The first time it smiled at him, Rei thought it was just a dream.
He had been staring at the mirror in the bathroom — not out of vanity, but habit. The lights flickered. Nothing unusual. It was Kurohana City, after all. The old power grid was as unreliable as its promises.
But when the lights came back on, something was wrong.
His reflection wasn't moving.
Rei blinked. His body shifted. The mirror didn't.
And then… it smiled.
Not a twitch of the lips. Not a human grin. Just a wide, crescent-shaped curve — too many teeth, too white, and far too calm.
His breath caught. Cold ran up his spine.And then it vanished.His reflection returned, moving as it should, looking just as shaken as he felt.
"Just tired," he muttered to himself. "Too many late nights. That's all."
But deep down, Rei Kazuki knew — something had seen him.And it smiled.
He tried to forget.
He forced himself through the day — the long train ride to school, the cold wind that seemed to linger only near him, and the strange sensation that someone was always just behind him. Staring. Breathing.
"Oi, Rei! You spacing out again?"His friend Daichi slapped him on the back.
Rei flinched hard. Too hard.Daichi blinked. "Whoa, you good, man?"
"Yeah. Yeah… just didn't sleep well."
Daichi grinned. "Lemme guess. Cramming for that history test?"
"More like being haunted by my own reflection."
He meant it as a joke.But the silence that followed wasn't funny.
The day passed. The city pulsed. The sun dipped.
And when Rei returned home that night, alone in the flickering hallway of his apartment complex… the lights cut out again.
Three minutes.Exactly like last time.
And when the lights flickered back — the mirror wasn't just smiling.
It was laughing.