That day had been scorching hot since morning.

On my way home from work, I finally got dizzy on the sidewalk. I stood there for a while, leaning against a utility pole.

Once I finally regained my senses, I stopped by a convenience store to get a can of Coke.

Stepping inside, the store looked strange, as if shrouded in a thin pink mist.

*Uh oh... The heat must really be getting to my head.*

I grabbed my can of Coke from the beverage cooler at the back of the store and walked up to the register.

A huge male cashier with a yellow afro and a white surgical mask stood across from me, speaking in a low voice with unfocused eyes.

"Would you like me to warm this up?"

"Huh?"

I couldn't help asking him to repeat himself.

The afro-haired cashier repeated it, sounding annoyed this time.

"WOULD. YOU. LIKE. ME. TO. WARM. THIS. UP?!"

I glanced down at the ice-cold can of Coke sitting on the counter, then looked back up at the clerk.

"N-No, I'm good," I stammered timidly. I paid as fast as I could and fled the store.

* * * * * * * * * *

After that, I took the 7:18 p.m. subway train as usual.

Even though it was a Saturday, the train car was practically empty, so I plopped down right in the middle of a bench seat.

It was about a thirty-minute ride to the station nearest my apartment.

Exhausted from days of non-stop work, I crossed my arms and began to doze off.

I think only a short time had passed.

"Um... is this seat taken?"

A woman's faint voice suddenly snapped me awake.

Startled, I raised my head.

Standing right in front of me was a thin woman with shoulder-length black hair and a white mask, looking anxious.

I instinctively looked to my left and right.

Nobody else was sitting on the bench besides me.

Then the woman spoke again.

"I... I'm just so exhausted because it was so hot today!

So... so..." she pleaded, looking on the verge of tears.

Flustered, I said,

"U-Uh, go ahead," and shifted slightly to my left.

"Thank you so much, thank you so much," she said, bowing her head repeatedly as she sat down directly to my right.

*What is wrong with this woman? Is she insane?*

*There are so many open seats all around us...*

*Wait... is she trying to pickpocket me?*

I repositioned my bag onto my lap from beside me and shifted a bit farther away from her.

I stole a few glances at her after that, but she just sat there, staring blankly down at the floor.

* * * * * * * * * *

When I finally reached my station, I headed up to street level.

Walking down a dark alley flanked by cinder-block walls, relying on the faint light of streetlamps,

I heard a strange sound behind me.

*Clang, clang, clang...*

*What is that?* I thought, casually looking over my shoulder.

About a hundred yards behind me, a man in a gray suit wearing a white mask was walking.

With unsteady, faltering steps,

dragging an iron pipe across the asphalt with one hand...

*Clang, clang, clang...*

I made several turns down the alley, but the man kept following right behind me.

What's more, his eyes were wide open, glaring at me as he picked up his pace to close the distance.

The gap between us was steadily shrinking.

I turned around once more, and before I knew it, the man had raised the iron pipe in his right hand.

Whoa!

Letting out a quiet shriek, I broke into a run.

Before long, my apartment building came into view.

Gasping for air, I rushed into the entrance and skipped the elevator, sprinting up the concrete stairs all at once.

I hurried down the third-floor walkway, frantically unlocked my front door, slipped inside, and immediately locked the door and latched the safety chain.

Leaning against the door, I caught my breath.

I could feel warm sweat pouring down my forehead.

My heart was pounding like a hammer.

*What the hell was with that guy?*

Muttering under my breath, I sat slumped at the entryway for a while.

Once I finally calmed down, I stood up, went to the bathroom, and took a quick shower.

Sitting on the couch in the living room, I downed a cold beer in one gulp and breathed a sigh of relief.

My eyes happened to catch the LCD TV mounted on the wall ahead, where a deadpan news anchor with a neat side-part was reading an article.

"Due to the record-breaking heat wave over the past few days, numerous people across the country have collapsed from heatstroke and been rushed to emergency rooms.

Several hospitals in the Tokyo area have already reached full capacity..."

*With heat like this, I guess it makes sense that people are losing their minds.*

I chuckled to myself, recalling the convenience store clerk, the woman on the subway, and the guy in the alley.

After watching TV for a bit, I started feeling sleepy, so I went to the bedroom and crawled into bed.

Since I had turned on the AC beforehand, the room was quite cool.

Shortly after, I drifted off into a pleasant slumber.

How much time had passed, I couldn't tell.

*Ding-dong!*

I was jolted awake by the sudden ringing of the doorbell.

Looking at my phone screen on the nightstand, it was barely past 9:00 p.m.

*Who is it at this hour...?*

Grumbling to myself, I climbed out of bed, left the bedroom, and walked down the hallway to the front door while scratching my head.

*Ding-dong!*

The doorbell chimed again.

"Um, who is it?"

I asked timidly toward the metal door and listened, but there was no reply.

Suspicious, I peeked through the peephole.

I gasped.

A man with a neat side-part hairstyle and a white mask was standing in the dimly lit hallway with hollow eyes.

He looked strikingly similar to the man from the alley earlier.

The man pressed the doorbell button next to the door again.

*Ding-dong!*

I pressed my face close to the door and asked,

"Um... can I help you with something?"

After a moment, I heard the man's low, muffled voice.

"This is my house."

"Huh?"

I reflexively looked around.

On top of the shoe rack was my familiar cat figurine.

At my feet were my usual sneakers and my work dress shoes.

This was definitely my apartment.

"I think you have the wrong place.

This is my home."

Suddenly, the man shouted in a threatening voice,

"Don't mess with me! This has been my home for a long time!" With that, he began violently pounding on the door.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

"Stop it! I'm calling the police!"

I shouted, unable to hold back.

The man gave the door one last powerful strike, clicked his tongue, and walked away.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I went back to the bedroom and lay down on the bed once more.

Staring up at the dim ceiling,

*That guy, the woman on the subway, the convenience store clerk... is everyone losing their mind because of the heat?*

As my thoughts swirled into confusion,

I eventually drifted off into slumber once again.

* * * * * * * * * *

When I was awakened by a second disturbance, it was past 1:00 a.m.

It was a violent, shattering sound that suddenly pierced my ears.

*BANG! BANG! CRASH!!*

It sounded like it came from the living room.

Panicked, I scrambled out of bed, rushed down the hallway, opened the living room door, and flipped on the light.

The instant I saw the scene before me, my heart leapt into my throat.

The glass of the sliding patio door at the back of the room was smashed, and a man in a suit stood in front of it.

Countless shards of glass lay scattered across the floor at his feet.

With his hair in a neat side-part and wearing a white mask, he was clearly the same man who had come to my front door earlier.

In his right hand, he gripped an iron pipe.

"You bastard... you're trying to take over my house?"

Glaring up at me, he muttered those words and stomped straight toward me.

"Eek!"

Letting out a high-pitched cry, I turned around and sprinted down the hallway.

Reaching the front entryway, I frantically tried to unlock the door.

But the man was surprisingly fast. He caught up behind me instantly and brought the iron pipe down toward the back of my head.

*CRACK!*

Along with a dull thud, an intense pain struck my head like a high-voltage electric shock. My vision turned stark white in an instant, and I collapsed onto the entryway floor.

Straddling my body, the man screamed, "Damn you! Damn you!" as he brought the iron pipe down two, three more times.

Gradually, the pain faded away, and my vision blurred into a pale pink mist.

* * * * * * * * * *

It was a day in August 2023.

That day saw record-breaking, blistering heat.

Around 7:00 p.m., a 33-year-old office worker, Mr. S, was found unconscious by a passerby, slumped against the base of a utility pole on a shopping street sidewalk.

He appeared to have been on his way home from work, utterly exhausted from the day's abnormal heat and fatigue.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital by ambulance, but was pronounced dead shortly before 8:00 p.m.

The cause of death was severe heatstroke.

Whether he was tormented by horrific hallucinations right up until his death, it was reported that he suffered from night terrors until the very end, rambling a string of nonsensical words.

[The End]