A blade of light split the room's darkness, thin at first, then widening until it devoured every shadow. The sudden brilliance stabbed into my eyes, blinding me, dragging me out of uneasy sleep.
"Ugh, what the…!" I staggered upright, throat dry, heart pounding in a rhythm that felt too loud, too alive.
Moments ago, I was somewhere else. The memory clung to me like wet moss: a forest dripping with midnight dew, the soil soft and rotten underfoot, unseen branches clawing at my arms. The air there had whispered my name.
Now, I was here.
The room was familiar, but the familiarity itself unsettled me. Sleek furniture. A polished desk. A soft mattress beneath me wrapped in a purple sheet speckled with white dots. A childish pattern, oddly comforting, but wrong in ways I couldn't name. Every detail seemed sharpened, too deliberate…
like a set piece carefully constructed for me alone.
My skin prickled.
I swung my legs off the bed, mind racing. How did I get here? Why here, of all places? What's waiting for me? Each question sank into me like hooks pulling me forward, toward something inevitable.
"Tadano, you're up? That's new."
The voice struck me like a bell. Clear, feminine, too bright for the room's oppressive red glow.
I turned.
A young woman stood by the curtains, sunlight framing her in a golden outline. She wore a white blouse buttoned neatly at the collar, a striped blue tie, and a pleated skirt that ended just above her knees. Her smile was dazzling… too dazzling.
For a moment, my chest tightened so violently I thought I'd stop breathing. That face. That warmth. It stirred memories buried too deep, memories I wasn't ready to face.
But something was wrong. Her smile contrasted grotesquely with the crimson hue staining the walls, as though the room bled around her.
I wanted to speak, to ask who she was, yet the name forced its way into my head without my consent.
Sienna. She was all too familiar, A person I had spent most of my childhood with.
The world wanted me to know her. To accept her.
"You've been glaring at me," she said softly, tilting her head. "Are you not feeling well?"
She stepped forward, and her hand touched my forehead. Warm. Real. Anchoring.
But the warmth terrified me more than the cold ever could.
My gaze darted to the alarm clock, knowing instinctively it would be there.
7:30.
Too late. Too precise.
"Sienna!" My voice cracked with panic. "Why didn't you wake me earlier? We're both late, you'll ruin your attendance just because of me!"
I shoved past her, the edges of the world warping as I dashed into the bathroom. Her laugh followed me, melodic, unbothered, as if none of this mattered.
Minutes later, I was dressed, toast clenched between my teeth, mother's cheek kissed out of ritual rather than affection. Sienna stood outside waiting, her bag dangling neatly in her hands, her smile unchanged.
"You're far too calm," I muttered as we started walking.
She brushed back one twin tail, her hair gleaming unnaturally in the sunlight. "It's only my first time being late. Besides, I'll just blame you. The teacher will understand."
Her teasing was lighthearted, familiar. Too familiar.
But as I looked at her at the soft brown hue of her eyes, the delicate features, the way the morning light seemed to cling to her skin, I felt my stomach twist.
This was all too perfect. Too constructed.
—And then—
"It's not your fault Tadano so don't cr-"
"Ugh!"
I released a grunt as a vision momentarily appeared in my mind then vanished instantly.
Pain. A jagged flash across my skull. Images surged into my mind and died before I could grasp them, leaving me reeling, nauseous, sweat pouring down my back. My arm shook violently, like it belonged to someone else.
"Tadano?" Her voice trembled now, but her hand—steady, warm closed around mine. Instantly the trembling slowed.
I forced a smile, my lips quivering. "I'm fine. Let's go."
——
We walked. Streets stretched ahead, eerily silent, houses lined in military formation. Every step deepened the sense of wrongness. I knew this neighborhood, I grew up here.
The silence wasn't natural. It was expectant.
The world was holding its breath.
After twenty-five minutes of walking and a thirty-minute train ride, our school loomed into view. It didn't look like a campus. It looked like a fortress carved into the hillside, too vast, too consuming.
It was a military-owned private school, just the learning facilities alone took up almost sixty percent of the entire hillside as its campus.
That's excluding the recreational areas like the football field, tennis courts, and basketball courts. Just the walk from the gate to the classrooms took at minimum ten minutes by walking.
The towering building stood out in the distance showing off the school's prestigious facilities, a school where non-scholarship students had to pay millions in tuition alone.
"Well, we're dead late!" Sienna's laughter rang again as her fingers interlaced with mine, tugging me forward.
Her warmth was undeniable. Her grip was firm.
But beneath it, I felt it something pulling tighter and tighter around me, unseen and patient.
This wasn't just another morning.
Something was waiting.
And it had already begun.