Date: October 10
Time: 7:42 AM
Place: Tokyo – Outside Rei's House, then Kurohane High School**
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Morning came.
The sunlight poured through the windows like a blessing. For a moment, it felt like the nightmare was over.
Rei slowly opened his front door, stepping outside for the first time after the terrifying night. The street looked normal. Too normal. Birds chirped. Cars moved. But something was… off.
All the neighbors stood outside. Silent. Pale. Staring at the street where the creature had appeared.
One of the older women spoke in a whisper, "You saw it too, didn't you?"
Rei nodded slowly.
No one laughed. No one questioned.
Everyone had seen it.
---
Rei walked to school with his backpack. As he entered Kurohane High, his best friend Daichi ran up to him.
"Yo, Rei! You okay?"
Rei gave a small nod. "Yeah… I think. You?"
Daichi looked serious for once. "I stayed up all night. With my family. We heard something scratching at the window. But we didn't move. No one did."
A few more friends joined in — Mina, Tetsuo, and Riku.
"You were alone, right?" Mina asked. "You okay?"
Rei sighed. "Barely. But… I survived."
---
Later that afternoon, a few of them came to Rei's house. They sat in silence, all still shaken.
Suddenly, Rei looked at the clock.
5:48 PM.
His eyes widened.
"Guys," he whispered. "It's almost sunset."
Everyone froze.
Tetsuo got up to turn on the light.
Rei grabbed his hand. "Don't."
Just then—
All the lights went out.
A city-wide blackout.
The room filled with darkness.
Outside, the sky turned purple-black again.
They didn't move.
But Riku couldn't help himself. He whispered, "I think... I saw something."
Outside the window, a new creature appeared. Not the same as last night.
This one had long spider-like legs, and a mirror-like face that reflected their own terrified expressions. It didn't walk. It floated. Slowly.
Tetsuo's voice trembled, "I know that one… I saw it on the American footage."
"What?" Rei asked.
Tetsuo pulled out his phone slowly and showed a video downloaded from the internet.
The video was blurry, but it showed the same creature crawling through the streets of New York. People screamed. Lights flickered. And one by one, the camera went dark.
Tetsuo whispered, "They call it The Echo. It mimics your voice. It reflects your face. But if you respond to it… it enters your mind."
No one spoke.
Outside the window, The Echo turned slowly… as if it heard them.
---
To be continued…