Tuesday.
Rei skipped lunch.
Instead, he went to the old storage area in the library — the part nobody visited. The shelves were dusty, papers yellow with age, and old cabinets stood forgotten. He was looking for proof.
Proof that Yume Kuroha was real.
He found a rusty metal drawer labeled "Yearbooks: Class Archives." It creaked open.
Inside were thick black books with faded school symbols.
He pulled out the one labeled: 3-C, Previous Year.
---
📸 The Photo
The yearbook smelled like old ink and mold.
He flipped to Class 3-C.
And there it was.
25 students.
All standing in rows.
Smiling. Looking happy.
Names typed below each face.
Yume Kuroha — last row, right side.
Her eyes looked straight at him.
---
Rei stared at the photo too long.
Suddenly, the page began to shimmer like heat in the air.
The names started to fade. One by one.
First Haruna. Then Akiro. Then Yume—
Her name melted like smudged ink.
'No—no, no, no—"
Rei tore the page out and shut the book fast.
Her name was gone.
But her face was still there. Blurry again.
---
The Investigation Begins
Rei stuffed the page in his bag and rushed to the computer lab.
He scanned the photo and opened it in an editing program.
When he turned up the contrast—
another name showed up under "Yume Kuroha":
"Subject 25 — Null Memory Active"
His stomach dropped.
The school knew something.
🖥️ The Firewall
When he tried searching "Yume Kuroha" in the school database, a warning popped up:
Unauthorized Search Detected
Access Denied: Faculty Only
And at the bottom, blinking faintly:
 "Forgetting protects you."
 Final Clue
Before logging off, he spotted a small folder named "C-Class Test Footage" in the temp files.
Inside: One video.
Timestamp: April 7th, 2:37 a.m.
He clicked play.
Grainy video. A CCTV feed of Class 3-C.
At the back — the empty desk.
Someone was sitting there.
Long hair. Neat uniform.
Face covered in static.
The figure slowly turned to the camera…
And smiled.
End of Chapter 5