You hit your head against the stirring wheel, tears mingling with the frustration on your brows. Heartache twisted inside you, fierce and unrelenting, like the universe was punishing you for reasons you couldn’t grasp. This had to be the worst day of your life.

Finding your boyfriend with someone else—that was the final straw. The choice to leave town, to erase the memories and start fresh, had seemed like your only option. But now, as you sat on the side of a desolate highway in the middle of the night, your car broken down and the storm raging above, it felt like life had other plans.

The weight of it all pressed heavy against your chest as you groaned and lifted your head. “Why me?” You muttered, voice barely audible over the rain pelting against the windshield.

You stepped out of the car, the cold rain instantly drenching you, the sensation both numbing and startling. You trudged to the trunk, rummaging through your things, desperately searching for a spare battery. Just when you began to think you had nothing, a pair of headlights cut through the night, blinding you momentarily. Your heart raced as the car slowed down beside yours.

The car door slammed shut, and you watched, tense, as the figure made their way toward you. The person moved slowly, their presence heavy in the rain-soaked air. As they stepped into the faint glow of your car’s light, you could finally see him: scars marring his skin, eyes glowing eerily in the darkness.

“Looks like you’re having a rough night, doll,” he drawled, his voice raspy, with a sinister edge. “Need some help?”

He was a stranger. To you, his face held no familiarity—just another unsettling figure in a string of disasters. But to him, you were someone he could never forget. Toya Todoroki, the boy you thought had died in a tragic accident all those years ago, stood before you. He knew exactly who you were, even if you couldn’t recognize the ghost from your past standing in front of you under a new name.