The late afternoon sun draped Seiryuu High in amber hues, glinting off the glass-panelled walls of the main building. As the final bell chimed, laughter and footsteps echoed through the hallways, students eager to escape into the freedom of after-school life. But at the top of the west tower, behind the elegant oak doors of the student council office, perfection lingered.
Arisa Kanzuki stood in front of the mirror mounted on the inner cabinet door, adjusting the sapphire earring on her left lobe. The delicate jewel caught the light just right, casting a flicker of icy blue across her cheek.
Poised, composed, and almost unnaturally graceful, Arisa was the golden girl of Seiryuu High. President of the student council since her first year, top of her class, heir to the Kanzuki conglomerate, and blessed with a beauty that made even teachers falter. Students adored her, teachers trusted her, and rivals feared her.
But perfection is often a mask.
Below, unnoticed and practically invisible, Kaito Fujimura sat hunched on the leather couch in the far corner of the room, his hoodie drawn up around his face. He hadn't meant to be there. He had come in earlier, delivering some forgotten equipment from the science lab as a favour to the teacher. He'd only meant to drop it off.
But when Arisa entered and closed the doors, she hadn't noticed him tucked behind the large leather chair. And Kaito—timid, awkward, and cursed with an almost pathological reluctance to draw attention to himself—had panicked.
Instead of announcing his presence, he'd frozen. And by the time Arisa began changing her earrings and humming softly, it had felt impossible to interrupt. Something told him this was not a moment meant for others to see.
She didn't wear her usual earrings, the ones shaped like tiny crescents, a nod to her refined persona. Today, she removed them, revealing a hidden panel inside the cabinet. She reached in and pulled out a pair of peculiar earrings—black teardrops laced with faint crimson lines, like veins under the skin. There was something archaic about them. Ancient. Dangerous.
Kaito squinted. Was it his imagination, or had the air shifted?
Arisa clasped the strange earrings into place.
The lightbulb above flickered.
Her reflection—just for a heartbeat—smiled a beat later than she did.
A sharp ringing noise stabbed through Kaito's ears, and a pulse of invisible pressure forced him to shut his eyes.
Then—silence.
When he opened them, Arisa was facing him directly.
His breath caught.
She shouldn't have seen him. She hadn't seen him.
But now she stared, those cold, calculating eyes very different from the bright warmth she wore in public. Her smile was small and patient, like a hunter amused by its prey.
"You shouldn't be here, Fujimura-kun."
Kaito stumbled to his feet. "I—I didn't mean to—! I came to drop off—The door—You didn't see—!"
"You saw the earrings."
"I don't even know what I saw!"
She took a step forward. Her heels made no sound on the polished floor. "That's a problem."
His mouth went dry. "I won't tell anyone. I swear!"
Arisa tilted her head, as though amused. "You won't remember."
Then she snapped her fingers.
The room dissolved.
A blast of cold swept through him. The world fractured like a glass pane struck from all sides. Light spun into darkness, and the sense of gravity—of being tethered to a moment—vanished. Time didn't just rewind; it shattered.
When the world snapped back into place, Kaito found himself standing in the hallway, outside the student council room.
His heart thudded. Everything looked… normal.
Too normal.
He staggered back a step, pressing a hand to his head. The sun had dipped lower, but not by much. The hallway was still bathed in golden hues. Had he fallen asleep? Did you dream the whole thing?
No. He looked down.
In his hand… was the sealed box of science equipment. The same one he had already delivered.
He hadn't dreamed it.
He had gone back in time.
_
Kaito stumbled through the rest of the day in a fog, the classroom lessons passing over him like white noise. He didn't speak, barely breathed. He didn't know what scared him more—the eerie, otherworldly earrings or the expression on Arisa's face when she saw him. A cold smile, calm and merciless, like she expected him to disappear.
What were those earrings?
Who was Arisa Kanzuki really?
That night, he couldn't sleep. He sat in bed with the lights off, staring at the ceiling, heart pounding at the memory of her reflection moving out of sync. It made his skin crawl. He grabbed his phone and searched for anything: Kanzuki family history, rumours about Arisa, supernatural artefacts.
Nothing.
Arisa was perfect. Untouchable. The media loved her. No scandals, no controversies. Just good genes, power, and discipline.
Except… Kaito knew he hadn't imagined what he saw.
The next morning, the hallways were abuzz as usual. Arisa stood at the top of the stairs like a queen surveying her kingdom, offering smiles and polite nods to passing students. She wore her usual earrings again. The crescent moons.
Like nothing had happened.
Kaito walked past her without a word, clutching his books. He didn't make eye contact. But his ears strained for any clue any hint of change in her voice.
"Good morning, everyone," she said, serene and elegant. "Don't forget, council elections are coming up. I hope to see your support again."
The students cheered.
Kaito kept walking.
___________
Later that afternoon, he returned to the science lab, intent on avoiding the council room at all costs. But curiosity was a cruel master. Every time he blinked, he saw those black and crimson earrings. Every time he moved, he swore he felt something… following.
It wasn't paranoia. Not entirely.
He started noticing things.
Arisa always touched her left earlobe when alone.
She never entered the council room without checking her reflection.
She avoided mirrors that weren't in her control.
Kaito began keeping a notebook. Not that he thought he could do anything about it, but something about writing it down helped him stay sane.
Notebook Entry #1: The Rewind
When she changed the earrings, time… reversed. Not seconds. Whole minutes. Maybe more. It didn't feel like déjà vu—it was a full temporal reset.
Entry #2: The Earrings
The second pair is not decorative. They seem alive. Not in a literal sense, but the air changed when she wore them. The reflection delay—what causes that?
Entry #3: Arisa's Expression
She knew. The moment I saw her wear them, she knew I didn't belong there. And she did something. I still don't understand what.
He closed the book and stared out the window.
That evening, as the sun began to sink once more, Kaito sat at the far end of the school rooftop, away from the usual couples and loners who wandered up for peace. He needed answers. Not theories. Not guesses.
Actual proof.
And there was only one way to get it.
He'd have to see her do it again.
___________________
Friday. The student council had an extended meeting after school. Kaito slipped into the supply room adjacent to the council chamber early, long before Arisa arrived. The supply closet had a thin ventilation slit in the door that offered a partial view of the council room.
He waited.
Heart pounding.
At 5:17 PM, Arisa arrived.
Alone.
She closed the door. Locked it.
She approached the cabinet, opened the hidden panel, and pulled out the black earrings.
This time, Kaito noticed something else.
The room darkened—just a bit—like light itself bent around the earrings. Arisa seemed to stiffen, as though preparing herself for something sacred or dangerous. She removed the crescent moons and slowly fastened the black ones.
Then, just like before, reality warped.
But this time, Kaito was ready.
He hit record on his phone.
As the light shimmered and the room spun, Kaito clutched the phone to his chest, praying it would survive whatever was happening.
Then—
Darkness.
Silence.
Snap.
He blinked.
Once again, he stood outside the council room.
Back in time.
Phone in hand.
Still recording.
He held his breath and checked the footage.
It was there.
Flickering, distorted, but there.
A smile began to creep onto his face, equal parts triumph and terror.
He had proof.
But the smile faded when he saw something else in the footage.
After she'd put on the earrings, Arisa had turned. Slowly. Toward the vent.
And she'd smiled.
Right into the slit.
Right at him.