4:02 AM — The Hour When Doors Open... or Close Forever
I closed the store two hours early. I turned off the aisle lights, leaving only the dim emergency lighting that painted everything blood-red. The "Closed" sign hung crooked, but it didn't matter. The security cameras hadn't worked for years, and the manager was probably too busy drinking at some nightclub to notice anything.
I stood in front of the storage room door. The cheap wood creaked under my fist as I knocked.
"Aoi." My voice sounded like a gunshot in the silence. "You can come out. Miyu is gone."
Nothing.
I took a deep breath. The smell of burnt coffee and old plastic mixed with the iron of the dried blood on my bandage.
"If you don't come out in ten seconds, I'll lock you in." I lied, counting out loud. "One... two..."
A crash from inside. Something heavy hit the floor, maybe a box of cans.
"Did you hurt yourself?" I asked.
"What does it matter." Her voice came through muffled, as if she were standing right on the other side of the door. "Miyu told you everything, didn't she?"
I leaned against the wall, feeling the cold concrete through my shirt.
"Yes."
"That's why I didn't want her to see me." The door vibrated slightly, as if she had rested her head against it. "Now you think I'm a monster too, don't you...?"
"No."
"Don't lie!" She hit the door, sending dust flying from the hinges. "Everyone thinks the same. My dad, the teachers, even the stupid school psychologist..." Her voice broke. "Tell me the truth, Hiroto, please..."
I slid down to sit on the floor, my back against the door.
"Miyu told me what you did," I said, choosing each word as if they were shards of broken glass. "You didn't just bite off one boy's finger. You attacked them like they were discounted ramen." I couldn't help but smile imagining Aoi attacking her bullies.
"So what if I did!" she roared. "What did you want me to do? Stay still? Wait for them to gang rape me in a bathroom?"
"No."
"Then..." Her breathing was fast, ragged. "...do you think I was happy when they started dying? That I did something to them?"
"I don't know."
"Well, I was happy!" A bitter laugh. "When the first one killed himself, I laughed. When the second one drowned in a river, I toasted with vending machine juice. But no..." The door trembled. "...I didn't kill them. Although sometimes, at night, I fantasized that it was me who did it."
The silence stretched. The red lights blinked.
...
...
"Are you still there?" she asked, softer.
"Yes."
...
...
"Why don't you leave?" Her nails scraped the wood. "You don't have to pretend you care."
"Because I know you," I said, without thinking. "Maybe I don't know your last name, or understand what you went through, but..."
I had to say it.
"But I know you're an idiot." I said. "You're an idiot who puts gum on coins to see if customers stick their fingers together. An idiot who sings anime openings with changed lyrics when she's bored. An idiot who..." I swallowed. "...who forced me to eat wasabi ice cream saying it was matcha."
"That was fun," she murmured.
"It was disgusting."
...
...
"Hiroto-kun, are you trying to comfort me by insulting me?" I could hear her soft laughter filtering through the door.
"Sorry for not being someone like Araragi," I said, smiling at how stupid that sounded.
"Whatever. You're not a monster, or a murderer, or a ghost, or the Shinozaki Butcher."
"Then what?" The door creaked as it shifted. "What am I to you, Hiroto-kun? Just a coworker? A psychopath? Or just..."
"You're Aoi." I cut her off. "Nothing more. And nothing less."
The latch moved. The door opened a centimeter, letting a sliver of light from the storage room escape.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked with a confused smile.
"I don't know, but for me, that's enough."
She laughed.
I had to ask:
"What really happened that night?"
"That night..." Aoi's eyes opened wide in confusion. "How do you know about that?"
"Miyu told me."
...
...
Aoi stared at me as if carefully considering her response.
And after a few seconds, she spoke:
"...It was just a dream."
"What?"
"A dream," she repeated, opening the door enough for the light to reveal her figure. "I was underwater, so deep the sun couldn't even..." She stopped, biting her bleeding lip. "There was a shark. A giant white one, covered in scars. It didn't attack me, it just stared at me. And then..."
"And then?"
"I woke up. With my mouth full of saltwater." She laughed, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "Don't be an idiot, Hiroto-kun, I've always had teeth like this." She winked at me. "It's just that after that happened, some people started spreading rumors saying I was possessed and stuff like that. Stupid, right? Probably the friends of those pieces of trash."
"As stupid as trying to murder your classmates by biting them..."
I stood up, ignoring the pain in my hand as I leaned against the wall. There she was: messy hair, red eyes, dried blood at the corner of her lips.
"You look like a low-budget zombie," I said, pointing at her mouth.
"And you look like a stabbed mannequin," she retorted, pointing at my bandage. "Does it hurt?"
"Like I was bitten by a shark."
She looked at the floor, her shoulders hunched.
"Sorry."
"Don't be." I removed the bandage, showing her the holes in my skin. "It'll leave a cool scar. I'll say I was attacked by a seal."
"Idiot." Her laughter sounded fragile, but real. "Seals don't have teeth like that."
"Then a stray dog?"
"A shark, obviously!" She pushed the storage room door open, revealing the mess inside: overturned boxes, rolling cans, and her dog collar abandoned on the floor. "Hey... Why didn't you leave? Seriously."
I looked directly at her, no shields, no sarcasm.
"Because someone has to clean up this mess."
She blinked, then let out a laugh so loud it echoed through the empty aisles.
"Ha! Right! Hiroto-kun, the future manager of the Konbini!" She jumped onto a box, balancing like a monkey on a wire. "And now what? Are you taking me to a psychologist again? Are you going to give me a speech about why life is worth living even though it's shit?"
"No." I opened the drink fridge, pulling out two cans of cold coffee. "We'll drink these, clean up, and tomorrow we'll pretend nothing happened."
"Really?" Her eyes shone.
"Really." I tossed her a can. "But if you bite me again, I'll stuff you in the microwave."
She caught the can in mid-air, smiling with those sharp little teeth that no longer seemed like a threat. Or maybe they did, but they were strangely comforting to see.
"You win, Hiroto-senpai." She opened her can with a snap. "But... thank you."
"Don't thank me. I'm just avoiding getting fired by the manager."
"Liar."
"Idiot."
And so, amidst laughter that hid unshed tears and empty threats, another night at the Konbini ended.
But as we cleaned up the mess, I couldn't help but notice how Aoi stared intently at her reflection in the refrigerator's metal door. Her fingers traced her teeth, whispering something the buzz of the lights wouldn't let me hear.
And somewhere, in the depths of my mind, one question kept ringing.
How much of that dream wasn't a dream?
I didn't ask.
After all, some monsters deserve to remain hidden at the bottom of the sea.
And a shark bite was enough for me.