Chapter 27: A Timeline That Shouldn’t Change

Haru didn’t sleep.

He lay on his back, staring at the faint glow of his ceiling, replaying the kiss in the storage room.

He kept touching his lips without meaning to, then covering his face like he wanted to disappear.

It wasn’t just the kiss.

It was everything leading up to it—

her smile at the beach,

her worried look during fireworks,

the way she’d grabbed his sleeve tonight when the lights flickered.

In the original timeline—the one Ren and Yuki had lived through—

Haru and Mina never turned romantic.

Close friends, yes.

Always teasing, always arguing, always at each other's side.

But never this.

Never a kiss.

Never a blush that stayed long after.

Never a feeling that kept him awake.

He checked his phone.

No messages.

No missed calls.

But his chest still thumped like he was waiting for something impossible.

“…What’s happening to us?” he whispered into the dark.

He had no answer.

---

Across town, Yuki jerked awake with a gasp.

The dream hit her like a blow—

Haru laughing with Mina as adults,

Mina patting his back during Ren and Yuki’s arguments,

two friends supporting a falling marriage…

But they were never a couple.

Not once.

It was clear in the memory.

They stayed friends.

Nothing more.

But now…

Yuki pressed her palm over her racing heart.

If Haru and Mina’s relationship changed…

what else could change?

She reached for water, but her hand shook.

Because the fear wasn’t about Haru or Mina.

It was the realization that the timeline wasn’t just repeating.

It was reacting.

Shifting.

Warping from choices they weren’t supposed to make.

And if the small things were changing…

What about the big things?

Their divorce.

Their kids.

Their entire future.

---

Ren didn’t sleep much either.

He sat by his bedroom window, guitar leaning against his leg, feeling the night air move strangely.

Heavy.

Charged.

Like a storm building without clouds.

Every time he closed his eyes, he heard it again:

That chime.

That strange vibration that wasn’t quite a sound.

“It’s getting louder,” he muttered to himself.

“Or closer.”

He couldn’t shake the sense that something unseen was circling them.

Not malicious.

Just… insistent.

Like the timeline wanted something.

Or someone.

---

Morning 

Ren and Yuki found each other on the way to school.

They didn’t even plan it—

their steps just matched, like gravity kept pulling them together.

Yuki looked tired.

Ren did too.

“You felt it, didn’t you?” Ren asked softly.

Yuki nodded.

“The shift.”

Ren breathed out, slow and uneasy.

“Something’s pushing us. Or pulling us. I don’t know.”

Yuki rubbed her arms, as if cold.

“My memories were clear. Haru and Mina stayed friends. But now…”

“And it’s not just them,” Ren added.

“Moments feel heavier. Like they’re waiting to be rewritten.”

They walked the last stretch in silence, listening to the morning noise of the school.

The chatter.

The footsteps.

The laughter.

All normal.

But to them, it didn’t feel normal anymore.

When they reached the gates, Yuki spoke quietly:

“Ren… what if the future isn’t fixed?

What if every little change we make creates something new?”

He looked at her.

“Then we have to be careful,” he said.

“Because something is coming.”

They both felt it.

The air shifted again.

A faint vibration.

The familiar, echoing chime…

Not distant anymore.

Closer.

Close enough to reach them.

Close enough to change everything.