The wind rattled the thin windowpanes in Kaito's bedroom. Moonlight leaked through the curtains in strips, painting pale scars across his desk, his shelves, and his bed.
But the real scars—the ones that refused to fade—weren't visible.
Not tonight.
They were whispers.
And they were getting louder.
---
01:13 AM – Kaito's Bedroom
Kaito sat up with a jolt, breath catching in his throat like a hook had yanked him out of unconsciousness. His shirt was soaked through, sweat clinging to his spine. He rubbed at his eyes, heart still pounding.
The dream had been too real.
Again.
> He was small.
The bed was high.
And there were hands reaching out from under it.
They whispered his name with mouths they didn't have.
"Kai… to…"
---
He shook his head and stood, pacing toward the window. The streets below were silent, but he felt something in the air.
Tension. Static.
Like the world was holding its breath.
> "They're not dreams anymore," he muttered. "They're echoes."
He looked down at his hands—no new marks. No bruises. No broken bones. But deep in his chest, his evolutionary spiral burned faintly, like it was listening.
---
Morning – Ayase Household
"I swear, you don't even knock anymore," Seiko grumbled, coffee mug in hand and hair a mess.
Kaito nodded. "Sorry. But something's happening."
"You're always 'happening,' kid. Be specific."
He sat down, eyes hollow. "I'm seeing memories I don't remember making. But they're mine. From before. From my old life."
Seiko froze.
He never spoke of the life before this one.
> "What kind of memories?"
Kaito's fingers clenched around his knees. "A room. Dark. Cold. A bed I was too small to climb onto. And something under it that whispered my name… even when I wasn't asleep."
Seiko slowly set her mug down.
"That's a narrative echo," she said quietly. "A trapped emotional frequency. Some ghosts don't haunt places—they haunt timelines."
> "You mean this ghost followed me across lives?"
Seiko lit a cigarette, avoiding his eyes.
"I mean it may have been born because of what happened to you before you died."
---
Later – School Library
Rin watched Kaito from across the study table. He hadn't touched his book. His eyes were fixed on the wall clock like it was counting down to something.
> "Still not sleeping?" she asked.
Kaito nodded.
"You look pale."
"I feel... watched."
Rin closed her book. "Then let me try something."
She pressed her fingers together, creating a small spiritual seal—a shimmer of blue light between her palms.
Kaito leaned in.
> "There's a presence," she whispered. "Very old. Not evil, but… twisted. Like a reflection that doesn't match the mirror anymore."
> "Can you get rid of it?"
She hesitated.
> "I don't think it's haunting you, Kaito. I think it is you. Or part of you."
He stiffened.
> "And it wants to come home."
---
Flashback – Rebirth Fragment
A flicker. A heartbeat.
Kaito saw it again: the moment before his reincarnation. That space between death and reformation.
There had been a choice. Or something close to it.
A door.
And under that door—something slithered. Something that whispered:
> "If you take me with you, you'll never be weak again."
He didn't answer.
But the door opened anyway.
---
Evening – Kaito's Room
The sun had long set. The shadows in his room twisted longer than they should've. He hadn't turned the lights on.
He sat on his bed, staring at the floor.
At the space beneath it.
There had never been anything under there. No monsters. No hands. No claws. No—
> creaking wood
His blood turned cold.
Something was under the bed. Right now.
He didn't move.
Not yet.
Not until he heard it again.
> Thump.
Once. Soft. Measured.
And then—
> "Kaito…"
Not loud. Not angry. But familiar. Like a friend he didn't know he'd forgotten.
He reached slowly beneath the bed.
And his hand touched another hand.
---
Confrontation – The Ghost
He yanked back, stumbling onto the floor, but the hand didn't follow.
Instead, something emerged.
A figure. Small. Curled. About the size of a child. Its body was a flickering shadow, its face undefined—but it wore his old pajamas from the life before this one.
> "You left me," it said. "When we died."
Kaito's breath caught.
> "I was the part of you that couldn't move. The one that feared everything. The one who suffered. You chose to evolve… but you left me behind."
The ghost-boy lifted his face slightly. Eyes glowed like dim stars.
> "So I crawled forward. I followed. And I grew."
Kaito stood, fists clenched.
> "You're not me anymore."
The ghost tilted its head.
> "No. I'm the part of you that refused to be erased. I am your first scar. Your origin."
Then it lunged.
---
Battle – Internal Collapse
Kaito's mark pulsed as the ghost struck him—no physical damage, but his mind cracked. Memories bled out. Pain from a past life. A voice screaming in a locked closet. A door that never opened. Blood on his lip from falling down stairs he wasn't supposed to use.
The ghost drove him to his knees.
> "You evolved from pain," it hissed. "But never faced it. You buried me beneath strength. But I am the foundation."
Kaito gritted his teeth.
> "Then I'll evolve again. This time... toward acceptance."
A pulse of light burst from the spiral on his chest.
> New Trait Acquired: Echo Stabilization
(Allows synchronization with residual emotional constructs. Reintegrates fragmented identity.)
The ghost shrieked—then stilled.
It looked at him… and smiled.
And vanished into golden dust.
---
End Scene – Momo's Message
Later that night, his phone buzzed.
A message from Momo.
> [Momo]: "If you're awake, come outside. I brought canned coffee and terrible jokes."
Kaito stared at the screen, the warmth of her words breaking through the lingering cold in his chest.
He walked to the window, opened it, and stepped into the night.
The bed behind him was quiet.
No more whispers.
For now.