Chapter 12: The Tick That Runs Backward
The ticking began again.
But this time, it was wrong.
Haruto sat at his desk the next morning, staring at the same old office wall. Same light hum of pipes, same smell of iron and ink. Yet… something was off.
tick… tick… tick…
No. Not like usual.
His heartbeat was moving backward.
Like a clock trying to undo its time.
He held his chest, eyes wide.
> "Am I sick?"
He stood up quickly. The world spun for a second. But not from dizziness.
It was like the air had reversed.
Like he stepped into a moment that didn't want to happen yet.
He shook his head. Things settled. The room returned to normal.
Almost.
—
Downstairs, the tram was late. The usual schedule bell didn't ring.
Haruto sat on a bench, holding his ID badge. It didn't glow this time. Just stayed quiet, like it knew something he didn't.
Sera showed up, coat half-buttoned, hair in a loose twist.
"You look like death," she said, sitting beside him.
"Didn't sleep much," Haruto muttered.
She studied him for a moment, then handed him a small cup of thick coffee from a street stall.
He took it with a nod. The warmth helped. A little.
"You ever feel like you remember something that didn't happen?" he asked.
She blinked. "All the time. That's called a bad dream."
Haruto didn't reply. He knew what dreams were.
This felt worse.
Like he had lived through something—then it got erased.
But the memory stayed behind.
—
They boarded the tram, gears whining as it pulled away from the station. Haruto stared out the window. The buildings passed by like rusted teeth.
He saw a woman with a red umbrella standing still in the rain. Too still.
When the tram passed her—
She was gone.
He didn't blink.
He wasn't surprised.
The ticking in his chest was getting louder.
Still backward.
Still wrong.
—
That night, it got worse.
Haruto woke up standing in the alley behind his apartment.
He didn't remember leaving bed.
His hands were shaking. One had grease on it. The other held something cold—
A gear. Small, silver, and cracked down the middle.
It wasn't his.
He looked around.
The alley was empty.
He turned the gear over. Tiny letters were scratched into the metal:
> "You are drifting."
His breath caught.
Then the ticking stopped.
For a full five seconds.
No heartbeat.
No sound.
Just stillness.
Then—
tick… tick… tick…
Normal again.
He dropped the gear.
It hit the ground and rolled away.
He stared down at his hands.
"What's happening to me?"
—
Meanwhile, somewhere deeper below the city…
A girl in a dark coat flipped through a book made of old, yellow paper.
One page had Haruto's name on it.
Next to it, a red mark.
She circled the name with a black pen.
"He's breaking," she said.
A voice behind her replied, deep and cracked like a broken bell:
> "Then let him fall. If he survives… he belongs to us."
---
End of Chapter 12.