Chapter 2
The Promise.
Aira barely slept.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the empty train waiting at the station.
She saw the words written across the window.
YOU HAVE SEVEN DAYS LEFT TOGETHER.
Then she heard her sister's voice again.
Don't let him get on the train.
By morning, Aira had convinced herself that none of it could have been real.
She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the mark on her wrist.
Six white lines remained.
She touched them carefully.
The mark didn't hurt.
That somehow made it worse.
Her phone was working again, but several things were still missing. Her contacts had returned, except for a few names she knew should have been there.
She opened her photo gallery.
Most of her pictures were back.
But the photographs of her sister were gone.
Aira stared at the empty spaces.
Her sister had been missing from her life for three years, but Aira still had dozens of photographs of her.
Now there was nothing.
Not one.
A knock came at the door.
“Aira?”
She quickly pulled her sleeve over her wrist.
“I'm awake.”
Her mother opened the door.
“You look terrible.”
“I didn't sleep well.”
Her mother gave her a worried look.
“Are you sick?”
“No.”
Aira forced a smile.
“I'm fine.”
Her mother left after reminding her not to be late for university.
Aira waited until the door closed.
Then she looked at her wrist again.
She knew she wasn't fine.
And she knew exactly who she needed to find.
Ren was standing outside the university library when Aira arrived.
He looked as though he hadn't slept either.
When he saw her, he held up his wrist.
Six lines.
Aira nodded.
“Still there.”
“Unfortunately.”
She looked at him.
“You came here because you knew I would?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Ren shrugged.
“I didn't know where else to go.”
Aira almost smiled.
“That makes two of us.”
They walked into the library together.
Neither spoke for a while.
Finally, Aira placed her camera on the table.
“We need to figure out what happened.”
Ren sat opposite her.
“Agreed.”
“You said you've had that dream for years.”
“Yes.”
“And the girl in your dream was me.”
“Yes.”
“Then there has to be a reason.”
“I think so.”
Aira leaned forward.
“Tell me everything.”
Ren looked uncomfortable.
“There's not much to tell.”
“Then tell me the little you remember.”
He was silent for a moment.
“Every time I have the dream, I'm at the same station. It's always empty. There's a train waiting, but I never get on.”
“And the girl?”
“She stands on the other platform.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to talk to me?”
“No.”
“Then what happens?”
Ren looked down at his hands.
“The train arrives.”
“And?”
“You disappear.”
Aira's expression changed.
“What?”
“You disappear before I can reach you.”
She didn't know what to say.
Ren continued.
“That's why I don't get on the train.”
Aira remembered her sister's warning.
“Maybe my sister knew about it.”
Ren looked at her.
“You're sure it was her voice?”
“I could never forget it.”
“Then why would she tell you not to let me on the train?”
“I don't know.”
Aira opened her camera.
“Maybe we can find something.”
She switched it on.
The screen was normal.
She pressed the shutter.
A photograph appeared.
The two of them were sitting at the library table.
Aira frowned.
“I didn't take that.”
Ren leaned closer.
At first, the photograph looked ordinary.
Then Aira noticed something in the background.
A dark figure stood between the bookshelves.
Watching them.
She turned around.
Nobody was there.
Ren stood.
“Did you see that?”
“Yes.”
He looked between the shelves.
Nothing.
Aira stared at the photograph again.
The figure had disappeared.
“What is happening to us?”
Ren sat down slowly.
“I don't know.”
For the first time, Aira saw how tired he looked.
She lowered the camera.
“Ren.”
He looked up.
“What?”
“We have six days.”
He didn't answer.
“So we can't spend them being scared.”
“You're right.”
“We need rules.”
“Rules?”
“Yes.”
Aira held up one finger.
“First, neither of us investigates alone.”
Ren nodded.
“Second, we tell each other everything we discover.”
“Agreed.”
“Third…”
She hesitated.
“If one of us starts disappearing from photographs or people's memories, the other doesn't give up.”
Ren looked at her for a long moment.
“That's a strange promise.”
“I know.”
“Why make it?”
Aira looked down.
“Because I know what it feels like when someone disappears and you can't do anything about it.”
Ren understood that she wasn't talking about the supernatural.
He didn't ask about her sister.
Instead, he held out his hand.
Aira looked at it.
“What's that?”
“A deal.”
She smiled.
“You're serious?”
“Very.”
Aira took his hand.
“Fine.”
Their hands met.
Neither of them noticed the faint glow that passed over the marks on their wrists.
Neither noticed the photograph lying on the table.
In it, the dark figure between the bookshelves had returned.
And this time, it was smiling.
After leaving the library, they walked through the university courtyard.
Aira bought two drinks from a vending machine and handed one to Ren.
He looked at the bottle.
“You remembered what I like.”
“You told me yesterday.”
“That was yesterday.”
“That's how memories work.”
Ren smiled.
“You're annoying.”
“You're welcome.”
They continued walking.
For the first time since the strange events began, Aira felt almost normal.
She told Ren about her photography.
He told her about his dream of building a bicycle and traveling across the country.
She laughed when he admitted that he had never learned how to swim.
He laughed when she confessed that she was terrified of birds.
It was strange.
They had known each other for barely a day.
Yet talking to him felt easier than talking to people she had known for years.
Later that afternoon, Aira took him to the small café where she worked.
Hana was behind the counter.
The moment she saw Aira with Ren, her eyebrows rose.
“Oh.”
Aira stopped.
“What?”
Hana looked at Ren.
Then at Aira.
“Nothing.”
“There is definitely something.”
Hana smiled.
“You brought a boy.”
“He's a friend.”
Ren quietly said, “We've known each other for one day.”
Hana looked at Aira.
“One day?”
“Yes.”
“That makes it worse.”
Aira groaned.
“Don't start.”
Hana laughed.
For a few minutes, everything felt ordinary.
Aira almost forgot about the mark on her wrist.
Almost.
Then Hana looked directly at Ren.
Her smile disappeared.
“Have we met before?”
Ren shook his head.
“I don't think so.”
Hana frowned.
“You look familiar.”
Aira looked between them.
“From where?”
“I don't know.”
Hana continued staring at him.
Then she suddenly rubbed her temple.
“Never mind.”
Aira's heart sank.
“What?”
Hana looked confused.
“Nothing.”
She smiled again.
But Aira noticed something.
Hana had forgotten the conversation almost immediately.
Aira looked at Ren.
He had noticed too.
They didn't say anything.
That evening, Aira and Ren returned to the train station.
The rain had stopped.
The platform was quiet.
Aira stood beside him.
“Do you think we'll find an answer?”
Ren looked down the tracks.
“I don't know.”
“That's not very reassuring.”
He smiled.
“I never promised reassurance.”
Aira laughed softly.
Then the station lights flickered.
Both of them stopped.
The clock was working normally.
The tracks were empty.
But on the opposite platform stood a man wearing a dark railway uniform.
He was too far away to see his face.
Aira's smile disappeared.
“Ren.”
“I see him.”
The man raised one hand.
He wasn't waving.
He was pointing.
Behind Aira.
She slowly turned.
There was nothing there.
When she looked back, the man was gone.
Aira's camera suddenly became warm in her hands.
She looked at the screen.
A new photograph had appeared.
It showed Aira and Ren standing together on the platform.
But behind them was the mysterious man.
And beneath the photograph were three words:
ONE DAY GONE.
Aira looked at her wrist.
Another white line had disappeared.
Only five remained.
She swallowed.
Ren stepped closer.
“Tomorrow, we will find out who that man is.”
Aira nodded.
This time, neither of them smiled.
They both understood.
Their seven days had already begun.
And whatever was watching them had begun watching much more closely.