Chapter 1: The Window Seat That Wasn't Assigned
---
☁️ 1 — Morning Memory Drift
The first thing Ren noticed that morning was how… quiet the classroom felt.
Not peaceful. Not sleepy.
Just—quiet.
Like something had been deleted from the air itself.
He walked past rows of desks, half-awake and late again. The sky outside was still bruised pink with dawn, and the hum of the hallway lights buzzed faintly behind him. A paper slipped from his backpack. No one noticed. No one ever did.
He muttered a tired, "Morning," to no one in particular and took his usual seat in the third row, second from the back.
That's when he saw her.
She was sitting by the window.
Hair like ink in water. Skin pale like early snow. Her school uniform fit perfectly, yet unfamiliar. A small paperback rested in her hands. She wasn't reading it. Just holding it. Like she didn't need the story inside.
Ren blinked once.
And again.
Who… was she?
He leaned over to his right.
"Hey," he whispered to his classmate, Kenta, who was already nodding off over his notebook.
"When did we get a new student?"
Kenta yawned. "Huh?"
"The girl. By the window."
Kenta raised an eyebrow, looked… and then frowned.
"What girl?"
---
🪞 2 — She's Not in the Mirror
Ren's heart gave a small, strange twitch.
He looked back toward the window.
The girl was still there.
Still still.
A single sunbeam fell over her hair as she stared out the glass, completely unaware of them.
"…Never mind," Ren muttered, embarrassed.
Maybe he was sleep-deprived. Maybe he was losing it.
But when he went to the bathroom after homeroom and washed his face, he caught something disturbing in the mirror.
Behind him—she wasn't there.
Not even as a blur.
Not even as a shadow.
But when he turned around—
She walked past him, silently, in the hall.
---
📷 3 — Not in the Photo
During lunch, he tried something else.
He walked up to her. She was sitting under the staircase, half-hidden, legs crossed, still holding that same unread book.
Ren forced himself to speak.
"Hey… you're new, right?"
She didn't look up.
A pause. Then softly:
"No. I've always been here."
Ren blinked. "Are you in 3-B?"
"Yes."
"…Do you have a name?"
She hesitated, then said:
> "Aika."
Just Aika. Like it was a memory, not a name.
He pulled out his phone. "Mind if I take a picture? For the class group, I mean. We usually—"
She didn't move.
Ren snapped the photo.
Then checked it.
She wasn't in it.
The hallway was empty.
His hand trembled slightly.
"…Is this some kind of prank?"
She looked up finally, and her eyes met his.
Deep. Dark. Unreadable.
Her voice was almost a whisper.
> "I wasn't supposed to exist."
---
🌙 4 — Attendance
By the end of the day, Ren was rattled.
He searched the class registry.
No name: Aika.
No recent transfers.
No extra desks.
He even looked at the seating chart pinned to the bulletin board.
There was no window seat.
It ended at the third row. His row. The rest were empty spaces.
That's when he noticed something even worse.
His name… was faded.
Like old ink erased halfway.
He backed away.
---
📓 5 — Her Note
After school, the hallways emptied.
He found a note in his locker.
> "Thank you for seeing me."
– Aika
There was no class number. No contact. Just those six words.
When he looked up…
She was standing at the top of the stairwell.
Looking at him like he was her last thread to this world.
And maybe…
He was.
---
🕯️ End of Chapter 1
Next: Chapter 2 — "People Forget Me When I Leave the Room"
---