CHAPTER THREE: ROAD TO NOWHERE

The moment my foot hit the ground, the bus was gone.

No engine revving, no tires kicking up dust—just gone. No skid marks, no dust cloud. Just…gone. Like it had never been there at all.

I turned, breath caught in my throat. Behind me, only a stretch of dead, empty road. The forest stood motionless on either side, as if the trees themselves were holding their breath. The air was wrong—thick, silent, heavy.

No wind. No birds. No distant hum of insects. Nothing moved. I was completely alone.

Or… almost alone.

Ahead, the school loomed behind an eight-foot wall of gray brick, the kind that looked like it had been standing for a century. Moss and lichen dotted the stone walls, maybe the only living thing for miles besides me. A wrought iron gate stood open, leading up a winding path to the main building.

A sign hung above the entrance, written in kanji.

Crescent Moon Academy.

I blinked. Then blinked again. I could read it. I could read the damn kanji. I felt lightheaded and took a step forward. I'd read enough manga to recognize kanji, but not nearly enough to have understood it.

You don't want to be late for your first day of high school.

"Lana," I said to myself.

And now some weird school? I needed to find her, fast. Had she sent me here? What the hell was she even? And what did she mean I could find her but I'd lose myself?

I didn't have any answers, and I wouldn't find any just standing around. I took a step forward, but I didn't recognize my own pants or shoes.

I wasn't wearing my jeans.

I wasn't wearing my flannel.

I wasn't wearing anything I had put on this morning.

Plaid pants. A pressed white dress shirt. A dark blazer. Oh my god…

A school uniform.

Lana's words rang in my mind and I wished she'd show up with a camera crew and everyone laughing at what a clever joke this had been.

No… I knew… this was REAL.

I shoved a shaking hand into my pocket, fingers closing around something familiar—my phone. My last link to reality. I yanked it out and nearly dropped it when I saw.

The casing was burned. The edges charred like it had been through a fire. The screen was cracked beyond repair, a web of shattered glass and melted plastic. It smelled like smoke.

I tried to power it on. Nothing. Completely dead.

A breath hitched in my throat. I fumbled for my wallet, needing some kind of proof that I was still me— but it wasn't mine.

Not my wallet.

A wallet.

Black leather, a kanji etched into the side. I knew what it meant the second I saw it.

"Dragon."

Ryu.

I swallowed hard, flipping it open with trembling hands. A thick stack of yen notes stared back at me. I flipped through them in a daze. Bills that shouldn't be mine.

And then I saw the ID.

I lifted the card slowly. In the spot where I'd kept my drivers license, a new card. No.

A Crescent Moon Academy student ID.

The face on the ID looked… familiar.

No. Recognizable.

For a second, I thought they'd been some mistake. My brain refused to process it. The hair was too full. The skin, healthy. The eyes… young, bright. Then it hit me.

It was me.

Younger. A kid. Fifteen, maybe sixteen. My hair—thicker, fuller, untouched by time. My skin—unlined, unscarred. My beard was gone.

I touched my face, fingers trailing over smooth, unfamiliar skin. I ran a hand through my hair, feeling volume I hadn't had in years.

My scar.

I stared at my left index finger, searching, searching—gone. The small, faded mark from a careless knife slip in college? Completely erased.

This wasn't possible.

This wasn't my body.

My hands shook as I checked the name on the ID.

Andrew Ryu Kazeyama.

Kazeyama?

What the hell? I'm Andy Benjamin Davis!

My last name had changed. My middle name had changed.

I moved to my birthdate.

December 6.

Same day.

Different year.

Fifteen years old.

I choked on a breath.

I was fifteen.

My entire body was younger. The world spun beneath me, my vision darkening at the edges. I dropped to my knees, fingers digging into the dirt.

What the hell had they done to me?!

I forced air into my lungs, clenching my fists until my nails bit into my palms. This wasn't a dream. I felt everything—my heartbeat pounding against my ribs, the sting of cold air in my throat, the rough ground under my fingertips.

I punched the ground.

"Wake up!" I yelled. "Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!"

I punched until my fist hurt and my throat stung and nothing changed.

This was real.

And then I saw it.

Another card, tucked behind my ID.

I pulled it out slowly, flipping it over.

Shin'yume-sou.

Deep Dream Inn. I had residence in town.

Fine, but I still needed to find Lana.

I forced myself to my feet, knees still shaking. Ahead, Crescent Moon Academy loomed like a shadow against the pale sky. Behind me, the road stretched toward the distant town of Shin'yume.

Before I could take a step forward something hit me from behind.

Pain exploded through my ribs as I was knocked off my feet, the breath driven from my lungs. I hit the ground hard, the world tilting sideways.

I groaned, pushing myself up—only to freeze as a shadow fell over me.

A girl.

No.

She only looked like a girl.

She stood over me, brushing dust off her skirt, her flat, lifeless eyes locked onto mine. Her skin was too pale, her face too smooth. Not simply beautiful. Flawless. Like a doll, and just as uncanny.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice polite. Too formal. Stiff. Hollow. DEAD.

And then—

Her entire body stiffened, head bent forward. Her eyes widened. She was looking at something. My leg.

Recognition.

But not just that. Something deeper. Something almost primal.

"Oh," she whispered.

I looked. My pantleg was torn from the fall, and my knee glistened red.

A scrape. Just a scratch.

But her pupils dilated.

And then, slowly, her fangs pushed past her lips. I felt my blood turn to ice as I scrambled to back away, but it was already too late.

"You're bleeding."

And she took a step closer.