"They say monsters hunt alone.
But what if two monsters remember the same blood?"
---
1. Echoes in the Rain
The rain hadn't stopped since I remembered the fall.
Since I remembered her.
Since I remembered what I did.
Each drop outside the window whispered her name — Mei, Mei, Mei.
The memory played again and again:
Her hand slipping from mine.
Her voice—
"You don't get to forget me."
But this time, as I sat on the edge of my bed, the air felt different.
Heavy. Expectant. Like it wasn't just guilt in the room anymore.
Like someone else was breathing with me.
---
2. The Boy in the Mirror
I looked up at the mirror.
And someone else was standing behind me.
A boy—no, a man. Lean, dressed in black, a single white streak in his messy dark hair, eyes like ice over still water.
He leaned against the wall of my dorm like he'd been there the whole time.
> "You're later than I expected."
I froze. "Who the hell are you?"
He smirked. "You can call me Reiji.
Reiji Kurozawa. And you… you've been dancing around the truth like it won't bite."
I stood up. "How did you get in here?"
> "You left the door open."
I hadn't.
He walked past me, examined the broken camcorder I'd taped back together. He hummed.
> "You saw her, didn't you? Mei. Before she vanished."
I clenched my fists. "How do you know her name?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he turned and said:
> "You're not the first to make a deal with The Archivist."
---
3. A Different Reset
We sat across from each other in silence. Just two sinners sharing the same air.
Reiji finally spoke.
> "You traded a murder for memory loss. I traded something worse."
I swallowed hard. "Worse than someone's life?"
> "I traded my face."
He leaned in, his voice flat.
> "In my original timeline, I didn't just kill someone. I burned an entire building. Twelve people. And the one who died last... was my brother."
My blood turned cold.
> "I begged The Archivist for a reset. Not to forget — to become someone else. So I wouldn't have to feel like me anymore."
He lifted his hair. Beneath the white streak, a faint burn scar ran down his temple.
> "But resets don't work like that. You can't run from the monster. Not when you are the monster."
---
4. The Scar Game
He opened his palm. There was a red mark—burned into his skin like a brand. The shape was familiar.
I looked down at my wrist.
A similar one. But fainter.
> "That's the mark of debt," Reiji said. "Anyone who made a reset deal carries it. Whether you remember or not."
> "And when the Archivist decides you've seen enough of the truth… the mark burns black."
I couldn't breathe.
> "You're close, Yuto. That's why I came."
---
5. The Archivist's Warning
That night, I dreamed of the stairwell again.
The red thread room.
The screen flickering.
Mei screaming.
And The Archivist's voice:
> "I gave you silence, Yuto.
You chose to listen again.
So now, the silence ends."
I woke up gasping.
Reiji was still there. Sitting by the window. Watching the rain.
> "The more you remember," he whispered, "the closer he gets. But the less you remember… the more you become him."
I asked him, "So what do I do now?"
He gave a bitter smile.
> "You fight fire with fire.
And monster with monster."
---
6. The Missing File
The next day, we went to the university archives.
Reiji had a plan — find the original incident report that must've been written before my reset.
"But it doesn't exist," I said.
He glanced back. "Things deleted aren't always destroyed. Sometimes, they're just… hidden from you."
We hacked into the system — well, he hacked, I mostly panicked.
And then we found it:
Incident Report #March5-YT314
> Status: Sealed
Requester: [Redacted]
Victim: Mei Hayasaka
Suspect: Yuto Tanaka
Witness: R. Kurozawa
My heart stopped.
Reiji was a witness.
---
7. The Rooftop Again
I dragged him by the collar.
"You were there?!"
He didn't fight it.
"I saw her fall. I saw you break. I saw The Archivist take the deal."
"Why didn't you stop it?!"
He looked at me — haunted, not cruel.
> "Because I thought I was already dead.
And watching you destroy yourself… made me feel alive."
Silence.
Pain passed between us like smoke in a burning room.
And then he added:
> "But I'm still here, Yuto.
So are you.
So let's find out why."
---
8. The Stranger in the Snow
That night, we saw someone watching the dorm.
A girl in a yellow hoodie.
Reiji's expression changed instantly.
"She shouldn't be here."
"Who is she?"
He stepped forward. "Her name was Ayaka. She died in my reset."
"But she's alive now?"
He didn't answer.
Only whispered:
> "Something's breaking the rules."
---
9. Two Monsters Walk Into the Dark
We left the dorm that night.
No plan.
No map.
Just two boys — each with blood on their hands, silence in their pasts, and fire behind their eyes.
Reiji looked at me one last time before we disappeared into the city fog.
> "We don't bleed alone anymore, Yuto."
> "And we don't forget alone either."