CH 31

Passengers with many legs getting off at the phantom station

The place where we jumped out was apparently in the mountains, and we killed our momentum by rolling a few times in the grass along the railroad tracks… It seems that we managed to escape safely.

“O-Ouch ouch… Amane, are you okay?”

“S-Somehow…”

Although we were both scratched and tattered in several places, we were relieved to know that we were safe for the time being.

It’s much better than being minced… We stood up, brushing the dust from our bodies.

“Let’s get as far away from the tracks as possible. It might help.”

It may be a temporary relief, after all, we are in a dream, and unless we finally wake up, we will be under the spell of the “monkey dream”… I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, because we’re still on the same playing field….

But after what happened on the train, I can’t help but understand how she feels.

“You’re right… Anyway, let’s keep our distance from the railroad tracks.”

“Un… but where is this place? It looks a little familiar, doesn’t it?”

Looking around, we know it’s a wooded area in the mountains… The road is paved enough that it doesn’t look like it’s too deep in the mountains.

“Let’s just get moving. It’s not like we have a destination in our dreams, but… Staying here isn’t going to help…”

“…Yes. It makes me anxious to stay here.”

I understand that feeling very well.

In any case, doing nothing would not change the situation, but if we could just buy some time, Suzu-nee would eventually come to our rescue.

From the way she said it, I’m assuming that Suzu-nee knows how to solve the problem.

We started walking up the mountain to get away from the railroad tracks…… which is the biggest factor in the “monkey dream”.

And on the way, I heard Amane tell me for the first time that she had been having this nightmare for some time.

“So Amane has been having these “monkey dream” since before I got “this book”.”

When I asked the question, this time with my “dream book” in my hand, which I carry around with me even in my dreams, Amane made a blatantly unpleasant face.

“Un… but when I wake up I’ve forgotten all about it. “I had a bad dream!” That’s the only thing I can remember… “

…… That reminds me, did she say something like that before?

Before starting to play with lucid dreaming with me by using the “Dream Book”, she said something like, “I have been having bad dreams lately”.

If that is the “curse” that Suzu-nee was talking about, then it was not something she should have gone through.

“However… I quickly jumped off the train with the simple idea of leaving the stage by train to distance myself from the “monkey dream” from Kagura-san’s story, but … I’m not even sure this is the right decision.”

Dream showdown, dream-to-dream confrontation…… that creepy announcement said something like that, but I feel something that I can’t quite explain.

In the first place, this dream is different from the dreams I have had so far.

It’s not a ‘lucid dream’ I’ve prepared, it’s a ‘nightmare’ the enemy has prepared for…

“While we are fighting with our bodies exposed, the other side is hiding and monitoring us, remotely controlling the power of “Dream” and hunting us down with a smirk on their face… That’s what it feels like to me”

“Un, I can understand that somehow. Someone who likes to do this kind of thing would definitely have a bad personality.”

Amane nodded her head in agreement to my muttering.

Even in the train, the enemy’s attacks never ceased, and even when they were destroyed, they immediately recovered and came back to attack us.

It was like us making endless weapons appear and firing them wildly…

In other words, if that train is a “weapon”, then no amount of sabotage there will damage the “main body”.

…… In the first place, the way the curse is used and everything that is done smells cowardly and gloomy.

He sets up nightmares in dreams without showing his faces, and in reality, he makes you forget and scare you while keeping his safe.

When the time came to fight, he didn’t risk his own life, but said, “Dream Showdown”, as if to say, “I stood on the same stage as you”, what a misunderstood narcissist…

How to say it… I don’t like anything about it.

But the more I thought about it, the more irritated I became… Suddenly, Amane looked down and muttered.

“… I’m sorry, Yumeji-kun. Because of me again… you’re in danger.”

“…………Hmm?”

“It’s a curse that was originally placed on me… I’m always causing you so much trouble… Just when I thought we get along again like old times…”

“…………”

“If this is going to happen……… Ow!?”

I chopped Amane’s head as she continued to slump down while talking.

I’m not going to let you say any more about it… I stare at discouraged Amane.

“Yumeji-kun?”

“Don’t tell me, “I’m glad we’ve stayed apart”…… You’re not going to say that, right? I’m here in Amane’s dream now at my will, though? A future where Amane could have been killed by the nightmare as it was… Do you think I will be fine with it? “

“Uh… But… And that puts you in danger…”

Amane’s voice sinks even lower… Well, I don’t know how you feel about that.

The guilt of involving other people in their own problems, even if someone is irresponsible, Amane has a stronger sense of responsibility than most people.

If it was going to be a sacrifice, it should have been me… I guess that’s what she thinks.

But… If Amane can understand that, then she can understand how I feel, right?

“I might not have been able to be a part of my precious childhood friend’s big day… That’s more important to me…”

“Eh!?”

Amane showed a surprised expression at my words… She looked down again.

Apparently, she understands… I definitely don’t like the idea of my childhood friend being in trouble and I cannot be depended on.

“In times like that, at least let me be next to you……… Good grief.”

“…………… Un………… I’m sorry”

As she muttered that, Amane lightly tugged on my sleeve as we walked, though she kept her head down.

………… Despite the situation, it’s a secret that I was a little fluttered.

*

[I see, I see… “That” is the best seasoning for you…]

”It” seemed to be enjoying itself to no end as it stared at its target, at the entertainment it had discovered.

Fear and despair… Think of the spices that give the target extreme flavor…

*

Without a clue, we walked steadily through the mountains for a while, trying to stay away from the railroad tracks… Just when we thought the mountains had suddenly opened up, there in front of us was…… an old station.

It’s not as old as the unattended stations …… that exist in the countryside, it looks so shabby that it hasn’t had any repair work done for 20-30 years.

“Cih… Just when I was trying to stay away from the train business…”

“!? T-This station is… No way !?”

But even though my first impression of the station was that it was shabby, it seemed to be different for Amane.

Amane looked up fearfully and turned blue when she saw the name of the station.

“Ki-Kisaragi… Station…”

The name of the station that Amane muttered …… I didn’t remember the name of the station at all.

“You know it? Is this station …… related to Monkey Dream?”

“Uun, it’s the name of a station that appears in a different urban legend. People who end up at this station are said to go missing…”

When I asked her about it, Amane shook her head with a blue face and replied, but I felt something strange there.

Different story? Wasn’t Amane possessed by something that represented the urban legend of “Monkey Dream”?

Are you saying that because there is a railroad connection in urban legends, they are the same kind of “something” in the first place?

What is this …… unpleasant feeling that I can’t explain?

“Either way, if the station is that blatantly shady, we shouldn’t go in.”

“That’s right, it’s as you say! It’s not like it’s a horror movie, so it’s a mistake to go into a suspicious place and say, “Let’s just go in”!!”

Amane nodded her head in agreement with my common sense.

Common sense for horror movies and horror games: …… Don’t enter suspicious places out of curiosity! Never be relieved when you avoid danger!!! Never ride in a helicopter of a certain company!!!

The probability of survival will increase considerably depending on whether or not this can be practiced….

But…… We made such a common sense decision, and in less than a blink of an eye…… We were already standing inside the station, and on the platform.

Apparently, the place was forcibly changed like a scene change, just like on the train.

“Chi… again, huh”

“Even though I wasn’t even going to enter…”

Suddenly, we were transferred to a dimly lit, uninhabited platform, and with maximum caution, we stood back-to-back, guns at the ready.

On the empty platform, there were no trains running, no station staff …… and only an eerie silence.

“Say… What is the story behind the urban legend of Kisaragi Station, by the way? And what kind of place is Kisaragi station anyway?”

As long as you’ve been brought in, no matter what the enemy’s purpose is, if they’re tracing urban legends, you’ll need to know the outline of “Kisaragi Station” to be able to deal with them.

But Amane shook her head with bitter face.

“Actually … in the story, after hearing the name Kisaragi Station in an email or an announcement, the other person goes missing, so there’s not much detail about what kind of station it is…… Some people call it the station of the other world…… or the station for going to the other side……… “

In other words, the end is “I’ll leave the rest to your imagination”, huh…….

Normally, I’d want to interpret this as a positive thing, but I don’t see how it can be a positive thing in this situation.

“Kuh… It’s more and more like a horror game with unknown rules.”

KII——–N…………

“Hmm!?”

“W-What !?”

But as I muttered, the eerie silence of the deserted station was suddenly filled with the howling sound of speakers.

The sound from the speakers… is just bad news for us…

And my hunch was unfortunately correct.

[The two guests at the entrance… We have been waiting for you very long. We are looking forward to welcoming you with all the hospitality we can muster…]

A serious, rotten business tone coming out… But unlike a real station attendant, I could tell that the owner of the voice was smirking when talking over the speaker.

“After Monkey Dream, there’s another urban legend, Kisaragi Station… Aren’t you being a little unprincipled?”

My anguished retort echoed through the station platform, but the speaker’s voice ignored my words and began to utter a noisy dialog.

[The train will be arriving shortly from track 4. Please be on the lookout for any “arthropods” getting off the train.]

KIKIKIKIKI———

When the announcement was over, a train suddenly ran into Line 4 right in front of us without any warning… and stopped.

Both me and Amane… Cold sweat ran down my face as the train stopped in front of us.

“A-Amane? Didn’t they just say something ominous on the announcement?”

“N-No… I don’t… believe it…”

Ah… Speaking of which, Amane is… with the one who has many feet…

No sooner had I thought about it than the doors of the arriving train opened …… and the unwanted reality suddenly flooded in.

As if a cork had been pulled out of the sewage, black or long, small or large, crawling or flying…… it was hard to describe, or perhaps I didn’t want to describe, the horrible scene that spread before my eyes.

“IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

DOGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA……………

Amane went half-crazy and started firing her machine gun wildly.

But even with a machine gun, there’s no way to fight the swarms of insects that have sprung up all over the platform. …… In fact, even if some of the other insects are blown away by the bullets, they don’t stop, they just keep coming closer and closer.

…… Bullets for mass ejection are not going to get us anywhere.

“Amane, calm down! Guns don’t work! Change your weapon!”

“C-C-C-C-Change what?! No, don’t come hereeeeee!!”

The scene in front of me gives me goosebumps too, but when someone is this distraught next to me, it makes me calm down.

I grabbed a different weapon to counter the swarm of insects.

For a long time, when it came to pest control, it was either chemical spraying, otherwise …

GUGOOOOOOOOOOO…………

I took the flamethrower in my hand and hurled a huge amount of fire at the horrific scene in front of me.

The large number of arthropods that were exposed to the high heat of the flames were instantly burned by the fire and burst into flames, making an unpleasant “bachi bachi” sound.

The stench of burning insects fills the platform, but I can’t turn my back on it…

Seeing me use the flamethrower, Amane muttered, “I see” and then equipped herself with a flamethrower to get rid of the bugs.

She was in tears the whole time, though.

………… In my lucid dream, I was shooting zombies with glee.