CH 29

The Third Nightmare (Amane Side)

Tatan Tatan … Tatan Tatan … Tatan Tatan …

The next thing I know, I’m on the train.

I didn’t know where I was going or where I was heading on the train, I just sat in the seat of the third car of the train with no one on it but myself.

“T-This is… No way… No way !?”

I had… seen this scene before.

No… It’s wrong, I remembered… this is… a dream.

But not the pleasant, warm dreams that Yumeji-kun showed me every night.

Truly, the worst kind of dream that I never want to see again if I can.

For some reason, when I woke up, all I felt was discomfort and I didn’t remember it, a really creepy nightmare.

My whole body trembles… my lips are thirsty… A fear that sends chills through me like the middle of winter.

Finally, the in-car announcement I didn’t want to hear started to come over the speakers.

Not like a station attendant, but with a constant tone of voice…

[We’ve been waiting for you for a very long time. The train will now proceed to the end of the line.]

“Hie!?”

It was an announcement made by a male station attendant that could have been made at any station, but to me, it was terribly creepy and horrifying.

[Our train “Monkey Dream” has passed through “Ikezukuri1” and “Eguridashi2“. Next is the last stop, “Hikiniku3~ Hikiniku~”] (TLN: 1 can be translated as “prepared alive”, the other mean is the preparing of sashimi (raw fish) from live seafood. 2 mean to gouge out or to cut out. 3 mean minced meat.)

The urban legend “Monkey Dream” was a scary story that I knew from Kagura-chan.

It’s a kind of a common scary story where a passenger in the first carriage is slaughtered the first time, a passenger in the second carriage is slaughtered the second time along the two words that you just testified “passed”, and… when the third carriage is the last one.

Why do I have to have such a dream!? I was relieved when I stopped seeing them these days…

I looked at the car in front of me… What happened in the previous dream, I can predict, but I don’t want to imagine, the bloodstains are so horrible…

In addition, there are traces of someone struggling in pain, handprints and other flailing marks on the floor and glass, all left by blood….

Immediately, nausea occurs along with fear.

“Why… it’s now !?”

I muttered such an unimportant thing to myself without asking anyone.

However, there was nothing special about it, and the announcement answered my mere muttering in a disciplined manner.

[Well, until the other day, we could not force our way into the dream because other dreams were in the way. That’s why it took us so long to get you on board again… I’m very sorry to have kept you waiting.]

There’s no way I could have waited for this dream!?　

I wanted to yell at him for that, but he said something I didn’t want to hear.

“T-The other dreams get in the way… That’s!?”

[… The reason for the disruption in the timetable leading to the end of the line was that our guests had departed for other dreams before we arrived.]

Another dream, such as that, must be thanks to the power of the “Dream Book” that Yumeji-kun showed me!

[We are very sorry that our customer has been waiting for more than two weeks… Today, we will deliver the customer to “Hikiniku” according to the timetable…]

As soon as I heard the ominous announcement, the door leading to the blood-soaked car next to me suddenly opened with a “bang”.

“Hie!?”

There’s blood in that car, but I’m pretty sure there’s no one in there…

And what appeared from behind the open door was a drill-like object with countless metal blades arranged in a series of circles.

No, it’s wrong… The countless blades that appeared filled the “entire car” to the brim, turning it into a giant “mixer” that came from one side of the car.

And the moment all the gaps were gone, all the fine blades began to rotate.

GIIIIIIIII, GYARI GYARI GYARI…………

And then, without regard to metal objects such as seats and handrails in the train car, it shattered them into pieces with a nasty noise… It was coming this way!!

“N-No!!”

I had to run away… I thought so and tried to get up in a hurry, but I collapsed from my seat.

I can’t get my legs to move properly… The fear is making me cannot move my limbs!?

Even so… I still have to run away!!

[Dear passenger, the second time you boarded our vehicle, we did indeed say, “This time you will not escape”. Our motto is always to keep our promises.]

He’s having fun… I’m convinced by the tone of his voice.

This “nightmare” is enjoying watching me, who try to buck up and run away desperately, my frightened appearance, and die in despair!

“Hie… No, no! Even though… we can play together again… and I can say see you tomorrow…”

I tried my best to escape from the whirling blender that was mechanically crushing everything into pieces without any emotion, but the blender kept coming closer and closer to me.

Tears flow on their own… scared, painful, frustrating, don’t want to die… help me…

“Help me… help me…”

[We apologize for your inconvenience, but as long as you remain in this vehicle, rescue will not be forthcoming… Enjoy to the fullest until the end of the line…]

I don’t care about the words of the announcement that I don’t want to hear anymore!!

I don’t want to die yet!!

I have to wake up properly again!!

“Help me, Yume-chan !!”

“… That nickname brings back memories, but at this age, it’s already embarrassing.”

“……………………………Eh?”

[Eh?]

That voice suddenly appeared next to me.

The voice of the boy I felt most comfortable with, the one I was closest to, and the one I wanted to hear the most.

Perhaps this was an unexpected event for “Nightmare”, and the announcement, which had been made in a professional tone, sounded confused.

But it doesn’t matter, he’s carrying a huge rocket launcher on his shoulder that I don’t know where he got it from… He fired it at the huge mixer that was approaching.

“I don’t know if it’s a dream demon or what… If you want it so badly, I’ll make you “minced meat“… This damn fieeend !!”

“Wai!? At such close range!?”

[W-What the hell!? You intervened in my… dream??]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…

A huge explosion and flash of light inside the third car of a running train… It was too flashy a performance to be the signal for a long night.