No matter how hard you try to hide the past, you are bound to meet the past again, even if it's for once in your short lifetime."
---
The sky was gray.
Heavy and unmoving—like a curtain that refused to rise.
At the edge of a busy intersection, a lone boy stood, his white hair tousled by the cold wind. His figure was striking—tall for his age, dressed in a slightly oversized Japanese college uniform. His crystal-clear eyes stared blankly ahead, though they saw nothing.
His name was Enoki.
He was just 14 years old.
But the world had already made him older.
He took a step forward.
"Life is... a burden," he muttered, the words slipping from his lips like a curse.
A red light flashed.
A motorbike roared from the corner.
And in an instant—everything shattered.
---
CRASH.
Blood painted the crosswalk. The boy's body collapsed with a sharp thud. Silence swallowed the street, only broken by gasps and screams of bystanders.
But in Enoki's ears, all he could hear was the echo of his own voice:
"I really hate this life…"
Then—nothing.
---
[FLASHBACK: 4 YEARS EARLIER — Age 10]
Rain poured like needles from the sky. Enoki, younger, soaked and shivering, ran through the narrow alleys of a mansion's outer walls.
He was clutching something—a silver locket, faintly glowing with a soft warmth.
Screams rang out.
Lunia.
She was tied, terrified, inside a storage room.
The woman standing in front of her was elegant but cold—the stepmother.
"If you want to save her," the woman said, holding a black vial, "drink this. Or she dies right here."
Enoki didn't flinch. He didn't even hesitate.
He drank it.
Lunia cried. The locket pulsed once.
And then… Enoki collapsed.
---
[FLASHBACK: Even Earlier — Age 3]
A soft bed. The smell of flowers. A weak voice.
His mother, dying, leaned over and kissed his forehead.
"My little Enoki... this locket will protect you. Even if I'm not there."
She placed the glowing silver locket around his neck.
Moments later… she was gone.
---
[FLASHBACK CONTINUES — A Month After the Poison Incident]
The household was in chaos. The stepmother stood tall before a group of family lawyers, servants, and Enoki's father.
"The boy is dead," she declared calmly.
"We must move forward with the will."
But Enoki's father—his expression unreadable—stood up slowly. He was a stern, powerful man, the head of one of Japan's most influential business families.
"No," he said.
"I don't believe he's dead. I can feel it."
He placed a document on the table.
A legal contract.
"If Enoki returns within ten years from the day he disappeared," he announced, "he will inherit all my shares, my company, and my name."
"If not…" he looked at the stepmother coldly, "then everything will pass to her."
A murmur passed through the room. The woman smiled faintly.
"Ten years," she whispered.
"Let's see if a dead boy can return."
---
[PRESENT – HOSPITAL ROOM – Enoki, Age 14]
The room was quiet except for the gentle beeping of a heart monitor. Enoki lay still, bandaged but alive.
Rain tapped on the window beside his bed.
His white hair rested over his pale forehead, a small scar just beginning to form near his temple.
He opened his eyes slowly.
No pain.
No panic.
Just silence.
He stared at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity.
And then… a name left his lips.
"Lunia…"
He didn't remember why.
He didn't remember much at all.
But the word felt heavy. Important.
His eyes turned to the nightstand.
There it was.
The silver locket.
Still glowing—barely.
Still with him.
---
NARRATION:
"He was supposed to be dead."
"But the story... had only just begun."
---
TO BE CONTINUED…