It always starts the same way.
A quiet street. Pale sky. The hum of something distant.
Sho Takeda stood alone in the middle of a scene that didn't quite feel real.
Not empty, just too still. Like the world is frozen.
There's a vending machine ahead.
Its red glow flickers. The sound of a drink dropping echoes sharp in the air.
Sho's eyes locked on a girl standing near it. She was facing away, her hand hovering just above the drink slot. Brown hair, tied back loosely. Her uniform blazer was slightly wrinkled, like she'd been in a hurry.
Nothing moved.
Then, the bottle clattered down.
She took it and stood still before walking away.
Sho couldn't breathe.
His feet felt rooted to the ground, like the pavement itself was holding him in place as the air thickened.
That's when he heard it.
A horn; loud and close.
But he couldn't tell where it was coming from.
A silver car with a bear sticker on it sped past as it all started to fade away.
And then -
Sho woke up, his heart already pounding. His chest rose and fell quickly, shirt damp with sweat. His fingers clutched the blanket, cold despite the early spring warmth.
He stared at the ceiling.
Another one.
Another dream.
He sat up slowly, running a hand through his messy black hair. His eyes fell to his alarm clock.
It read 6:45 am.
For a moment, he didn't move
"It wasn't a normal dream", he thought, "It's just like the other two I had last week".
The first time it happened, Sho thought it was just a nightmare.
A boy he didn't know standing on a platform alone under an overcast sky. Something was off about the way he shifted his weight.
Sho remembered trying to shout—but he couldn't. The boy turned his head slightly, just enough to show the outline of his face.
Then came the blaring horn.
And the dream ended.
Three days later, Sho saw the same face in the newspaper declared dead.
His stomach had dropped like the floor gave way.
The same thing happened with the boy he saw by the canal who was said to have drowned in the news.
He'd never told anyone. Not then. Not now.
But he felt so much guilt.
And now, it was happening again.
---
"Sho, breakfast!"
His mother's voice snapped him out of it.
He blinked hard and managed to mutter.
"Coming"
He got dressed in a hurry, barely combed his hair, and left the house.
On the train to school, he couldn't stop glancing at the students around him. They talked, laughed, stared at their phones. So normal.
How could he explain to anyone that he saw people die before they actually did?
The morning passed like a blur.
Sho barely remembered the walk to school. His feet carried him down familiar streets, past signs and shops he didn't really see. The spring air was soft and cold, cherry blossom petals drifting lazily through the breeze.
By the time he stepped through the school gates, the noise of other students was already fading into the background.
Class 2-B. Back row seat. By the window.
He dropped into the chair without a word.
Riku Sato, his classmate, said something next to him, probably a joke. Sho didn't hear it, he was too deep in thought.
First period passed without incident. Second was math. Sho barely heard a word. He spent most of the time peeking toward the window, glancing at the hallway, scanning the class.
Nobody looked like her. Nobody moved the way she did in the dream.
Just then, through the window - past the gym, past the back fence - he saw it.
The vending machine.
The exact one. Same angle. Same crooked gutter. Same little tree beside it.
And then...the girl.
Brown hair. Light build. Walking casually across the pavement.
She stopped, bought a drink, turned around, and walked off.
Sho's blood went cold.
It was her.
Faint. Just beneath the teacher's voice.
A horn.
Long. Deep. Familiar.
Sho froze.
His pencil slipped from his hand. The hair on his arms rose.
There were no train tracks near the school. None that close.
He stood up.
"Takeda?" the teacher said.
Sho didn't answer.
He turned and bolted out of the classroom.
He ran down the hallway. Down the stairs.
Across the empty hall, through the back door.
The air outside hit him hard. He sprinted toward the gym, toward the vending machine.
His thoughts were screaming, please be wrong...please be wrong...
And then-
He saw her.
Just like in the dream.
Standing in front of the vending machine, her hand extended. A green tea bottle rolled out and dropped into the tray.
She didn't move to take it.
Sho felt his lungs twist shut.
"Hey!"
She turned.
Their eyes met.
And then-
A sound.
Screeching tires.
Sho turned sharply. A silver car rounded the corner far too fast, swerving.
The girl stepped back, startled.
Sho's body moved before his brain did.
He ran.
"LOOK OUT!"
But he wasn't close enough.
The car clipped the edge of the curb.
She turned-
And the world erupted in sound.
The girl lay motionless. Her bottle of green tea had rolled into the grass, her back fell onto the sidewalk.
The car - silver, now dented, with the same bear sticker - had come to a halt against the fence.
People passing were running towards the scene. Sho couldn't hear them.
All he heard was the echo of the train horn still ringing in his ears.
"Sho!"
A voice brought him back.
He turned.
One of the security officials who chased after him as he jumped over the school fence. "Sho, are you alright?"
He nodded slowly.
The guard looked confused as he saw the crowd. "What happened?"
Sho opened his mouth, but no sound came.
The car hissed quietly. The girl lay still. Her green tea bottle had rolled into the grass.
Sho didn't move.
Everything was exactly like the dream.
Down to the sticker on the car.
Down to where her bag had landed.
He'd known.
And still… he was too late.
This was the third time someone died because he did nothing.
Three dreams. Three deaths.
The guilt pressed in like a weight on his chest.
How many more would there be?
Sho just stood there, staring.
Silent. Frozen.
How can he stop these deaths?.