> "She died in the fire.
But I still see her in the rain."
— Reiji Kurozawa
---
1. The Hoodie in the Fog
There's something unnatural about silence when it comes after remembering.
Reiji and I stood beneath the streetlamp, staring across the fog-slick road.
She was there again.
Yellow hoodie. Bare feet. Staring up at the old train station like she'd forgotten how to move.
She hadn't changed clothes in days. Or blinked. Or spoken.
Only watched.
I whispered, "That's her?"
Reiji didn't nod. Didn't breathe.
> "That's Ayaka. And she's supposed to be dead."
---
2. The Fire That Wasn't Extinguished
He told me later.
How Ayaka died.
How she screamed his name as flames swallowed the lab they'd hidden in.
How Reiji, just sixteen back then, ran—left her behind, thinking she was already gone.
> "I made a deal two days later. Traded my name for a reset. I wanted to stop remembering her voice."
> "But the deal didn't burn clean. Something held on."
I asked, "Guilt?"
He said nothing. Only clenched the edge of the bench we were sitting on until his knuckles turned white.
---
3. Glitch
That night, I followed her.
Ayaka didn't walk like a person. More like a memory on repeat. Turning corners exactly at 12-second intervals. Stopping only at red lights. Never talking.
I tried calling her name.
"Ayaka."
She froze.
Turned slowly. Her eyes…
God.
Her eyes were empty — like they'd been filled with someone else's tears and drained dry.
> "Who told you that name?" she asked.
Her voice crackled. Like a broken cassette tape.
Before I could answer, she vanished — like static blown into the wind.
---
4. Reiji's Scar
We sat under the bridge, staring at the river.
Reiji pulled up his sleeve. Beneath the reset mark on his forearm, another line ran deeper.
A cut. Thin, deliberate.
> "The day Ayaka died… I left the building. I walked ten blocks. Called 911.
I told them no one else was inside."
> "I lied. To save myself."
I swallowed.
> "I think The Archivist didn't just reset my past.
I think he brought her back to show me what I buried."
---
5. The Second Reset Room
Ayaka wasn't leading us randomly.
She always disappeared near one place — the abandoned subway line under Shibuya. Closed for ten years after a cave-in.
Reiji remembered something.
> "We used to go there. Me and Ayaka. When we were kids. Before all of this."
We found the door half-buried under vines and metal.
Inside — a room. Red thread across walls. Old film projectors. A broken screen flickering blue.
But unlike my Reset Room, this one had two chairs.
Two marks on the floor.
Two names:
"Kurozawa"
"Hayasaka"
Reiji collapsed.
> "She made a deal too. I never knew."
---
6. The Archivist Returns
We didn't summon him. He came on his own.
The lights dimmed. The air turned sharp — like paper cuts on your soul.
And then, his voice:
> "One flame tried to forget. The other tried to forgive.
But fire leaves ashes. And ashes remember."
The Archivist appeared in the mirror's reflection. Pale hands. Featureless face. Dressed in smoke and silence.
He spoke to Reiji:
> "You ran from her. But she didn't run from you.
She stayed in the fire, hoping you'd come back."
> "And now, she is neither ghost… nor girl.
She is the cost."
---
7. Her Eyes Open
We ran out of the tunnel.
But Ayaka was there.
Standing in the rain. Staring at Reiji.
> "You promised," she said.
He fell to his knees.
> "Ayaka… I was scared. I thought you were already gone."
> "So you left me.
You left me while the flames cracked my bones.
While the roof fell.
While I screamed."
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
> "I don't hate you, Reiji.
I just… remember more than I should."
Black tears rolled down her cheeks.
> "And now… I'm stuck.
Between who I was…
And who you let me become."
---
8. The Choice
The Archivist reappeared.
> "You have a choice, Reiji.
Remember everything.
Or forget her forever."
Reiji didn't move.
> "If I remember…?"
> "You take her pain into yourself.
Every second of her death becomes yours."
> "And if I forget…?"
> "She disappears. This time… for good."
Silence.
Then Reiji whispered,
> "She died once because I left her.
I won't let her die again because I'm afraid."
---
9. The Flood
The moment he said it, the Reset Room lit up.
Reiji screamed — not from outside, but from within.
I saw his body arch, veins darkening, as if Ayaka's final minutes were carving themselves into his bones.
And Ayaka?
She smiled. One tear. One blink. And then…
She breathed.
Truly. Fully.
> "You came back," she said.
He collapsed into her arms.
> "This time," he gasped, "I stayed."
---
10. We Leave Together
They didn't say anything else.
But as we left the subway, I noticed something:
The mark on Reiji's wrist?
Gone.
The burn was healed.
And Ayaka?
She looked at peace. Still fragile. Still caught between worlds. But whole.
I asked him, later, "Was it worth it?"
He didn't answer directly.
Only said:
> "We all leave someone behind in the fire, Yuto.
But sometimes…
we get a second chance to walk them out."