The morning rush-hour train was as hellish as ever.
Crushed between bodies, Takumi clung to the overhead strap, his eyes dull and lifeless.
The stale, humid air pressed against him, the heat of strangers’ bodies sticking to his back, making his suit feel heavier than it should.
Every day, the same routine. The same train, the same exhaustion.
By the time he reached the office, he felt as if he had already completed a full day’s work.
But one morning—
He saw something impossible.
Through the small gap between packed bodies, he glanced at the adjacent car—
And froze.
A man identical to him sat comfortably by the window.
Not just similar—identical.
Takumi’s breath caught.
The man’s face, the shape of his nose, his posture—it was as if he were looking in a mirror.
But there was one difference.
The man wasn’t in a suit.
He wore a casual shirt, a pair of jeans, and held a newspaper in his hands.
Relaxed. Smiling. Turning pages at a leisurely pace.
He looked free.
Takumi blinked, his pulse quickening.
“What… the hell…?”
He rubbed his eyes.
But the man remained.
The next day—
And the next—
Every morning, at the same time, in the same seat, the man was there.
A Silent Invitation
Takumi couldn’t ignore it anymore.
He had no twin.
Coincidence? Impossible.
No one else in the train seemed to notice the strange phenomenon.
Only he could see it.
Was it real?
Or had the exhaustion finally broken his mind?
A week passed.
And that morning—Takumi decided to act.
He boarded an earlier train, moving toward the adjacent car where his other self always sat.
The crowd was suffocating, but he pushed forward, step by step—
And reached the seat.
But—
No one was there.
Takumi’s blood ran cold.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
He had seen the man every day.
Was it really just a hallucination?
Then—
He felt it.
A gaze.
Takumi slowly turned his head.
In the train window’s reflection, he saw himself.
And beside him—
The man.
His identical self was smiling.
And then—
His lips moved.
“Come with me.”
No sound.
But Takumi understood the words as if they had been spoken directly into his mind.
The train accelerated.
Outside, the landscape blurred unnaturally fast, as if the world itself were being pulled away.
As if he was about to be taken somewhere else entirely.
Then—
The train arrived at the next station.
The doors slid open.
Takumi had a choice.
To step out—to leave everything behind.
Or to stay.
He hesitated.
The doors closed.
And just like that—
He was back in his original car.
His other self was gone.
Forever.
The Lingering Question
From that day forward—
Takumi never saw the man again.
But the words still echoed in his mind.
“Come with me.”
A hallucination?
Or a glimpse of another reality?
He didn’t know.
But every morning, as he stood crushed among faceless commuters, the thought gnawed at him.
Had he made the right choice?
Was he truly where he was meant to be?
And—
If that door ever opened again… would he take it?
