The fluorescent lights above flickered like a heartbeat.
Buzz… buzz… crackle.
Kaito Ishida stood still in the middle of a long, empty hallway. The same hallway.
His eyes darted around, confusion seizing him like a vice. The familiar smell of floor cleaner. The hum of the fluorescent lights overhead. That crooked poster about school safety. He could almost hear it all—buzz… buzz… crackle—echoing in his head.
"Wait… I've… been here before?" His voice was a tremor.
He reached out instinctively, brushing his fingers along the cold, chipped wall. A strange comfort surged through him. It felt like a place he should know… yet it felt wrong.
But why can't I remember?
A sharp pain pierced his mind, like a physical blow. His head throbbed. Thoughts came to him in fragments, as if they were trying to form some kind of pattern but couldn't quite connect.
Something's wrong.
He whispered to himself. "Is this a dream?" He laughed bitterly, but the sound was hollow. "Or am I losing my mind?"
His stomach growled, cutting through his spiraling thoughts. "Maybe I'm just hungry," he muttered, trying to grasp at something that made sense. "Yeah, that's it… no way I'm hallucinating reality."
Stepping forward, he reached the stairs and hesitated. The descent felt far too familiar, yet there was an unsettling sensation that something was pulling at him.
Then—
Boom.
A distant sound, muffled at first, then loud enough to make his chest rattle. A flash of black smoke curled in the distance.
His pulse quickened.
"The hell…?"
He grabbed the nearest person on the sidewalk—a guy in a hoodie, sipping from a can of soda.
"Hey! That smoke—do you know what's happening over there?" Kaito's voice was sharp, urgent.
The guy removed his earbuds, blinking. "Huh? Oh… that? Nah, man. I dunno. Maybe someone's grill exploded or something."
Kaito's stomach twisted. "Someone's grill?" He shook his head in disbelief. "It's a whole house, man!"
The guy shrugged, slipping the earbuds back in. "Dunno. Sorry, man." He turned and walked away.
Kaito stared after him, then turned toward the smoke. He couldn't shake the feeling—the pull—as if it was calling to him, like he knew exactly what he would see.
He sprinted, faster than he ever thought possible, but the closer he got, the worse the pit in his stomach became. Then—
He stopped.
His breath caught.
No.
There it was. His house.
The roof cracked under the pressure, flames spitting out of broken windows. The front lawn was filled with neighbors, but they stayed far away—too afraid to get close. The air was thick with the stench of burning wood, of something worse.
"Mom?! Dad! Riku! Aiko!" His voice cracked, desperate.
Without thinking, he charged through the broken door, his feet tripping on debris. Coughing, he shielded his face from the smoke.
He stumbled into the living room and—
No.
His family was there.
Blood everywhere.
Stab wounds. Bullet holes. Lifeless.
Kaito's knees hit the floor as tears blurred his vision. "Please… wake up…" His voice was broken, a desperate plea.
His trembling hand reached for his little sister's, but it was cold.
Then—crack.
The ceiling above him gave way, a massive beam crashing down, the world going black.
A breath.
Kaito opened his eyes.
He was back in that damn hallway again.
Same lights. Same poster. Same flicker.
"...What?" His voice was hoarse. He looked down at his hands. They were clean. No ash. No blood. No burns.
His stomach lurched. "What the hell is happening? I died... I felt it. I felt the fire. The heat. The pain…" His thoughts scrambled. There was no way he could've just… come back.
He spun around in a panic, the hallway stretching endlessly before him. It was like nothing had changed. No, it was even more overwhelming.
He slapped his hand against the wall. It was cold again, too cold.
I died. I know I did. But I'm here. I'm still here.
A student passed him, looking him up and down with a furrowed brow. "Uh… you good, bro?"
Kaito didn't respond. His chest was tight, like he was suffocating. This was all wrong. He couldn't even feel the cold against his skin, the raw reality of what just happened. It was like some cruel trick.
He laughed bitterly, a sound that didn't belong to him.
"Yeah, sure. I'm fine," he said to no one in particular. His voice cracked. "Like this isn't really happening. Like people come back from the dead. Maybe it's a dream... or maybe I'm losing my mind."
Another student passed, earphones in, eyeing Kaito like he was a strange creature.
He ignored them, trying to pull himself together, when—
Boom.
That familiar sound. The rolling thunder in his chest. The distant black smoke again, like a suffocating grip on his heart.
Kaito ran to the window, eyes wide.
It was there. The smoke. Rising in the distance.
His knees buckled, and his pulse thudded painfully in his ears. He could feel the nausea spreading through his stomach. He knew what would happen next. The loop.
But... why? Why did he know? Why could he feel it, as though it had already happened?
"No, no. This isn't real. I'm not dreaming. This isn't some manga. This is real. This... this can't be real," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. He turned and stumbled backward, his breath uneven.
His body was already moving on its own, each step feeling like it belonged to someone else. Toward the nightmare. Backto the nightmare.