You Think

Present

The streets of Shinjuku are too bright for the kind of fear curling in my chest. Neon signs scream in electric pinks and blues, casting a surreal glow over the throngs of people who have no idea our world is about to end. As Abby weaves the sedan through traffic with sharp, controlled turns.

"She lives here," Haru says quietly. He is checking the address on his phone, his dark brown hair shadowing his eyes. His voice is the only thing keeping me from vibrating out of my seat.

The apartment complex is old. It is the kind of place with narrow, rust stained balconies and hallway lights that flicker with a dying buzz. It smells faintly of damp concrete and cheap instant noodles. It is a stark contrast to the high rise dorms the company provides for us. We climb the stairs together in a tight formation. Each step feels heavier than the last, the silence between us thick with the weight of the coming confrontation.

When we stop in front of Sachi Kimura’s door, the air feels stagnant. Haru looks at me, his gentle brown eyes searching mine for a second of silent reassurance. He reaches out and briefly brushes his thumb against the back of my hand.

"No shouting," Abby says. His voice is calm, but his eyes are dark. "We talk first. We find out what she wants."

Haru knocks. The sound is final.

The door opens immediately.

Sachi stands there like she has been waiting for an eternity. She is smaller than I remember, her trainee hoodie replaced with a plain, oversized cardigan that swallows her slight frame. Her dark hair is tied back into a neat, severe ponytail. Her eyes flick past us, sharp and calculating, landing on each of our faces with a terrifying familiarity.

"You are late," she says. Her voice is flat, devoid of the warmth she used to fake in class.

Rie stiffens beside me. Her short black hair with its blue highlights seems to bristle with indignation. "You knew we were coming?"

Sachi steps aside, gesturing for us to enter. "I have been watching you since you left the annex. Come in. We do not have much time before the world changes for you."

The apartment is spotless to the point of discomfort. There are no decorations. There are no photos of family or friends. There are only several USB drives lined up carefully on the coffee table like chess pieces and a laptop sitting in the center of the room. My gaze locks on the screen. A progress bar is crawling across the center.

Sixty-five percent.

"Sachi," I say, forcing my voice to remain steady despite the roar of my pulse. "Please stop this. Whatever you think this will achieve, it won't give you what you want."

She laughs softly. It is not an amused sound. it is bitter and hollow. "Stop? After five years of watching you succeed while I became a ghost? You have no idea what I want, Aurora."

Abby steps forward, his presence commanding the small room. "You are destroying lives, Sachi. Not just ours, but everyone who work with us. You are burning down everything for a grudge."

"You destroyed mine first!" she snaps, finally turning to face him. Her eyes burn with a sudden, jagged intensity. "Do you know how many years I trained? How many hours I spent bleeding in those practice rooms while you smiled your way into every lead role? You were the golden boy. I was the girl in the back of the class who didn't have the 'classic proportions' for the industry."

Rie shakes her head, her expressive eyes filling with tears. "That is not fair. We worked just as hard as you."

"You debuted while you were still trainees!" Sachi says, her voice rising. "A TV drama. Do you know what that does to someone who has been invisible for years? To see the people who 'survived' the fire getting everything? The fans ship you and Abby together like you are some holy couple. They don't see the truth. They don't see how the company covered up the wiring issues. They don't see how you all just moved on while I was discarded like trash."

Her gaze lands on me, and I feel a shiver of pure, cold dread. "Especially you, Aurora. The foreign girl with the soft eyes and the tragic backstory. Everyone loved you instantly. You were so 'authentic.' But authenticity is just another product, isn't it?"

"I never wanted to take anything from you, Sachi," I whisper. "I just wanted to dance."

"But you did," she says simply. "Every time you stood in the spotlight, you cast a shadow over people like me. I was the one who saw the sparks that night. I was the one who saw the manager ignoring the smoke detectors."

Haru steps closer to the table, his athletic frame grounded. "The fire was not our fault. You know that. The footage shows us saving Akira."

"I know," Sachi says, a strange, thin smile touching her lips. "I never said the fire was your fault. I am not leaking that you started it. I am leaking that you knew the company was negligent and you took their silence money to get your debut. I am leaking the NDAs you signed. I am leaking the fact that you let them erase Akira Sato so you could keep your spots."

My heart stutters. That is worse. If the public thinks we sold out our friend for fame, we are done.

The upload bar hits eighty percent.

Haru reaches for the laptop, but Sachi pulls out her phone. "One step closer and I hit 'send' on the emails to the major news outlets. The video on the laptop is just the teaser. The real documents are on a timed cloud release."

The room feels like it is shrinking. I look at Rie, who is clutching her stomach as if she is going to be sick. I look at Abby, whose face is a mask of cold fury. Then I look at Haru. He looks at me, and in his eyes, I see a quiet, desperate apology.

"Sachi," I say softly, stepping toward her. "This will not give you peace. It won't make you a trainee again. It won't give you the debut you wanted. It will just make you the person who destroyed four people who were once your friends."

She looks at me, her eyes glassy and unfocused for a moment. "I don't need peace, Aurora. I just need us to finally be on the same level. At the bottom."

Her phone vibrates. She looks down at the screen. Her smile returns, more unsettling than before. "Too late."

The laptop emits a soft chime. The upload is complete.

Outside, the distant wail of a siren begins to grow louder, echoing through the narrow streets of Shinjuku. Rie sinks into a nearby chair, her petite frame sagging. "It is live. Everything is gone."

Sachi exhales, her shoulders dropping as if a heavy weight has finally been released. "Now we are even."

Abby’s voice is low, vibrating with a dangerous edge. "No, Sachi. Now the actual truth comes out. Because we weren't the only ones who signed those papers. And we weren't the only ones in the building that night."

Sachi’s eyes flicker with something like fear for the first time as she hears the sirens stop directly in front of her building. Blue and red lights begin to pulse against the sterile white walls of her apartment.

"You think you are the only one who was stalking?" Abby asks, a ghost of his witty smirk returning, though it is devoid of any humor. "We didn't come here to stop you, Sachi. We came here to make sure you were home when the police arrived with the warrant."