Today the classroom felt unusually cold.
For a split second the lights flickered. Just once. Still, Rei caught it.
As always, he parked himself at the very back of Class 3-C, headphones resting around his neck and eyelids drooping. The others were buzzing about yesterdays blood-red text-the one that read:
One of you is not real. Find the 25th classmate or die.
The teacher had wiped it off the board. At least, thats what everyone assumed. Rei wondered if it had erased itself.
🪑 That was when he spotted it.
The desk.
A vacant piece of furniture in the rear right corner.
It hadnt been there yesterday. Or last term. Or ever.
Nobody occupied it.
Nobody glanced its way.
It felt as if the whole class had silently agreed to pretend it didnt exist.
Rei narrowed his eyes. The dust on the surface was missing. Polished, almost as though someone had just used it.
Hey, Rei murmured to Kaito in the next row. Has that desk always been there?
Kaito blinked, confusion thick on his face.
What desk?
Rei jutted his chin toward the corner.
Empty. Motionless. Unremarkable.
Kaitos brow furrowed deeper.
You sure you okay? Theres nothing there.
Rei didnt close his eyes that night.
At 3:06 A.M. a noise pulled him from half-sleep.
A chair scraping across tile.
Yet he was alone in his room.
He dreamed again.
Sitting in class, he saw the same old scene. This time, though, he wasnt alone in the back row.
Someone occupied the desk that had always stayed empty.
The face was a blur. The uniform looked brand-new. The strangers head tilted, studying him.
The student rose, crossed the room, and leaned close.
You know my face, he murmured. That means . . . youre next.
Rei jolted out of sleep, heart racing and damp.
His wall calendar bore a fresh crimson X:
April 7th Your turn.
When he reached school, the desk had vanished.
And so was one student - but no one can remember who
End of Chapter 2