The night was loud.
It was the start of a new year.
At this hour, a normal man would be outside celebrating with family—watching fireworks rip through the sky, laughing as the world pretended to restart itself.
But not everyone got to live in that version of the world.
Thud!
The man's eyes were wide and unsteady, his breathing sharp. Blood stained his pale skin in uneven streaks, his hair a disordered mess stuck to his forehead.
But his eyes honed in on one thing
below him, a woman who's face was quickly losing its color as blood poured out from the wound in her chest.
Splatters of blood reached the cieling, spreads of it across the floor, and an sea of it coming from her
The man spoke, "M….mom?" His face did not show grief.
Nor regret.
But pure relief.
"I'm finally…..fucking free."
The knife slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the floor.
For the first time in years, his shoulders lowered.
But that relief didn't last longer than a second.
Reality hit him like a truck.
"…"
"What the hell do i do now?!" He said internally.
…
1 day earlier
It was New Year's Eve.
A man alone late at night.
Rei Takasugi.
A university student who had recently moved to the city with his mother for his first semester.
He was walking home with fast food in hand when he saw a video playing on a nearby screen.
A robbery case.
The footage showed a man surrounded by police—until the situation abruptly changed.
Rei stopped walking.
On the screen, a young man stood at the center of the scene.
Seiji Arakawa.
A name the world already knew.
Rei's childhood friend.
The so-called greatest detective alive.
His mother had never stopped reminding him of that fact.
"Why can't you be more like him?"
Rei clicked his tongue quietly.
"…Still on that again."
In the video, Seiji raised his hand slightly.
His eyes shifted—faintly glowing, like a blue light reflecting from cracked glass.
The world around him distorted.
Figures appeared over the scene—transparent, overlapping the real world.
A man holding a gun.
Another person at gunpoint.
The sequence unfolded in reverse clarity, like reality being rewritten into explanation.
Seiji didn't speak much.
He didn't need to.
The scene simply… resolved itself.
This was his Talent.
Casual Reconstruction.
A Talent that reconstructs past events from evidence.
And when evidence was lacking—
it filled the gaps with the most likely truth.
Rei stared at the screen for a moment longer than he meant to.
"…Of course it's him."
He sighed and thought about his own talent, Memory Partitioning.
He can split his memory into isolated "segments" that can be locked, edited, or temporarily inaccessible.
"It's a stupid talent. Can't profit off of it in anyway…" Rei cursed as he remembered the day his mother discovered his talent.
The exact words she said.
Cold and sharp.
"You're wasting it. Even your talent is disappointing."
Rei's grip tightened slightly around the food in his hand.
"It's whatever once i get a good paying job and move out i'll be fine…"
Rei arrived home.
The air suddenly changed when he stood infront of it.A slight breeze started to pick up, making Rei shiver as he looked at the house.
It was a normal home, though smaller than the usual houses in the area.
Due to his mother's financial situation they had to find the cheapest but somewhat convenient place for Rei to reach his classes on time.
"Mom….i'm home" He said in a low voice, while his chest tightned.
Footsteps.
Fast. Controlled. Direct.
The sound of someone who didn't need to rush… but chose to anyway.
The door to the hallway opened.
"You're late."
Her voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
Her hair was slightly disheveled, her expression tight—like she had been waiting for something to go wrong and had finally found it.
"You've been out longer than I said you could," she continued. "Do you not understand simple timing?"
Rei lowered his gaze.
"…Sorry."
A short silence.
Then her eyes moved past him, scanning.
Not him.
His choices.
"Have you been looking for a job like I told you?"
"Yeah…" Rei hesitated. "I've been applying. I just keep getting rejected."
A soft exhale.
Not quite a sigh.
More like disappointment that had already been decided in advance.
"Of course you are."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Look at how you carry yourself."
Rei looked up, his chest tightening.
"I've been trying my best…"
She let out a short breath through her nose.
Like the answer disappointed her, but didn't surprise her.
"Trying your best…"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"That's what you always say."
A pause.
Then her voice hardened.
"You think that means anything when nothing changes?"
Rei hesitated.
"I just need some support… that's all—"
Slap.
The sound cracked through the room.
Rei flinched, his hand shooting up to his face instinctively.
A sharp sting spread across his cheek.
"Ghh…"
But it didn't feel like silence.
It felt wrong.
Too sharp.
Too focused.
Like something in the moment didn't belong the way it was.
His breathing slowed.
Not calming.
Just… separating.
The room felt slightly distant now.
Like it was behind glass.
His mother was still speaking.
Her voice rising.
But it was no longer reaching him properly.
Rei blinked once.
And then—
The memory shifted.
Not outwardly.
Not physically.
Inside.
The sound of the slap blurred.
Replaced.
Rewritten.
For a fraction of a second, what he saw was different.
Not a slap.
Not just anger.
Something heavier.
More humiliating.
Her hand wasn't just striking him.
She was grabbing his collar first.
Pulling him closer.
Her voice sharper now—closer, invasive.
Not disappointment.
Contempt.
"…You're useless even standing in front of me like this."
Rei's eyes widened slightly.
His chest tightened.
The sensation in his cheek changed—no longer just pain, but something deeper.
Like being reduced.
Like something inside him had been overwritten.
"…!"
A thought surfaced, not fully formed.
"Lock this."
The moment it appeared, something in his mind clicked.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Like a drawer shutting.
The distorted memory stabilized.
Then fragmented.
Split away.
Stored somewhere he couldn't access clearly anymore.
Only the feeling remained.
Not what happened.
What it meant.
His breathing steadied.
Too steadily.
His expression went blank for a moment longer than it should have.
"…."
"Support?"
His mother's voice continued.
But it no longer connected to him properly.
Rei slowly lowered his hand from his face.
And without really deciding to, he turned away.
No response followed.
Only the sound of his own footsteps moving back down the hallway.
"…"
He didn't eat.
Didn't speak.
Didn't look back.
When he reached his room, he closed the door quietly behind him.
Click.
Rei sat down at his desk in the corner of the room.
For a moment, he didn't move.
Just stared at the open textbooks in front of him.
The words didn't feel like language.
Just shapes.
He blinked once.
Then opened his notebook.
"…I need to study."
His voice came out flat.
Almost automatic.
Like it belonged to someone else.
Rei studied until morning like he didn't need rest.
He left his room and he knew his mother was gone for the day, she had work at a clinic which she would return late at night.
The silence felt heavier without her presence.
Rei didn't go to class.
He stayed home.
The hours blurred together in a way he couldn't clearly trace afterward.
At some point, he found himself in the kitchen.
He didn't remember deciding to go there.
Just the moment he was already standing in front of the counter.
"…?"
That thought didn't fully form.
Something felt off.
A gap.
Like a page missing from a book he had just been reading.
Rei blinked once.
The kitchen felt unfamiliar for a second.
Then it didn't.
A knife was in his hand.
Cold.
Heavy.
Wrong.
"…I didn't—"
He stopped.
Because there was no clear "before" he could grab onto.
Only the present.
Only the silence.
Only the weight in his hand.
His grip tightened slightly.
Not out of intent.
But instinct.
For the first time, something in his mind shifted.
A feeling like a drawer being opened in the wrong room of his thoughts.
But nothing came out of it.
"…."
Rei didn't move.
He just stood there.
Listening to the silence of the house.
For hours.