Chapter Two: Cracks in the Frame
The sun rose, golden light spilling across the sky like ink over parchment. Birds chattered in the trees outside, their voices weaving with the gentle rustling of leaves in a soft breeze. Inside, Yogiri Saito lay sprawled across his bed in a swimmer's pose — limbs flung in every direction, his face buried into his mattress, facing the window.
> "Ugh... the beach."
He remembered what his mother said the night before. His eyes twitched. With a sigh twisted between resignation and disbelief, he sat up.
Saito pushed open his bedroom door — and froze.
Standing directly outside was a little girl in pink pajamas patterned with white roses. Her bedhead was a wild halo of disarray, one hand rubbing her eye, the other hugging a stuffed pillow. She yawned, blinking up at him drowsily.
> "Big bro..."
Saito's eye twitched. He tried to walk past her, pretending she didn't exist.
But she pinched his shirt with two small fingers.
> "Hold me."
> "Okay, I was going to ignore the fact you're here. Now you've ruined it," he muttered.
> "Aren't you being a little harsh, big bro?"
She looked up at him with that strained, sleep-heavy expression that always made him question reality.
Before he could respond, their mother's voice rang from downstairs.
> "Shizue-chan!"
The girl perked up and shuffled off obediently, leaving Saito to sigh in relief. He continued to the bathroom — only to stumble into his older sister, Sumi.
She stood suspiciously in front of the door, wearing the same pajama design as Shizue. Saito blinked.
> "Was she forced to wear that? Why's she standing here like she's hiding a body?"
Noticing his stare, Sumi jerked.
> "S-Sai-kun! How long have you been standing there?!"
She pressed her back against the door like a wall guard.
> "...What are you hiding?"
> "N-nothing! I'm just... admiring the craftsmanship of the bathroom door!"
> "Sure you are."
Her cheeks turned red as she averted her eyes.
> "Sumi-san! It's not coming off!"
Kazuto's voice echoed from inside the bathroom.
> "Wait... Kazuto's in there? Then why is she out here?"
Saito's eyes narrowed.
> "What are you guarding?"
Sumi froze. Saito grabbed her gently by the arm and moved her aside. He opened the door — and paused.
Kazuto was crouched over the toilet, trying to fish out a soaked white shirt with a pair of rubber gloves.
> "Don't worry, bro," he said with a confident grin. "After some good scrubbing, it'll be as good as new. Big bro's got this."
Saito's eye twitched.
The shirt was his.
He dropped to his knees, face pale.
> "I'M SORRY!" Sumi wailed, kneeling beside him in apology. "It was an accident involving toothpaste, static shock, a banana peel and — look, it's complicated!"
> "MOM!!!"
---
The wind blew gently through the open car windows. Saito stared out in silence, expression blank, as trees passed in a blur.
His little sister Shizue kept poking his cheek.
> "Big bro... come on, smile!"
Sumi, seated beside him, tried shaking his shoulders.
> "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'll never do it again, I swear!"
> "Kazuto, help me out here!"
Kazuto yawned, leaned back in the front seat, and smirked.
> "Your mess, your problem."
> "Papa! They're fighting again!"
Yamatogara glanced back with a calm grin.
> "Saito, got into another sibling spat, huh?"
Beatrix chuckled from the passenger seat.
> "Oh my. They do get along well, don't they?"
> "It's her fault," Saito grumbled, his cheek resting against the door.
Sumi kept shaking him.
> "I'm still sorry! Please forgive me!"
> "Come on, Saito. She's been apologizing since we left. Let it go," Yamatogara said gently, keeping his eyes on the road.
Shizue tugged at Saito's sleeve, her face sad.
> "Big bro...?"
Saito sighed. He shrugged Sumi's hands off.
> "Fine. I forgive you. Not like I had a choice."
Sumi exhaled in relief.
> "Shizue, it's alright now. Don't worry," Saito said, smiling at his little sister.
> "Wait a sec—!" Sumi leaned in. "So you forgave me for Shizue's sake, not mine?!"
Saito looked away. His phone buzzed.
> Zenitsu: Where are you? Weren't we hanging out today?
> Saito: Heading to Suminigetsu beach with family. Can't make it, sorry.
He stared out the window again.
> "I couldn't have gone anyway... because of Dad. But he doesn't even know them. Why...?"
The car suddenly shook.
> "Dad?" Shizue looked around nervously.
The road cracked.
> "An earthquake?!" Yamatogara slowed down — then hit the brakes hard.
A massive truck swerved, barreling toward them from the right.
Beatrix turned.
> "Yamatogara!"
The truck tipped.
Saito watched it come — massive, unstoppable. His mouth opened, but no scream came. He squeezed his eyes shut.
---
Smoke choked the air.
Saito opened his eyes. His ears rang. His body ached. He lay on cracked pavement surrounded by flame.
He turned. The wreckage was beyond comprehension. Fire danced everywhere. Metal screeched. Glass shimmered like fallen stars.
> "D-Dad? Mom?! Kazuto?! Sumi?! Shizue?!"
He tried to move — pain exploded in his limbs. He crawled forward, broken.
Ahead stood a charred figure — blackened bones locked in the silhouette of a man.
> "D-Dad...?"
The ash crumbled.
> "DAAAAAAAD!!!"
He screamed — then turned.
There, among broken rocks, lay Beatrix.
Blood drenched her gown. Her silver hair clung to her skin. She looked up at him with eyes half-lidded.
She smiled.
> "Mom?! No, no, no...!"
She raised a trembling hand and pointed behind him.
Saito turned.
Kazuto, Sumi, and Shizue... all safe. Unharmed.
> Why? How? he thought, confused, turning back — but her head had slumped.
She was gone.
---
Saito gasped, his body jerking upright.
He stood in front of his classroom.
He gripped the doorknob.
> "Just a memory. Just a memory."
He walked in. Conversations buzzed around him. No one noticed. Or cared.
He made his way to the back corner by the window and sat down.
Outside, a group of boys shoved another student.
> "Where is it?! You've got it, I know!"
The student — glasses, thin, awkward — was shoved to the ground.
Saito watched.
The boy looked back at him, desperate.
> Don't look at me like that.
> I'm not a hero.
> You don't want my help.
> "Hey, you!!"
A new voice.
Everyone turned.
A girl stepped forward — black hair, green eyes, sharp expression.
> "You want to fight someone, try me."
The bullies laughed.
> "You serious?"
> "Get out of here before you get clapped."
> "Name's Xiang Shiki," she said. "Vice president of the Library Club."
> "Oh... that Shiki? Tch. Still not backing down, huh?"
One of them moved toward her.
> "Mind your own business."
She stared him down.
> "Help is coming."
> "Help?! From who—"
> "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"
A voice thundered from across the yard.
Benimaru-sensei — athletic wear, towering presence, textbooks under one arm.
> "S-Senpai?!" the bullies froze.
> "Ah, crap. I'm out."
They bolted.
Rechigo, their leader, hesitated — then ran too.
> "It's nothing, senpai! Bye!"
Shiki bowed.
> "Thank you, Benimaru-sensei."
> "Just don't be late to class," he said with a wink.
She turned to the boy on the ground.
> "Can you stand?"
He blushed, nodded, and took her hand.
> "M-My name is Julious. Julious Ryunoski."
> "That's a nice name."
> "Yours too... I-I mean... good name. Yes."
Shiki giggled.
Saito watched from the window.
> "Is this how this school always is...?"
---
Class began. Benimaru-sensei entered, and everyone quieted. Ryunoski and Shiki took seats near Saito.
Then the desks began to shake.
A rumble beneath them.
> "Is it another earthquake?!"
Students panicked. Some fell. Shiki grabbed the window frame. Ryunoski hit the floor.
Saito froze — sweat forming.
> "Not again... not again..."
He turned to the window.
A massive black shadow loomed in the clouds.
Legs — spider legs. Hair thin as threads but longer than galaxies.
One strand brushed across the cosmos, shredding through infinite multiverses as if they were paper.
It held a box — the Box of Existence — in its limb like a crumb.
> "That's... not a spider... That's not a monster... That's — something else entirely."
He was about to be erased — a speck within a forgotten corner of a meaningless infinity.
The being hovered in a place beyond concepts — a realm outside reality, fiction, and time. It swallowed the Box of Existence.
Saito's voice caught.
> "EVERYONE, WATCH OUT, IT'S A—"
But the students only stared.
They didn't see it.
They looked at him — like he was the insane one.
The strand moved.
Existence trembled.
---
He gasped awake.
Back on the streets.
But everything was wrong.
Smoke. Sirens. Screams.
And a real spider — the size of a truck — crouched over a mangled corpse.
The corpse had his face.
> "What... is going on...?"
---
To Be Continued...