The boy standing in front of the bone door had Arata Kurogane's face.
Same messy black hair. Same scar on his cheek from last year's Elemental Tournament. Same lazy posture, like he'd rather be anywhere else.
Except—
The spiral scar on his palm was gone.
And his eyes...
They didn't blink.
Not once.
---
Yuna Hoshigawa didn't draw her weapon. Not yet.
But her hand twitched toward the empty air where her spectral bow would form.
"Arata?" she asked cautiously.
The boy tilted his head.
Like a curious animal. Or a puppet.
Then he smiled.
It was all teeth.
> "You're late," he said.
His voice had layers. One riding atop the other — like whispers behind a curtain. Familiar and foreign, human and hollow.
Daigo stepped behind Reiji instinctively. "That's not him. That's not him."
Reiji kept his gaze fixed, hands relaxed at his sides.
"Say something only Arata would know."
The boy paused.
Then, in a perfect imitation of Arata's voice, he said:
> "Daigo peed himself on the Night of the Comet when that squirrel jumped on him."
"WHICH WASN'T FAIR!" Daigo snapped. "IT WAS IN MY HAIR!"
But the rest of them didn't laugh.
Not even Reiji.
Because even if the memory was real…
The way it was delivered felt wrong.
Like someone pressing random buttons on a keyboard and accidentally spelling a joke.
---
Karin stepped forward slightly, her eyes never leaving the boy.
"Where's the scar?"
The boy held up his hand.
"Gone. Just like him."
Reiji narrowed his eyes. "Gone where?"
The boy smiled again.
> "To sleep. Deep, deep sleep. I liked his body. It was clean."
Yuna's fingers clenched.
"So you took it."
"I borrowed it."
"You're wearing our friend like a coat," she snapped.
The boy gave a little shrug.
"I prefer 'vessel.' Sounds classier."
---
Reiji's mana flared for just a moment. Subtle. A warning.
But the boy didn't flinch.
He didn't seem afraid.
He didn't seem anything.
"Why show yourself now?" Reiji asked. "Why not hide?"
The thing inside Arata looked upward — toward the bone door.
"Because I want it open."
Reiji blinked.
"What's behind it?"
> "Something beautiful," the boy said. "Something hungry."
And then, casually, he walked forward.
Toward them.
---
Yuna's bow formed in a burst of cold violet light. Her arrow was nocked and drawn before anyone could blink.
Karin's blood flared red, coiling around her arms like snakes.
Reiji didn't summon anything. He just watched.
Daigo whimpered and raised his spirit talisman, hands shaking.
But the boy didn't stop walking.
Didn't slow.
Didn't threaten.
He just smiled.
"I'm not here to fight," he said. "I just wanted to say thank you."
"Thank us?" Reiji asked.
"For bringing me home."
And then — he vanished.
Like smoke caught in wind.
No teleport. No light burst.
Just… gone.
---
The silence he left behind was unbearable.
Reiji was the first to move.
He knelt where the boy had stood and touched the stone with his fingers.
Cold.
Still.
No trace.
"Teleport sigil?" Karin asked.
"No residue," he replied. "No scent. No mana."
"Then what the hell was that?" Daigo croaked.
Reiji stood slowly.
"The thing that took our friend."
---
The bone door loomed behind them.
Still sealed.
Still breathing.
And now… whispering.
Not words.
Just names.
Over and over.
---
They didn't camp that night.
Didn't eat. Didn't speak much either.
They made a circle around the door and kept watch in shifts.
Nothing came through.
But none of them slept.
Because the door whispered every hour.
Sometimes in Yuna's voice. Sometimes in Karin's. Once — horrifyingly — in Reiji's late father's voice.
And sometimes… it laughed.
---
By the next morning, Karin's nose was bleeding.
Yuna hadn't moved in six hours.
Daigo was pale and muttering to himself.
And Reiji… was starting to hear echoes even when the door wasn't speaking.
> "He's still in there."
> "He's still in there."
> "He's still in there."
---
They had to decide.
Leave and regroup?
Or go in.
---
"I'm not leaving him," Yuna said. Her voice was flat. Cold. Decided.
"Even if it's not really him," Karin said.
"He would've done the same."
Daigo looked between them, panicked. "We go through that door and we don't come back. We're not exorcists. We're not even seniors!"
Reiji exhaled slowly.
"We open it together," he said. "Or not at all."
Yuna reached for her arrow.
Karin stepped beside her.
Reiji raised a hand.
And Daigo — cursing under his breath — raised his talisman.
Together, they touched the bone door.
---
It opened.
Not with sound.
With absence.
Like the universe paused.
And then—
They fell.
---
There was no floor.
No up or down.
Just freefall.
And memories.
Their own.
Spilling past them like shredded film reels.
Yuna saw her mother's funeral.
Reiji saw his brother's last duel.
Karin saw a lake of blood, and her own reflection—smiling.
Daigo saw…
Something with his face.
And then—
Impact.
---
They landed in a place that had no name.
A dead forest under a bleeding sky.
No horizon. Just endless, twisted trees made of bone and shadow.
No stars.
Only a single light far in the distance.
A flame.
---
"We follow it," Reiji said.
"No argument here," Daigo muttered, hugging himself.
They moved fast.
The forest moaned around them.
Branches scratched skin. Roots whispered.
But they didn't stop.
Didn't breathe.
Didn't think.
Until—
They found a clearing.
With a mirror.
---
It was standing on its own.
Tall. Gilded. Cracked.
And inside it was—
Arata.
Sleeping.
Curled into a fetal position. Eyes shut. Body trembling.
Yuna rushed forward.
"WAIT!" Reiji shouted.
But too late.
She touched the mirror.
It shattered.
---
Everything went black.
---
When they woke up—
They were back in Tenryuu.
But it wasn't right.
The halls were empty.
No sound.
No lights.
No people.
Posters on the walls were in languages they didn't know.
And every clock read 00:00.
Even worse:
The mirror was still there.
Floating in midair.
And now…
There were two Aratas inside.
---
One was curled up, crying.
The other was standing.
Watching.
Smiling.
And whispering something.
Over and over.
Until Reiji finally stepped forward, straining to hear.
And the mirror-Arata spoke one clear word—
> "RUN."
---
The mirror exploded.
And something crawled out.
Something wearing their friend's face.
And twenty others behind it.
Some human.
Some not.
All smiling.
All hungry.