Hinata spent the following day drifting through school like a ghost. The library's shadows clung to her mind, Alya's desperate voice echoing in every quiet hallway. No one noticed the book hidden in her bag, though she clutched it like a secret talisman.
That night, she returned to the library, trembling as she slipped past the security gate. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting pools of pale light across the endless shelves. Everything felt normal—almost—but Hinata knew better.
She set the book on the reading desk and opened it. Dozens of pages were now blank, white voids where words had once lived. The few sentences that remained crawled like ants across the paper, disjointed and fragmentary:
"not real… ending soon… don't forget…"
"Alya," Hinata whispered. "I'm here. What do I do?"
The air behind her shifted, cold and hollow. She turned slowly, breath catching in her throat.
Alya stood there, half transparent, her hands pressed against her mouth to stifle a sob. "She's rewriting everything," Alya whispered. "She wants to remove me completely… like I never existed…"
Hinata swallowed. "I'll read the pages again. I'll keep you alive—"
Alya shook her head. "The Writer… she's changing the story faster now. Erasing whole chapters at once. It won't matter how much you read… unless…"
"Unless what?" Hinata pressed.
Alya's flickering figure leaned close. "Unless you find the ending. The real one. Before she writes us out forever."
Hinata's hands tightened on the book. "How do I find it?"
Alya gestured deeper into the stacks. "There's a hidden room… the manuscript room. The first draft is there. If you can find the original ending, you might be able to stop her…"
Hinata hesitated, glancing at the shifting shadows between the shelves. "But… what if she catches me?"
Alya's voice cracked. "If she does, we're both gone."
A cold gust swept through the aisle, extinguishing the desk lamp. Darkness swallowed them both, and Hinata felt Alya's fingers grip hers in the dark.
"Please," Alya whispered, fading again. "Find the ending… before there's nothing left…"