The infirmary bandaged Rei's hand in silence. He barely winced during the splinting — the pain was manageable, just another old friend from his past life.
By the time he joined the others at the dining hall, his left hand was wrapped tightly, and Kajala had already grabbed him a plate of food.
"Sit, champ!" Kajala beamed, patting the seat beside him.
Rei sat with a soft grunt, carefully lowering the tray with his good hand. Rika was already there, nibbling on a strange fruit with purple skin and a faint glow. Regulus sat across, chewing with both cheeks full like a chipmunk. He'd dropped his fork three times already.
"So…" Kajala grinned, elbowing Rei lightly, "that duel? Legendary. Varin's face? Even more legendary."
Rei poked at his rice. "My hand's broken."
"Yeah, but his pride is shattered. Fair trade."
Rika tilted her head. "You fought really… differently. Not like the other students."
"I trained before this," Rei said simply.
Regulus leaned forward, slamming his juice down with a little too much force. "Speaking of legendary! Have you guys ever heard of Esteria?"
"Mm," Rika nodded. "City of Knights."
Kajala lit up. "Oooh, yeah! That place is amazing. All the top-ranked knights come from there. But it's not just training — they protect something, right?"
Rei looked up. "What do they protect?"
Kajala's voice dropped, almost reverent. "The Book of Overseers."
Regulus gasped mid-bite and nearly choked. "The one that predicts the future!?"
Kajala nodded. "Yep. It's locked in the center of the Grand Archive of Esteria. Supposedly written by an ancient race — maybe gods, maybe something worse — and guarded for centuries by a knightly order known as the Eidolon Circle."
Rika blinked. "They say the book can only be read by someone who's destined to change the world. The last person who touched it saw their own death… and it still came true."
Rei stayed quiet.
Something about that gave him a chill he couldn't place.
Kajala leaned back, arms behind his head. "I wanna go there someday. Not to see the book — just to meet the knights. Maybe fight one. They say their captain once cleaved a mountain in half."
Regulus gasped. "That's impossible!"
"I dunno," Kajala said, nudging Rei. "I've seen some pretty impossible things lately."
Rei rolled his eyes but said nothing.
But deep in his chest… something pulsed.
The idea of a book that knew the future?
He didn't need that.
He already knew what the end looked like.
But maybe… just maybe…
Esteria held answers to questions he hadn't dared ask yet.
That night, the academy grounds were quiet under the pale glow of the twin moons. Most of the students had already returned to their dorms, voices fading into tired goodnights and yawns behind closed doors.
Rei walked alone.
His hand was still sore beneath the wrappings, but he wanted to explore more of the campus — get a feel for the layout, the hidden corners, the best escape routes. Old habits never really died, even in a new life.
Stone paths wound between towering buildings and ivy-covered halls. Lanterns flickered with soft enchantments, casting gentle halos of light around gardens and archways. The academy was beautiful at night — peaceful, even.
But something felt… off.
A breath. A shift in the air.
Rei paused near a fountain in the east courtyard, eyes narrowing.
Then — silence shattered.
A rush of footsteps.
He turned — but too slow.
Pain exploded in his neck. Cold steel sliced clean across his throat. He staggered, breath stolen, vision already fading. He collapsed to the cobblestones, blood pouring like a river.
And in those final seconds — he saw them.
A tall figure in a black cloak. A silver mask with no mouth, only two hollow eyes. Standing over him. Watching. Still.
Then—
Darkness.
And then—
A flash of heat in his chest.
A burning, twisting sensation, as though reality itself had been yanked backward like a sling.
He gasped.
And blinked.
He was back.
Back in the training yard.
The sun was high. His hand wasn't broken. Varin — the bully — stood before him, sneering.
"What's the matter, no-magic? Scared already?"
Rei stared in stunned silence. His heart raced. His breath shook.
He was reliving it. Again.
The duel. The moment before he broke his hand. Before he died.
RE:DO.
It had activated.
This wasn't a dream. It wasn't a vision.
He died.
And now… he was back.
Rei tightened his grip on his sword, the weight suddenly heavier. The training yard was the same — but everything felt different.
He wasn't just fighting a bully anymore.
He was fighting fate.
The blade slipped from Rei's hand and clattered onto the stone.
His legs buckled.
He dropped to his knees.
Everything felt wrong.
The sun was too bright. The voices too loud. His heartbeat crashed like thunder in his ears. He couldn't breathe right — not through his nose, not through his mouth. The world felt like it was pressing in from all sides.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
He had died. He felt it — the blood, the cold, the mask, the fear.
And now he was here again.
Like it never happened.
Like it did.
Rei's body shook, uncontrollably, violently. But he didn't cry. He couldn't. His face was blank, pale, eyes wide and fixed on nothing. He didn't even register the people starting to gather around him — Kajala shouting his name, someone calling for a teacher, the thud of boots on stone.
He was trapped in that moment. In the stillness. In the slice of cold metal and the sight of his own blood pooling around him.
He hadn't just remembered it.
He relived it.
Kajala was at his side in seconds, kneeling, grabbing his shoulders. "Rei! Hey — hey, look at me!" his voice was sharp but gentle. "You're okay. You're safe. Whatever it is — it's not happening now."
But Rei wasn't listening.
He couldn't.
He was still there.
Still bleeding out under moonlight.
Still staring into the empty eyes of a masked killer.
And somewhere, deep inside his chest…
the power that had brought him back ticked quietly again.
The mess hall buzzed with chatter and the clinking of cutlery as trays were slid along metal rails and students jostled for space. Rei sat down at the long wooden table, his tray barely touched. Kajala plopped down next to him with a loud sigh, scooting way too close as usual. Rika sat across from them, idly poking at her mashed potatoes with a fork like she wasn't quite convinced they were edible.
Regulus dropped his tray.
Clatter!
"Dammit—" he groaned, bending down quickly to scoop up the scattered contents. He'd only made it halfway back to his seat when—
Clatter!
He dropped the fork.
Kajala burst out laughing. "At this point, I think you're cursed."
"Shut up," Regulus muttered, red-faced, sitting down at last. "Anyway—before I ruin anything else—do you guys remember hearing about Esteria?"
Rei's eyes lifted slightly.
"Place full of knights?" Kajala asked. "Where they guard some ancient book?"
"Exactly." Regulus leaned forward, expression serious for once. "The Book of Overseers. A legendary artifact kept in the Sanctum Citadel. They say it can predict the future. Not just for the world — but for people, individually."
Rika tilted her head. "Like, if you read it, you know how you die?"
"Maybe," Regulus said. "Or maybe it tells you what choices will change your fate. That's why so many knights go there — to protect it. Or try to learn from it. Or try to steal it, depending on who you ask."
Rei stared at his food, jaw tight.
He'd heard all this yesterday — or what should've been yesterday.
But now, the conversation was happening again.
Time had rewound. No one else knew. But he remembered.
The panic still lingered in his chest like a cold ember, but the noise of the dining hall kept him grounded. Just enough.
Kajala nudged him with his elbow. "Hey. You okay? You're quiet."
"Just tired," Rei muttered.
Regulus, unaware, took a big bite of bread—then dropped his cup with a splash.
"Three times in one meal," Rika said flatly.
Kajala leaned over to whisper to Rei, "That has to be a record."
Rei forced a weak smirk. Just enough to play along.
But the words "Book of Overseers" stuck in his mind like a nail.
Could it be real?
Could it explain what just happened to him?
Could it predict… when he'd die again?
He didn't know. But now he had a direction.
Esteria.
That name would come up again. It had to.