Chapter 21: The Editor's Daughter Is Writing My Future in Reverse
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⏳ 1 — Time Starts Deleting Tomorrow First
It began subtly.
Ren woke up to find his planner was blank.
Not just empty. Wiped.
Future events erased.
Then he checked his phone.
Photos from next week — gone.
Messages scheduled to send — missing.
His wallpaper was now a default system screen from last year.
At school, it got worse.
Teachers announced field trips that already happened.
Clubs Ren quit last semester welcomed him back like nothing changed.
And most terrifying:
> Nobody remembered Aika defeating her other selves.
Not even Aika.
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🕰️ 2 — Aika's Reverse Memory Spiral
Aika stood in front of the art room door.
Frozen.
Inside was a painting—one she hadn't started yet.
But the teacher thanked her for finishing it.
"Brilliant detail, Himura. You finished it two weeks ago, remember?"
She stepped inside.
It was a self-portrait.
Of her standing with Ren… holding a different boy's hand.
She didn't remember painting it.
Didn't recognize the boy.
Then she checked her phone.
A photo album named "Memories with Riku."
Ren was gone from the pictures.
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📖 3 — Revia's Reversewriting Ritual
Shiori summoned them both after class.
She looked exhausted. Pale.
"I found her," she said.
"Revia?"
"No. Worse. The pen."
She opened her book and pointed to a sketch.
> A silver pen stabbed into a calendar.
"The Editor's Daughter is using Reversewriting.
She's not deleting your memories."
"She's unmaking them," Ren said.
"Exactly," Shiori nodded.
"She's rewriting your future in reverse.
Starting from the last thing you'll ever be...
And unraveling it backwards."
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🔙 4 — The Day They Never Met
It was 3:37 PM.
Aika looked at Ren and asked:
"Sorry… what was your name again?"
He stared at her, hollow.
The worst part?
He didn't blame her.
Because five seconds later—
> He forgot how they met, too.
They held hands, not knowing why.
He wrote her name on his arm in black marker.
She wrote his on her wrist.
As a reminder.
Because every hour… another thread of their connection disappeared.
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🔎 5 — The Clue in the Wrong Timeline
In the back of the library, Ren found a book he never borrowed.
Inside it: a folded note.
Written in his own handwriting.
> "If you're reading this, I already forgot you once.
She's undoing everything from the last chapter forward.
The Editor's Desk is beneath the school.
Find it before Chapter 1 is gone.
—You."
He showed Aika.
She didn't remember writing anything.
Didn't remember why her eyes welled with tears reading it.
But she still whispered:
> "Let's go before we forget this note too."
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🧭 6 — Descent to the Editor's Desk
The stairwell didn't exist before.
But now it did.
Right where the basement storage room should be.
Each step down, the world grew more unreal.
Clocks spun in reverse.
They passed versions of themselves arguing, then laughing, then meeting for the "first" time.
At one landing, Aika saw herself vanish into nothing after saying "I love y—"
Ren grabbed her hand.
"Don't listen.
That version was erased."
They reached the bottom.
And found it:
The Editor's Desk.
A massive, obsidian slab covered in paper.
Each page was a life.
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✍️ 7 — The Blank Page Named Aika
Aika approached the desk.
A sheet of paper waited for her.
But her name wasn't there.
Only the phrase:
> "Subject Previously Deleted. Pending Reinstatement."
Revia appeared in the shadows.
Holding the Reversewriting Pen.
"Final chance," she said. "Pick a role. Any version. Be her. Or fade backward into pre-story silence."
Ren stepped forward.
"No. She doesn't have to choose. She already did."
Aika raised the blank page.
Wrote only one word:
> "Now."
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🔁 8 — Time Loops Break
The word exploded.
Reality snapped.
Calendars shattered.
Future returned.
Memories surged back into their rightful places like rewound rivers.
Aika collapsed.
Ren caught her.
Around them, the Editor's Desk burned.
Revia screamed.
"You fools! You created a free Aika! An unbound self!"
Aika stood again.
Smiled.
> "Exactly.
And now, the story goes forward.
Whether you approve it… or not."
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🕯️ End of Chapter 21
Next: Chapter 22 — "I Skipped to the Final Chapter and Saw My Own Death"