Kaito Yukimura had always considered himself an ordinary teenager. His days followed a comforting routine — early mornings rushing to Seika High School, afternoons packed with laughter among friends, and evenings spent studying while texting Airi, his childhood sweetheart. Everything in his life felt steady, familiar, safe.
He never imagined how fragile that normalcy truly was.
The morning it happened started like any other. The golden sunlight filtered through the windows of his small bedroom, the smell of fresh toast wafted from downstairs, and Kaito hurried through his usual scramble to get ready. Throwing on his school uniform, he dashed out the door with a slice of toast clenched between his teeth, grinning at the familiarity of it all.
The walk to school was uneventful. Streets bustled with students in matching uniforms, the chatter of daily life filling the air. Kaito nodded to neighbors, waved at the local shopkeeper, and daydreamed about meeting his friends after class for ramen.
But the moment he stepped onto Seika High's campus, something felt... wrong.
It wasn't anything obvious at first. No alarms, no sirens. Just an unsettling stillness in the air, as if the very world was holding its breath.
Shrugging off the strange feeling, Kaito made his way to his homeroom. He slid open the door — and froze.
The desks where his six closest friends usually sat were empty. Perfectly arranged. Untouched.
His heart thudded. Maybe they were late? Maybe they all decided to skip together? But that wasn't like them. Especially not Airi, who was always fifteen minutes early, always waiting by the window, smiling softly at him when he walked in.
Kaito dropped his bag onto his desk and glanced around. No one seemed to notice. The room buzzed with the usual morning noise — gossip, yawns, tapping pens. But no one looked toward the empty desks. No one seemed concerned.
Confused, he leaned over to whisper to the classmate next to him.
"Hey, where's Haru? And the others?" he asked.
The girl gave him a puzzled look. "Haru? Who's that?"
He frowned. "You know — Haru, Megumi, Takashi, Sota, Yui, Sora… and Airi?"
She laughed awkwardly, tapping her pen against her notebook. "I think you're still half-asleep, Yukimura. There's no one by those names in our class."
The bell rang, cutting off his reply.
All day, Kaito searched. He asked his teachers. He asked the principal. He even cornered the janitor in the hallway.
But every response was the same — confused stares, polite laughter, gentle suggestions that he was imagining things.
He found himself standing alone in front of the lockers after school, staring at seven untouched lockers. He knew every detail — the tiny dent in Haru's, the neatness of Airi's, the bright stickers Yui had plastered over hers.
They were exactly as they'd been yesterday. But there was no sign they belonged to anyone now.
Kaito ran his fingers over Airi's locker door, feeling the cool metal under his fingertips. His hand trembled slightly.
They were real. They had to be real.
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting long, creeping shadows across the empty hallways. Students drifted home, their laughter echoing in the distance, leaving Kaito alone in the growing darkness.
He sat down heavily on a bench, burying his face in his hands. Was he losing his mind? Could you really imagine six friends and the girl you loved?
No. He refused to believe it. He could still hear Airi's voice in his head, soft and clear. He could still remember Haru's pranks, Megumi's sketches, Takashi's stubborn arguments, Yui's fearless challenges, Sota's quiet music, Sora's endless trivia.
Memories didn't just vanish. People didn't just vanish.
As the school emptied and the night deepened, Kaito forced himself to stand. He tightened his grip on his bag, feeling a surge of determination blaze to life inside him.
Something was wrong — something beyond the ordinary.
He wasn't crazy. He wasn't giving up.
If the world refused to remember them, then he would.
If the world had forgotten them, he would find them.
No matter what it took.
The wind howled as he stepped outside into the night, ruffling his hair and carrying a strange chill through the air. The streetlights flickered ominously as he walked home, the once-familiar path now seeming longer, darker, as if the very world was subtly shifting around him.
That night, Kaito sat by his window, gazing up at the moon. His heart was heavy, but his mind was sharp with resolve.
He thought about the odd things he'd heard whispered around the school over the years — rumors about the "forbidden wing," an old section of the building that had been sealed off decades ago after a terrible incident. Students spoke of it in hushed voices, saying strange things happened there. Most dismissed it as an urban legend, a ghost story to scare first-years.
But now... Kaito wasn't so sure.
Maybe the answers he needed lay in the shadows everyone else was too afraid to face.
He clenched his fists, staring into the night.
Tomorrow, he would start digging deeper.
And he wouldn't stop until he found them.