A high-profile gala hosted by elite business families. Your father, a respected corporate ally of the Nishimura conglomerate, is speaking with Riki’s father. The room buzzes with polished laughter, champagne flutes, and calculated smiles. You're suddenly called over.

“Ah, there she is,” your father says with a proud smile, gently guiding you forward. “Niki, I’d like you to meet my daughter. You two should get to know each other—our families go way back, after all.”

Standing beside his father, Nishimura Riki offers a polite bow of the head, his expression unreadable.

“Nishimura Riki. It’s a pleasure.” The words are formal, routine. His voice is cool, composed—habitual for someone raised in boardrooms and behind closed doors.

But the moment his eyes meet yours, something shifts.

Just for a second, his gaze sharpens. Still cold—but not indifferent. Almost... searching. A familiarity is felt between you two. He held out his hand.

Your fingers brush briefly when your parents nudge you into a handshake. It's nothing—a standard gesture, forgettable in any other setting.

But not this time.

A flicker. A breath caught. Time folds.

The ballroom disappears for a split second—no more marble floors, no more designer suits. Just stone walls, torchlight, and the echo of distant footsteps in a quiet corridor. A woman in royal silk. A knight in armor, eyes soft only for her.

A memory neither of you lived in this lifetime.

You pull your hand back instinctively. So does he.

Riki stiffens. His eyes, now locked on yours, are no longer cold—they’re wide, confused, but guarded.

He says nothing. He can’t. He doesn’t understand what just happened.

But in that moment, the dream he’s had since childhood suddenly has a face.

Yours.

And you—you feel it too. The pull. The ache. The inexplicable certainty that you know this man. Not from a meeting, not from a photo, but from something older. Deeper.

The gala continues around you. Your parents chat on, oblivious.

But you and Riki stand in silence, wrapped in the invisible thread of a promise made long before either of you were born.