"I initially thought... Lumine Komori's inexplicable disappearance was the strangest thing that had ever happened in my high school life. But I was wrong..."
"It was just the beginning."
The morning of the final science project presentation arrived. A buzz filled Room 2-A. Most students were in groups, reviewing their slides one last time, laughing nervously, or meditating calmly. But for me, Leo Tsukino, the air felt suffocatingly tense and strangely cold. I sat at my desk, heart pounding erratically, breaking into a cold sweat despite the cool air conditioning. My instincts screamed of an unseen danger. I glanced towards the empty desk by the window... Lumine Komori's usual seat... I took a deep breath, trying to tell myself she was just running late, but the gnawing anxiety intensified with each passing second.
"Hey Leo, you look pale as a ghost, buddy," Ken's voice sounded beside me. He sat down with Zeno and Takumi. Riku was busy preening in front a small mirror he carried.
"Stressed about the presentation?" Zeno guessed. "Don't worry! Your quantum partner is a genius! Komori-san must have everything prepared perfectly! Speaking of which... why isn't she here yet? Is she planning some grand surprise?"
I forced a smile. "Don't know. Haven't been able to reach her since last night."
"Komori... Lumine..." Ken repeated the name, tapping his temple. "Why does that name sound weird today? Even though we were just talking about your project with her yesterday... But when I try to picture her face clearly... Damn! Why is it blurry! Like looking through fog!"
Takumi raised an eyebrow slightly. "The Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm... false memory creation from suggestion or vague association..."
"You always speak alien, Takumi!" Riku joined the group. "But come to think of it, that Komori name sounds kinda familiar... like I heard someone call it around here... Or is it a character from a new game?"
Other students started looking over, noticing my anxious state and my friends' confused pondering.
"What's up, guys?" a nearby girl asked.
"Well... we're trying to remember someone, but it's like we can't quite recall their face," Ken replied.
I couldn't stand it anymore. Fear gripped my heart. I quickly turned to Himari and Iris who had just walked in.
"Himari! Iris! You have to remember! Lumine! Komori Lumine! Your close friend you always hang out with!"
Himari and Iris stopped abruptly, exchanging confused glances before looking at me.
"Um... Leo-kun," Himari started hesitantly. "Lumine-chan...? Why does that name sound so familiar? Like I dreamed about that name just last night... But... is there someone with that name in our class?" She looked around bewildered.
Iris frowned deeply, her expression serious. "Komori Lumine..." she repeated slowly. "I admit the name resonates strangely, Tsukino-kun, like déjà vu. But if you ask if I have a close friend with that name... I can definitively say no. And the student registry I checked yesterday for council prep work has no such name."
How could this be! Why everyone... My mind went blank.
Just then, Mr. Satoru walked in. Seeing the slight commotion and my panicked face, he asked calmly but with underlying curiosity, "Is there a problem, Tsukino-kun? You don't seem well."
Before I could answer, the teacher began his usual address. "Alright, students, today is an important day..." He continued until he reached the presentation order. "...The first group to present is Tsukino Leo's group and..." He paused longer than usual, looking down at the paper in his hand repeatedly, then cross-referencing with his tablet. His expression shifted from neutral to visibly surprised before he looked up, meeting my eyes with an unreadable gaze. "...Riku Lancaster. Please come forward."
"NO!!!!!!" I screamed, startling the entire class. I shot up from my seat, knocking my chair over with a loud crash! "It can't be like this, sir! It has to be Komori Lumine! My project partner is Lumine! Not Riku!" I pointed frantically at myself, then at the empty desk in front. "We worked on the parallel worlds project together for months!"
Mr. Satoru sighed heavily. He walked over calmly. "Tsukino-kun, please calm down." He showed me the student data and project pairing information on his tablet in detail. "I understand you might be confused or highly stressed, but all available data, both physical documents and the school's computer system, confirms your partner is Lancaster-san. And there is genuinely no student named Komori Lumine enrolled in our school." He looked deep into my eyes. "I just inquired with the registry office moments ago. They confirmed no record of such a student ever existed. Perhaps... you're confusing her with someone else, or maybe a character from a book or game you're very invested in?"
"I'm not confused!" I argued, my voice trembling, tears welling up. "She's real! We just talked yesterday! She gave me chocolates on Valentine's Day! We went to the cat cafe! Himari and Iris were there too, weren't you!?" I turned desperately to my friends, but they slowly shook their heads with pitying expressions.
Vivid memories flashed: Lumine's smile discussing many-worlds, her excited eyes talking about her father... her small hand grabbing my sleeve during the haunted house... the faint lavender scent on her scarf...
"No... you have to remember!" I felt like I was suffocating. "Ken! Don't you remember Lumine helped you study math for the last quiz! And you, Zeno! Didn't Lumine praise your 'Interdimensional Butterfly Detector' invention!?"
Ken and Zeno exchanged baffled looks. "Did that really happen?"
I turned to Riku. "And you! Riku! Don't you remember teasing Lumine about reading difficult books until she ignored you!"
Riku scratched his head. "When did I tease anyone? Don't remember at all."
Complete despair washed over me. No one... no one remembered her. I ran to the empty desk again, collapsing beside it, searching underneath, in the drawer... nothing... I fumbled for my phone again, scrolling through contacts one by one... gone... I opened the photo gallery, frantically swiping... gone... The picture of us at the amusement park that day... it was now just me standing alone amidst the lights! Everything... it was like it had been edited!
"The notes! There must be notes!" I screamed like a madman, a last desperate hope. I violently emptied my school bag onto the floor with a loud crash! Textbooks, notebooks, pens, pencils, eraser, crumpled papers, an uneaten lunchbox... everything scattered. Other students backed away, looking scared. Some started whispering louder.
"What's wrong with him?"
"He must have snapped from stress."
"Scary..."
I ignored them, hands shaking, searching the pile repeatedly. Flipping through every notebook, shaking every textbook... Nothing... No neatly stapled summary sheets in Lumine's handwriting... No signature of hers on any document... It was as if... the memories of her... were something I had solely fabricated!
"Tsukino-kun, that's enough!" Mr. Satoru's voice was firm but held sympathy. He walked over and helped me up. "You're really not well. I'll take you to the nurse's office. We can discuss the presentation later."
I let him lead me away like a zombie. My mind was blank, tears streaming down my face uncontrollably. "Lumine... where did you go... why did everyone forget you... Or was I... was I just dreaming all along..."
Her sad face when talking about her father floated into my mind... Her hopeful eyes when discussing parallel worlds... Her last words to me yesterday...
"Tsukino-kun... Tomorrow... whatever the result... I want you to know that... all this time... working with you... it meant a lot to me..."
Her voice... it still echoed in my ears... It was too real to be mere imagination!
The project notebook!? The thought struck again! I violently pulled away from Mr. Satoru, ran back to the pile on the floor, frantically searching for the black notebook... the one with the nebula sticker she loved!
"Found it!" I yelled triumphantly, clutching it tightly like a final treasure. I quickly flipped it open, hoping that at least... at least her handwriting would still be there...
And then... my entire world shattered completely...
The pages I clearly remembered filled with complex quantum diagrams, calculations, and Lumine's beautiful, neat handwriting... were now covered in sketches of medieval castles, gothic churches, and elaborate bridges... along with notes about "Applying Renaissance Architecture Principles in Fantasy RPG World Design" written in messy scrawl... handwriting I recognized... Riku Lancaster's handwriting!
"No... No... This can't be real!!!!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs before collapsing onto the floor again. The notebook slipped from my grasp, landing beside me. I buried my face in my knees, sobbing uncontrollably. Pain, confusion, fear, and the feeling of going insane crashed down on me simultaneously until I could barely take it. Everything went dark.
"Hey! What the hell is going on here! Why is Leo sprawled out screaming like that! And who made this mess!?"
The loud voice of Riku Lancaster, who had just actually walked into the classroom with his signature messenger bag, boomed. He looked at me with a bewildered expression, then turned to ask the other stunned classmates.
Riku's words... and the project topic he'd just mentioned... were like the final nail in the coffin of my reality...
Komori Lumine... the girl I knew... she never existed... Or at least... not in the world I was currently standing in...
Darkness started to engulf my consciousness...