Theyoungman put his head on the floor and started to get down on his knees.

Itwasevident that he was in dire need of help, no kidding.

Accordingto the details, he was trapped by a large collapsed tree and owing to the immense impact, his spirit was detached from his body, leaving him in an ongoing state of suspended animation. Whilehe was narrowly holding on to life, his death would be imminent if the situation were leftunattended.

Therefore, herequested me to go with him into the sea of trees to search for the location of hisbody.

“Areyoukiddingme?”

Thisdevelopment was not in the least amusing. Thesea of trees, we were talking about that sea of trees.

Hewent further in through the copse around the convenience store. It was said to be a boundless labyrinth that an amateur would never be able to return to if ventured into thoughtlessly.

Moreover… itwas a suicide spot, whereit was reputed that many people came to abandon their lives every year. Andhe wanted me to go there?

Themere thought of it made me shudder. Simplybeing in that convenience store alone was overwhelming, so what would happen to me if I went to a place with such a dense aura of negativity? Therewould probably be tens, if not hundreds of them. Not only that, perhaps inside there might be… real ones lying around or hanging besides spirits and thelike.

“D-Don’t beridiculous! Howcan I go to that place! F-First of all, why the hell did you go into that place! Normal people wouldn’t do that! Are yousuicidal!?”

“It’snot like that! I had to enter it for work, and it took me longer than I thought it would… and I got retaliated against… No, I mean! I screwed up! Yeah, I screwedup!”

Youscrewed up and nearly died… More importantly, what kind of job required you to enter the seaof trees?

“Well, Irun my own business and work behind the scenes… so I don’t want anything too out in the open, like cops.”

Seriously, whatkind of job would that be?

“Evenif it’s your own life on the line!? Youcan’t afford to be so modest about it!”

“But… it doesn’t guarantee that I’m going to die yet.”

“If you’re goingto seek help from a civilian, go to the police, they’ll save you for sure. I’ll call them.”

“Whoa, holdon! Holdon! If the police are involved, trouble will follow… or rather, even if I make it back alive, I won’t be able to gohome.”…Wereyou a criminal?

“If you don’t like it, giveit up. My bad, I won’t move even a muscle. Iseriously don’t want to put myself in danger.”

“Ah.” Translator: MadHatter

Iwasnothing but a convenience store staff member and not benevolent enough to willingly extend my hand to a customer I once met who requested me to enter the sea of trees withhim.

“Iamsorry but… don’t get me embroiled in anything strange.”

Iwondered if that was a roundabout way of telling him to die. Even though he was a total stranger, I felt like a wicked guy for saying this tohim.

I lita cigarette and smoked it to compose myself. If I could, I would save him, but the conditions were too adverse. At this hour of the night, and withhim in a state of astral projection, it would be suicidal for me to go into the sea of trees with him. In case I messed up, I likewise would end up lying in the sea of trees as acorpse.

EvenI feared for my own safety. Too many incidents in the past few days had driven me to the point where I strongly felt that I had to protect myself. While I did understand that this young man in front of me was facing a crisis and needed someone’s help, there was no way that it had to be me tohelp him.

Therewould be others who would be willing to offer their help instead of me. Though, he had to choose the way to present himself.

“I-Iguess so…”

Insteadof reacting furiously to my denial, as I had anticipated, the young man looked up apologetically with a small smile on his face.

“Indeed… Ishowed up out of the blue and asked you to accompany me into the sea of trees. What I said was too outrageous. I messed up on my own, and Iwas too naive to ask someone else to help me out. Sorry, sonny, for the trouble I caused you, and I hopeyou forgive me…”

“You…”Not shared on aggregator sites

“Duringtheday, Iwas desperately trying to find my body but I couldn’t locate it. I have a friend but that guy has no sense of direction and I haveno idea where they are right now, so I was brainstorming about who might be able to help me instead, and your face came to mind, the same sonny who gave mea towel yesterday…”

hesaid.

“Yeah. Butyou know, it’s your thing, and you have to clean up your own mess.”

Aftersaying this, the young man began to become thinner and thinner and more transparent. It was as if he was fading away.

“Hey…”“Tomorrownight, I’m goingto go to the convenience store again. If I don’t show up at the convenience store then… please call the cops.”

“T-Thatmeans…”

Before I couldsay anything else, the youngman grinned at me.

“What? Thatpossibility is highly unlikely. I’ll see you tomorrow nightat the convenience store, sonny.”

“Areyoucertain you’ll be fine on your own?”

“Ihaveno one else to rely on, well, I’ll manage! I’ll get myself out of this mess!”

Eventhoughhe was dying, what was he saying so self-confidently? As I was about to tell him so, I found that the young man was indeed trying to disappear from the spot, or rather, he had already completely vanished, down to his upper body.

“Hey!”23SX

“Seeyou later, sonny.”

“Hey! You…”2X

Holdon. By the time I said that, it was already too late. Likemist, no traceof him lingered. The young man’s figure was utterly outof sight.

Washegone?

“Ishe really gone?”

Icalled out to him, yet received noresponse. Therewas no presence.

I knew it. It seemed that the young man had returned alone to the sea of trees to search for his body.

Whathad just ensued was so unrealistic that I was dazed for a while, but no matter how long I waited, there was no sign of the young man emergingagain.

“…”2wq

Fornow… For a change of mood, I decided to open the window and have another smoke.magic

Aslight yetcool night breeze was flowing in.

Whileblowing out the smoke at random, Igazed up at the nightsky.

Iwonderedwhat was going to become of that guy… Would he make it back alive and actually visitthe convenience store tomorrow night?