The Mirror’s Pulse

Part 1

The classroom buzzed with early morning chatter.

Students talked, laughed, scribbled notes.

But Aoi sat in silence.

His gaze drifted toward the polished window.

The sunlight reflected his face—blank, tired.

And then…

his reflection blinked.

A second too late.

—"Aoi… Did you have a weird dream again?"

Rina's voice cut through the noise.

He didn't look at her.

Didn't dare.

—"It wasn't a dream," he muttered.

Rina leaned in, worry in her eyes.

—"Are you still seeing… things?"

Before he could answer, the bell rang.

Aoi stood.

The students shuffled toward their seats.

But in the glass behind him…

A flicker.

Yui's face—just for a moment—appeared in the reflection.

Aoi froze.

---

Part 2

The bathroom mirror was cracked with silence.

Aoi locked the door and stared at his own eyes.

His hands trembled.

His breathing felt borrowed.

If she's still trapped in there…

Then I have to go back.

The air around him went still.

And then—

his reflection stared back at him.

This time… like a camera.

Like it was watching.

—"You're not ready… not yet."

The voice was soft.

Unfamiliar.

But his.

A crack sliced across the mirror.

Thin. Precise.

Aoi stumbled backward.

A single drop of blood fell from his nose.

---

Part 3

The Threshold had changed.

Aoi and Kureha moved through its expanse atop a gliding platform—

like a shard of glass sailing through an endless sea of memories.

Around them: floating fragments of lives that weren't theirs.

A crying child.

A scream behind a door.

Faces Aoi didn't recognize—yet somehow felt.

—"Echoes don't belong to just you," Kureha said.

—"We all carry something that refuses to die."

She pressed her hand against a memory.

It shimmered—replaying a moment of pain not her own.

—"These… memories?" Aoi asked.

—"Echoes from others," she confirmed.

—"When someone falls too deep, their pulse breaks… and blends."

A dark shape crawled across a nearby shard.

Kureha's stance shifted.

She pulled out a dagger made of pure crystal.

—"Get ready," she said.

—"This one isn't yours."

---

Part 4

It screamed, laughed, and wept—

All at once.

The Echo was a twisted figure.

Semi-human, made of broken faces, voices overlapping in chaos.

It lunged.

Wild. Relentless.

Kureha shoved Aoi aside.

—"Link to the pulse!" she shouted.

—"You can't fight it with brute force!"

Aoi shut his eyes.

He listened.

Not just to the monster's madness…

But to its pain.

Breathing. Ragged. Desperate.

His jacket responded—crystallizing over his arms.

He stepped forward.

—"You're not me…" he whispered.

—"But you're suffering too."

From his chest, a resonant wave surged.

It wasn't anger.

It wasn't fear.

It was connection.

The Echo stopped.

Shook.

And shattered.

Light poured from its fragments—

revealing a single memory:

A boy clutching a letter, hands trembling.

Then… nothing.

---

Part 5

The realm shook.

Aoi dropped to his knees.

His body ached, but something inside him felt lighter.

Kureha helped him up.

—"Why wasn't that Echo… evil?" he asked.

—"Some Echoes don't want to hurt," she replied.

—"They just want to be seen… before they disappear."

Then—

a sound. Low. Deep. Terrifying.

Something had heard Aoi's resonance.

Something old.

In the distance, a figure emerged.

Faceless.

Vast.

Wrapped in hundreds of Echoes like living chains.

Kureha's voice dropped to a whisper.

—"No…"

—"He's awakened."

---

Part 6

Back in his room, the world was quiet.

Aoi stared at the mirror.

There, written in condensation—

a single word:

> HELP HER

He turned to his nightstand.

Lying there, where nothing had been before:

a crystalline stethoscope.

Identical to Kureha's.

His breath caught.

If the Echoes can cross into this world…

Then maybe…

So can I.

---

Preview of Next Chapter:

Aoi discovers that someone else at his school has also been touched by the Threshold.

What happens when other people's reflections become your enemies?