Day 1: First Sign

Sally woke up with a jolt.
Her breathing was unsteady.
A cold sweat slid down her forehead.

She brought a hand to her face, trying to stop the faint tremor in her fingers.
She couldn’t remember what she had dreamed.
Only the feeling that something important had slipped away just as she tried to reach it.

“Tssk… how annoying,” she muttered as she sat up.

She grabbed her phone.
Checked notifications, messages, anything that could distract her.

Then she saw the time.

“…Ah. I’m already late.”

She got up without rushing.
Showered.
Combed her hair while it was still damp, and left on her bike to buy a few ingredients.

The morning was cool.
The air carried that clean scent of trees still holding onto the night’s dew.
The breeze brushed her cheeks lightly, as if it knew her name.

That kind of morning.
That kind of wind.

Nagano returned to her memory without being invited.

Not clear memories.
Just fragments.

But there was one that always came back:

Her, as a child, sitting among tall grass on the mountain.
The warm earth beneath her hands.
The leaves moving in the wind as though they were breathing with her.
Soft light filtering through the foliage.

A small memory.
But beautiful.

So vivid it felt more real than the present.

She had grown up in Nagano.
Until one day, she was suddenly moved to Kyoto with no explanation.

“Family reasons.”
That was all they said.

Kyoto was pleasant: old temples, quiet streets, busy stations.
She liked it there.
But sometimes… she felt as if a part of her had stayed behind, still sitting in that field of grass, on that mountain.

Back home, she made a simple ramen.
Then started her stream.

“Good morning~! Can you hear me alright?” she greeted with an automatic smile.

The chat burst instantly.

We hear you perfect
Helloooo Sallyyy
Today’s the dayyy

“Today we’re trying that zombie game you recommended,” she announced. “I’m sharing the server… hurry and join!”

Laughter.
Game shouts.
Reactions.
Everything flowed like always.

Until a message appeared in the chat:

You were at that event.
I saw you die.

Sally froze.
A chill ran down her spine.

A shapeless flash flickered in her mind.
A light.
A pain.
A void.

She typed slowly:

—How do you remember that?

Another line appeared:

Did you also see… that light?

The reply that followed was a link.
Nothing else.

Sally saved it.
Smiled.
Kept playing like nothing had happened.

After ending the stream and closing everything, the room fell silent.

Then she opened the link.

It led to a group with a dark background and neon borders.
The name read:

BASTARD SOCIETY

The top pinned post said:

Magic has begun to exist.

Sally blinked.
Confused, she tapped it open.

There was a video attached.

A security camera recording at an intersection, late at night.
The street was almost empty.
Streetlights reflected on wet asphalt.
That quiet, sleep-heavy cold of a city at rest.

A boy crossed the street.
Seconds later, he was hit by a car.

The driver fled.
The boy’s body lay motionless.

The camera, distant and unblinking, simply watched.
No music.
No screams.
No one else there.

And then—just for an instant, barely visible:

Something emanated from his body.

Not normal light.
Not reflection.

Something that shouldn’t exist there.

Just one frame.

Then the video ended.

The comments below continued:

The accident is real.
It happened in Nagoya at 2:43 a.m.
We analyzed the footage frame by frame. It’s not edited.
We contacted the family. The boy really died.
No media reported it.
Someone doesn’t want this to spread.

Why is nobody talking about this?

There are no special effects.
The footage is raw.
Something is being covered up.

Sally felt her stomach hollow out.

She didn’t know why.

A warmth in her chest.
The sense that something had been ripped out of the world and put back in the wrong shape.

And then she understood.

This wasn’t a rumor.

She didn’t know what it meant.
But she knew it was real.

Magic had begun to exist.