*REWIND: DON'T SAVE ME*

*Chapter 0: Announcement*

Hi everyone!

I’m posting a new novel called *"Rewind: Don’t Save Me"*

*What it’s about:*

Ren dies on his 18th birthday.

He wakes up 2 years earlier.

The boy who killed him is his bully.

Now Ren has 2 years to change the future.

Rule #3: *DO NOT fall for him.*

He breaks it.

*Tags:* boy×boy, time travel, school life, bully x victim → lovers, hurt/comfort, tragedy, hope

*TW:* Bullying, death, panic attacks. I’ll add TWs to each chapter.

*| 1-6 updates per week

*Ending:* Hopeful. They get to live.

Thank you for being here with me for this one. It’s heavy, but I think it’s important.

*Chapter 1: "The First Day Again"* drops next.

Let’s rewind together.

- Your Author (C.Faith )

Dual POV - Ren_

---

*Chapter 1: The First Day Again*

The first thing I notice is the smell.

Antiseptic. And blood. And that awful buzzing of hospital machines that never stops.

The second thing I notice is that I’m not breathing.

Because I’m dead.

Right. I’m dead. Eighteen. Hit and run. April 12th.

No one saw. No one came.

I close my eyes and wait for the next part. Heaven. Hell. Nothing.

Instead, I hear an alarm.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyes snap open.

White ceiling. Fluorescent lights. Not a hospital.

A classroom ceiling. With that one crack in the corner I used to stare at during boring lectures.

I sit up too fast and the world spins. Desks. Chalkboard. Twenty faces staring at me.

"Uh... Aoki? You okay?" My homeroom teacher. Ms. Tanaka. She looks younger. Two years younger.

I look down.

My uniform. Two years too small. Sleeves hitting above my wrist.

My hands. No scars. No calluses from the job I took last year.

My phone. April 12th. Two years ago.

Oh.

Oh no.

I died. And woke up.

Two years ago.

The room is too loud. My heart is too loud.

I stand up. The chair screeches. "Bathroom," I mumble and run.

I lock myself in a stall and count.

I’m alive.

It’s 2 years earlier.

I know how I die.

Rule #1 forms in my head immediately: *Avoid Kaito Mori.*

Rule #2: *Make new friends. Real ones this time.*

Rule #3: *DO NOT fall for Kaito Mori.*

I press my forehead to the cold metal door. My breath fogs it.

I can do this. I have two years. Two years to not die alone in the rain.

The bell rings. First period.

I walk out and the hallway hits me like a punch.

Same lockers. Same posters for the culture festival. Same people laughing too loud.

And there he is.

Kaito Mori.

Track jacket. Earphones in. Laughing with his friends by the window.

6'1 of everything I hate and everything I used to draw in my sketchbook at 2AM when I couldn’t sleep.

He hasn’t seen me yet.

My chest does something stupid. Flutters. Then drops.

Regret. Already.

I turn and walk the other way.

Rule #1.

---

Lunch. I eat in the art room. Alone. Safer.

I’m halfway through a sketch of the clock tower when the door opens.

"Yo, is anyone—"

Kaito.

He stops. Sees me. Sees my lunch. Sees me.

For half a second his face does something weird. Not cruel. Tired. Like he didn’t sleep.

Then it’s gone. The mask slides back on.

"This room’s taken," he says.

"It’s not," I say. My voice is smaller than I want. "Art club has it 3rd period."

He walks in anyway. Sits three tables away. Eats his bento in silence.

We don’t talk.

But he keeps glancing over.

And I keep pretending not to notice.

Flirty? No.

Dangerous? Yes.

When he leaves, he pauses at the door.

"You’re in my class, right? 2-B?"

I nod.

"Huh." And he’s gone.

My hands are shaking. I ruin the sketch.

---

After school I take the long way home. To avoid the crosswalk on 4th Street.

To avoid cars.

To avoid _him_.

It works. For three days.

Day 4, I’m staying late to clean brushes. The art room is quiet. Safe. The only place that ever felt like mine.

The door opens.

Kaito. Sweaty from practice. Hair still damp. Holding a crumpled flyer.

"You’re Aoki, right?" he says.

I nod. Can’t speak.

"You draw, right?" He tosses the flyer on my table. Track team needs a poster for regionals. "You’re good. I’ve seen your stuff on the bulletin board."

I stare at the flyer. Then at him.

In the old timeline he never asked. He just told people I was a freak for drawing boys with soft eyes.

"Why me?" I ask.

He shrugs. Leans against a table. "Because you’re not loud about it."

A pause. His eyes drop to my hands. "Also you looked like you were gonna cry in the hallway yesterday. Thought maybe you needed the 2000 yen."

It’s not kindness. It’s... something else. Pity? Curiosity?

And my Rule #3 is screaming.

"I’ll do it," I hear myself say.

He smirks. Just a little. The corner of his mouth. God.

"Cool. Due Friday. Don’t die or whatever."

He leaves.

I sit there with my hands shaking.

Regret.

Because I want to say yes to him.

Because in 2 years, he’s the reason I’m in the ground.

---

That night I don’t sleep.

I redraw the poster 5 times.

I write rules on my mirror in red marker.

AVOID HIM.

DON’T TRUST HIM.

DON’T LOOK AT HIS MOUTH WHEN HE TALKS.

I fail all three by Friday.

I hand him the poster after practice. The gym is empty except for us and the echo of basketballs.

It’s good. Really good. I drew the team running into sunrise. Hopeful. Stupid.

Kaito looks at it. Then at me.

"Didn’t know you could do this," he says.

"You didn’t ask," I say. And immediately regret it. Too flirty. Too honest.

His eyes flick to mine. Hold. Dark brown.

"Maybe I should’ve," he says. Quiet. Like he’s testing the words.

The air goes weird. Thick.

Then one of his teammates yells his name from outside and the moment breaks.

"See you, Aoki," Kaito says, and jogs off.

I stand there holding nothing.

Hope is the worst thing.

Because now I have it. And hope gets you killed.

---

That night I dream of tires. And rain. And April 12th.

I’m on the ground. It’s cold. And I can hear someone running away.

I wake up at 3AM and open my sketchbook.

I draw Kaito’s face. Not the bully. The tired one from the art room. The one who said "don’t die or whatever" like he meant it.

Under it I write:

_Rule #4: Don’t save him._

_Rule #5: Don’t let him save you._

I cross both of them out.

Outside, it starts to rain.

*END OF CHAPTER 1*

---

*AUTHOR'S NOTES* 💙

Okay. We’re here.

*TW:* Bullying mention, death, panic attack

This is gonna be messy.

Tragic? Yes.

Flirty? Also yes.

Will they hurt each other? Yes.

Will I make you cry and then give you a soft moment right after? Also yes.

Next: *Chapter 2: "The Poster and the Problem"*

Where Ren starts changing things and Kaito starts noticing.

Let’s break them. Then let’s heal them 🫶

*Chapter 2: The Poster and the Problem*

*TW:* Bullying mention, panic attack, emotional abuse

---

I thought avoiding Kaito would be easy.

I was wrong.

It turns out when you go to a school of 800 people, "avoid" really means "strategically schedule your entire life around one boy’s track practice."

Monday. Art room at lunch. Safe.

Tuesday. Library after school. Safe.

Wednesday. I take the long way home to miss the crosswalk on 4th. Safe.

Thursday ruins me.

---

The poster is due today.

I spent all week on it. Five drafts. Erased holes in the paper.

The team running into sunrise. Gold and red. Hopeful. Stupid.

I hated every second of drawing it and I loved every second too.

"Turn it in at the gym after 4th period," Kaito had said.

"Don’t be late."

I’m late.

I’m standing outside the gym doors with the poster tube in my hands and my heart trying to crawl out of my throat.

Rule #1: *Avoid Kaito.*

Rule #3: *DO NOT fall for him.*

Both of them are screaming.

The doors open before I can knock.

Kaito. Sweat on his neck. Hair messy. Holding a water bottle.

"You’re late," he says. Not mad. Just... stating it.

"I had a test," I lie. We didn’t.

He steps aside. "Come in."

The gym is empty except for him and the echo. It smells like rubber and metal.

In the old timeline, this is where it got bad. Where he’d corner me after practice with his friends and "accidentally" knock my sketchbook into a puddle.

I keep three meters between us.

He points to the bench. "Put it there."

I do. My hands shake. I hate that he sees.

Kaito picks up the tube. Unrolls it.

Silence.

He stares for a long time.

"It’s good," he says finally.

"Thanks."

"No, like. Really good." He looks up. "You made us look like we weren’t gonna lose."

I shrug. "You might not."

His mouth twitches. Almost a smile. "You believe that?"

"I have to draw it."

He laughs. One short sound. It’s ugly and real and it makes something in my chest hurt.

In two years, he won’t be laughing anymore.

"Here." He pulls out his wallet. 2000 yen. Exactly what he promised.

He holds it out. Our fingers brush when I take it.

Static.

I pull back too fast.

Kaito notices. His eyes flick to my face. To my hands.

"Hey," he says. "You okay?"

"Fine." The word comes out too sharp.

He doesn’t push. Which is worse.

Old Kaito would’ve pushed. Would’ve called me jumpy and weird and made his friends laugh.

This Kaito just nods. "Cool. Thanks for the poster."

I should leave.

Rule #1.

But my mouth moves anyway. "Why’d you ask me?"

He blinks. "What?"

"For the poster. You could’ve asked anyone in art club."

Kaito leans back against the bleachers. Thinks.

"Because you don’t talk much," he says. "People who don’t talk much notice things."

I don’t know what to do with that.

So I nod and turn to go.

"Ren."

I freeze. He’s never used my first name.

"Yeah?" My voice is small.

"See you around," he says. And it doesn’t sound like a threat.

---

I don’t breathe until I’m outside.

That went fine. That was fine.

No bullying. No rain. No April 12th.

I’m lying to myself.

---

Friday. Hallway between 2nd and 3rd period.

I’m walking fast, eyes down, hugging my books.

"Watch it, freak."

It’s not Kaito. It’s two of his teammates.

I remember them. They were always with him. Always laughing.

I keep walking.

One of them steps in front of me. "I said watch it."

My chest goes tight. The hallway gets loud. Too loud.

Beep beep beep like hospital machines.

I’m 18 again. On the ground. Rain.

A hand grabs my arm. Not hard. Just enough to pull me to the side.

"Oi. Leave him alone."

Kaito.

The two guys look at him. Then at me.

"Since when do you care about him?" one of them mutters.

"Since he drew our poster," Kaito says. Easy. Like it’s that simple.

"Come on. Practice."

They leave. Grumbling.

And it’s just me and him in the hallway.

My heart is still racing. I’m shaking.

Kaito looks at me. Really looks.

"You’re pale," he says.

"I’m fine."

"Bullshit." He says it soft. "You having a panic thing?"

I nod once. Can’t speak.

He sighs. Runs a hand through his hair. "Come here."

He doesn’t touch me. He just walks. And I follow. Because I don’t know what else to do.

He takes me to the rooftop. It’s supposed to be locked but the latch is broken. Everyone knows.

We sit with our backs to the wall. Far apart.

The wind is cold.

"Better?" he asks after a minute.

I nod.

"Good." He pulls out a juice box from his bag. Peach. Tosses it to me.

"You looked like you were gonna pass out."

I take it. "Thanks."

We don’t talk for a while.

It’s not comfortable. But it’s not awful.

Finally he says, "They’re idiots."

I look over. "Who?"

"Those guys. They think bullying is funny." He picks at the grass. "It’s not."

The air goes still.

I should say something. Thank you. Why did you help me.

Instead I say, "You used to think it was funny."

Kaito goes rigid.

"Yeah," he says. Quiet. "I did."

I wait for the excuse. For "you were annoying" or "everyone did it."

It doesn’t come.

He just sits there. Looking out at the school.

"I’m trying to be better," he says. "Don’t know if it works."

Something cracks in me.

Rule #3 is on fire.

"I should go," I whisper.

"Yeah." He doesn’t look at me. "See you, Ren."

---

That night I can’t sleep.

I keep thinking about the rooftop.

About him saying "I’m trying to be better" like it cost him something to admit it.

I open my sketchbook.

I don’t draw Kaito.

I draw the rooftop. Empty. Two juice boxes. Wind.

Under it I write:

_Rule #1: Avoid him._

I cross it out.

_Rule #1: Avoid him when it matters._

That’s worse.

On April 12th in the old timeline, I was alone.

Today, someone sat with me until I could breathe again.

Hope is dangerous.

Hope gets you killed.

But I close my eyes and for the first time in two years, I don’t dream of tires.

*END OF CHAPTER 2*

---

*AUTHOR’S NOTE* 🫶

Okay. We did the first save.

*Next:* Chapter 3: "New Friends and Old Habits"

Where Ren tries Rule #2 and it goes... badly.

Thank you for reading. Be gentle with me and with them 🫶