The faceless woman didn't move.
She didn't breathe either.
She was just there, like a glitch given form, repeating an error that had never been fixed.
"Sera," I whispered. "Stay behind me."
She didn't answer. But her hand gripped mine.
I stepped toward the mirror. The cloth still pulsed.
The world around us trembled in silence. As if it knew we were about to break something irreversible.
—
And then, instinct screamed at me:
> Use the ability. See the futures. Avoid the worst.
My fingers already tingled, eager to activate "Eclipse of Three Moons (Awesome name I made up 5 minutes ago)."
To let the paths unfold before me like marked cards.
But for the first time…
I didn't.
—
Because something inside told me I shouldn't look.
Not out of fear.
But because… if I saw it, I'd make it real.
I'd turn that possibility into destiny.
And I didn't want that.
"Not this time," I whispered.
"What did you say?" Sera asked behind me.
I turned slightly and smiled.
"This time… I want to trust who we are now. Not who we could've been."
She said nothing. Then nodded. Just once.
—
I touched the chain.
The metal dissolved into dust.
The cloth fell.
—
And what we saw…
wasn't a reflection.
It was a frozen scene. Impossible, and yet… familiar:
An altar. A fallen god. And a Ryouhei seated on a throne made of dead extras.
—
"That's… not you," Sera murmured.
"Not yet," I replied. But I didn't look away.
Because even without seeing the futures… I knew this image was a warning.
—
Then the mirror flickered.
And on its surface… a new symbol appeared.
One we had seen before.
The letter "S."