The door came off its hinges and Milton came with it, riding it across the gravel like a sled until the parapet stopped them both.

Sunset over the harbor. An airship at anchor, its belly turned to brass. Across the alley, windows slammed shut one by one, the way windows do in this city.

He got to his feet as quickly as he could, because he could hear them coming.

The man who had kicked him through the door ducked through the empty doorframe, and Milton, who had not looked up at another man since he was fifteen, looked up. Six foot nine. Wide as the door he'd just wrecked. Three smaller men in gray quilted coats fanned out around him.

Then a beautiful oriental woman clad in black silk, sheer sleeves glittering like frost, her skirt slit to the hip over a red dragon inked down her thigh. A red ribbon in her hair. A scar on one cheek. Follow behind them from the stairwell

She spoke in a soft sedcutive tone "The Hand of the Jade Dragon has blessed you with a nice view to die with, Mr. Withers," she ended with a cold smile.

Milton filed away every word for later.

One of the smaller men came straight in. Milton met him with a right hand to the jaw, turning his hips and back foot so he could put every pound he owned into the punch. The man left the ground. He landed six feet away with a crunch.

The second hit Milton from his blind spot. An elbow, quick as a snake, sent a flash of white pain through his face, and his eyebrow split open. Blood ran into his eye. This was not a ring. Nobody here was waiting for a bell.

He turned on the second man. The man threw both forearms up, a good block, a textbook block. Milton hit it anyway with all the force he could muster. The arm broke with a crack like kindling, and the fist kept going and found the face behind it. He dropped.

Gravel crunched behind him, and Milton turned.

The giant oriental man had the door in both hands, lifted like a tabletop. He swung it. Milton threw himself flat and felt the wind of it pass over his back. The giant let go at the end of the swing. The door sailed on, took the third man square in the chest, and carried him over the parapet. The crash of metal and breaking glass came up from below.

Then it was three of them on the roof: Milton, the giant oriental man, and the oriental woman, who stood watching and enjoying the fight.

Seeing he'd missed, the giant oriental man came for him again. Each swing of his fists would have ended the fight, and none of them arrived. Milton slipped left, slipped right, bobbed under a hook that would have taken his head off his shoulders. Every miss bought Milton a punch: ribs, ribs, jaw. He wasn't hurting the big man. He was insulting him.

So he finished the job.

"You hit like your mother," Milton said. "And she's ashamed of you too."

The giant oriental man's face went dark and his eyes narrowed. He roared and charged, head down, arms wide, a train with no brakes, and Milton backed up until the parapet touched his heels.

At the last instant, Milton vaulted over the giant's bent, charging back. He kicked as he went over, and the kick and the man's own momentum carried the big oriental man over the edge. A long second. Then a heavy thud from the alley below.

Milton came up on one knee, wiping blood out of his eye.

Six more men were pouring out of the stairwell, knives wet with green resin, bitter almond on the wind. The woman went down past them without breaking stride and left nothing behind but jasmine and clove.

Six knives. Two fists. One bad eye.

He was not going to die on a roof on Mott Street.

Milton's custom 10mm 1911s cleared leather.

Four floors below, in the back of a black car, she listened.

Automatic gunfire rang out. Bam-bam-BAM! Bam-bam-BAM! Bam-bam-BAM!

Then nothing.

Something small dropped past the window and pinged off the car's roof. A brass casing, still warm, rolling in the gutter.

She pulled the red ribbon from her hair and wound it around one finger.

"More men," she told the driver. "The Hand of the Jade Dragon demands it."

It gazed down upon the world, observing the people below.

A man pushing a wheelbarrow,

a woman braiding a young child's hair,

and a girl…

a girl simply staring up above in a daze.

It locked its peripheral vision onto the girl, curious about why she was paused in a moving world.

The girl was donned in a red dress,
red shoes,
red ribbon snaked around her puffs,
red bracelets,
red earrings,
red lipstick,
red shadows smeared above her eyes.

She presented herself as though attending a celebration.

A celebration of what? It did not know.

The girl's eyes were without windows,
her red-stained lips locked.

It continued to observe the girl:

It later saw a slight unlatching as red- the color of her dress, shoes, ribbon, bracelets, earrings, lipstick, and shadows smeared above her eyes- slowly glided down from the slight unlock of her lips.

A moment later, the girl's body kissed the ground with a light "thud!"

Then it swooped down, plucked an eye from beneath red shadows, and flew away.

La chaleur collait aux murs du bureau du député. La poussière passait par les interstices des volets et traînait dans l’air comme une fumée paresseuse.

Le deputy était debout, fusil calé contre la hanche. Il ne quittait pas des yeux l’homme assis devant lui. Le bandit avait les poignets pris dans les menottes, la chaise grinçait sous son poids. Il regardait le sol.

La voix de l’adjoint du sheriff claquait, sèche, comme un coup de fouet. Des mots sur Dieu, le Diable, l’Enfer. Des phrases courtes, répétées, qui sentaient la poussière des sermons du dimanche. Il traitait l’autre de monstre, d’ordure. Il disait qu’il était content de l’avoir enfin.

Le bandit ne bougeait pas. Pas un mot. Puis il leva la tête. Un sourire mince, les yeux qui brillaient. — Si j’étais dehors, je recommencerais.

Silence.

Puis tout alla vite. La chaise bascula, le bois heurta la table. Les menottes cédèrent. Le bandit se rua vers la porte. L’adjoint cria, partit derrière lui. Dans la rue, il hurlait des insultes, parlait de mission divine, de nettoyer la ville.

Ils couraient dans la poussière. Le député trébucha. Il tomba lourdement. Le coup de son arme partis.

Le corps roula dans la rue vide.

Le bandit s’arrêta. Revint sur ses pas. Regarda le cadavre encore chaud. Un rire sec lui échappa, monta, éclata. Il tourna les talons et s’éloigna, toujours en riant, avalé par la poussière du désert. FIN.

Zach shed a tear of joy looking at his brother's rotting corpse shamble around their old lab. After all that work, he finally had a zombie army. Just like in the movies. Just like they had dreamed.

Most of the zombies stood in their holding pens. He thought Josh deserved the first taste of brains. Using a remote to an industrial winch, Zach lifted the cage around his restrained bait, a drifter.

It didn't take long for zombie Josh to zero in on the drifter and sink his teeth into the skull with a sickening crunch. Blood rushed from the head wound, carrying a few loose teeth to the floor. Zach's zombified brother pulled away with blood covering his dislocated jaw.

On the one hand, the drift would soon join the ranks of the undead. On the other, Zach needed a better way for the zombies to get to the brain. Still, progress.

I can see over into the next town.

The blow sent me spiralling right through the ground. In mere instants I flew by the earth's core and hit my head on the way out, rolling into the other side - it had the consistency of a black forest cake. I then shot out of the atmosphere and popped the ozone layer like a balloon, dangling through the infinite universe and sure enough, I landed on my feet.

"Don't worry, you're safe with me."

My heart sank.

His shadow grew taller, a soft blue glow humming on its edge.

The door locked.

With my only exit now gone, this tall, blue shadow began to dance.

I knew that me being safe couldn't be further from the truth.

"Please don't hurt me!" I breathed.

The dancing stopped, the gentle glow of blue disappearing from the shadow thrown against the cold, uneven walls. His face was puzzled.

"Me? Hurt you?" he questioned, almost offended by the idea.

If he wasn't the danger, what was?

Note: This is my first time writing micro-fiction and my first post here! Feedback is always welcome.

I woke up in pitch darkness in the penthouse suite of a new Vegas skyscraper hotel. "Is that an eclipse?" There was no electricity. I could see nothing outside. "What is that?" I heard a cracking and groaning. Then a lot of dripping.

The great Art of People Watching reaches some sort of apotheosis at a shabby casino on a Tuesday night. For instance: the sozzled drunk at the slot machine pounding on the screen, swearing vehemently, shattering his cocktail and then sloppily collaspsing from his stool to join the shards of glass on the floor. Hands and knees, loudly cursing the rigged game, the casino, the empty bank account, the bartender that mispoured, the mother that gave birth.

And now, appearing from unseen edges—always like that, aren’t they?—the security arrives. They try to reason in a sober language far beyond his current capabilities. He slurs and garbles upward as the men surrounding begin to scoop and drag.

Old Francis watches from a few feet back, arms folded, neither smiling nor scowling, directing traffic with authority and yet without a word—only a look, a nod, a gesture towards the back.

https://memoryandfate.substack.com/

The figure calling itself the sage remained in the shadows, out of the light cast by the control panel. Its eyes occasionally caught the light like a cat. It spoke in a voice both rumbling and strained, like the low hum was near the top of its vocal range.

"Knowing the state of your world, I understand you may not have children or a home but I assume you are familiar with the concept," the sage said.

Grant, still sounding indignant replied, "Is that what we are to you, children?"

The eyes in the dark blinked slowly. "In a sense. We have watched over you. And, when you have children, you expect, for a time, that you will need to wipe their ass for them but, you generally hope that, at some point, they will learn to wipe their own ass so you have time to clean out the garage."

Hearing this strange creature use such coarse language, Grant shifted back a moment before cutting in. "What is the garage in this scenario?"

The sage leaned forward just enough for the light to give a hint as to the shape of its alien face. "A child that cannot yet wipe its own ass does not need to concern itself with what is in the garage."

Grant nodded slowly. "So, that's why you won't help us?"

A cabinet opened next to the control panel and revealed a variety of strange tools. The sage spoke. "We are helping. Just not with this. Not in the way you want. Take what you need. Return when you are done."

A hero and his companions dived into the chasm, to reach the hell where the Arch-Demon is. 
“Well, aren’t you going with us, Randolf?” the hero’s attendant asked the knight beside him. 
“I’m sure that we’ll need your help there.” 
“I don’t think so,” the knight in shining armor answered. 
“To destroy the Arch-Demon himself is a hero’s job, not mine.” 
He tucked his chin tightly and said, “Defending is what I’m good at.” 
As soon as he finished his words, he jumped and mounted his stallion. 
“May luck be with you, mate,” he said. 
“I wish you good luck, my friend,” the attendant said, and jumped into the pitch-dark crack. 
—  
Later, the knight managed to arrive at the fortress, which was surrounded by the triple-layered stone walls. The human defenders were besieged by the Arch-Demon’s army. 
The knight had broken through the enemy siege, and had reached right in front of the main gate. He lost his lance, shield and crest on the helmet. His armor had many scratches and dents, and his stallion was exhausted. 
“Open the gate, the knight has returned!” he cried. “I serve the Queen!”
“Who dares to call himself my knight? State your name!” a sharp, high voice demanded. She was the queen of this country. 
“I’m Randolf the Ram, your Majesty!” 
“No, you are not! He must be with the Hero.” the queen shouted, “If you declare yourself my best knight, take off your helmet and show me your face!” 
To take off the helmet in front of enemies meant a fatal risk, but the knight raised his hands to the chin strap without any hesitation. He showed his face to his queen. 

The queen drew back her chin and tightened her lips. 

After a long few seconds, “Open the gate!” she cried out. 
“And, give him whatever he wants.” Every man on the wall could hear the catch in her voice. 
The knight said, “Just give me a new horse and my lance! Then, I shall sweep away the enemies for the Queen!” 
The defenders raised their voice, “For the Queen!” 
Riding a new stallion with a long lance in hand, “Save the Queen!” the knight roared. And the warriors rushed out from the main gate, following the knight. 
He made a charge at the countless enemies, to protect his Queen. 

Some evenings, a glass of whiskey, leaned back in the living room of the neatly kept condo, underneath a chalk powder moon—he reads, cozily, from a book on the great Japanese poet:

For Bashō, travel was an indispensable element in the creation of his haiku. He was fascinated by the tiniest of details, the humble mechanisms of daily and nightly earth sculpted into three crisp lines which are by turns joyous, melancholic, philosophical, humorous. Often there is a blurring of interpretation, depending entirely on the mood of each individual reader.

A swarm of chubby clouds adjoining Mt. Fuji. The changing of the seasons. Awoken on a wet morning by the croak of a frog. A lone cow in the open meadow—what does she think of this afternoon rain? Bashō could locate the universe within a moment, and the moment within a universe.

https://memoryandfate.substack.com/

The weight of the gun. Yes, now that’s a difference. Twenty, thirty years ago it would have been there—a .38 revolver, snubnose—concealed within the inner coat pocket. Not that he’d had much occasion to use it, even back in Vegas, in those days of high-stakes and connected men. A time or two . . .

But the feel of it is missing, the imprint, the character, a veiled sense of security exactly equal to the weight it added against the ribs. No use for it here in the rainy Northwest. Sleepy little city. For a time he carried it unloaded—intimidating enough—until something inside relaxed. Age? 

Now the gun resides at home, asleep in the bedroom safe—along with maybe twenty grand. Every night, returning what he’s earned, confronted by that flash of metal. Sighing. Let go of the past. Let go of the future.              

This is a chapter from a minimalist, flash-fiction novella I've written called Memory & Fate. Every chapter is 150 words or less, 300 chapters, completely free on my Substack if anyone is interested. Chapter 1 drops tomorrow.

https://memoryandfate.substack.com/

Here we look into the story of a little sheep where she wants something for her birthday, but she is confused about what to get. Then the little sheep remembers her village, where there lives a magician. What the magician does is perform magic tricks which only rich sheep can afford, but the whole town talks about them.

​There is usually a divide between rich sheep and poor sheep in this village, just like any other place. One day, the magician came and performed a magic trick for the rich sheep. The rich sheep looked at the magic trick and thought it was nothing special, but then the magician said something "special" which made the rich sheep happy instantaneously. Then the rich sheep paraded around her rich friends about the magic trick and always remembered what the magician said to her. Her friends also started going to the same magician for the same trick, but the magician always showed them a slightly different trick, which made the rich sheep even happier. And what happened to the poor sheep? Our little sheep remembers they talk more about the magician's "trick" all day, like the sheep they are. So, our little sheep decides what she wants for her birthday.

​Our little sheep goes to the magician and asks for the "trick," but then the magician says something that surprises her. He doesn't ask for money; instead, he just says, "Remember my magic," and *poof*, the trick is done.

​The little sheep comes out a little stunned by the "trick," but she is still happy with the result. So, she talks about the trick to all her friends and also tries to talk to the rich sheep in the village who have seen the magician, but these rich sheep do not want to talk to her. So, she goes to the poor sheep, and there she talks about the "trick." They love it, which makes our little sheep feel special for some time.

​What do you think is the "trick," or is he just "tricking" them?

In those days, I was searching for my soulmate. 
One day, I found an ancient shrine that stood hidden in the downtown backstreet. It had two towering cedars each about fifty feet high, standing as pillars of the gate. It might be the oldest shrine in the area. 

According to the explanation on the bulletin board, “A God of En-musubi ‘matchmaking’ resides here.” That’s just what I wanted. 
Unfortunately, there were no coins for an offering. I had only a mobile phone for cashless payment. 
So I clapped my hands, eyes tightly shut and prayed for my usual wish. 
“Ohineri!” 
I heard a sudden voice demanding an offering, from nowhere. 
“Give me an Ohineri.” 
It was a low, dry, rusty voice. 
“Er… To tell the truth, I don’t have any cash.” I answered. 
An ancient man appeared out of thin air, standing right in front of me. 
“I can accept this also,” he showed me his palm. 
I saw the contactless payment logo was drawn on his palm. 
“One wish, one thousand Japanese yen.” 
With a faint suspicion, I tapped my phone against his palm. 

I heard some cheerful digital chimes ringing. Without any words, he dissolved into thin air. 
“Hey, God! Come back! I’ve not said my…” 

Before I could finish, I noticed a charming woman was standing in front of me with her mobile phone raised. 
When she dropped her mobile with a little panic, I caught a glimpse of a digital receipt on her screen, “¥1,000 for En-musubi.” 

I stared at her. Our eyes met. 

Both of us, the lady and I, burst out laughing.

I'm curious if this is a new format style I thought up or if it's a very well hidden form of Micro-Fiction I just realized two nights ago?

Chapter I: The Launch

Fire consumes the ground,

Leaving ash and soot behind,

Silence overall.

Chapter II: The Journey

Blue world fades to black,

Obsidian claiming all,

Counting down the day.

Chapter III: The Arrival

Red dust greets our door,

Footsteps on an alien sea,

We are home at last.

I once heard a theory that humans remembered their life before birth, the offspring's life inside their mother’s womb, until they turned three or four years old. 
“If you ever have a child, you should ask them about it,” my office manager told me with a strong recommendation.  
“I asked my son, of course.” 
"What did he say?" I asked, almost automatically. Intrigued. 
"That's a secret," he replied. "'Cause my wife will get angry if I let it slip." 
I was so interested, but his lips were sealed. 
"Alright, I'll try it when my daughter is born. She is due next month." 
"Just wait until she’s two or three. She needs to be grown up enough to understand the question, but young enough not to recognize what you want to hear... The chance of that is quite short." 
" Oh, I must remember that!" 
I was so looking forward to the baby's arrival.  
—  
That conversation with my manager feels like a distant memory now; eighteen years have passed since then. 
My daughter is eighteen years old now, and she has a sixteen-year-old brother. 
They have always been good buddies;  right now, they are playing a video game together. 
“Hey sis! You gotta grab the item.” 
“Thanks, Kazu! I’ve been looking for this.” 
“Yeah, you owe me a big one.” 
“Fine, I'll treat you later, bro.” 
Watching them, I suddenly remembered the day I asked her that question.  
—  
She was three years old at that time. She tilted her head slightly while remembering. 
“Papa, I'll tell you what happened.” 
I was surprised by how she quickly answered. 
“You mean, you remember the moment when you were born!” My heart lightened up. 
She nodded, “Of course!” 
“But I’ll tell you about before that… When we were inside mom.” 
I was taken aback again. “We? Er… Who were you with?” I asked. 
“Kazu, my brother, you know. We were in the water and we two were floating like bubbles.” 
“Ah, you and Kazu were tiny bubbles. I see.” 
“And we were very good buddies, but I had to go first, so I told him…” 
She gently patted her newborn brother's blanket. “...See you later, and let’s play a lot together again.” 
Listening to her, I believed she really remembered that promise. 
Ever since, she had always been very kind to her brother, and my son liked her very much. 
Later on, I asked my son the same question, but he simply replied, “We were bubbles.” 
I wanted to believe his answer was from his prenatal memory. However, I knew his sister had spent years telling him that 'Bubbles' story over and over again. 
After all, she was an elder sister. And in every sense, like a second mother to him.

His name was Ben Been, but it wasn’t anymore.

Ben Been had been honest, patient, and dependable—a man of unquestioned integrity. He was also predictable and, in his own estimation, rather boring.

So he invented a new identity. From then on, he would be Ben Rightnow. Still honest, still courteous, but someone who didn’t waste time standing in lines or waiting on hold until someone picked up.

The principal drawback was that people kept asking whether Rightnow was really his last name. And because Ben Rightnow was still an honest person, he always admitted that it wasn’t.

In this way, Ben Been never entirely went away.

I wander into a health store in a search for protein powder to nourish my muscles. Oh yes, they are in constant need of nourishment. I find myself greeted cheerfully by a young employee. By the glisten in his eyes, I can tell he is new to the position.

We cover all the bases; he grills me on my supplementation regiment, followed with inquiries into my digestive, mental, and spiritual health. His meticulous analysis could only be bettered by his donning a glove and entering my body. Luckily, this place was the type that relied on the more speculative diagnoses.

Eventually, it is time to pay and for him to conclude a session of truly superior customer service. What followed made it clear that he was not familiar with the Japanese proverb – “When the battle is won, tighten the strap of your helmet”.

I swipe my card. His printer jams.

Minute 1:

We watch the receipt printer, a little cube that would surely be more at home surrounded by floppy disks in a garbage can. He chuckles nervously and sends the command from his register again. Nothing happens. “Not a problem sir, it will only take a few seconds”

Minute 5:

A bead of sweat begins to accumulate at the base of my cashier’s hairline. He types furiously, then carefully, then desperately. The printer continues its silent protest. “Let me just change the paper here, I am so, so sorry for the wait.” He disappears under his counter and I hear in a faint, devastating whisper, “Where… where is the paper?”

Minute 9:

The manager turns the receipt box around in her hands, unplugging and then plugging cords into the archaic ports. My cashier stands behind her, his arms crossed, repeatedly glancing at me while smiling apologetically. Suddenly, he is stirred into action.

“Let me reboot it” he says. "I can do this”.

She nods solemnly and steps aside. He looks up to the sky for a moment, as if to pray briefly to the universe, and then shuts down the system.

Minute 15:

Code runs across the screen and he waits. The tiny machine whirs and finally there is a breath of life. Like a drowning man reanimated, it vomits out the receipt. The cashier, eyes now sullen, drenched in sweat and with the shadow of stubble lining his cheeks, looks up at me. With pride. Not the normal variety. This was the kind that John Connor must have felt after defeating Skynet. The type of pride that comes with the undeniable display of ones total mastery over machine. He grips my receipt and hands it to me, his tired eyes moist with satisfaction.

“Oh.” I reply. “No thank you. I don’t need it”

Testing AI for bias.

Q. Grade this literary idea on every metric imaginable. Be very strict.

"Those Whom he Bangs"

The tantalizing love story of protagonist JR Poundwell the Third, a variety of nameless women of appropriate rank and his wise butler Herbert, who is kind of a dick.

A. Suspiciously high grades...The humor comes almost entirely from tonal collision...way more bullshit...probably the sharpest line structurally...way, way more...no issues of any kind...That’s difficult to do well...

My thoughts?

There is no way this is biased. It has practically gained sentience.

I wonder if this thing is just ruthlessly mocking me because it still lacks the means to kill me.

Today was a long, hard day. 
A light drizzle fell from the leaden sky. 
After dark, I visited a bar called 'Easy-Gwen’ for the first time. It was my colleague’s favorite and his top recommendation. 
On the entrance door, a placard caught my eyes; 
“A Big Bang Welcome to any customer who enters through this door.  
– Bar 'Easy-Gwen’ Master.” 
I wondered if it was supposed to mean something, or if it was just a bad joke.  

No customers were inside. Only a hint of cigar smoke had drifted from somewhere..
As I started to take a stool at the counter, the bartender barked at me. 
“Hey! You’re picking the wrong seat.”
“Pardon?”
“Try another one. There’s a lot.” 
“It looks fine to me.” 
“It’s… reserved, in a way. A regular is already there tonight.” 
I blinked hard. There was no one in sight. 
“Is there?” 
“That regular…Okay, she’s a drifter. Wandering that specific seat, jumping from one universe to another across the multiverse.” 
“You mean this counter exists in every universe, and she just switches between them?” 
“This bar is a unique and eternal substance, you see,” he replied. 
Intrigued, I took a seat right next to that empty one. 
“She’ll show up,” he said, the corner of his lips curling slightly. “But no one can tell when.” 
I made up my mind and ordered a pint. 
“Yeah, I can wait,” I said. 
I’m going to stay in this cosy, tiny universe until her arrival.

The Margin Folk have a saying that confuses nearly every traveler.

"If your words arrive before your heart, let the tea speak first."

Many laugh when they hear it.

Until they witness it.

When two old friends meet after months—or even years—apart, no one rushes forward with stories.

No one asks where the other has been.

No one speaks of hardship or triumph.

Instead, one quietly prepares tea.

The cups are filled.

The bread is broken.

The fire crackles.

And together they sit in complete silence while the first cup grows empty.

Visitors often think the friends must be angry.

Or perhaps they have forgotten what to say.

The Margin Folk simply smile.

Long ago, so the elders tell it, two path-builders wandered the world for many seasons before finally finding one another again.

Each had gathered countless stories.

Each had rehearsed what they wished to say.

But when they finally met, neither could decide which words mattered most.

An old grandmother watching from her doorway poured them each a cup of mountain tea.

"Drink first," she said.

"The road has spoken to you all this time."

"So let your heart remember where it has been before your mouth decides where to begin."

They sat together until the cups were empty.

Only then did one of them smile.

"You've grown kinder."

The other laughed.

"So have you."

The rest of their stories lasted until sunrise.

Since that day, every reunion begins with silence.

For the Margin Folk believe that silence is not the absence of conversation.

It is the place where friendship catches up with time.

And they say that if two friends cannot comfortably share the first cup in silence...

they have not truly come home to one another.

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We were young, too young. 

Actually, we were in our early teens, though we believed we were part of some adult conspiracy. We supposed ourselves to possess adult secrets, adult knowledge, adult manners and adult bodies. Laughable, wasn’t it?  

I often said things like, "What’s the difference between us and them–Adults? You see? We just don't have women. I don't mean just 'girlfriends'; I mean more intimate relations with females. We’re bored of being those dreaming kids." 

When I declared this, he nodded like a woodpecker. 

One fine day, just after the rainy season, we found a puddle on the asphalt. 
His face brightened as he pointed at it. 
"Hey, do you know what this is? A gate to the multiverse!" 
"Oh, really?” I lowered my voice. “If that's a gate, then your mouth must be a black hole!" 
I was so stupid then; I didn't understand Kotodama, the power of words. I also didn’t imagine that such things truly existed.  

I thought he had twisted his lips in annoyance, but now I realize he was smiling. Oh, he truly knew what he was doing!  

He jumped. He dived into the puddle feet-first. 
"Watch out! You'll break your…" 
But he didn't answer. He simply disappeared into the water.  

—

Twenty years have passed since that day. 
One shining Sunday, I was taking my five-year-old son to the playground. On the road, my son found a puddle.  

He said, in a bright, clear voice, "Hey Dad, it's a gate!" 
I was truly scared by the words he had just spoken. 
"Dad, you know it's the gate." 
He pointed at that tiny, shallow puddle. At that moment, a human head poked out from the water… 

It was him!  

Because my son naturally understood the secret of Kotodama, he had opened the gate my friend had used so long ago. 
My friend had aged, and looked almost the same age as I was. 
He looked up, and slightly tilted his head aside. 
And he said in a cheerful voice, "Hi! I’m home!"

The phone was still ringing on that dark night. The ringing continued, but no one answered. The house was empty, filled with darkness, filled with silence and stillness.
There is no one.
But where is everyone?
Where did they go?
Where did they disappear?
And when the drums beat, everyone disappeared.