The summer heat clung to Tsukishima like an old memory—persistent, suffocating, and unwilling to fade. The cicadas screamed their chorus into the evening sky, their cries mixing with the scent of salt from the distant sea.
Renji Asakura stood at the edge of Kageri Lake, his hands in his pockets, his heart drumming against his ribs.
"On the night of the longest dusk, when the sun refuses to set, cross the old wooden bridge at Kageri Lake. A wish will be granted, but something must be left behind."
He had heard the legend before. Everyone in town had. But unlike the others, he needed it to be true.
The doctors had said there was no hope. That his sister, Saya, would never wake up. That he should accept reality.
But what was reality to a sixteen-year-old boy who had nothing left to lose?
He exhaled sharply, eyes scanning the lake's surface. The sun should have set minutes ago, but the sky was locked in a strange, endless twilight, painting the world in hues of gold and violet. The reflection in the water didn't ripple—it was too still, too perfect, like glass trapping time itself.
And then, he saw it.
A bridge, stretching across the lake, old and weathered, its wood untouched by the passage of years. It hadn't been there before.
Renji's breath caught. His fingers tightened into fists.
"It's real."
2
"You shouldn't be here."
The voice startled him. He spun around.
A girl stood at the treeline, partially hidden by the shadows. Mikoto Shiranagi—the quiet transfer student who had appeared in class two weeks ago and barely spoken a word since. Her uniform sleeves were rolled up slightly, and a silver pocket watch dangled from her fingers, reflecting the strange twilight like a piece of stolen time.
She didn't look surprised to see him. In fact, she looked like she had been expecting him.
Renji narrowed his eyes. "And why's that?"
Mikoto took a slow step forward. Her gaze flickered to the bridge. "Because people who cross that bridge don't come back the same."
His heart skipped a beat.
"You've seen it before?" he asked.
She hesitated. And then, she nodded.
Renji turned back to the bridge, his pulse quickening. "Then tell me… if I cross it, can I fix something that's already broken?"
A gust of wind stirred the trees, sending ripples across the lake's surface. The cicadas had gone silent.
Mikoto exhaled softly. "Yes," she said. "But not without a price."
He already knew that.
He had already decided.
Renji took the first step onto the bridge.
And the world around him began to change.