That morning… there was nothing unusual.
Sunlight slipped through the gap in the curtains, stretching into long, pale lines across the floor. Kairi lay still on his bed, eyes open—but not truly awake. Familiar footsteps echoed down the hallway, light and steady, unhurried.
His door creaked open.
"Still sleeping?"
That voice… just like every other day.
Kairi didn't answer. He pulled the blanket over half his face, mumbling something incoherent.
Akane leaned against the doorframe, watching him for a few seconds. There was no anger in her eyes—just that familiar hint of helplessness.
"At least clean your room. It looks like a disaster zone."
No response.
A brief silence.
"…I'm heading out."
It should've been just another ordinary sentence.
The door closed.
Her footsteps faded.
Then disappeared.
Kairi didn't remember how long he slept after that.
When he woke up again, the house was quiet in a way that felt… wrong. No clinking dishes. No TV in the background. No sign that anyone else existed in the house but him.
Still… that wasn't unusual.
Akane often came home late.
The afternoon dragged on.
Then evening.
The clock ticked forward, inch by inch.
19:12
20:03
21:47
Kairi sat in the living room, staring at his phone. No messages. No calls.
He frowned and dialed her number.
"…The number you have dialed—"
He hung up.
Tried again.
Once more.
Same result.
Something uneasy crept in.
It had no shape. No name. But it was enough to make him stand up.
The lights were still on. Everything was still the same.
Except one person was missing.
22:31
His phone rang.
Kairi flinched.
An unknown number.
He stared at it for a few seconds… then answered.
"…Hello?"
A pause.
Then a stranger's voice—flat, professional.
"We're calling from—"
Kairi couldn't remember the rest.
The words that followed… blurred, broke apart, refused to form anything meaningful.
Only one thing remained.
An accident.
A stretch of highway.
An oil tanker.
A thin spill… unnoticed.
Akane's car drove over it.
The tires slipped.
Just a little.
But enough.
The lane shifted.
Not much.
Just a few degrees.
Headlights behind her.
Too close.
Too fast.
A truck.
No time to brake.
The sound of the impact never reached him.
No one described it.
But he could still see it.
Clear enough to be real.
"…We're sorry."
He didn't know when the call ended.
His phone slipped from his hand, hitting the floor without much sound.
The room was still lit.
But something inside it had… gone dark.
The next day.
Then another.
Then another.
People said things to him.
Neighbors.
Police.
Strangers with identical expressions.
Pity.
Kairi didn't listen.
Or maybe… he refused to.
The house became empty.
Not because of what was gone.
But because of what wasn't there anymore.
No one woke him up in the morning.
No one complained about his messy room.
No one said "I'm home" in the evening.
Only silence remained.
Heavy.
Suffocating.
Kairi sat in his room, staring at the ceiling.
How long had it been?
He didn't know.
Time had lost its meaning.
His parents.
And now… Akane.
All of them… gone.
A thought slowly formed.
Not sudden.
Not violent.
Just… there.
"…Maybe…"
His voice was hoarse.
"…it's my fault."
No one denied it.
No one argued back.
"My parents died."
"And now my sister too."
Each word fell, heavy as lead.
"…Everything happens… when they're around me."
He let out a laugh.
Dry. Twisted. Not quite human.
"Then…"
Kairi closed his eyes.
"…maybe I shouldn't exist."
The room was still lit.
But no one inside it was truly alive anymore.