Chapter 1: THE FIRST DAY AGAIN *

Dual POV - Ren_

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*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*

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*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 🫶

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