Chapter 5 – The Perfect Echo
The train car was empty.
Aoi and Kureha traveled in silence while the world outside moved in reverse. Everything beyond the window looked inverted, as if the world was seen through a mirror.
—"Why are we going so far?" Aoi asked.
—"A strong signal was activated in this city," Kureha replied.
—"But this time… it's not a normal Echo."
Aoi looked at the reflection in the train window.
This time… there was nothing. For the first time, he thought: "It scares me not to see anything at all."
The city of Hazawa welcomed them in silence.
Shattered storefronts, mirrors covered with tarps, signs bent by time. Everything in the city seemed to have tried to forget something… and failed.
—"One of the first Resonants lived here," Kureha said, walking beside him.
—"What happened to them?" Aoi asked.
Kureha stopped and paused for a long moment.
—"They became an Echo."
Aoi's chest tightened, his stethoscope emitted an unstable light. Something trembled in the air.
Later that day, they arrived at an abandoned school. Cracked walls, rusted doors. Time frozen in silent decay.
Aoi explored alone, step by step. Kureha stopped in front of a sealed door. Carved into the wood was a name:
Reika N.
The door trembled, as if it were breathing.
—"This is the place," Kureha said softly.
She placed her stethoscope against the surface. The pulse from the other side was clear…
but broken. Aoi felt it hit him like a wave of anger and sadness, intertwined.
Suddenly, a vision consumed him. A girl with silver hair sat alone, writing in a diary. Outside, the rain fell endlessly. From the mirror across the room, a twisted version of her watched with hatred.
—"If I stop writing… I'll disappear," she whispered.
The vision shattered and Reika's Echo opened its eyes.
The classroom dissolved into fragments.
Now they were inside a broken crystal sphere.
In the center, Reika floated trapped in a cage made of memories: Words of hate etched in the air. Whispers. Screams. All repeating endlessly.
—"Don't look at her directly!" Kureha warned.
But it was too late. The memories
pierced Aoi's mind: Bullying. Isolation. Scars. Loneliness that devoured from the inside.
—"I… can't turn this off!" Aoi screamed.
Reika's Echo lunged toward him. She was made of torn diary pages,
broken photos and mirror shards screaming with her voice.
—"Name her, Aoi!" Kureha shouted.
—"Or the Threshold will consume her completely!"
Aoi pressed the stethoscope to his chest and closed his eyes.
—"I'm not you, Reika… but I know that loneliness, and I know you just wanted someone… to listen." —Aoi said as he walked toward her.
He stepped forward. And a memory came to him:
Reika walked through the hallways with her head down. Each step was a heartbeat of fear. Each day, a battle without a shield.
—"Look at her dead face."
—"She probably writes that crap because she has no friends."
—"If she didn't write, she'd be gone already."
A girl pushed her out of her seat and stepped on her notebook.
—"You're disgusting, you're only good for writing, nothing more, without this stupid notebook you're nothing, without it… you should just disappear" —she said while everyone laughed.
Reika picked up her notebook and returned to her seat, and kept writing without stopping, whispering to herself...
"If I stop writing… I'll disappear"
"If I stop writing… I'll disappear"
"If I stop writing… I'll disappear"
"If I stop writing... I'll...someone please help"
The memory faded with Aoi's voice.
—"Your name is Reika Nanami!"
—"And you are not just what they made you believe!"
The Echo stopped and her fragments
trembled. A fragile voice emerged from within:
—"…Do you remember me?"
Then, the Echo collapsed. Only a notebook remained, floating. On the last page, written in fresh ink:
"Thank you."
At sunset, Aoi and Kureha stood on a rooftop, looking down at the city. Aoi held Reika's notebook. It was empty… except for one phrase.
—"Every Echo leaves something behind," Kureha said.
—"Sometimes a word.
Sometimes… a little less emptiness."
—"What if I can't save them all?" Aoi asked.
—"You don't have to save them all.
Just… remind them they still have a heartbeat."
They fell silent. In the clouds, reflections of memories passed—memories no one dared to say aloud.
In the depths of the Threshold… the hooded figure returned. This time, he removed his hood. A young man, his face cracked and his voice was doubled, distorted:
—"Reika has been silenced…
But the true heart still sleeps."
He turned toward a gigantic black mirror.
Inside, a vision:
Aoi… smiling while bleeding from his eyes.
—"The Perfect Echo… is about to awaken."
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Preview of Next Chapter:
Aoi starts having shared dreams.
The enemy's identity is revealed.
The line between resonating with someone… and losing yourself in their pain begins to break.