Dead Hours Inkroost
Dead Hours
Nobody There · Ch.46
Right to left
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This series reads right to left — start each page from the top-right panel.
Kaito Mori, a young man in a convenience store apron, stands just inside the open glass doors of a brightly lit convenience store at night, looking around with a confused expression.
Kaito, a young man with messy dark hair and stubble, wears a striped apron with a "KAITO" name tag over a collared shirt, and looks to his left with a tired expression as he stands in a convenience store with shelves of products and refrigerated display cases in the background.
Kaito walks past a convenience store counter, looking to his left, while wearing a striped apron with a name tag that reads KAITO.
Kaito walks into a brightly lit convenience store, looking around with a slightly worried expression, wearing a striped apron with his name tag, as he passes the counter on his left and approaches the aisles of drinks and shelves on his right.
A high-angle shot from above shows a long, empty convenience store counter with a single candy bar lying in the middle, and rows of refrigerators filled with drinks line the wall in the background.
A man's hand reaches down towards a plastic-wrapped onigiri on a counter, with a speech bubble saying, "This isn't right."
Kaito looks from the left into a dark, slightly ajar doorway, revealing a brightly lit room with a folding chair and supplies, while behind him are shelves with boxes.
A man with dark hair, wearing a striped apron over a collared shirt, stands with his back to the viewer, holding a door open to a dimly lit back room with shelves and boxes, and speaks, "Hello?"
The backroom is a dark, small, concrete room illuminated by a fluorescent light, with tally marks covering the far wall, a metal folding chair, and papers scattered across the tiled floor.
Kaito stands in the center of a messy storage room, looking distressed with his mouth slightly open and one hand extended, as various papers and debris litter the floor around him, and he wonders aloud, "Where did everyone go?".
Kaito looks startled, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, turning his head towards a dark, messy corner of a room with shelves and papers scattered on the floor; his name tag on his striped apron reads KAITO.
Kaito turns sharply to the right, looking shocked and sweaty, as he stands in a messy storage room with shelves, boxes, and papers scattered on the floor.
Kaito stands with his back to the viewer, looking at a door covered by a curtain that billows into a messy back room full of shelves and scattered papers.
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/ 13
Kaito Mori, a young man in a convenience store apron, stands just inside the open glass doors of a brightly lit convenience store at night, looking around with a confused expression.
Kaito, a young man with messy dark hair and stubble, wears a striped apron with a "KAITO" name tag over a collared shirt, and looks to his left with a tired expression as he stands in a convenience store with shelves of products and refrigerated display cases in the background.
Kaito walks past a convenience store counter, looking to his left, while wearing a striped apron with a name tag that reads KAITO.
Kaito walks into a brightly lit convenience store, looking around with a slightly worried expression, wearing a striped apron with his name tag, as he passes the counter on his left and approaches the aisles of drinks and shelves on his right.
A high-angle shot from above shows a long, empty convenience store counter with a single candy bar lying in the middle, and rows of refrigerators filled with drinks line the wall in the background.
A man's hand reaches down towards a plastic-wrapped onigiri on a counter, with a speech bubble saying, "This isn't right."
Kaito looks from the left into a dark, slightly ajar doorway, revealing a brightly lit room with a folding chair and supplies, while behind him are shelves with boxes.
A man with dark hair, wearing a striped apron over a collared shirt, stands with his back to the viewer, holding a door open to a dimly lit back room with shelves and boxes, and speaks, "Hello?"
The backroom is a dark, small, concrete room illuminated by a fluorescent light, with tally marks covering the far wall, a metal folding chair, and papers scattered across the tiled floor.
Kaito stands in the center of a messy storage room, looking distressed with his mouth slightly open and one hand extended, as various papers and debris litter the floor around him, and he wonders aloud, "Where did everyone go?".
Kaito looks startled, eyes wide and mouth slightly open, turning his head towards a dark, messy corner of a room with shelves and papers scattered on the floor; his name tag on his striped apron reads KAITO.
Kaito turns sharply to the right, looking shocked and sweaty, as he stands in a messy storage room with shelves, boxes, and papers scattered on the floor.
Kaito stands with his back to the viewer, looking at a door covered by a curtain that billows into a messy back room full of shelves and scattered papers.

Chapter complete

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Text Version A written companion to this chapter — for accessibility, screen readers, and search.

3 A.M., rain on the dead-hours store. The sliding doors hiss open for nobody. Kaito, who cannot bear the idea of his store greeting empty air, declares quiet war on a faulty sensor and resolves to prove what is triggering it before his shift ends, spiraling all night over whether a door that opens for nothing is broken or just polite. All night the doors slide open to the identical dead-eyed beat of Kaito's head snapping up at an empty doorway as he mutters '...nobody.' Early on, the tracksuit regular comes in, sets his usual item on the counter, pats his pockets, quietly puts it back and leaves without explaining, and Kaito is too fixated on the doors to notice. A ladder of night-shift regulars then deliver verdicts nobody can verify: a drunk salaryman insists it's a ghost and that doors always know, a cheerful jogger swears sensors are just sensitive and it means nothing, and head office puts him on hold for forty minutes. Kaito crawls the threshold to map the sensor's reach, tapes cardboard over it in triumph, and has to rip the tape off when a real customer is left stranded outside unable to get in. Rin livestreams the whole vigil as 'Six Hours of Nobody,' with one flicker of near-sincerity late on — that the doors are working fine and he just wants someone to be there — before raising her phone again. Near dawn, hollow and defeated, Kaito gives up, sits with his back to the doors and stops turning around. That is exactly when the doors open and Rin says someone IS there, the running beat inverting: past the empty-looking doorway, out in the dark rain on the footpath, stands the tracksuit regular, soaked. He lost his wallet hours ago and has been walking up to the doors and turning back all night, too embarrassed to come in with no money — every 'nobody' was him. Kaito hands him a hot bun on the house, and the man thanks Rin, who had told him an hour ago to just come inside. Kaito gets the correct diagnosis, that the doors were never broken, and nothing else; 'Six Hours of Nobody' hits four hundred thousand viewers. Dawn light fills the store exactly as the night began — and the doors slide open on daylight for nobody at all, Rin's phone already raised, already live.

Page 1

Kaito Mori: Is anyone here?

Page 2

Kaito: The lights are still on...

Page 3

Kaito: Rin? Sae?

Page 4

Kaito: Rin? Sae?

Page 5

No dialogue.

Page 6

Man: This isn't right.

Page 7

No dialogue.

Page 8

A man, Kaito, dressed in a collared shirt and a striped apron, stands with his back mostly to the viewer, his right hand holding open a dark door. Beyond the door is a dimly lit back room with shelves full of various items and some cardboard boxes. A fluorescent light fixture is on the ceiling. Kaito's head is turned slightly to his right, looking into the room. Kaito: Hello?

Page 9

No dialogue.

Page 10

Kaito: Where did everyone go?

Page 11

KAITO

Page 12

Kaito: Who's there?!

Page 13

Kaito: