The rain had stopped, but the streets of Shinkawa were still wet, the neon lights shimmering in the puddles like fractured memories. Haratu Sota walked silently alongside Ryoko Tanaka, the weight of the last revelation clinging to their steps like shadows that wouldn't let go.
The notebook found in Shino Kurobane's apartment had been the breakthrough they needed—but also a curse. It contained not only the names of every victim so far, but also a list of future dates. Five of them. Unnamed. Just dates. The next one was tomorrow.
"This list… it's impossible unless someone knew what would happen weeks in advance," Ryoko muttered, flipping through the scanned pages again as they walked toward their car.
Haratu didn't respond immediately. His eyes weren't focused on the road but on the reflection of the street behind them in a shop window.
"There's one thing I haven't told you yet," he finally said, unlocking the car. "A name came up in the police archives when I cross-checked the last victim's blood. A DNA match."
Ryoko snapped her gaze toward him. "What? A match to who?"
He got into the passenger seat before answering. "Yuzuru Maika. She was reported dead ten years ago… during a cult mass suicide. One of the survivors was a child. Name unknown. But Maika was thought to be the leader."
Ryoko sat behind the wheel, gripping it tightly. "You think this is connected to the 'Kōkai no Me'?"
Haratu nodded. "I don't think. I know."
---
Meanwhile, deep inside an abandoned subway station that hadn't been used in decades, a figure lit a single candle. Around him were dozens of photos—black-and-white images of each victim, each connected by string in a circular pattern.
He picked up a new photograph. The edges were still warm from the printer. On it was Ryoko Tanaka.
"She'll interfere again," he whispered, his voice thin and melodic like wind over glass. "She doesn't understand. None of them do. But Haratu…"
He turned his head slightly, revealing a sharp profile. Half of his face was scarred, the skin like melted wax.
"…he was always meant to witness the end."
He placed Ryoko's photo on the outer ring and looped a silver string through it.
---
Back in Haratu's office, the walls were lined with crime scene photos and strings crisscrossing like a spider's web. Shino Kurobane was there, sitting in silence as she clutched a steaming cup of tea, her eyes sunken and unreadable.
"Tell me what you haven't said yet," Haratu asked, watching her carefully.
Shino didn't answer at first. Then, finally, she whispered, "My mother used to talk in her sleep. She mentioned the cycle… the circle of sins… and the 'Eye of Regret'."
Ryoko raised a brow. "Kōkai no Me?"
Shino nodded. "She said... the only way to escape was to be killed by someone you loved."
A silence followed. Heavy and suffocating.
Then Haratu spoke. "The murders aren't random. They're… ritualistic. Each victim kills another as part of a chain—but that chain is designed to provoke regret at every stage. Lover kills lover. Friend kills friend."
"And then what?" Ryoko asked.
Haratu stared at the board. "Then they die by another hand—someone who carries that regret further. Until…"
"Until it loops?" Shino said, her voice shaking.
"Exactly."
---
As they prepared to leave the office, a knock came at the door.
It opened slowly to reveal a young man—no older than 20. He had long silver hair tied in a ponytail, pale eyes like ice under moonlight, and a black satchel hanging from his shoulder.
"I'm sorry for coming so late," he said. "My name is Kazuki Ren. I think I'm supposed to be dead."
Ryoko's hand instinctively moved to her sidearm, while Haratu gestured for calm. The strange young man—Kazuki Ren—stood motionless, his pale eyes steady and unafraid.
"Explain what you just said," Haratu ordered, rising from his chair.
Kazuki stepped further into the office, his steps silent, his presence uncanny. "I woke up three days ago in a hospital morgue. They said I was dead for twelve hours. No heartbeat. No pulse. But then... I gasped. Came back."
Haratu's mind ticked like a stopwatch.
Ryoko frowned. "That's impossible."
Kazuki smiled faintly. "Yes. So is the idea of a murder cycle where the killers are also victims in reverse."
That silenced the room.
"I know about the cycle," Kazuki continued, setting his satchel on the desk. "Because I'm part of it. I killed someone a week ago. And before that... someone tried to kill me."
Haratu narrowed his eyes. "Who?"
Kazuki pulled out a photograph from his satchel and laid it flat on the table. It showed a woman in her twenties, dark hair, a stitched scar across her cheek.
"Her name was Kuroha Yume. She said she was part of something called 'The Reversal Chain'. She came at me with a knife. I defended myself. She died."
Haratu looked down at the photo. "Kuroha Yume. She was a suspect in the third murder. But we thought she was the victim."
Kazuki leaned forward. "She was. After I killed her, someone else came for me. Two days later. That man stabbed me in my apartment. I remember the pain. Then... darkness. Then I woke up in the morgue."
Shino, sitting silently nearby, finally spoke. "Why come to us?"
Kazuki looked directly at Haratu.
"Because I don't know how long I have before someone comes for me again. And you're the only one who might understand what's happening."
---
That night, Haratu stood alone in his study, tracing red threads between victims. A new portrait now joined the board—Kazuki Ren. Under it, he scribbled one word: revived?
There were now two unknowns: the mastermind orchestrating the murders... and the force that brought Kazuki back.
---
Elsewhere, beneath the surface of the city, in a candlelit room filled with chanting whispers, the disfigured man—known only as The Oracle—watched a projection of Haratu's office from a hidden camera.
A young woman approached him, her hair white as snow, her eyes blindfolded in silk. "You warned them too early," she said.
"They needed to see Kazuki," the Oracle replied. "Without him, the regret would never reach its purest form."
The girl nodded slowly. "The Circle is incomplete."
"It will complete soon," he said. "And when it does, Haratu Sota will understand that this is not a series of murders… but a cleansing ritual."
---
Back at headquarters, Ryoko was typing furiously through the city archives. Shino helped, looking for cult references. The name "Reversal Chain" wasn't in the usual police records—but in a blacklisted investigation involving spiritual terrorism from twelve years ago.
"Here," Shino pointed. "A radical offshoot of Kōkai no Me. They believed in reversing karma through death."
Ryoko leaned over. "Their leader… Mizuki Inei. That name's familiar."
Haratu returned from the kitchen with three cups of coffee. "It should be. Mizuki Inei was declared legally dead in 2016. His body was never found."
Shino's eyes widened. "Then maybe…"
Ryoko picked up where she left off. "Then maybe he's the Oracle."
---
Kazuki sat alone in the guest room, staring into the mirror.
His reflection didn't feel like his own. Ever since he woke in that morgue, he had memories—voices—of people he didn't know.
"Do you think," he whispered to himself, "that dying once lets you hear the dead?"
Behind him, unseen, a pale figure stood in the corner. Its eyes were hollow. It made no sound.
Kazuki turned suddenly, but there was nothing there.
The city slept uneasily that night. In the haze of sodium streetlights and the constant drizzle, another shadow moved—quiet, quick, lethal.
He moved like a phantom, face obscured by a hood, steps silent as he neared the perimeter of the investigation bureau. His name was unknown, but his purpose was clear.
Inside, Haratu paced. Kazuki's appearance had changed the equation. But even more than his bizarre survival, it was who he reminded Haratu of.
A photo—one from an old unsolved case—sat on Haratu's desk now. It showed a boy, maybe 12 years old, standing near a charred temple in Kyoto. That boy was listed as missing. His name?
Kazuki Ren.
But according to official records, that Kazuki had never been found—and the one they had now bore no legal identity.
As Haratu studied the photo, the building's alarms rang—sharp and sudden.
"Unauthorized breach—Sector B3!" a voice crackled over the intercom.
Ryoko, already moving, shouted, "That's the records vault!"
Haratu grabbed his coat. "They're after something."
---
Down in B3, Kazuki had already made his way through the dimly lit corridors, drawn by something he couldn't explain. A hum. A whisper. A memory?
Then he saw it.
A sealed cabinet, dusty and forgotten, marked with a sigil of three interlocking eyes. He reached for it—but before he could open it, a cloaked figure burst from the shadows.
Their blade flashed.
Kazuki dodged barely in time, rolling to his side. "Who are you!?" he shouted.
The figure didn't respond. Instead, he rushed again. Kazuki grabbed a fallen metal pipe, deflecting the strike—but the impact rang through his arms.
Before the assassin could land another blow, Haratu appeared behind him and fired a warning shot. "That's enough."
The cloaked figure hesitated.
Ryoko followed, her taser drawn. "Hands where we can see them!"
The intruder hissed like a cornered animal, then threw down a smoke bomb.
Haratu rushed forward, but the smoke was thick. When it cleared—he was gone.
Kazuki collapsed against the cabinet. "He knew I'd be here. He was waiting for me."
Haratu helped him up. "No. He was guarding this."
He turned and unlocked the cabinet with a master key.
Inside: a single folder. A case file labeled:
"Project Hades – Subject: K.R."
Kazuki blinked. "That's… me."
Haratu flipped through the pages.
Experimental psychic research. Near-death stimulation. Memory fragmentation. A secret government trial from 2009—shut down. Subject K.R. declared unstable.
Kazuki fell to his knees.
"I'm not part of the cycle," he whispered. "I am the cycle."
---
In a quiet shrine deep in the forest, The Oracle lit three candles. Around him, blindfolded devotees knelt.
"The thread is tightening," he said.
The white-haired girl beside him asked, "What if Haratu breaks it?"
The Oracle smiled. "Then we begin Phase Two."
He lifted a worn photo.
On it: a teenage Haratu Sota—smiling, unaware, standing beside another boy in a temple courtyard.
The caption on the back read:
"Haratu & Kazuki. Year 2006."