Ligth in the darc. Arc 1

"Hey, did you want to die too?"

"Kid, don't be a fool, get back out!"

Kato ignored them. Running up to the homeless man, he gently lifted the man, helping him to sit down.

"Hey, get up!"

At the guy's strained words, the homeless man whined:

"Painfully... Head..."

People were huddled at the edge of the platform.

"Damn, it's too heavy!" Kato exhaled, trying to lift the massive man. "Hey, someone, come down here and help me!"

People shyly looked away under the gaze of a brave young man full of pleas for help, pretending that they did not see all this, did not notice, and had nothing to do with it at all. Some people stared at it as if it were a show, and the balding man sitting on a bench limited himself to banal words: "Well, where is the stationmaster? Has someone called him yet?", knowing that no one had called anyone.

The longer Kato's gaze searched the indifferent, cowardly crowd, the more panic and despair appeared.

"Hey, what's the matter with you? Are you really going to leave us here to die?!!" he shouted.

The people were silent. Kei was also silent, watching the senseless attempts of an old acquaintance to lift his limp, heavy body, while thoughts lazily circled in his head: "Kato, you have serious mental problems. Just score and go up!"

Kato, as if hearing these thoughts, turned abruptly, instantly singling Kei out from the crowd. And that look, full of recognition and hope, sent a shiver through the guy. "Shit! Not again!!!", Kay only had time to think, as Kato shouted:

"Kei-chan!"

Kay flinched, but his attempts to pretend it wasn't about him were shattered by the words:

"Hurry up!!!"

The guy looked hungrily at the passengers staring at him, seeing in their eyes the same thing he felt before his name was mentioned: excitement and anticipation of a catastrophe that would not affect them.

"Come on, you're his friend!"

The words of someone from the crowd seemed to hit him in the gut, knocking out his doubts at once. Kay swallowed, put his things on the edge of the platform and carefully descended onto the tracks. His heart was pounding convulsively in his chest, he was shaking from the excess of adrenaline, the world was swimming a little before his eyes, but he couldn't actually resist the order "Hurry up here!" Not in front of other people's eyes. No matter how much he despised them, but to be labeled a coward after his name was mentioned...

Kay approached the homeless man, involuntarily wincing at the heavy stench. Kato jerked the man up and ordered:

"Sit on your haunches."

"What?" Kay was taken aback.

"Just sit down! Hurry up!"

Kay did not argue, obediently crouching down, grunting from the weight of the homeless man on his back.

"Faster!"

Suddenly, an indifferent voice sounded in the ringing silence of the platform:

"Attention! The fast train arrives at the second track. Please step away from the edge of the platform."

The boys shuddered. Useless statements started pouring out from the people standing on the platform again:

"Hey! The train is close!"

"Hurry up, the train is already nearby!"

Kay grabbed the heavy man under his back, taking the load off his friend a little.

"Push up! The train is close!"

"Yes, I know!" Kay hissed through his teeth, struggling to stand up.

"Come on, come on!!! Go away!"

The guys barely reached the platform and pushed the homeless man over the edge. And, lo and behold, one man picked up the semi-conscious body and helped him pull it onto the platform. The first glimmer of light appeared in the darkness of the tunnel...

"Somebody give me a hand!" Kay shouted, trying to climb onto a high platform. "I can't pull myself up!"

The people were silent. Not a single hand was extended to the panicking teenagers. The passengers just stood there and watched, as if watching some kind of show...

Kato froze, staring in fascination at the approaching train.

"Kay!"

"What?" he muttered irritably.

"LET'S RUN!!!"

Surprisingly, Kay didn't argue, rushing after his friend. All he could manage was to say:

"Kato, are you running faster than a train?"

To which he received a logical answer:

"When the train approaches the station, it slows down." Kato stammered, gasping for air, but after a moment continued: "All we have to do is run to the place where the first car stops!!!"

The guys rushed with a vengeance, and a scream came from behind them:

"You assholes! It's an express train!!!"

From the realization of what was said, they stumbled, as if they had crashed into a wall, looked at each other in confusion and ... stared in fascination at the approaching train.

"We need to hide under the platform!" Kato did not give up, looking around. "Damn, it's too narrow! The opening! There must be some kind of niche!"

"Oh, shit! There's no fucking thing here!"

The words had not even had time to sound out when the crushing impact of an express train caused the world to blink and plunge into darkness for a moment... so that he could reappear in the light of the chandelier, greeted by the slippery parquet of a small rectangular room and the wary gazes of people sitting silently along the walls.

"What?" Kay gasped as he slipped and fell, breathing convulsively.

The answer was an incomprehensible statement from a man in round glasses, dressed in a cheap gray suit:

"Look, there are two more..."

People remained silent, staring at the newcomers, and the newcomers stared at them. And a large, one-and-a-half-meter-in-diameter matte ball of perfect black color, motionlessly towering against the wall.

The man's next words were like a punch in the gut, knocking the air out of his chest and coherent thoughts out of his head:

"So you guys seem to have died too?"

Kato blinked in surprise, but Kei, blinking in shock, swore angrily, staring at the black ball.

Chapter 1: The Unexpected