YURI KOI
As I sat beside him, I couldn't stop imagining what we'd talk about when he finally woke up.
Would he tell me about his life after we were separated? The job he had now? The struggles he'd faced?
And most of all… would he want to try again?
Now that we were adults, no one could tear us apart. But… what if he already had a girlfriend? What if I was just daydreaming, clinging to the past for nothing?
I tried to distract myself. I put on music, scrolled through videos, anything to ease the tension, but he didn't even flinch. Hours slipped by. My eyelids grew heavy, but I refused to leave.
Then my father came in. We talked briefly, and no matter how much I wanted to stay, he convinced me to go home.
"I'll take care of him," were his last words before sending me away.
When I arrived home, it was late at night. My cat was curled up, sleeping soundly. I showered, crawled into bed, and stared at my phone. It was 11:45 p.m. Part of me wanted to stay awake until the day turned to the 15th… but fatigue crushed me, and I fell asleep almost instantly.
NARRATOR
At 6:00 a.m., Sai stirred awake after two long days of sleep. His eyes fluttered open, and after a brief exchange with Taro Koi, fragments of memories began to flood back—memories he thought he had lost forever.
SAI SHINU
Yes… I remember now.
I remember returning home after the accident, exhausted, desperate. I couldn't sleep that night. The next day, I attended my father's funeral.
The memory is sharp, raw—like it happened yesterday.
I didn't shed a single tear. My body felt numb, frozen, as though I were both conscious and unconscious at once. Outside, I was empty. Inside, my heartbeat was the only sound I could hear, thundering in my chest.
Afterward, I went home. The silence in that house was unbearable. I was completely alone.
I lay in bed, trying to rest, but sleep wouldn't come. Days passed like that—me, trapped in my own exhaustion and grief. I even skipped school for a week.
And then… finally, my body gave in. I fell asleep.
That's my last memory.
The next moment, I was already in that other dimension.
So what happened while my soul was gone?
When I woke up just now, I began to see flashes—not of dreams, but of actions. My body moving, eating, training. My morning routine, followed step by step.
But I don't remember doing any of it.
Someone else was controlling me.
Could it be… the same presence that killed Sai in that other dimension?
Questions swirled endlessly in my head, but there were no answers. Only fragments.
As I pieced things together, a pattern emerged:
Whoever controlled my body lived my daily life almost perfectly, but with small changes—healthier food, consistent workouts.
He spoke like me, but something was off. Emotions were imitated, but not real.
He couldn't use my phone.
And strangest of all, without ever studying, he seemed to know everything about this world.
I analyzed everything for hours, until my head hurt. By then it was around 9:00 a.m. Taro had told me she wanted to visit today.
Her. Yuri.
So I stayed awake. I wasn't going to miss her. Not this time.