The first time Renji saw the mirror again, it was in the school's abandoned art room—propped against a wall behind a stack of covered easels. It wasn't supposed to be there. That room had been locked for months.
He wasn't looking for trouble. Just helping the student council reorganize old supplies. But as he stepped inside, the faint glint of glass drew him in like a magnet.
A mirror.
Tall, cracked slightly along one edge.
But it didn't spiral. It didn't whisper.
It just reflected.
---
Reflections That Remember
Renji approached cautiously. Part of him still expected the glass to ripple, or to see something standing behind him when nothing was there.
Instead, he saw only his own face—older than he remembered. Sadder.
But still his.
And then, just for a second, he saw her again.
Emiko.
Not twisted. Not ghostly. Just… smiling. Peaceful.
He blinked and the vision was gone.
But something about the mirror remained. Like it remembered.
---
Kuro's Unease
Later that day, Renji told Kuro about it.
They both returned to the art room, flashlights in hand.
"Are you sure?" Kuro asked, touching the glass. "We burned everything connected to the Spiral."
"We thought we did," Renji muttered. "But maybe this one didn't belong to it. Maybe it was something else."
Kuro tilted his head. "Like what?"
Renji stared at his reflection. "Like… a piece of what we left behind."
They stood in silence. Then Kuro said quietly, "We don't have to be afraid of mirrors anymore, right?"
Renji smiled. "Only the ones we lie to."
---
The Story in the Glass
Over the next few days, Renji returned alone.
Each time, he saw something different.
One day: himself, laughing with Emiko, Aoi, and Kuro—at a time that never happened.
Another day: a younger version of himself, curled under the table in his childhood home, alone as voices screamed in the background.
Another day: nothing but a blank void.
It wasn't magic. It wasn't memory.
It was possibility.
The things he carried, the things he could still become.
The mirror didn't haunt him.
It reflected who he was ready to be.
---
Breaking the Pattern
One morning, he returned with Aoi and Kuro.
"I think we should move it," he said. "Somewhere it can't just be forgotten again."
"To where?" Aoi asked.
"The rooftop."
Kuro raised an eyebrow. "You want to put a cursed mirror on our hangout spot?"
Renji shook his head. "Not cursed. Not anymore. It's not about fear. It's about remembering—without being trapped."
They didn't question him further.
That afternoon, the three of them carried the mirror up to the roof together.
It was heavy. Awkward. But they did it.
And when they set it down, something changed.
The wind blew softly.
The sun peeked through the clouds.
And in their reflections—side by side—they didn't look like kids haunted by the past anymore.
They looked like a team. A family.
Like survivors becoming something more.
---
End of Chapter 64
---
To Be Continue