Chapter 6: The Hands That Pull You Under
1
The world was wrong.
Renji felt it the moment they stepped off the bookstore's threshold. The golden morning light that had given him hope just minutes ago had vanished.
In its place was something unnatural.
The sky had turned black—not the darkness of night, but an abyss without stars or clouds, stretching endlessly. The buildings around them twisted and bent, their windows like empty eyes, watching. The streets stretched into nothingness, as if the entire world had been swallowed.
Renji's breath came fast. His hands clenched into fists.
Mikoto—
He turned, but—
She was gone.
Panic gripped his chest. He spun around, searching, but all he found was silence. No trace of her, no trace of anything familiar. The air had grown thick, suffocating, pressing down on him like unseen hands.
Then, something moved.
A whisper—low, broken, crawling into his ears like nails scratching on bone.
"Renji…"
His blood turned to ice.
That voice—
Slowly, so slowly, he turned toward the sound.
And there, standing in the darkness, was Saya.
2
She looked wrong.
The warmth that had filled her face in the bookstore was gone. Her skin was pale—too pale, like something long buried. Her eyes, once bright, were hollow. Her school uniform was drenched, the fabric clinging to her thin frame as if she had just crawled out of a river.
Drip. Drip.
Water pooled beneath her feet, dark and endless.
Renji's breath came in shallow gasps. His throat closed. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real.
"…Saya?" His voice was barely a whisper.
She took a step forward.
The water beneath her rippled, spreading outward like veins.
"You left me."
Renji's stomach twisted. His heart slammed against his ribs.
"No," he choked out. "That's not—"
"You left me there."
Her voice was different now—distorted, layered, as if a thousand whispers were speaking through her.
Her lips curled into something that wasn't a smile.
"You said we had all the time in the world."
Drip. Drip.
Renji's vision blurred. The memories—the real ones—began rushing back.
The river. The rain. Saya's hand slipping from his grasp.
Her scream, swallowed by the current.
The way she disappeared beneath the water, her fingers reaching for him—
Renji's knees hit the ground. His whole body shook.
No. No. No.
"I tried," he whispered. "I tried to save you."
The air cracked. The darkness around him lurched, twisting.
Saya stepped closer, towering over him now. Her hair dripped black water onto his hands. The stench of rot filled the air.
Cold fingers touched his face.
"You should have drowned with me."
3
Hands shot out from the darkness.
They clawed at his arms, his legs, his throat—pulling, dragging. He gasped, struggling, but they were everywhere, rising from the ground, twisting around him like roots.
The water beneath Saya spread, and Renji saw it now—bodies beneath the surface, their faces pale and lifeless, their mouths open in silent screams.
The dead.
The ones he couldn't save.
The ones he left behind.
Saya's fingers pressed into his skin. "It's okay," she whispered. "You don't have to run anymore."
Renji thrashed, his breath coming in sharp, ragged gasps. "Stop—Saya, please—"
She tilted her head. "Why?"
The hands tightened.
He couldn't breathe.
Darkness filled his vision.
And then—
A voice cut through the void.
"WAKE UP!"
4
The world shattered.
Renji gasped, his body jerking violently. He was no longer in the drowning blackness—he was back on the bridge.
The real bridge.
His hands clawed at his chest, trying to breathe. The phantom grip of the hands still lingered, his skin freezing where Saya's fingers had touched him.
Mikoto was kneeling in front of him, gripping his shoulders. Her face was unreadable, but her hands were trembling.
"Renji." Her voice was sharp, urgent. "What did you see?"
Renji's lips parted, but no words came. His throat was raw, his mind spinning.
But there was only one thing he knew for sure.
That wasn't Saya.
That thing—whatever it was—was waiting for him.
And next time… it wouldn't let him go.