Morning came once again.
Sunlight slipped quietly through the window, as if the night had been nothing more than a brief pause between two dangerous thoughts.
I extended my hand and closed my eyes for a moment.
Then… I absorbed the two copies.
In a single instant, knowledge flooded my mind like a torrent.
Boxing movements.
Punching angles.
Body balance.
Reflex responses.
And with it… the deep rest the other body had obtained.
I exhaled slowly.
"The amount of knowledge I gained last night… is enormous."
They weren't just skills.
They were patterns of thought.
Methods of analysis.
Countless possible scenarios.
A faint smile formed on my face.
"And I've also devised a plan."
"A plan to erase Ryoji Takahara from my path… without leaving a single trace behind."
I got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom to wash my face.
But the door opened at the exact same moment.
My sister stepped out… Rina.
Her hair was still damp, a towel resting on her shoulder, and her gaze—
was different.
A scrutinizing look.
A look of doubt.
She stopped in front of me for a second longer than necessary, then spoke in an artificially casual tone:
— "Good morning, Koichi."
— "Good morning."
She walked past me… then stopped.
— "Um… how are things at school?"
— "Is… everything alright?"
I looked at her coldly at first.
I was about to ignore the question.
But I noticed something.
Concern… carefully concealed.
I gave a slight, calculated smile.
— "Everything's fine."
Her features relaxed a little… but not completely.
— "And… the bullies?"
— "Are they still bothering you?"
I didn't answer immediately.
Two seconds.
Three.
Then I said calmly:
— "Soon… everything will be over."
And I entered the bathroom, closing the door behind me.
I left her standing in the hallway.
I didn't think much of it.
From my analysis, her behavior seemed nothing more than that of a sister worried about her brother… nothing more.
I washed my face.
Looked at my reflection.
"Humans… are annoyingly complicated."
School
I headed to school as usual.
But something was different.
— "Good morning, Koichi!"
— "Hey!"
— "Morning!"
Greetings.
Looks of admiration.
Whispers that didn't fade when I passed by.
That's when I understood.
The news of my victory over the bullies had spread.
I paused for a moment.
"Strange…"
The logical scenario was obvious.
"The same person who spread the rumor of my death… is the one who spread this news as well."
I sat down in my seat and leaned my head slightly back.
I began to think.
Who?
Why?
And for what purpose?
— "U-um… hi, Koichi."
I raised my head.
A thin boy was standing beside me, gripping his books tightly as if afraid he might drop them.
He was one of Koichi's unluckiest classmates.
Yuta Morai.
He sat down hesitantly.
— "Um… if it's not a bother…"
— "Could you help me?"
— "With what?"
— "I'm bad at physics and math… and I heard you're… really good."
I nodded calmly.
— "No problem."
His face lit up instantly.
— "Really? Thank you so much!"
I began explaining things calmly, organizing the concepts in a simplified way.
I noticed how his eyes sparkled with each idea he finally understood.
"Helping others… is mentally exhausting, but socially beneficial."
Suddenly, he spoke excitedly:
— "By the way!"
— "I heard you beat up those bullies!"
— "Honestly… they deserved it!"
I didn't comment.
Instead, I asked a question.
— "Yuta… how did people hear the rumor about my death?"
— "Doesn't it sound ridiculous? I'm right here in front of you."
He laughed lightly.
— "Actually… there was a video."
My hand stopped.
— "A video?"
He quickly pulled out his phone.
— "It was posted on social media… it shows that you died."
He showed it to me.
And played the video.
It was shaky, filmed from a distance, from a slightly elevated angle…
In the forest.
I saw Koichi.
That thin body…
That hesitant stance.
Three guys were surrounding him.
Punches raining down.
Shoves.
Kicks.
He wasn't fighting back.
In the background…
was Mizuki.
Laughing.
A clear, careless laugh, as if what was happening was nothing more than casual entertainment.
Then—
One of the guys shoved Koichi hard.
He stumbled back—
one step…
two…
And— the cliff cracked.
A sharp sound of breaking rock.
The ground beneath him collapsed.
Koichi fell.
His body vanished from the frame.
A brief silence filled the video.
Then panic.
— "Damn it! Damn it!"
— "Let's run!"
The bullies fled, and Mizuki disappeared from the scene.
The camera didn't follow them.
Instead, it approached the edge of the cliff.
The lens pointed downward.
Emptiness.
The voice of the person filming— tense, strangely excited:
— "He's dead… a fall from that height… there's no way he survived."
The recording stopped.
The video ended.
A brief silence stood between me and Yuta.
He lowered the phone slowly.
— "I'm… sorry,"
he said hesitantly.
— "I didn't mean to show you something like that."
I looked at the dark screen for a moment.
Then… I smiled.
A calm smile.
Light.
Controlled.
— "It's fine… it might be fake."
He raised his head in surprise.
— "Fake?"
— "Yes… AI technology is terrifying these days. Video manipulation has become easy… and convincing."
Yuta sighed in relief.
— "That's true! I didn't think of that! That actually makes a lot of sense!"
He smiled innocently, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his chest.
I handed the phone back to him calmly.
But inside me…
It wasn't fake.
That was reality.
And the person who filmed the video…
I had already planned to catch them.
I looked toward the window, toward the morning light.
But not yet.
First…
Ryoji Takahara.
And after that…
the cameraman's turn will come.
A deeper smile formed within me.
The game was unfolding exactly as I had anticipated.