The dream doesn't begin; it simply is.
One moment I'm asleep in the narrow bed that has never quite felt like mine, the next I'm standing barefoot on the rooftop of our old middle-school building.
The night is impossibly clear.
The moon hangs low and swollen, a perfect silver coin pressed against black velvet.
Every star is a needle.
The air smells like rain that never fell and distant rooftop tar warmed by the day's heat.
The chain-link fence rattles softly in a wind I can't feel on my skin.
And he's already there.
He leans with his back against the fence, one foot propped up, hands buried in his pockets.
The school uniform hangs on him the way it never has on me: loose, careless, like he owns the fabric instead of the other way around. Some black coat on the white uniform.
Uniform? That's not a uniform. It looks like a…
Detective dress? Not quite. It's just, his fashion sense is making him look like a genius itself.
White bandages circle both forearms, disappearing under the rolled sleeves.
His tie is a disaster.
His hair is the exact same length as mine, but somehow looks like he just rolled out of bed and still conquered the world.
He turns when he hears my footsteps on the gravel, and the grin that splits his face is so bright it hurts to look at. Although he looks dead.
Real Kiyoshi
Took you long enough, sleepyhead.
I was starting to think you'd sleep through the apocalypse.
Again.
His voice is light, musical, edged with laughter even when he's insulting me.
It's the voice I've only ever heard echoes of in my own throat when I'm not careful.
Me
…You're really him.
Real Kiyoshi
Obviously.
Who else would be this devastatingly handsome in a dream?
Come on, give me some credit.
He pushes off the fence with his shoulders and walks a slow circle around me, hands still in his pockets, head tilted like he's examining an interesting specimen.
Real Kiyoshi
Let's see… posture's still terrible, eyes still doing that lost-puppy thing.
Yep.
Definitely the discount version of me.
Ten out of ten for effort, negative several thousand for execution.
Me
You've been watching.
Real Kiyoshi
Every single embarrassing second.
The milkshake date?
The way you held that tiny plush cat like it was a national treasure?
The way you almost cried when Kiyomi hugged you after the headache?
I was right there, front-row seat, eating metaphysical popcorn.
He stops in front of me, close enough that I can smell the faint scent of gun oil and old books that always clings to the room.
Real Kiyoshi
So.
Tell me, genius.
Any idea how you hijacked my life?
Me
None.
One day I woke up here.
No memories.
No name.
Just… you.
Real Kiyoshi
And you thought you stole my body.
Me
Wouldn't you?
Real Kiyoshi (laughs, bright and sharp enough to cut glass)
Oh, absolutely.
If someone tried to steal this magnificent specimen, I'd haunt them into next year.
But you didn't steal anything.
You're just… me with a factory reset.
He taps his temple twice, still grinning.
Real Kiyoshi
Trauma so bad the brain hit the big red DELETE button on the entire personality folder.
Classic survival move.
Congratulations, you're the dumbed-down DLC.
Me
Then why are you here now?
Why tonight?
The grin fades, just a fraction.
Real Kiyoshi
Because tomorrow you're planning to say yes to Yui.
And I still have three memories even oblivion couldn't erase.
He holds up three fingers, counting them off like he's reading a grocery list written in blood.
Real Kiyoshi
One.
I was chasing someone.
Don't know who.
Don't know why.
But I can still taste the adrenaline when I close my eyes.
Two.
I love my sister more than oxygen.
Kiyomi's laugh is the only sound I'd recognize in hell.
Three…His voice drops to something quiet and deadly serious.
Real Kiyoshi
There's someone I love more than my own heart.
Her name is Aiko.
The name lands between us like a live grenade.
Me
You remember her?
Real Kiyoshi
Only fragments.
The way she said my name like it was something worth saving.
The way she called me "husband" once, half-laughing, half-crying.
The way my chest caved in when she smiled.
He looks up at the moon, and for the first time the mask slips entirely.
Real Kiyoshi
She's coming back.
Four months.
Five, tops.
When she does, everything floods back.
I'm sure of it.
Me
So don't accept Yui.
Real Kiyoshi
Exactly.
Wait for her.
Wait for us.
He starts walking again, slow laps around me, hands behind his head now.
Real Kiyoshi
You saw the desk, right?
The gun that's cleaner than a surgeon's scalpel.
The ADT badge.
The police one.
The diary in four layers of code even I can't read anymore.
Me
You were some kind of undercover agent?
Real Kiyoshi (snaps his fingers)
Good imagination. You are close try thinking a bit more, you will realize
Doing something very illegal for very legal reasons, probably.
Don't touch any of it.
Some doors, once you open them, swallow you whole.
The rooftop gravel crunches under his shoes.
He stops at the edge, looking out over the sleeping town.
Real Kiyoshi
I don't remember what I did.
But I remember the feeling of running out of time.
Of knowing I had to finish something before she came back.
Whatever it was, it broke me hard enough that my own brain decided oblivion was mercy.
He turns, and the grin is back, but it's softer now.
Real Kiyoshi
You've been doing okay, though.
The fireworks.
The porridge.
The way you let Kiyomi cry into your shoulder.
That's all mine, you know.
The capacity to love them that hard.
You didn't steal that.
You just… kept it warm for me.
Me
I'm scared I'll ruin it.
Real Kiyoshi
You won't.
You're me, idiot.
Just the me who hasn't remembered how sharp the edges are yet.
He steps closer, until we're almost nose to nose.
Real Kiyoshi
Promise me one thing.
Me
Anything.
Real Kiyoshi
When she comes back—when Aiko walks into your life again—don't run.
Don't hide behind the headaches or the fear or the gun in the drawer.
Look at her.
Really look.
And let it all come crashing back, even if it hurts.
Because whatever I did, whatever I became…
it was for her. At least I think
His outline starts to fray, moonlight bleeding through the edges.
Me (desperate)
Wait—tell me more!
What does she look like?
What's her favorite color?
Anything!
Real Kiyoshi (voice already fading)
I don't remember her face.
I just remember she was the only person who ever looked at me like I was allowed to be human.
Yui loves me its true, but she doesn't know how much monster I am. Let me tell you what will happen if she founds out
She will run for her life when she see bloods on my hand, like the people I have killed
Me
You have killed people? You said you don't remember anything
Kiyoshi
I will let you imagine the rest, Sayonara
He lifts one bandaged hand in that lazy salute.
Real Kiyoshi
Don't mess this up, idiot.
And if we're lucky…
we'll never have to meet again.
The rooftop fractures into silver shards.
I reach for him—reach for the version of myself that still knew how to smile like the world was a joke only he understood—and the dream tears apart.