Chapter 1 – White Light
"Emotions sank...I forced a smile."
I woke up, not knowing how long I had been asleep. Around me stretched an endless darkness — silent, consuming. I tried to move, but my body seemed to float in emptiness, never touching the ground.
Then, a faint white light appeared from somewhere far away — dim at first, but gradually growing brighter. In front of me, a girl emerged. Her figure was hazy, like a shadow between dream and reality. Her voice echoed softly, a long, lingering tone like a bell ringing through the mist:
— "There you are… I've been looking for you!..."
Memories flooded back — time, pain, faces — all rushing into my mind at once. The ache grew unbearable, forcing me to gasp for air. I wanted to scream, yet only silence escaped my lips. I didn't resist; I simply let it happen — each fragment of memory returning, each one heavy with sorrow and loneliness.
The white light flickered around the girl, making her form tremble, as if she had just stepped out of a distant dream. I could feel her presence — familiar yet strange, warm yet cold — and in that moment, I understood… this was not just a dream.
Now I remember.I remember everything.Humochio.That's my name.
I lost my parents when I was little and grew up in an orphanage. Life there drifted by quietly; I had lived there for five years and was well-liked for being quiet and obedient.
One day, a woman came to adopt me. I was frightened. She didn't seem harsh or cruel, but there was something strange about her — an unsettling chill that clung to me the moment I saw her.
When she smiled and took my hand, leading me away, I looked back at the people who had raised me, hoping for a comforting glance, or even a small farewell smile. But no — they turned away, busy with other children, indifferent.
I turned back, walking faster, stepping out of that damp, crumbling orphanage.
I sat down in her car seat. A strange, unpleasant smell filled my nose — it was the first time I truly understood what motion sickness felt like. People always said riding in a car was fun, even exciting, but to me, it was different — stifling and nauseating, nothing like the faint, musty smell of the bed I used to sleep on.
When we arrived at her home, the woman showed me a framed photograph of her family. I froze as I realized why she had adopted me.
The picture showed three people. She told me she had two daughters. It would have seemed normal… if not for the girl in the picture.
That girl looked almost exactly like me — eight parts out of ten. And she had died in an accident. My gaze wandered around the living room and stopped at a small altar, where her photo rested quietly above the incense.
Emotions sank...I forced a smile.
I once dreamed of having a mother and a sister, of going to school, making friends, and being loved. But that was just a foolish dream.
My foster sister showed open hostility toward me. She did everything she could to torment me. I didn't fight back, didn't cry, and never told my foster mother. Because if I cried or resisted, her violence only grew worse. So I stayed silent.
At the orphanage, I had been bullied many times before, so I already knew how this would go. I once saw a child tell the caretakers they were being bullied — and all they received was cold indifference.
My foster mother eventually found out about my sister's behavior. At first, she protected me. But later, she turned a blind eye and let her do whatever she pleased.
When I turned sixteen, during one of her fits of rage, she tried to cut my hair with scissors. I tried to stop her, and she got hurt by accident. Enraged, she drove the scissors straight into my right eye.
Pain burst through me, and the world before me went dark.
When I opened my eyes again… I was in a place I didn't recognize.
I stared at the girl's hazy silhouette.After confirming that I had regained my memories, she spoke again — that same resonant, echoing voice:
"We are both Humochio. It's just a name.What do you think about starting a new life?"
I stayed silent. The dull ache in my right eye lingered, pulsing softly.I didn't think about anything at all.
All I wanted right now… was to sleep.To sleep forever.I didn't want to think anymore.
"I'm already dead," the girl said softly.
"I want you to take my place — live my life. You'll have a family, you'll go to school… just like you always wished."
"Take your place?" I muttered, my voice flat and distant.
"Are you trying to mock me? I don't even know who your family is.What they're like has nothing to do with me.
You're selfish… you just want your life to feel complete."
"I want this to be good for both of us," the girl continued, refusing to stop."I'm already dead — I can't feel life anymore. I just want you to feel what love is."
"We're nothing alike," I said, my voice trembling, almost breaking into tears.
"We're different — in how we think, how we feel.Let me live the way I want. Please… just leave me alone.We're two different souls. Why me? Couldn't you ask someone else?"
"No!" the girl screamed."What do you even know about me? We're the same, you and I!"
"The same?" I muttered, half in disbelief.
"I died because I was hated. No one cared.You had a family — people who loved you.The only thing we share… is that we both died young."
We stared at each other.Tears streamed down my cheeks as I whispered,
"Do whatever you want… I'm tired."
The moment the words left my lips, the white light burst forth, flooding the endless darkness around us.
Then — I opened my eyes.
I was lying on a bed, the faint scent of alcohol lingering in the air.Suddenly, a scream broke through the silence:
"Sister!"