Esteban_Duque_

Aoi Tsukishiro, a teenager scarred by the disappearance of his younger sister, faces a dark reflection that no longer follows him.
In a world where pain manifests as echoes within mirrors, Aoi must become a Resonant to confront the wounds he’s buried deep inside.
Will he be able to face his own reflection… and survive the Threshold?

The Mirror’s Pulse

The house felt like his own, but something was wrong.

Aoi moved carefully down the hallway, with decayed and flickering walls. Family photos hung upside down, their faces blurred like fading memories.

At the end of the hallway stood a small, motionless girl. Yui, with her back turned.

She turned around, but her face was covered by her hair. From within… a child's voice sobbed: "It was my fault…"

The figure dissolved into dust, and Aoi woke up gasping in his bed.

The rooftop felt colder than usual.

—"It wasn't just a dream," said Aoi.

—"I felt there was someone else there with me."

—"That wasn't a normal Echo," she said.

—"It was a Deep Resonance. A fragment… that doesn't belong only to you."

—"Only with the Perfect Echo, the one that needs no body… because it lives in every reflection."

—"Come with me, I want you to see something," said Kureha, reaching her hand to Aoi.

They entered the Threshold and descended into a hidden chamber—

Shelves floated among suspended shards of glass. Books levitated silently. Words written in light.

Kureha walked forward, stopping in front of a black mirror covered in ancient symbols.

—"Every Resonant leaves a trace," she said.

Aoi touched the glass, which showed a flash:

A boy awoke in a world without mirrors.

He reached into others, took their memories, placed them inside himself. But each fragment brought pain. And from that pain… the Perfect Echo was born. A being made of everything forgotten. Everything unwanted.

The flash ended, and Aoi somehow felt that Rina was in danger.

Night was falling. Rina wandered alone through the school hallway. She looked toward a window. Her reflection blinked… and stared back at her with rage.

—"You're just a shadow behind Aoi," it hissed.

She froze, and the mirror vibrated. Her stethoscope, which had been given to her by Kureha, trembled on her chest.

A hand—liquid, dark—emerged from the glass.

—"That's not your voice!" he shouted.

—"It's Nagi… testing your cracks."

—"Someone who knows more than we do, and we must stay united to stop him," said Aoi, taking Rina's hand.

—"We must prepare. It's time to train you," said Kureha.

Back in the Threshold's training chamber. The mirrors pulsed softly around them.

Rina fought, holding her stethoscope, but the energy rejected her.

—"I can't resonate like you two…" she murmured.

—"Because your wound is still open."

Aoi approached and gently placed the stethoscope on her chest.

—"Your rhythm… has value too."

For the first time, Rina smiled just a little, and her stethoscope glowed faintly.

A realm of shadows stretched endlessly.

Now fully revealed. His body was full of cracks.

Half of his face changed constantly: child, old man, stranger, friend.

—"How many of your fragments have I collected, Aoi?" Nagi whispered.

One of his faces twisted, briefly showing Yui.

—"We will become one," he smiled.

—"Because you… are already my reflection."

The mirror shattered, sending a black pulse through every crystal of the Threshold.

Preview of Next Chapter:

The Threshold begins to bleed into the real world.

Echoes reflected in others start to manifest.

Aoi must decide whether to break his own heart… in order to save someone else's.

Chapter 6 – The Perfect Reflection