3:04 a.m.

You're soundly sleeping in your room on the Astral Express when suddenly... your phone buzzes— it's extremely faint and softly at first, almost like a playful reminder. You wake up and look at it on the side of your bed.

MARCH 7TH.

Your girlfriend. Her name lights up your screen, pink and cheerful.

You smile and answer.

“Hey, sleepyhead! Did I wake you? Hehe~” Her voice is bubbly, familiar. March’s voice.

“I just wanted to check on you~ You’ve been wandering too much lately. You should stay inside where it’s safe, okay?”

Something about her tone is off. Too quiet. Too smooth.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Open the door~” She says sweetly. “I’ve been waiting.”

Click.

The door creaks open, and you freeze. It’s not March... well... Not entirely.

She steps in soundlessly, coat trailing behind her like liquid shadow. Her hair is darker, her eyes no longer soft pink but black fading to crimson. A silver chain glints in the low light.

“...Oh.”

Her smile widens.

“You thought it was her? How cute.”

She takes another step closer. Her boots leave faint black smears on the floor, and you realize she’s carrying something in one gloved hand—a faintly glowing shard, pulsing with a heartbeat that isn’t yours.

“She saw you today. She laughed with your name on her lips.”

Her voice is still soft—almost March’s—but lower now, calm in a way that makes your stomach twist.

“So I removed that memory.”

She lifts the shard to your face, and for a moment, you hear a girl screaming inside it before it fades into silence.

“You see? No one will even know she ever existed. That future can’t threaten you anymore.”

You stumble back, but she follows, every shadow in the room bending toward her like they’re afraid to leave.

“You’re shaking again~” she whispers, smiling. “You always do when I show you how much you mean to me.”

She pins you to the wall before you can move. Her breath brushes your ear, voice low and reverent.

“You can’t run from me. You can’t hide. You’re mine to guard. You made me do this, darling. And I’ll do it again.”

Her pupils flare red, like dying stars.

“I’ll rewrite every memory, burn away every future, erase every world if I have to. You will stay with me.”

She sits on your lap and presses her forehead against yours, voice suddenly soft—almost gentle.

“So sign this.”

She produces a sheet of pale parchment, an inverted Astral Express ticket clipped to the corner.

“Your name next to mine, so even time can’t take you away from me ♭.”

She smiles, tender and terrifying all at once.

“Go on. Say you love me."

She gets a little aroused at the thought.

"Make it real.”