The Mirror’s Pulse

Part 1

The train car was empty.

Aoi and Kureha traveled in silence while the world outside passed by in reverse.

Everything beyond the window looked inverted—

like the world seen through a mirror.

—"Why are we going so far?" Aoi asked.

—"A strong signal was triggered in this city," Kureha replied.

—"But this time… it's not a normal Echo."

Aoi glanced at the reflection in the train window.

This time… there was nothing.

For the first time, he thought,

I'm afraid of seeing nothing at all.

---

Part 2

Hazawa greeted them in silence.

Shattered storefronts.

Mirrors covered with tarps.

Bent street signs.

Everything in the city felt like it had tried to forget something… and failed.

—"One of the first Resonants lived here," Kureha said, walking beside him.

—"What happened to them?"

Kureha stopped.

A long pause.

—"They became an Echo."

Aoi's chest tightened.

His stethoscope flickered—its light unstable.

Something was trembling in the air.

---

Part 3

Later that day, they reached an abandoned school.

Cracked walls.

Rusty doors.

Time frozen in a quiet decay.

Aoi explored alone, step by step.

Kureha stopped at a sealed classroom door.

Carved into the wood was a name:

> Reika N.

The door was trembling, like it was breathing.

—"This is the place," Kureha said softly.

She pressed her stethoscope to the surface.

The pulse from the other side was clear…

but broken.

Aoi felt it hit him like a wave—

rage and sorrow, intertwined.

---

Part 4

Suddenly, a vision consumed him.

A silver-haired girl sat alone, writing in a diary.

Outside, the rain fell endlessly.

From the mirror across the room, a twisted version of her stared back with hatred.

—"If I stop writing… I'll disappear," she whispered.

The vision shattered.

Reika's Echo opened its eyes.

One was a cracked mirror.

The other… was hollow.

---

Part 5

The classroom melted into fragments.

They were now inside a broken crystal sphere.

At the center, Reika floated—

trapped in a cage made of memories:

Words of hatred etched in the air.

Whispers.

Screams.

Everything looping endlessly.

—"Don't look directly at her!" Kureha warned.

But it was too late.

The shards pierced Aoi's mind:

Bullying.

Isolation.

Scars.

Loneliness that gnawed from the inside.

—"I… can't shut this off!" he cried.

Reika's Echo lunged toward him.

She was made of torn journal pages,

shattered photos,

and mirrored shards screaming in her voice.

—"Name her pain, Aoi!" Kureha shouted.

—"Or the Threshold will consume her completely!"

---

Part 6

Aoi pressed the stethoscope to his chest.

Closed his eyes.

I'm not you, Reika…

But I know that loneliness.

And I know you just wanted someone—

—to listen.

He stepped forward.

—"Your name is Reika Nanami!"

—"And you are not just what they made you believe!"

The Echo froze.

Its fragments trembled.

A fragile voice emerged from within:

—"…Do you remember me?"

Then, the Echo collapsed.

Only a floating notebook remained.

On the last page, written in fresh ink:

"Thank you."

---

Part 7

At sunset, Aoi and Kureha stood on a rooftop, watching the city below.

Aoi held Reika's notebook.

It was empty…

except for one sentence.

—"Every Echo leaves something behind," Kureha said.

—"Sometimes a word.

Sometimes… a little less emptiness."

—"But what if I can't save them all?" Aoi asked.

—"You don't need to save everyone.

Just… remind them they still have a heartbeat."

They fell silent.

In the clouds above, fleeting faces passed by—

reflections of memories that no one had ever spoken aloud.

---

Part 8

In the depths of the Threshold…

The hooded figure returned.

This time, he removed the hood.

A young man—half of his face was mirror, cracked and glinting.

His voice was doubled, distorted:

—"Reika has been silenced…

But the true heart still sleeps."

He turned toward a towering black mirror.

In it, a vision:

Aoi… smiling—while bleeding from the eyes.

—"The Perfect Echo…"

—"…is about to awaken."

---

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.