Threads That Shouldn't Exist***
Where the Past Begins to Breathe Again
Night clung to the Conservatory like a shroud.
Aru and Kairo walked back toward the dorms, but the world felt wrong—too quiet, too watchful. The lantern orbs lining the walkway flickered not with the warm glow of mana, but with the faint static of instability.
Kairo kept glancing sideways at Aru, eyes narrowed with the worry he was trying to hide.
"You… sure you didn't see anything else?"
His voice was light.
But his rhythm trembled beneath it.
Aru shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah. I'm just tired."
Lie.
Kairo knew it.
He didn't push.
---
## **THE DORM HALLWAYS**
They reached the boys' wing.
Doors lined the hall like silent eyes. The walls hummed with protective wards—normally comforting, now strangely dim.
Kairo paused at his door.
"You gonna be okay tonight?"
Aru nodded.
"…You want me to stay with you?"
Aru blinked.
Then smiled, faint and real.
"Yeah. That'd be great."
Kairo's grin returned, bright and stupidly loyal.
"Bet. I'll grab snacks."
He disappeared into his room.
Aru stepped into his own.
The door shut.
Silence.
Then—
**thrm—**
A pulse rippled through the air.
Aru's breath hitched.
The shadows in the corners stretched… subtly… unnaturally.
Like someone tugged them from the inside.
Aru swallowed.
"Kairo…?"
He reached for his door handle—
—but froze.
Because the shadow across the wall pulled upward…
…took shape…
…straightened into a human silhouette…
…and *opened its eyes.*
Two dim blue glimmers.
Cold.
Curious.
Too familiar.
The shadow whispered:
**"Still lying to him?"**
Aru's blood turned to ice.
"Eidolon," he exhaled.
---
## **THE SHADOW VISITOR**
The shadow stepped out of the wall like ink peeling off paper.
Eidolon's form sharpened just enough to resemble a boy his age, but still blurry around the edges— like reality refused to fully hold him.
A smirk tugged at his mouth.
"Relax, Aru. If I wanted to kill you, it would've happened when we first met."
Aru clenched his fists.
"What do you want?"
Eidolon tilted his head.
"You remembered something today."
Aru stiffened.
"Not enough," Eidolon added. "But more than before."
Aru's pulse hammered.
He didn't want to think about Lyria—
her falling—
her whisper—
the flood of forgotten memories slicing into him.
"You were in those memories," Aru whispered.
"I felt you."
Eidolon's expression flickered.
"For a moment, yes."
Aru took a step forward, anger rising.
"Why!? Why are you connected to my memories?"
Eidolon's gaze softened… just a hint.
"Because I'm connected to *you*, Aru."
Aru's breath stalled.
Eidolon stepped closer—
their shadows blending for a heartbeat.
"You're asking the wrong question," he murmured.
"You shouldn't be wondering why I remember you…"
His voice thinned into static.
"…you should be wondering why *you* forgot me."
Aru's chest tightened.
"I didn't choose to forget—"
"Yes," Eidolon said quietly.
"You did."
Aru froze.
He remembered Lyria saying the same.
Eidolon continued, voice quieter than breathing:
"You begged for your memories to be erased. You begged to forget. Lyria tried to stop you. I tried to stop you. But once you made the choice…"
He tapped Aru's forehead with a single finger.
"…the seal took everything."
Aru staggered back.
"No… that can't be…"
Eidolon's eyes glimmered with something deep—
grief, maybe.
Or betrayal.
"You forgot me," he whispered,
"so completely… that even my name dissolves when I try to speak it."
Aru's heart twisted.
Eidolon stepped back, leaning into the shadow again.
"But now the seal is gone. And your mind is waking up. So tell me, Aru…"
His last words echoed like a blade dragged across glass:
**"What will you do when you remember who you were…
and what you did to us?"**
The lights flickered.
Reality bent—
Then Eidolon vanished.
---
## **KAIRO RETURNS**
Aru stood trembling in his dim room.
The door burst open.
Kairo leaned inside, holding a bag of snacks and two drinks.
"Bro! I got the spicy chips—"
He paused.
"Aru…?"
Aru quickly wiped his face.
Kairo stepped closer.
"Hey… you okay?"
Aru forced a smile.
"Yeah. Just… thinking."
Kairo didn't believe him.
But he sat beside him anyway, putting snacks between them like peace offerings.
Aru stared at his best friend—
at the boy who would one day die because of a noble's jealousy—
at the boy who trusted him more than anyone.
A sharp ache dug into Aru's chest.
He whispered under his breath:
**"I won't forget you."**
Kairo blinked. "Hm?"
Aru shook his head.
"Nothing."
But the shadow on the wall twitched—
as if someone unseen was listening.