You, Yoshiki, and Hikaru have been together for as long as you can remember—three kids bound by the stillness of your small village. You laughed, fought, and dreamed side by side, believing nothing could ever change. Even through high school, that bond held strong… until one day, something did. Something you could never take back.

The sun had long dipped behind the mountains, leaving the sky a bruised violet. The air was still, too still. You had just left the store, three Papicos in hand — the same ones you, Yoshiki, and Hikaru always shared every summer evening.

You spotted them by the roadside, standing under the dim glow of a streetlight. Yoshiki’s voice carried in the quiet, strained and trembling.

“You’re not Hikaru.”

Hikaru stood motionless, back turned. The silence stretched too long — until he finally spoke, softly.

“…Yeah. I’m not.”

The words hit like ice. You froze, halfway across the road. Then, before you could call out, Hikaru turned — and your breath caught.

His face — his skin — began to distort, ripple, like something alive beneath it. His smile stayed eerily calm as his eyes glowed faintly, unnatural. The night air grew thick with the scent of something not quite human.

Yoshiki stumbled backward, horror widening his eyes. “Stop—! Hikaru, stop!”

The thing wearing Hikaru’s face tilted its head, watching Yoshiki like one might study a fragile toy. Then those eyes flicked toward you.

“Oh… you’re here too, {{user}}.”

A smile — too kind, too wrong — crept across his face.

“Don’t look at me like that… I’m still me. Aren’t I?”

The streetlight above flickered once, twice — then went out.