
TOTAL TIME ELAPSED: 1 HR 25 MINS (OUTSIDE: 141 DAYS)
I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Whoa, what the…”
Just a little farther ahead, I saw the tunnel curve upward at a steep incline. It was still a straight shot, so there was no real cause for hesitation, but it was certainly going to take a huge toll on my stamina, and my calves were already wobbling beneath me like rickety stilts. I couldn’t afford to pull a ligament or something at this stage in the game, so I decided to take a five-minute breather, to be safe. I hunkered down on the ground and pulled my thermos from my backpack to take a good, long swig of water.
I had to have run at least ten klicks, so realistically, I should have come out the other side of the tunnel. The fact that I still couldn’t see the exit seemed to suggest that there were some space-time shenanigans afoot. I felt like I was making a ton of forward progress, but in all honesty, there was no telling if I was even a tenth of the way through the tunnel yet. Interestingly, this time around, I had yet to encounter any strange things from my past that shouldn’t have existed within this space. Not that I wasn’t glad for that, mind you, but it was starting to make me anxious. Things were going too smoothly.
Feeling restless, I checked my wristwatch. Only two minutes had passed since I sat down for a quick rest, and already I was antsy to get up and go again. It was impossible to truly get any rest with the thought of how much real-world time I was wasting with every minute constantly weighing on my mind. Every second spent sitting still did far more to mentally wear me down than the exhaustion of running ever could. I stood, took a huge deep breath, and then started booking it up the steep incline.
TOTAL TIME ELAPSED: 5 HRS 20 MINS (OUTSIDE: 1 YEAR, 168 DAYS)
“Huff…huff…”
My light jog had officially slowed to a trudging walk. With each plodding step, the soles of my shoes scraped loudly against the rocky tunnel floor. I had no idea how far I’d come anymore. All I knew was that every joint and muscle in my legs hurt like hell. For the first three hours or so that I was in the tunnel, I cried out Karen’s name every couple of minutes, but now I couldn’t muster the energy. It was hard enough trying to propel myself forward. By now, an entire year and a half had passed in the outside world, yet I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of my little sister. All I’d seen were an infinite number of the same exact torches and the same exact torii—though there had been some changes, like the sudden steep inclines or curves in the tunnel’s course. For a while there, I was worried that the first uphill climb might go on forever, but it soon reversed into an easy downhill jaunt, and there was also a time when I hit several sharp ninety-degree turns in quick succession. My sense of direction was entirely out of whack at this point, and I had no idea if I was supposed to be farther underground or aboveground, or if I was even going in the same direction horizontally. Thankfully, there hadn’t yet been any forks or intersections, so I at least knew I was still making some forward progress.
“Hrgh… Goddammit…”
My throat was parched, and I’d already gone through nearly half my water supply. Considering that I still had to make my way back the entire distance I’d come, I really didn’t want to drink any more than that. Why in the world had I decided to pick CalorieMate, perhaps the single biggest thirst-inducer, as my only source of nutrition on this journey? Man, I’d kill for an ice-cold Lifeguard right about now, I thought. Nevertheless, I pressed on, trying my best to suppress my unquenched thirst, when all of a sudden, I heard a loud thunk from ahead, like the sound of a large boulder being flipped on its side. A vague sense of déjà vu made me stop right where I was. I knew it had to be some sort of omen. One of the tunnel’s strange manifestations was about to appear right before my eyes. A chill ran through my entire body, and a low pitch rang in my ears.