Shadows of a second life

Elias stared at his sister’s tear-streaked face in the mirror, and something inside him cracked open.

The image transported him back.

Haruto Takahashi’s Story

He had met Aiko during their second year of high school.

It started innocently enough — a group project where they were paired together. She was bright, popular, and confident, the kind of girl who lit up every room she entered. Haruto was… average. Plain looks, average grades, quiet personality. But Aiko had smiled at him that first day and said, “You seem reliable. Let’s do our best, okay?”

Everything felt perfect after that.

They started dating three months later. She really seemed to love him — or so he thought. They went on simple dates: cheap café visits, walks in the park, late-night convenience store runs for ice cream. They even slept together a few times, awkward and tender in the way first loves often are. Haruto had never felt so seen. For once, he wasn’t invisible.

But cracks began to show.

Aiko slowly became more aware of how average he truly was. His grades hovered in the mid-range no matter how hard he studied. He had no notable talents, no athletic ability, no rich parents. He was, in her words one night after an argument, “just… there.”

It drove him to try harder. He stayed up late studying, joined a club he hated just to have something to show, scraped together money for better gifts. He wanted to catch up to her level — to be someone she could be proud of.

Instead, she began pulling away.

Messages went unanswered for days. Calls were ignored. When he surprised her with a handmade Valentine’s Day gift — a small scrapbook of their memories — she barely looked at it before saying, “This is cute, but… don’t you think it’s a bit childish for our age?”

Then came the worst part.

She started going out with other guys openly. More popular ones. Taller ones. Ones with clearer futures. Haruto saw the photos on her social media — the ones she forgot to hide from him. The public breakup happened right in the school courtyard during lunch, surrounded by their classmates.

“Haruto, I’m sorry, but this isn’t working. You’re just too average. I need someone who excites me. Someone with actual potential.”

The laughter and whispers that followed were brutal. The same courtyard where they had shared their first kiss on a quiet afternoon now became the stage of his humiliation.

Not everyone was cruel.

He had one real friend — Kenji — who tried to comfort him afterward.

“Relax, bro. Prove them all wrong. You can do it, I know you can. There are many fish in the sea.”

Haruto had taken it as mockery. How easy for you to say that, he thought bitterly. You have a girlfriend. A good life. What would you know about being nothing?

That lack of understanding, that spiraling resentment, led him down the path to the park with the knife. The fight. The beating. The end.

He didn’t blame his killers. Not really. He blamed himself for everything. For being weak. For being average. For pushing away the one person who had actually tried to help him.

He regretted being rude to his only true friend more than anything.

Back in the present, Elias blinked, the bathroom coming back into focus. Elara was still crying softly. He was only ten now — four years younger than he had been when everything fell apart in his first life. Yet his sister, just three years older than him, was already facing humiliation and self-doubt.

If I, at seventeen, couldn’t handle it… how much more danger is she in?

He stood up slowly, his expression turning cold.

No. Not this time.

He had felt what bullying felt like. What public humiliation did to a person. What abandonment and comparison could break inside someone.

Today, he made a decision.

He wouldn’t let his sister experience it. Not while he was here.

A manic, psychopathic smile slowly spread across his young face. His eyes gleamed with something dark and unhinged.

“Anyone who crosses me…” he whispered, voice low and chilling, “be it a kid or an adult, young or old, male or female… anyone who tries to hurt those I care about… will pay.”

Elara looked up, startled by the sudden shift in her little brother.

Elias crouched down, looking her straight in the eyes with frightening intensity.

“Sis, don’t worry.”

He stood up and turned toward the door.

Elara’s voice cracked behind him. “Elias… where are you going?”

Without missing a beat, he responded calmly:

“I’m going to commit murder tonight