. Everything was blurry. Her racing heart and ragged breathing drowned out any other sound. The myriad colors of lights glaring down at her seared her eyes. Her body was sluggish to respond to her command.

  Erina couldn't feel her legs. Feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds, her arm reluctantly tried to block out the light, but her legs wouldn't move at all.

  Her arm fell away, too heavy to keep aloft. The lights wavered overhead, fading in and out of focus.

  "Oi, oi, oi." The deep, low rumble of a man's voice seemed to come from the far end of a tunnel, the words only barely audible to her. "Don't come in here startin' shit and then keel over in one. Put up a damn fight. Fuck's sake, 's why I hate dealin' with kids…"

  She could just barely work her neck, angling her head up just enough to see a massive dark shape blocking out the lights behind it.

  "…get up… can't just 'cause…"

  Erina could barely hear what it was saying now. She couldn't muster the slightest bit of strength to so much as sit up. She was fighting just to keep her eyes open.

  "…ain't no choice but…" The giant figure seemed to grow larger still. Dimly, in some far corner of her mind, Erina pieced together it must be a person. "…outta yer misery…"

  Blinding bright red filled her vision. The world spun, smearing together in a nonsensical mess. A heavy blow struck her head and everything came to an abrupt halt, blurrier than ever. The large figure seemed so tiny now… no, there was another dark blob near its feet…

  Her vision wavered, so close yet so far to seeing what it was. Everything was too blurry to make out now. Someone kept turning the lights on and off. Her head hurt so much and she could barely think… maybe it was better if she stopped trying to figure out what that thing on the ground was…

  She couldn't hear her breathing… or even her heart… She couldn't feel her body at all anymore…

  It was so dark…

  …

  So why did she know her eyes were still open?

  Erina tried blinking. Yes. She had eyes. It didn't change a thing—all she saw was pitch black either way—but she had eyes. She couldn't hear anything, but she felt as if she had ears too. She tried moving her arm to make a noise… wait, she had arms?

  She fell still again, trying to process what was happening. She tentatively moved her tongue, pressing it up to the roof of her mouth. She had a mouth she could open and close. Gradually, Erina became aware of a sense of balance that told her she was on her side.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  She moved her arm more carefully this time. There was a hand with fingers at the end of her arm. She even had two arms, and they both had hands. She couldn't feel anything under her, but she didn't seem to be falling.

  Erina realized her legs existed. Carefully, as if everything might fall apart if she moved too quickly, she sat up in this dark place, and then stood up on her feet. She didn't hurt, but she couldn't see herself. She couldn't hear herself too—not the sound of her own breathing, not her own heart beating.

  But she could hear something else.

  Footsteps, slow and steady.

  Erina listened to them more. Eventually, she could tell they were coming from behind her, and they were coming very close to her now. She tried moving her foot. Yes, she could do that. She could even pivot, turning around. Distantly, she thought how useless it was when she couldn't even see.

  But she did see her.

  "Erina!" barked Akira.

  Erina's eyes flew open with a sharp gasp. Pain flared in her elbow as she slammed it against the car door without thinking, nearly hitting the roof of the car with how quickly she bolted up in her seat. Erina's heart pounded a mile a minute as she spluttered and panted for breath, her hand flying to her neck and feeling it all over. She had a neck. It existed. It was still there. Nothing happened to it.

  Erina looked around. She was in a stopped car. Akira had long since drawn her hand back, sitting in the other seat.

  "Wild theory I'm 'bout to propose," said Akira. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you're up now."

  Now she remembered. That was right. They were going to resolve a dispute with another organization.

  "Y-Yes." Erina drew herself in, wishing she could curl up and fold herself smaller and smaller until she ceased to exist. "I'm sorry."

  "Get it together, could you? We're here."

  The car had stopped partway up the mountain in front of an old-fashioned wooden restaurant. It was in a miserable state, with rotted and partially-eaten planks. The sign had long since faded into illegibility. Part of the roof had caved in. Looking the other way, there was another city at the foot of the mountain, the lights of its buildings standing sharp against the dim evening.

  Akira paced in front of the ruined shack as Erina looked out over the city without really looking. The details of the dream faded so fast she could barely recall anything already. She saw someone just before she woke up. She knew she saw them, but any detail had already gone up into thin air with the rest of the dream. All she knew for certain was that there was a new pit in her stomach as she turned to join Akira for this meeting she knew nothing about.

  "Feeling better?" Akira had one hand on her hip as she looked at her. "We're going to the Reverse."

  Erina looked blankly at her.

  "Tch. 'Course you don't know how."

  "I'm sor—"

  "And stop that. Tired of hearing it."

  Erina almost reflexively apologized again. She swallowed it back and simply nodded.

  "The Reverse is just that—the flip side of reality." The planks groaned as Akira walked up onto the deck. "It's ruled more by concepts than by physics. Getting there and back depends on the person." The door creaked loudly as she tested how it swung on its hinges. She walked around to the wall behind the door, looking back to make sure she had Erina's gaze. "Picture it, and don't think about what should logically happen when you try. How do you think one reaches the underbelly of the world?"

  And then she slammed the door on herself with a bang.

  Erina started. The door creaked on its hinges as it moved back with the recoil. Akira was nowhere to be seen.

  "…Huh?" She frowned. "But I don't understand."