Nagi

I carry the civilian down the hallway.

They’re heavier than expected.

My body is already exhausted from healing them, and every step feels heavier than the last. I can feel my legs beginning to lose their strength, but I force myself to keep moving anyway.

I don’t know where we’re going.

At this point, I’m not even sure if there is a way out.

“Hey, are you awake?”

The person on my back lets out a quiet groan.

“...Yeah.”

“Good.”

I adjust my grip and continue walking.

For a while, neither of us says anything.

The only sounds are my footsteps and the occasional creaking of the school around us. I keep expecting to hear the teacher behind us, but nothing comes.

Maybe she really can’t leave the classroom.

Or maybe she’s waiting.

I don’t know which possibility is worse.

“You saved me.”

The civilian’s voice breaks the silence.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

I think about the moment I saw those rulers pierce their stomach. Having been stabbed as well, I feel a strange connection with them. Knowing how much it hurts, it’s hard not to want to help.

“I couldn’t just leave you there.”

The civilian is quiet.

Then they speak again.

“Even though you barely know me?”

“Does that matter?”

They go silent.

“I guess not.”

I continue walking.

“Hey, um…”

“Yes?”

“You can let me down now. I think I should be able to walk.”

I kneel down and let them hop off my back.

I was more than willing to carry them, but I would be lying if I were to say I wasn’t a little happy about them getting off.

The civilian takes a few unsteady steps forward.

They almost stumble.

I reach out and grab their shoulder.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

They steady themselves against the wall before standing on their own.

“I just need a moment.”

“Take your time.”

I look at their stomach.

There’s still blood covering their clothes, but the wound itself is completely gone. There isn't even a scar where the rulers pierced them.

If I hadn’t seen it happen, I probably wouldn’t believe they had been injured at all.

The civilian notices me staring.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

I look away.

I still don’t know how to explain what I did.

I don't even completely understand it.

The civilian looks down at their stomach and runs a hand over the spot where the wound had been.

“I thought I was dead.”

“You almost were.”

They let out a quiet laugh.

“But thanks to you, I guess I live another day.”

There’s a brief moment of silence.

Then they look at me.

“So what’s your power? Some kind of healing related one?”

I hesitate.

“It’s complicated.”

“Oh, wait, sorry. I guess asking outright is pretty rude. I haven’t even introduced myself yet.”

They give me an awkward smile.

“My name is Nagi.”

“Nagi…”

I repeat their name in my head.

It suits them somehow.

“I’m Yusuke.”

“Yusuke.”

They nod.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

We exchange a brief handshake.

It’s a weird situation to be in.

We’re standing in the middle of a Manifestation, covered in blood.

But yet, here we are exchanging introductions.

I suppose introductions are important. It would be weird if I just kept referring to them as a civilian.

“So, Yusuke…”

“Yeah?”

“How long have you been here?”

I think for a moment.

“I’m not sure. Maybe an hour?”

Nagi looks surprised.

“You just got here?”

“Yeah.”

I look at them.

“How about you?”

Nagi doesn’t answer immediately.

They look down the hallway, as if trying to figure out how much they should tell me.

“Maybe about a week?”

A week spent in a Manifestation is a pretty long time.

“Honestly, I’m not too sure. I felt like I was stuck hiding in that classroom for days.”

They let out a loud chuckle.

“If you hadn’t found me, I would have probably starved to death.”

I look at them.

“Wait, you didn’t have any food?”

“I did.”

Nagi points toward the classroom we just left.

“I brought a backpack with me when I came here.”

They shrug.

“I knew I was probably going to be in here for a long time, so I figured I would come prepared. You know, food, water, all that good stuff.”

“Why did you come here?”

“My brother.”

Nagi’s expression changes slightly.

“He goes to this school. Or used to, I guess.”

“He’s a student here?”

“Yeah.”

They pause for a moment.

“He disappeared a while ago.”

“Disappeared?”

Nagi nods.

“Nobody knew where he went. His phone was off, and he never came home. We tried looking for him, but there wasn’t much to go on.”

They glance back toward the classroom.

“But then news came out about this place. A list of students who were supposed to be in class that day was released. Everyone on that list was presumed dead.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Nagi shakes their head.

“I’m the one who should be sorry.”

I look at them.

“What?”

“I should’ve come here sooner.”

They look down at their hands.

“I knew something was wrong. I knew he was missing, but I kept thinking something else would find him.”

Their voice gets quieter.

“Then when I finally realized I needed to do something myself, it had already been months.”

I don’t know what to say.

Nagi lets out a quiet laugh, though there isn’t much humor to anything they have said.

“Pretty crappy sibling, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Don’t gotta make me feel better.”

They lean back against the wall.

“I know it isn’t my fault or anything. And even if I did come earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to actually do anything. But a small part of me still wants to believe that it would have changed something.”

I look at Nagi.

“But… why are you here now?”

“I just wanted to know what happened to him.”

“So you came here for closure?”

“Something like that, haha.”

They’re trying to laugh it off, but their expression looks distant. It makes sense, though. I can’t imagine it’s a happy memory. And I’m pretty much in the same boat as them.

“So… did you find anything?”

Nagi looks at me.

“About my brother?”

“Yeah.”

They hesitate.

“I think I did.”

“You think?”

“I saw him briefly.”

My eyes widen.

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

Nagi looks toward the end of the hallway.

“He was in one of the classrooms.”

“Was he okay?”

Nagi doesn’t answer.

That alone tells me enough.

“Never mind, you don’t have to answer. Sorry about that.”

“Hah, you’re a nice one huh, Yusuke.”

A small smile forms on their face.

“I don’t mind telling you.”

I listen.

“He wasn’t okay.”

I stay quiet.

“He was just sitting there with the rest of them. Staring at the teacher, waiting for class to start.”

Nagi’s hands tighten slightly.

“I called his name.”

They pause.

“He looked at me.”

“And he recognized you?”

Nagi shakes their head.

“Not at all.”

I think back to the student I met earlier.

The way they struggled to remember their own name.

The way they eventually became one of the others.

“Did you try talking to him?”

“Of course.”

Nagi gives a quiet laugh.

“I probably spent half an hour trying to convince him that I was his sibling.”

“Did it work?”

Nagi shakes their head.

“He just kept looking at me like I was crazy.”

I feel bad prying. But there’s something bugging me about this conversation.

“Wait, Nagi.”

“Yeah?”

“How did you even know that was your brother?”

“Oh, here. Let me show you.”

Their hands start glowing blue.

“What are you doing?”

“Just watch.”

The blue light spreads from their hands, slowly filling the hallway around us.

Then I hear something.

A voice.

Faint at first, almost like someone speaking from far away.

I look around, but there’s nobody there.

“What is this?”

Nagi doesn’t answer.

The hallway begins to change.

For just a moment, I see something that wasn’t there before.

Students.

With their faces uncovered.

Walking through the halls. Talking to each other. Laughing.

Then the image flickers.

Everything disappears.

I look at Nagi.

“What was that?”

“A remnant.”

“Huh?”

“Something that happened here before.”

Nagi looks at their glowing hands.

“My family’s power lets us see things that happened in the past.”

“So you saw him?”

“Yeah.”

Nagi nods.

“I saw him walking into that classroom. I could also see the seat he usually sat in, so I started from there.”

What an impressive power.

“So you can see anything that happened here?”

“Not exactly.”

Nagi shakes their head.

“It’s more like… traces.”

They look at their hands.

“Sometimes I get a whole scene. Sometimes it’s just an image. Sometimes it’s just a feeling.”

“Can you choose what you see?”

“Not really. It’s kind of random how much I get to see. It just so happens that this area seems to have a high affinity with my power, so I got to see a lot more than usual.”

Nagi smiles awkwardly.

“Consider yourself lucky.”

“You got to see it too.”

I look around the hallway.

What used to be a lively scene is now empty and barren.

“So those students…”

“Yeah.”

I figured out as much.

“Do you know what happened to them?”

Nagi shakes their head.

“Not exactly. But I saw enough to know that something happened here.”

“What did you see?”

Nagi hesitates.

“It’s hard to make out because most of the remnants were pretty fragmented.”

They look down at their hands.

“But there was one thing I kept seeing.

“What was it?”

“The Teacher.”

“What about her?”

“She was different.”

Nagi’s expression becomes more serious.

“Before all of this happened, she wasn’t like that.”

“How do you know?”

“She was smiling. I saw so many remnants of her smiling.”

“Is that so?”

“Smiling before starting class. Smiling while bantering with her class. Smiling as she ate lunch with the students. She seemed like a great teacher, from what I saw.”

I think back to the teacher we just ran from.

The creepy expression.

The way she looked at Nagi.

The rulers piercing their stomach.

It’s hard to imagine that person being a normal teacher.

“Then what happened?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.”

They point to their stomach.

“But things have been a little tough, as you can see.”

I let out a small laugh.

“Yeah. I guess getting stabbed makes doing things a little difficult.”

“Exactly, you get it.”

Nagi pushes themself away from the wall.

“But I did find a few things before she started chasing me.”

“Like what?”

“Places where the remnants are stronger.”

They point toward the end of the hall.

“There’s one nearby.”

“You want to go there?”

“Not much of a choice, is there?”

“You’re right. Let’s go.”

We start walking down the hallway.

Nagi takes the lead, though they still look a little unsteady.

I follow behind them.

I still don’t know what to make of Nagi.

But I can say that I respect them. Going this far for their brother… It's admirable.

Also, having somebody here makes the Manifestation already seem way less scary.

< You act as if you were alone before. >

I pause.

What do you mean?

< I am here, am I not? >

Well… it’s a little different. Nagi is physically here.

< I see how it is. >

Are you… jealous?

< No. >

I didn’t know you could feel that emotion.

< Focus on where you are going. >

I can’t help but smile.

Maybe having somebody here does make this place less scary.

Even if one of them isn’t technically here.