The following morning came wrapped in silence.The rain had washed the city clean, yet the air still felt heavy — as if the storm had simply moved inside Toshio's chest.
He hadn't slept. Not after seeing Ren.
The image of those silver eyes under the flickering streetlight wouldn't leave his mind. They weren't just cold — they were ancient, almost inhuman, the kind of gaze that seemed to see through you.
When Toshio arrived at school, Ren was already there — sitting at the back of the class like nothing had happened. His uniform was neat, his expression calm, but his eyes… they glimmered faintly when the light hit them.
Airi avoided looking in his direction. Toshio did too. But the tension between the three of them was thick enough to choke on.
During homeroom, Ren's voice suddenly broke the silence."Strange dreams lately, Toshio?"
Toshio froze.
A few students chuckled at the random question, thinking it was just Ren being weird again. But Toshio heard the underlying tone — the threat.
He turned slowly to meet those silver eyes. "Why would you ask that?"
Ren smiled faintly. "You look tired. Just concerned, that's all."
The way he said it made Toshio's stomach twist.
After class, Airi pulled Toshio aside. "He's starting again," she whispered. "The way he used to look at me… it's the same."
Toshio clenched his fists. "I won't let him hurt you, Airi."
But she shook her head. "You don't understand. He's not the same Ren anymore. I saw something last night—"
Her words trailed off as Ren passed them in the hallway, his shoulder brushing lightly against Toshio's.
"Careful," Ren murmured, his voice low and velvety. "You wouldn't want history to repeat itself, would you?"
Toshio's breath caught. He turned sharply, but Ren was already walking away, hands in his pockets, whistling an old tune that made the hair on his neck stand on end.
The same melody he'd heard in his dream — just before the fire consumed everything.
Later that day, Toshio walked Airi home. The sun dipped below the rooftops, painting the sky in deep amber and violet hues.
Airi clutched the silver pendant like it was her only anchor. "He's remembering too," she said quietly. "I can feel it."
"Then we'll stop him," Toshio said.
She shook her head. "It's not that simple. In every life, he's found us. In every world, he's destroyed everything just to keep us apart."
"Then what is he, Airi? Human?"
She hesitated. Her lips parted as if to speak — then she stopped. "I don't know anymore."
The wind carried her words away, leaving Toshio with a growing dread.
That night, Toshio couldn't stay still. He opened his window and looked out across the narrow street that separated their houses. Airi's room light was off — but Ren's was on.
Something about that light felt wrong.
It wasn't the warm glow of a lamp — it flickered, cold and bluish, like the pulse of a dying star.
He grabbed his jacket and went outside.
The night was eerily quiet, the kind of silence that made every footstep sound too loud. He approached Ren's house slowly, stopping by the gate. Through the half-open curtains, he could see Ren standing in the middle of his room, facing a mirror.
And the reflection… wasn't his.
Toshio's breath caught. The figure in the mirror was taller, wrapped in black mist, with eyes like molten silver and a faint crimson mark across its neck — the same mark Toshio had seen in his dream, when "Rai" fell in battle.
"So that's where you've been hiding…" the reflection whispered."This world suits you, doesn't it, Rai?"
Ren smiled faintly, his voice calm but dripping with malice. "This time, I'll win her completely."
Toshio stumbled back, heart hammering. He didn't understand what he'd seen — only that whatever Ren was, he wasn't human anymore.
He barely slept that night. By morning, his mind was a blur of exhaustion and fear.
At school, Ren acted as if nothing had happened. He even greeted Toshio with a friendly nod, as if they were old friends.
"Toshio, about yesterday," Ren said lightly during lunch. "Airi and I have some things to talk about. Family matters. You don't mind if I borrow her after class, do you?"
Toshio felt every word like a blade pressed against his throat.
"Actually, I do mind," he said.
Ren tilted his head, amused. "How noble. Just remember — she and I share a bond that goes beyond this little life."
Toshio's hands tightened under the table. "If you touch her again—"
Ren leaned closer, his breath cold as winter. "You'll do what, Rai?"
The sound of that name — his name from another life — sent a shiver through him.
Ren straightened up, smirking. "I thought so."
Then he turned and walked away, leaving Toshio frozen in disbelief.
After school, Airi found him waiting by the gate, pale and tense.
"He knows," Toshio said immediately. "He called me by that name."
Airi's face drained of color. "Then it's begun."
"What has?"
"The cycle. Every time we start to remember, it awakens him too. He's not just Ren, Toshio. He's something else. Something that's followed us through every world."
Toshio felt a cold sweat break down his back. "Then tell me how to stop it."
Airi looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. "We can't… not yet. The curse can only be broken if one of us remembers everything — who we were, what happened, and why he cursed us."
"Then I'll remember," Toshio said.
"You'll die if you force it too fast," Airi warned. "That's how it always ends. You push too hard, the memories overwhelm you, and—"
She stopped, her voice breaking.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll do it slowly. Together."
Her eyes met his, trembling. "You'd risk your life for that?"
He smiled faintly. "For you? Every lifetime."
The words slipped out before he could stop them. For a heartbeat, they both froze — and then Airi smiled, that same gentle, aching smile that felt both new and familiar.
That night, Toshio sat by his window again, staring at the stars.
He could feel something stirring deep inside — like a door creaking open somewhere in the back of his mind.Flashes of another world came and went: silver castles, crimson skies, Airi's voice calling his name, and Ren's shadow watching from afar.
Then a whisper echoed — a voice neither male nor female, soft but commanding.
"Remember, Rai. The curse began the moment you chose love over duty."
He gasped and clutched his chest. The silver pendant on Airi's neck — visible through her window — glowed faintly in response, pulsing like a heartbeat.
And then, for just a moment, Toshio saw it — the faint outline of chains made of light, binding Airi, Ren, and himself together across time.
Three souls, eternally intertwined.
He whispered to the night, "Then I'll break them… even if it kills me."
Outside, thunder rolled in the distance once more — quiet but unmistakable.The storm had returned.