"He was not born. He was broken into existence."
Scene 1 – Fractures of Time
Still May 19, 2011 – Dream-Space Between Realities
The sky shattered with a soundless scream.
Cracks formed above like someone had punched through glass with a god's fury—splinters of time hanging midair, light bleeding between them in uneven pulses. The rooftop of the school twisted in and out of coherence: railings blurred like static, shadows bled into the sunlight, and voices froze mid-sentence before reversing, replaying, distorting again.
In the eye of the storm stood Yoru.Still. Composed. Almost… bored. His hands tucked into the pockets of his too-small uniform jacket, his back straight, his crimson spiral eye rotating slowly—like the ticking of a god's judgment.
Everything—buildings, sky, even time itself—seemed to orbit him.
Ruby stepped forward, placing herself squarely between Souta and the monster. Her fists were balled tight, even as her voice quivered.
"You don't scare me, freak. You look like a knockoff anime villain from one of Souta's shows."
Aqua appeared beside her, lips pressed into a thin line, eyes sharp with tension."Ruby. Don't provoke him." His voice was hushed, but carried steel.
Yoru didn't even flinch. His eye didn't leave Souta for a second.
He tilted his head slightly. "Do you know what you did?"
Souta stiffened. He hadn't said a word since the dream started.
Yoru's tone wasn't angry. It was quieter than a whisper, but it scraped against the inside of their skulls like a dull blade."The moment you rewrote fate… The moment you said 'I undo the world where I lose you'… you rejected me."
"Rejected you?" Souta's voice cracked. He took a step back without realizing.
"I am every death that was meant to be. Every moment your mother was supposed to bleed out on the floor. Every second Aqua broke apart behind a smile. Every dream Ruby never chased because she had to grow up too fast. I'm what you threw away—what you denied."
Yoru raised his hand.
A thin blade unraveled from his palm—woven from golden gears and ticking hands, the second-hand of a long-dead clock spinning rapidly at the edge.
"You defied reality," Yoru murmured. "Now reality will answer."
Scene 2 – The First Clash
Still in the Fractured Rooftop
Yoru moved faster than thought.
His blade came down in an arc of shimmering time—but Souta's hand rose just in time, catching it with his palm. Light flared—not fire, not electricity—just pure, blinding hope. His fingers didn't bleed. The blade hissed against it like steam.
"I'm not scared of you," Souta said. His voice wasn't loud, but it rang clear. "You're just a shadow."
Yoru didn't recoil. He grinned.
"Shadows only exist when light shines," he said coolly. "And you shine too brightly, little brother."
Ruby ran to Souta's side. Her fingers fumbled through her bag until they wrapped around a cheap plastic pen. She flicked it. It snapped open—then twisted, metal folding over itself into a shining baton.
Happy's gift.
She spun it once. "We're a team, remember?"
Aqua's eyes flickered gold. He extended two fingers, drawing a circle in the air.The flow of time around them twisted again. Slowed. Rerouted.
He exhaled. "We're not fighting alone anymore."
Yoru narrowed his eye. Then, with a flick of his blade, he slashed at the air—not them. Just… the space.
The baton in Ruby's hand screamed—groaned—and then instantly aged 10,000 years. It crumbled into ash before it even hit the ground.
Ruby gasped.
Aqua pulled her back just in time before Yoru could move again.
"That's his trick," Aqua muttered. "He doesn't just reverse time. He fast-forwards it. He accelerates endings."
Souta clenched his fists. "He's a twisted version of me… a power like mine but wrong. He undoes without permission. He doesn't protect. He punishes."
Yoru floated above them now, cloak flapping like it existed in a different wind.
"Correct," he said. "I'm the cost of your miracles. The punishment for mercy. I'm what happens when power loves too much."
Scene 3 – Flashback: Yoru's Creation
Somewhere Outside Time – Months Ago
They stood in a circle beyond time—where no stars burned, where no seasons changed. Only gods. Watching.
They had just witnessed a miracle: a child who remade time to bring his mother back. Who bent death into obedience. Who refused the lesson of loss.
And they were afraid.
"He must be counterbalanced," one god whispered. "Else the fabric will split."
"He touched endings and made them beginnings," another said. "Such acts echo too far."
From the broken shards of timelines—those where Ai stayed dead, where Aqua shattered, where Ruby never smiled again—they constructed a vessel.
A boy.
A shadow.
Made of every ending that should have happened.
"He will be the backflow," the first god murmured. "The undoing."
"And he shall carry no heart," said another. "Only memory."
And thus, Yoru came to be.
Not born. Compiled.
Not loved. Remembered.
Not a person. A debt.A walking consequence.
All because Souta had been kind.
Scene 4 – The Power Beneath the Fear
Back in the Fractured Rooftop
Souta didn't run. He stepped forward, eyes locked with Yoru's.
"You said I denied you. But that's not true."
Yoru tensed.
"You're not my opposite," Souta said. "You're my shadow. That means you're part of me."
The blade in Yoru's hand flickered.
"Lies."
"No. Truth. You don't belong in this family… because you never asked to. You were born from pain. I chose love."
Yoru's hands trembled. The gears in his sword slowed.
Souta walked closer. His own body now pulsing—not with light, but with something deeper. Something heavier. Clarity.
"I don't want to destroy you," he said softly. "I want to understand you."
Yoru flinched. For the first time.
"I hate you for that," he whispered, voice cracking. "Because I can't be understood."
Then, with a snarl, he shoved Souta backward.
But he didn't strike again.
Instead, behind him, a tall black mirror formed—glassy and warped, rippling like water. It swallowed him in a blink.
"You're not ready," Yoru said, voice fading into the dark. "But I'll make you wish you'd killed me when you had the chance."
And then he was gone.
The world snapped back together.
The rooftop rebuilt itself like nothing had happened. The air became breathable again. Students in the classroom below blinked—stretching, yawning, unaware they'd been frozen in time.
Only the three of them remembered.
Ruby, still breathing hard, stared at the others.
"...What the hell was that?!"
Scene 5 – Later That Night
10:24 PM – Hoshino Residence, Balcony
The night was quiet, but Souta couldn't sleep. He sat curled up on the balcony, blanket over his shoulders, knees hugged to his chest. The stars above looked too calm for what had happened.
Ai stepped outside, silent as snowfall. She placed a warm cup in his hands—milk with honey. He didn't ask for it. She just… knew.
"You okay?"
Souta stared into the cup. "I don't know."
"I thought if I mastered my power… if I really understood it… then I could fix everything. Protect everyone."
"Being strong doesn't mean you don't get scared," Ai said softly, sitting beside him. "It just means… you love someone enough to be scared for them."
Souta's breath caught. His eyes welled. "I want to protect all of you. Even if it means fighting me."
Ai pulled him close.
"Then you already have the only power that matters."
Scene 6 – The Pact of Mirrors
Above Earth – Beyond Time
In a realm even gods feared to look at, Yoru stood before a broken circle of figures—half-formed, undefined, flickering like dying ideas. They weren't people. They were remnants. Glitches. Things Souta had unknowingly deleted.
Each one held a fragment—a sliver of a story that never got to finish.
"He's not alone anymore," Yoru said, his voice distant, hollow. "So we'll give him a reason to be."
He raised his blade. It no longer ticked. It hummed with memories.
Each figure stepped forward.
One by one, they placed their hands upon the blade.
A vow.
A curse.
"Let the Pact of Mirrors begin."