Chapter 5 part 2.1
<47 DAYS OF HELL>(7)
✧TWISTED REALITY(1)
[1ˢᵗ Time]
“I am Kenzaki Yoshino. Pleased to meet you,” the transfer student said cheerfully.
[100ᵗʰ Time]
“I am Kenzaki Yoshino. Nice to meet you,” he said with a casual nod, his voice devoid of enthusiasm.
[1,000ᵗʰTime]
“I am… Kenzaki Yoshino,” the transfer student said, a strange emotion flickering across his face.
[14,777ᵗʰTime]
I stared at the podium where the transfer student—Kenzaki Yoshino, a name I somehow knew without remembering, yet also felt I'd never truly learned—stood in silence. He simply looked at us, mumbling his name like a ghost trying to cling to life.
Yes, I knew the name Kenzaki Yoshino. But I couldn't explain why or how. I couldn’t remember hearing it, yet the name felt as familiar as my own. An uneasy hush settled over the class, not because of his clipped introduction but because of something about him—something unnaturally still and perfect, a beauty that felt almost… wrong.
The class seemed to hold its breath, as if waiting for him to continue. Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke.
“Hoshino Natsumi.”
“Huh?” I flinched, caught off guard. Why did he know my name? And why were my classmates all staring at me, as if they expected me to know the answer? I could feel their stares, intense and curious, but I was as clueless as they were.
“I’m here to break you,” he said suddenly, his voice soft but filled with a cold certainty. “This is the 14,777th time I’ve transferred here. And after so many times… well, I’m starting to get tired. So this time, I’m adding a little excitement—a proper declaration of war.”
He didn’t seem to care about the shock on my face or the confusion in the eyes of the others. He continued, his gaze focused on me with a chilling intensity.
“Hoshino Natsumi,” he repeated, his words hanging in the air, “I will make you surrender. It would be best if you just… gave in. Commit suicide now. There’s no point in resisting.”
My breath hitched, my pulse pounding in my ears. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. His lips twisted into a faint, humorless smile.
“Why?” he whispered, his voice like ice. “The answer is simple. No matter how much time passes, I will always be right there with you.”
[20,000ᵗʰTime]
It was October 3rd. I was sure of it, but for some reason, I kept telling myself that over and over, as if I needed to confirm it. Yes, it’s October 3rd. Snow was falling outside, blanketing the ground in a soft white that seemed too perfect, too strange. Snow… in October? The sight should’ve felt magical, but instead, it left me with a nagging feeling of déjà vu, a sense that I’d seen this too many times.
I brushed it off, trying to shake the odd feeling that something was wrong, as though something in my life was out of place, just beyond reach.
I arrived at school early, took my usual seat, and pulled out my current read, The Morning Stars. It was a peculiar book—ordinary at first glance, yet brimming with bizarre occurrences. It followed a protagonist, Kazuki Okonoshi, who lived a seemingly normal life, only to encounter surreal and supernatural events daily. One day, the moon became the sun, and another, zombies flooded his world. There were even strange “Catholic-like” beings who descended upon Earth. And yet, each creature had a tragic past, turning them from villains into sympathetic figures. Even the background characters felt alive in their own strange way. Something about the book’s world, filled with twisted yet deeply human stories, comforted me.
But before I could dive back into it, an annoyingly familiar voice broke through my concentration.
“Hoshino!”
I sighed, looking up to see Yuri grinning down at me with her usual mischievous energy.
“What?” I said, clearly not in the mood.
“What’re you doing?” she asked, leaning on my desk as if she had every right to be there.
“Reading… a book on how to kill you,” I muttered, glaring at her.
“Ohhh?” She just smirked, ignoring my remark. “So, have you figured out how yet?”
“Yes.”
“Really? Do tell,” she said with a curious grin.
“Huh, if you want to die so badly, just jump out a window. I’m not dirtying my hands over you.”
Before I could pull away, she suddenly grabbed my hand and—bit my finger. Hard.
“Ow! What the hell is wrong with you?” I yanked my hand back, glaring at her. “Today is the day I commit murder,” I muttered, reaching for my compass in mock threat.
She backed off, laughing nervously. “Hey, are you really ready to go to jail over me?”
“Do not test me, Yuri,” I said, barely containing my irritation.
She put her hands up in surrender, still laughing. Then, she leaned in with a conspiratorial look. “Hey, did you hear? There’s a transfer student coming today.”
I stared at her, skeptical. “A transfer student? In October?”
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“Yup! Haruko overheard the teachers talking about it in the hall.” She grinned, clearly proud of the gossip.
I glanced over at Haruko, who shrugged, looking as baffled as I felt.
“It’s true,” Haruko said. “I overheard the teachers talking. Seems like someone’s coming today.”
“Huh.” I couldn’t shake a strange, nagging sense of familiarity, but I tried to ignore it, returning my attention to my book.
The bell rang, signaling the start of class. Our teacher entered and called for the new student to introduce himself. Haruko shot me a smug look, but I ignored him, focusing instead on the boy who walked into the room.
My heart froze.
The transfer student was… familiar some how But that didn’t make any sense. There was no way i could now him.I didn't even remember him.
The boy stood at the front of the room, looking out at us with eyes that seemed to hold centuries. He had the same unsettling beauty, the same cold, otherworldly aura. He opened his mouth, and I felt a chill crawl up my spine.
“My name is Kenzaki Yoshino.”
The room fell silent. He looked at us, then at me, and his gaze locked on mine, unblinking and intense. Something in his eyes told me knows me, that expression tells me that he knows me.why? i don't know.
Suddenly, without warning, he pulled out a knife from his pocket. My heart skipped a beat as he slowly pressed it to his side, his gaze never leaving mine.
“Hoshino…” he whispered, his voice haunting, laced with a sadness I couldn’t comprehend. Then, in a swift motion, he plunged the blade into his side.
Time seemed to slow as he fell, blood staining his uniform a dark crimson. His mouth moved silently, forming my name one last time before he collapsed onto the floor. The classroom erupted in panicked screams, but all I could do was stare at him, his face fixed in my mind.
Beside me, Haruko gripped my shoulder, pale and shaking. “What… what’s happening, Hoshino?”
“Heh, that's sophisticating” I managed to whisper, though I wasn’t even sure of that anymore.
✧
I blinked, and the world returned to normal—the sink, my reflection, my exhausted eyes. But when I blinked again, the strange, flickering sensation returned, a subtle tug somewhere behind my eyelids. It was as if the colors in my right eye had drained away and left only a cold, lifeless blue and yellow. The dimly lit cabin, with its frost-covered windows and the soft, relentless blizzard outside, flickered into view. I held my gaze, uncertain, and it stayed there, almost like an illusion I could focus on at will.
Closing one eye, I checked to see if it would vanish, but the cabin remained through my right. Only when I blinked a few more times did my vision fully return to normal, and I let out a breath, willing away the lingering sense of unease.
“What’s wrong?” Magnolia’s voice startled me, and I looked up to see her watching me with quiet concern.
“It’s nothing.” I tried to mask the confusion in my voice, brushing it off with a small smile as I walked over to the worn, fraying couch by the wall and sank into it. I let my head fall back, feeling the weariness creep into my bones as I let my eyes drift shut.
But sleep brought little peace.
In the dream, I saw myself. Not as I was here, in this cabin surrounded by people I’d come to trust—or as much as I was capable of trusting anyone anymore. No, it was a different me. A older me, back in that life, moving through my old routines. But as I tried to reach out, I realized I wasn’t there, not truly. I was just… watching, like a ghost on the outside looking in.
I watched myself, myself, moving through the familiar motions, lost in a cycle of empty days. Avoiding classmates, avoiding everyone, immersing myself in books as a way to escape reality. The other me was reading, as usual, barely noticing the world outside the pages. Somehow, though, this Hoshino still noticed the small things—the way the sun cast its light across the schoolyard as it set, painting everything in a soft, warm glow. For a brief moment, I lingered, captivated by the sunset as he was, though it seemed almost like a memory I hadn’t thought about in years.
[Day 47ᵗʰ]
A faint shiver passed through me. Then, suddenly, the scene shifted.
“Hey, wake up.”
I opened my eyes, the dream slipping away like smoke. My left eye… something was wrong. I blinked, but there was only darkness on that side, a suffocating void. I closed my right eye, thinking it would somehow even things out, but the pain that followed was brutal, like a knife cutting into my skull. My hands clutched the side of my head, willing the pain to stop.
I opened my left eye just a fraction, and though the pain persisted, my vision returned in blurry pieces. I forced myself to breathe slowly, trying to ignore the agony as I took in the room, focusing on the faces around me.
“Something wrong?” Alexei was watching me, concern softening his usually hard gaze.
“It’s nothing,” I managed, my voice barely a whisper. The last thing I needed was more questions. But Astrid, as always, couldn’t help himself.
“Aw, don’t worry. It’s just puberty.” He grinned, glancing sideways at Alexei, who only shook his head.
“Shut up,” I muttered, but Astrid kept at it, teasing until he got bored and finally backed off. Still, his words pulled a small, reluctant smile from me. It was strange how even here, in this cold and desolate place, they could find ways to bring humor into the darkness.
When morning came, the blizzard had finally ceased. Ji-hyeon was the first to speak, looking out the window with a quiet intensity that felt more ominous than usual.
“It’s 5:00 P.m.,” she murmured. “The storm’s stopped. This is our chance.”
One by one, we got ready, moving in silence as we gathered our gear. The firearms we’d managed to salvage were far from perfect, but they would have to do. I followed the others outside, feeling the weight of the rifle in my hands as I scanned the snow-covered landscape, half-expecting something familiar to appear, something waiting for me. The forest loomed ahead, a familiar graveyard of past deaths I’d endured in more loops than I could count.
We climbed into the jeep, the engine rumbling to life, and as we drove into the woods, memories of every death in this forest rushed through me. There was a bitter irony to it. All the times I’d stumbled here, fought, bled, died—and now I was driving right back to face it all over again.
The ride was quiet, each of us lost in our own thoughts. Alexei’s steady grip on the wheel was a small comfort, his focus never wavering. But my thoughts were elsewhere. As we approached the orphanage’s crumbling structure, the sensation of déjà vu hit me harder than ever. Its broken windows, the dark, gaping holes in the walls, the way the snow lay heavy over every surface—all of it felt like a promise left unfulfilled.
“Here,” I said, breaking the silence. “I’ll go first.”
Without waiting for their response, I stepped out of the jeep, my boots crunching against the snow as I made my way around to the orphanage’s back side. My steps slowed as I neared a broken window, shards of glass lining its edge like jagged teeth. I didn’t hesitate as I climbed through, even when the glass sliced into my skin, leaving streaks of red in the snow beneath me.
I barely felt the pain anymore. All I could feel was the pull of the place, like it was drawing me in, calling me back.
The room was empty, silent. I moved through it as if guided by instinct, pushing open doors, feeling the old wooden floors groan beneath my weight. Dust hung in the air, and my breath seemed too loud, echoing in the quiet.
Finally, I found it. The file, the one I’d come for, lying there on an old desk. I picked it up, feeling its weight in my hands, knowing it held answers I’d been chasing through thousands of lifetimes.
I turned back, making my way to the window again. Blood from the cuts on my hands dripped onto the snow as I climbed out, leaving trails of red against the white. I didn’t care. I had what I needed. This, finally, was an ending—some kind of resolution.
But when I returned to the jeep, a strange sense of dread settled over me. Magnolia was gone.
“Where’s Magnolia?” I asked, trying to keep the edge out of my voice.
Ji-hyeon looked around, her eyes narrowing. “She was just here.”
Panic simmered under the surface, but I held it back, my gaze sweeping the trees, the snow-covered ground, searching for any sign of her. But there was nothing. Only the silence, so loud it felt like it was swallowing us whole.
And then, without warning, it began to rain.
Cold, relentless rain, falling in sheets that turned the snow into slush, the world shifting under its weight. The water soaked through my clothes, chilling me to the bone as I watched it wash away the bloodstains I’d left behind. Snow was rare enough in December, but rain? Rain was impossible.
Yet here it was, falling like some kind of twisted answer, washing away everything—the blood, the footprints, the fragments of shattered glass. The file in my hands felt heavier, the weight of it dragging me down as the rain turned into a downpour, hammering against the earth.
I closed my eyes, letting the cold seep in, my mind too tired to make sense of it all.
✧