Episode 4

Chapter 4: The Door Outside the Truth

The footsteps stopped right outside the bathroom door.

Aika didn’t move.

She didn’t even breathe properly.

Her fingers were still wrapped around her phone, screen glowing faintly in her trembling hand.

Silence.

Too heavy.

Too clean.

Like the world had paused just for this moment.

Knock.

One single knock.

Soft.

Controlled.

“Aika,” a voice said from the other side.

Her blood froze instantly.

Ren.

She didn’t answer.

Another knock.

This time closer.

“You’re not safe inside,” Ren said calmly.

Aika slowly stepped back from the door.

“How do you know I’m here?” she whispered.

No answer.

Instead—

The door handle moved slightly.

Locked.

Good.

But then her phone vibrated again.

Buzz.

Unknown Sender:

Open the door.

Aika’s breathing quickened.

“No,” she whispered to herself. “No, no, no…”

She backed away until her shoulder hit the sink.

The mirror was behind her again.

But she didn’t want to look at it.

Because she already knew what she might see.

Knock.

Stronger this time.

“Aika,” Ren’s voice came again, quieter. “They are tracking your signal.”

“My signal?” she whispered.

Buzz.

Another message:

He is not the enemy.

Aika stared at her phone.

“What does that mean?” she hissed under her breath.

Knock.

This time, the bathroom door shook slightly.

Not hard.

But enough to make her realize something worse.

He wasn’t trying to break in.

He was trying to reach her.

Aika closed her eyes.

Think.

Think.

Think.

But her thoughts were messy fragments.

The staircase.

The reflection.

The reset.

Three deaths.

Ren appearing in different versions.

And now this.

“Stop it,” she whispered. “Stop messing with my head.”

Then—

A new sound.

Not knocking.

A soft electronic beep.

Her phone screen flickered.

SYSTEM ALERT:

TIME ANOMALY DETECTED NEAR USER

Aika stared at it.

“What…?”

The bathroom lights flickered once.

Then twice.

The mirror behind her suddenly fogged up again without reason.

Aika turned slowly.

She didn’t want to.

But she did.

On the mirror—

Letters formed again.

But this time, not numbers.

WORDS.

HE IS RESETTING OUTSIDE THE DOOR

Aika’s heart pounded.

“No… no, no…”

Knock.

“Aika,” Ren said again, but now his voice sounded different.

Slightly distorted.

Like two voices overlapping.

“Don’t open the door,” he added.

Aika froze.

Her phone vibrated again immediately.

Unknown Sender:

He is splitting timelines.

Another message:

If he enters, you will forget everything again.

Aika pressed her back against the wall.

“I don’t understand!” she shouted softly. “What is happening to me?!”

The mirror flickered.

And suddenly—

The reflection appeared again.

But this time it looked scared.

“Aika,” the reflection said quickly.

“You are in a collapsing loop.”

Aika shook her head. “Stop saying nonsense!”

“No!” the reflection snapped. “Listen to me!”

Its voice echoed strangely inside the bathroom.

“Ren is trying to stabilize you, but something else is rewriting him every reset.”

Aika froze.

“What do you mean rewriting?”

The reflection’s eyes darkened.

“Something inside the system does not want you to wake up fully.”

A pause.

Then:

“That thing is now outside the door.”

Knock.

But now it wasn’t soft anymore.

It was heavy.

Urgent.

The bathroom door rattled violently.

“Aika!” Ren’s voice shouted.

But it didn’t sound like just him anymore.

It sounded layered.

Multiple versions of him speaking at once.

“Open the door before it stabilizes!”

Aika covered her ears.

“I don’t know what’s real!” she screamed.

The mirror suddenly cracked slightly.

A thin line across it.

The reflection spoke fast:

“If you trust the wrong version, the loop resets again.”

Aika’s breathing became chaotic.

“Then what am I supposed to do?!”

The reflection pointed.

“Choose correctly.”

The door shook harder.

CRACK.

The lock bent slightly.

Aika stepped back.

Her phone vibrated again.

But this time—

There were two messages at once.

Unknown Sender:

OPEN THE DOOR.

And below it:

Unknown Sender:

DON’T OPEN THE DOOR.

Aika froze completely.

Her eyes widened.

“No…”

Her voice shook.

“Which one…?”

The mirror suddenly went completely black.

The reflection disappeared.

Silence filled the bathroom again.

Only the shaking door remained.

CRACK.

The lock was breaking.

Aika’s heart pounded so hard it hurt.

And then—

A soft whisper came from right behind her ear.

So close she almost screamed.

“Aika…”

She turned instantly—

But there was no one.

Only the mirror.

And inside it—

Ren stood.

Not outside the door.

Inside the glass.

Watching her.

And he mouthed one word silently:

“Choose.”

The door exploded open.

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