Our Final Message.

C1

The hall was empty.

By empty, he doesn't mean there are simply no people here.

Nothing was here.

No people, no light, no sound.

Well, maybe not sound.

Of course there had to be sound. It was an old orphanage, after all. A large, crumbling orphanage so ancient that much of the wallpaper has peeled away to reveal tasteless walls and mice outnumbering children. Yuck. Just a minor complaint, of course... He had nothing to complain about, even if living barely above the brink of poverty.

When he was first brought here, the caregivers were the first people to ever treat him kindly and, over the years, he's grown to love the other orphaned kids like they're the family he never had. It's just that, even in the dead of night, this decaying house is always whispering with stirring noises...

...and it doesn't make sense for there to be no sound!

Right, right. Positively, there has to be sound. Surely his subconscious has simply grown so accustomed to sleeping through any noises that, even while he's awake, the slightest sounds escape him. He just had to recall what he should be looking for, that's all.

Like the wooden floorboards creaking (Nothing. Maybe they were finally repaired?)...

Or the fireplace sizzling (Nothing. Maybe nobody ignited it today?)...

Or dust accumulating (Nothing. Maybe someone tidied?)...

...

Guess there is no sound?

No, no, no... Unless he's become deaf, that doesn't make sense...

It doesn't make sense that sound could just vanish.

...And... For that matter...

...Nor does it make sense that the eerie darkness around him seems more like a growing void than normal night dullness...

...Or that the house's details such as abnormally blank paintings and bizarrely arranged furniture didn't match his memories...

But right, right. Sound. That, at least, could tell him one thing for certain.

Sound, sound. What about sound? He forgot. Sound being...sound? Sound being...not sound? Not sound? Oh! No sound!

Right.

Why couldn't he hear anything? Was he...sincerely deaf? No longer was it a mere paranoid thought; fear was beginning to grow that his hearing had forever failed him. If true, what was he going to do once morning arrived?! How would he explain that he, with no warning, somehow lost his hearing? How were others going to communicate with him? Sign language?!

He couldn't uproot his entire life like this! He couldn't restart his entire life! Every day and every night, he thrived the same way he had for years! He didn't want a sudden change! He wanted the same life! He didn't want a new reality! What if it's hopeless that anything can help him?! Had he been warned even a glimmer of what could happen, he never would've left his bed...

This wasn't fair! How could this make sense?! How could he have known?! That, because he crept out of the bedroom at night, sound would disappear?! That small details would shift into vague differences?! Was he seriously meant to believe Master Jun's alleged story?! As loving as Master Jun is, his dumb tale is obviously a complete hoax! Why would anyone believe it?! He clearly concocted that story to discourage the children from venturing the halls after dark!