The sky above the school was bruised with the deep orange of a sunset. A breeze swept across the rooftop, carrying with it the faint sound of distant laughter from the courtyard below. The two of them sat opposite each other on the cold concrete: Roy cross-legged, elbows resting on his knees, and Marie hugging her arms tightly as if the air itself might crush her if she didn't hold on.
She still hadn't fully processed the words he'd said only moments ago.
"Yes," Roy had told her.
"I'm the one who killed you in a past life."
Marie stared at him now, the shock still settling like dust after an explosion. Her mind scrambled for logic, but everything she'd believed up until this moment was cracking at the edges.
Her voice came out a whisper.
"Wait… what do you mean past lives? Other worlds? And you killed me?"
Roy's expression didn't waver. It wasn't cruel or proud, just tired. His voice, though steady, carried the weight of someone who'd been searching for this truth for too long.
"I know it's hard to believe. I don't expect you to accept it all at once. But it's the truth."
Marie pressed both hands to her head, trying to steady the pounding inside. Since last night, everything had been strange: the visions, the fragments of memories that weren't hers.
"So those voices… those visions I've been seeing…" she managed.
Roy nodded once.
"Yes. They're from your past life."
Her breath hitched.
"But how? I don't remember anything like that before yesterday. I've never seen those places or faces in my life."
Roy leaned back slightly, looking up at the fading sky.
"It's not like those fantasy novels where someone reincarnates and wakes up remembering everything perfectly. Real life, real souls, don't work like that. Past lives don't hand over memories like a book. They leave… traces. Impressions."
She blinked at him, still not following.
"Think about it," he continued.
"Is there something you've always felt drawn to since you were a kid? Something you wanted with no real reason? Or something you hated, deeply, without knowing why?"
Marie furrowed her brows, searching through her memories.
"All I ever wanted as a kid was to be… a hero," she said slowly.
"Not a doctor or teacher or anything. Just a hero."
Roy gave a small, sad smile.
"That's it."
She frowned.
"You mean that desire came from… my past life?"
"Yes. That's how it works. Strong emotions: love, hate, duty, guilt. They don't just vanish when someone dies with them. They burn into the soul and make the soul reborn, and those emotions remain, even if the person doesn't remember the cause."
Marie lowered her eyes to the floor. The idea made no sense, and yet… it fit too well with the inexplicable feelings she'd always had.
"But if that's the case," she said, lifting her gaze again, "shouldn't this happen to a lot of people? If emotions can stick around, shouldn't a lot of us remember our past lives? And why didn't I remember anything when I was younger?"
Roy leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His voice took on a more measured tone, as if stepping into territory he'd already explained to himself a thousand times.
"To answer your first question, it does. Why do you think there's something like a soulmate or love at first sight? But also, a lot of people die without a strong enough emotion to reincarnate."
Marie thought for a second.
'That makes sense.'
"To answer the other part," he began, "I have to explain how the Space Stones work."
She stared at him blankly.
"The Space Stones?"
He nodded.
"The Space Stone doesn't give people powers the way most think. What it really gives you is mana."
"Mana…?"
Marie repeated.
"Yeah. Mana is the fundamental energy behind everything, even how memories and emotions get imprinted on the soul. But here's the tricky part: to actually affect your body, that energy needs to reach your brain."
"Emotions don't need much mana to pass through, so they can slip into the brain easily. But memories are huge. They need a lot of mana to transfer. If the mana isn't compatible, those memories can't get through."
Marie frowned, trying to picture it.
"So… emotions are like a drop of water getting through a crack, and memories are like trying to shove a whole river through a wall."
Roy gave a small nod.
"Exactly."
He stood up and walked slowly to the railing, looking down at the school below as he continued.
"When someone touches the Space Stone, it fills them with pure mana. That energy then shapes itself based on their personality and body. Emotions from past lives can still affect people here even if they don't have mana, because emotions are small. But the memories? They stay locked away unless your new mana aligns with the kind from your past life."
Marie wrapped her arms around herself. The wind was getting colder, but it wasn't the chill that made her shiver.
"Can you simplify that?" she asked weakly.
Roy turned back to face her, his voice softening.
"Sure. Big emotions like love or hate leave a mark on your soul and make you reincarnate. Those marks never fade. If you reincarnate with a similar kind of mana, you will unlock your past life's memories. If not, you just live with the emotions, without ever knowing where they came from."
Marie exhaled slowly. It still felt surreal, but the way he explained it was too precise to be a joke.
"Does anyone else know about this?" she asked.
"Yeah," Roy said.
"My friend Omar. I told him as soon as I realized he'd awakened his power and started seeing… things."
Marie's eyes widened.
"Then that means he also..."
"Has a past life," Roy finished.
"Yeah. That makes three of us in the same school. I thought it would be rarer, honestly. A lot of things have to line up just right for it to happen."
Marie rubbed her temples. "So… we're all clear on what's happening."
Roy tilted his head.
"You sound like you're about to ask something else."
"I am," Marie admitted, looking down at the concrete between them.
"That explains the visions. But… what about the voice? The one telling me to kill you?"
Roy's expression hardened. He sighed and sat back down.
"That's something I call ghosting."
"Ghosting?" she echoed.
"Think of it like having a ghost of your past self following you around. When a past life was powerful enough, their memories can develop a kind of consciousness of their own. Most people, if they get reincarnated with the same type of mana, only get flashes of memory. But in rare cases, it's like that ghost starts whispering to you. Telling you to do things. Sometimes it even tries to take control."
Her hands clenched into fists in her lap.
"So the reason you gave me that terrifying glare earlier… was that your ghost?"
Roy nodded slowly.
"Yeah. My past life tried to take control and kill you again. It… almost succeeded. But I forced it back down."
Marie's breath caught in her throat.
'Again.'
That word echoed in her skull like a hammer strike. He had killed her before. And something inside him wanted to do it again.