The air was too quiet now. Even with all the noise and panicked whispers, the officers talking into radios...it felt like the world had muffled itself around him.
He could still hear the train horn in his head.
Even though there were no tracks nearby.
A teacher finally spotted him and rushed over, asking if he was okay. He nodded without thinking, eyes locked on the car - the same boxy, silver car with the dented right side and the sticker on the back window.
The exact one from the dream.
The same one that hit her.
His throat tightened.
Before anything else, he ran home without stopping.
Back at school, they excused his absence without much trouble. Most students hadn't even heard what happened yet. Rumors would start by the end of the day.
Sho said nothing.
Not to Kai. Not to the teacher who asked if he was feeling faint. Not even when he got home and his mom asked why his bag was missing.
He just said, "I forgot it."
Then he shut himself in his room and stared at the ceiling.
His mind went back to the first dream. The boy on the platform. The thunder of the train. The face that later showed up on the news.
He hadn't stopped it then. He didn't even try.
This time he ran. But it didn't matter.
He was still too late.
He just lay on his bed reminiscing everything. His mum had tried to get him out of bed twice but she couldn't - he wouldn't budge and asked her to leave him alone.
That night he couldn't sleep...No, he didn't want to sleep.
"I don't want another horrible dream," He thought to himself.
His eyes finally closed, but his mind was still wide awake.
The next morning, he woke up groggy and tense.
No dream. Just a heavy weight in his chest.
At school, no one mentioned the accident.
It started feeling like nothing happened until lunch.
Kai plopped down beside him and held out his phone. "Bro. Did you hear?"
Sho blinked. "What?"
"Some girl from another school. Got hit near the back street. Yesterday morning."
Sho tried to act surprised. "What school?"
"I dunno. Police didn't release her name yet. But some people said she might've gone to Sakurada High. You know it?"
Sho nodded faintly. He knew it. He remembered seeing that school's badge on her blazer in the dream.
"Crazy stuff, huh?" Kai continued. "Like… imagine walking out to buy a drink and dying."
Sho didn't reply.
He ate slowly while deep in thought.
The rest of the day felt both slow and fast to him, he couldn't get his mind off the previous day no matter how hard he tried.
"No, I don't want to forget it. I need to do something."
He didn't realize he was thinking out loud.
Everyone including Kai stared at him as he apologized and walked away.
That night, the dream came again.
A different place.
Dim streetlight. He saw a park that looked abandoned and a man in a blue shirt walking across the park. He looked up to almost being blinded by bright headlights.
Then almost immediately, he heard it.
The familiar horn.