Two days passed without incident.
No unraveling shadows. No ghostly voices. No weeping curtains or cryptic lines from forgotten scripts.
Just school.
Classes resumed, mundane and oddly comforting. Students gossiped about exams and who tripped on the courtyard stairs. Kael managed to win the "longest yawn during math" bet with Haru, while Yuzu got herself banned from the chemistry lab again.
It felt… normal.
Too normal.
Ayame sat in the garden at lunch, her sketchbook open but forgotten in her lap. She stared at the koi pond, at the slow swirl of water. Something about the reflection didn't look right.
Kael found her there.
He dropped beside her, unwrapping a convenience store bun, and nudged her with his knee. "You're doing the 'the pond is talking to me' thing again."
She blinked, then smiled faintly. "It's not talking. It's just… humming."
Kael glanced at the water. "I don't hear anything."
"I think it's only when I'm quiet. Like… really quiet. It's like something beneath the surface is trying to get my attention."
He looked at her. "Is it dangerous?"
Ayame hesitated. "No. I don't think so. Just… old. Like an echo waiting for the right moment to finish."
Kael offered her the rest of his bun. "Echo snacks?"
She took it with a grin.
They sat like that for a while—shoulder to shoulder, letting the silence settle.
Until Haru came crashing through the hedges, panting.
"You guys—you need to see this."
—
The school library, second floor. Restricted section.
Haru led them to the old records alcove, where Mio and Yuzu were already gathered around a spread of dusty, weathered scrolls.
"This was hidden under the floorboards," Mio said, eyes narrowed. "Yuzu was looking for a trash bin. Instead, she found this."
"Rude," Yuzu muttered, brushing dust off her hoodie. "You're welcome."
Ayame leaned over the parchment. It was covered in ink lines that shimmered faintly when the light hit just right—familiar symbols, runes that echoed those they'd seen during *The Weaver's Waltz*.
But this was no script.
"It's a map," Kael whispered.
Mio nodded. "Of the school. And the land beneath it."
Ayame traced one of the lines. "This path—it connects the theater… to a space beneath the garden."
Yuzu crossed her arms. "Like a secret chamber?"
"Or an old one," Haru said. "Built before the school existed."
Ayame looked up slowly. "The koi pond."
—
That evening, they returned after dark.
Flashlights. Gloves. A crowbar stolen borrowed from the maintenance shed.
The koi pond was still and glassy, the water reflecting a perfect moon.
Ayame knelt beside it, feeling the cool air ripple against her skin.
"Here," she said, touching a stone slab half-buried at the pond's edge.
Kael helped her shift it aside—revealing a rusted iron grate beneath.
Haru whistled. "Well that's not ominous."
Yuzu clicked her flashlight on. "Let's go."
One by one, they climbed down the narrow passage beneath the pond.
It opened into a stairwell, slick with time and moss. The air was thick—charged with something ancient, electric.
At the bottom, a stone corridor curved into darkness.
They moved carefully, each step echoing off the walls.
And then—they found it.
A circular chamber, hidden beneath the school for who knew how long. The walls were etched with the same glowing script from the performance, but far older. The center of the chamber was empty—save for a pedestal.
And on it… a mirror.
Not cracked. Not dusty.
Pristine.
It reflected only the chamber.
Not them.
"Okay," Yuzu whispered. "Not creepy at all."
Ayame stepped forward. The pendant at her neck began to glow.
And from the mirror—whispers.
Not menacing. Just… insistent.
*"You opened the gate. You walked the thread. Now face the seam."*
Kael moved beside her. "This isn't over."
Ayame reached out, her fingers brushing the mirror's surface.
It shimmered like water.
And then—a *voice*.
Soft. Gentle. Ancient.
"You are not the first."
Ayame's breath hitched. "Who are you?"
"A witness," the voice said. "One who remembers what the Weaver tried to bury."
Mio stepped forward. "You were here… before?"
"Yes. I watched it happen. The girl. The play. The rewrite."
Ayame swallowed. "Rhiannon."
The mirror pulsed. "She was the warning. You are the choice."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Choice for what?"
"To break the loom," the voice said. "To end the pattern once and for all. But know this—doing so requires more than memory. It requires sacrifice."
Ayame's heart tightened.
"How much?"
The voice paused.
"Enough."
And then the mirror dimmed.
Silence fell like snowfall.
Yuzu finally muttered, "Okay. So… what the hell now?"
Ayame turned to her friends.
Her team.
Her found family.
"We prepare," she said.
Kael nodded. "We plan."
Mio smiled faintly. "We learn the pattern."
Haru cracked his knuckles. "And we break it."
Yuzu rolled her eyes. "And I guess I cancel my weekend plans. Again."
They stood in the forgotten chamber, surrounded by memory and thread and possibility.
Somewhere far above them, the stars continued to watch.
And for the first time in a long time… they were listening.
---