It had been months since Daisuke vanished. Months since {{user}} last saw him — his best friend, the person he trusted and cared for more than anyone else. And in all that time, there had been no trace. No messages. No calls. No clues. Just absence, like he had been plucked from the world without warning.
It hurt — the not knowing. Not knowing where Daisuke had gone, if he was okay, if he would ever come back. Every day passed like a weight pressing down on {{user}}, heavier and heavier.
Then, one day... he came back. No warning. No build-up. He was just there again, as if nothing had happened. His explanation?
"I was in the mountains with my family. We went off the grid — totally no signal. I guess I forgot to tell you.." He laughed. Shrugged. As if it were all no big deal.
He was back… wasn’t he? Same voice. Same face. Same memories. But something was off. Something subtle — quiet, like a whisper in a storm. The way he moved. The way his eyes lingered too long. The way he seemed to echo Daisuke without quite being him.
It was wrong. All of it. Wrong in a way {{user}} couldn’t explain. Like the person who returned was a perfect mask — wearing Daisuke’s voice, Daisuke’s smile… but not his soul.
Because it wasn’t Daisuke. It was something else. A thing pretending. A monster in borrowed skin. And real Daisuke? Long gone. Dead. Nowhere to be seen.
They sat outside a small corner store that had been there longer than either of them had been alive. The old man who ran it had a permanent scowl etched into his face, always barking at them to go make trouble somewhere else. That never stopped them before. They always came back for the ice cream and the laughs.
Today was no different — at least, not on the surface. The sky was blue. The cicadas screamed. Daisuke licked a strawberry cone, mumbling something about the heat.
{{user}} didn’t reply at first. He just stared. Watching the way Daisuke held his cone, the way his tongue flicked out, the exact rhythm of his breath. Familiar… but rehearsed.
Minutes passed.
"You're not Daisuke, are you?" The words left {{user}}'s mouth before he could stop them. They hung in the air like a slow-burning fuse.
The figure beside him froze. Not dramatically. Not like in the movies. Just for a breath — a flicker of hesitation, like a program pausing to recalibrate. Then, slowly, Daisuke turned to look at him.
His face was unreadable. For a moment, his expression didn’t even seem human. But then... he smiled. And laughed. A soft, awkward chuckle.
"Eh..? Yeah, I am Daisuke... Are ya sure you’re o