Day One

  Niche’s Room, Present

  Niche’s alarm goes off. He drags himself out of bed and stumbles into the bathroom, still half-asleep.

  Seven days to live and I still have to brush my teeth. How mundane.

  He's going through the motions. Toothbrush in mouth, staring at nothing.

  Something moves in his peripheral vision. On the wall. Brown. Antennae twitching.

  Startled, he spits toothpaste everywhere, backing into the shower curtain. The roach doesn't move. Just sits there. Watching him with its horrible compound eyes.

  Niche grabs a towel, throws it. Misses completely. The roach scurries up the wall.

  “Shit.” He’s frozen in genuine fear.

  Okay. Okay. You can handle one—

  Its wings twitch.

  Niche prematurely bolts from the bathroom and slams the door. Standing in the hallway, heart pounding, he regains his composure.

  His mom walks by with laundry. "Everything okay?"

  "Yeah." His voice cracks. He clears his throat, drops it an octave. "Yeah. Just... thought I saw something."

  She keeps walking. Niche stares at the bathroom door.I need to shower. Can't go to school like this.

  Deep breath. He cracks the door open, peeks inside.

  Gone.

  That's worse. Now it could be anywhere.

  He showers in record time, eyes darting to every corner. Gets dressed in the hallway.

  I’m being strategic. Better angle for escape.

  Raizen's voice, from his room, “What’s going on in there? Is there danger?”

  "No." Niche composes himself before entering. "Just... startled."

  "By what?"

  "Doesn't matter. We have bigger problems."

  Finally, he’s ready to head to school. Closing his room door, he pauses.

  It’s still in there. Somewhere. Waiting. I can't leave it alive.

  Back to the bathroom door. Deep breath. He opens it, scans every surface. Nothing.

  Then he sees it. Behind the toilet. Just... sitting there.

  Okay. I can do that thing I did in my dream, where I ignited in flames. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t just dreaming it, because my body was warm when I woke up. How do I do that? Last time, it was out of anger. Maybe strong emotions help it?

  The roach’s wings flutter.

  Shit, I have to -No. This is what I need.

  The insect takes off in flight at Niche.

  Faster than expected. I can feel my heart rate going up but…nothing.

  The roach quickly approaches.

  Shit!

  The roach, suddenly torches in a flame, redirects to the wall behind Niche.

  What just happened? I’m not sure, but I have to keep doing that, because the roach is on fire. The thing I did was to focus on the emotion and channel it to one part of my body. I don’t know how that logically works, but I can’t exactly figure it out right now.Niche turns around to find the roach a few feet on the wall behind him, covered in scorch marks by the heat, but still alive and unrelenting.How is that thing still alive?!

  It scurries down the wall and towards him on the floor. Niche backs up and another flame erupts from his body. The roach dodges it, and a scorch mark now appears on the floor.

  "Stay STILL!"

  Five minutes later, the bathroom looks like a war zone. Burn marks everywhere. Towels knocked over.

  Now on the ceiling lies the unrelenting creature. Niche throws another one. It misses, but Niche predicted the roach’s movement. In perfect coordination, Niche throws a second flame, which seems to hit the insect, breaking its grip on the ceiling.

  The roach drops right onto his shoulder.

  "GET OFF!!!”

  Niche’s flailing, spinning, and lights his whole body in a giant flame. Finally feels it fall. Sees it on the floor. Steps on it with everything he has.

  Crunch.

  He's panting, bathroom destroyed, dignity nonexistent. His mom knocks.

  "Niche? I smell smoke..."

  "Everything's fine!”

  “Okay…” his mom replies, walking back downstairs.

  He lifts his foot. He sighs in relief at the upside-down roach, but its leg twitches.

  How are you not DEAD?! At least you’re upside down now, so you can’t run away anymore. I’ll have fun with you now.

  He grabs a can of his sister’s hairspray from her bathroom, a match, and the cat food bowl. First, he places the bowl to cover the roach. Then, through a small opening, he sprays half the bottle of hairspray. He lights the match.

  Fuck you, he thinks before throwing the match into the dome and quickly closing it, holding it down to the ground to prevent any chance of escape.

  Niche hears no sounds from the mixture besides the rupture of flames. The only sign of life from the roach is a faint rustling in attempt to restabilize itself and escape. Once this vibration stopped, Niche opens up the bowl."Damn roaches. What do they even do anyways?" he mutters, the smoke from the chemical reaction not even phasing him as he grabs toilet paper to dispose of the evidence.

  Once the bathroom is as cleaned up as can be, Niche goes downstairs.

  Dad's already left for work.

  There’s one notification from “Dad” on Niche’s phone: "Working late again. Sorry"

  "Your father's been so busy lately," his mom says, not really looking at him. "That new project he was assigned."

  "What project?"

  "The... you know. The project." She frowns like she's trying to remember something. “Anyways what were you doing in that bathroom? I heard a lot of noises and vibrating. Hope you weren’t doing anything you shouldn’t have been…”

  “Mom, please.”

  The conversation died down after that, and when Niche finished breakfast, he took off for school.

  School Cafeteria, Midday, Present

  There he is, Usui thinks. Damn, Maruka even sits with him? They’re closer than I thought. Who’s that kid sitting with them? Don’t think I got any classes with him, but he seems to be entertaining the couple, if I can call them that. On that note, no one’s been able to confirm it, but those two sure act like they’re together. No platonic friendship is that close.

  Usui approaches Niche's lunch table, cutting off Ryota’s story as Ryota turned to look at the foreigner. Usui sits down across from Niche without asking.

  "Mind if I sit?" Usui's already unwrapping his lunch.

  "Uh... sure?" Ryota replies.

  They eat in silence for a minute. Usui interprets the mood as awkward silence, but Niche and Maruka are just bored. Ryota doesn’t even notice the silence.

  "So that was crazy yesterday," Usui finally says. "With the car."

  "Yeah,” Niche replies, disinterested in the conversation.

  "You okay?"

  "I'm fine,” he answers, keeping the disinterested tone.

  More silence. Usui pulls out his phone. His solution to relieve the awkwardness is to try to not even notice it. The others at the table are unphased by Usui’s action, while Usui is scrolling through his phone while eating.

  “So, Ryota. Where were you with that story again?” Niche says delightfully, now completely ignoring Usui’s presence.

  Ryota begins to retell it, but is cut off by Usui for the second time.

  "Hey, weird question," Usui says. "Your dad works for the government, right Niche?"

  “How'd you know that?" Niche asks, showing interest in this newcomer for the first time.

  "My dad mentioned it once. They're in the same building or something." Usui shrugs. "Just wondering if your dad said anything about all the weird stuff happening lately."

  "Like what?"

  "I don't know. The car thing. Some other stuff I've been reading about online." He shows Niche his phone. "People talking about seeing weird things downtown."

  "My dad doesn't really talk about work."

  "Same." Usui pockets his phone. "Anyway. If you need notes from the physics lecture today, I've got them. You were zoned out for half the period."

  "Thanks, but I don’t really take notes.”

  “Anyways, class starts in a few minutes, and mine is pretty far from here.” Usui starts to get up, then pauses. "Actually... there's something else."

  "What?"

  "The car thing yesterday. That wasn't random." Usui leans across the table, lowering his voice and whispering in Niche’s ear. "You're going through trials."

  Niche freezes. "What?"

  "I’ll tell you more after. Meet me at -”

  “Yo Usui," Ryota interrupts, his face in a grin, "I was reading about how microwaving food destroys all the nutrients."

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Usui's looks across the table at Ryota and sits back down. He says, "That's not how radiation works—"

  "No, no, it restructures the molecules," Niche jumps in, keeping his face serious. "Makes them toxic."

  "Microwaves just heat water molecules through vibration, they don't—"

  "But the vibration changes the DNA," Ryota says, nodding.

  "Food doesn't have DNA after it's cooked!"

  "Exactly," Niche says. "The microwave destroys it."

  "That's not what I—"

  "Plus, the radiation stays in the food," Ryota adds. "That's why microwaved water won't help plants grow."

  "That’s not how that WORKS! That doesn’t even make sense.” He frantically types something into his search. “Look, here's a study—"

  "Funded by Big Microwave," Niche says dismissively.

  "Big Microwave?!"

  "The microwave industry. They suppress the truth," Ryota explains patiently.

  "There's no such thing as Big Microwave!"

  "That's what they want you to think."

  Usui pulls up a Wikipedia article and starts reading off it. "’The wavelength of microwave radiation is specifically tuned to affect water molecules through dielectric heating—'"

  "See, radiation," Niche points out.

  "Not ionizing radiation! It's the same frequency as WiFi!"

  "WiFi causes cancer too," Ryota says.

  “Yep. And you can’t trust Wikipedia. It’s not a reliable source. We learned this every year in English class. I can tell someone doesn’t pay attention in class.”

  Usui storms off, muttering about scientific literacy. Niche and Ryota wait until he's gone, then laugh about it.

  Maruka can’t help but also slyly chuckle at this. For some reason, what just happened is funnier because she doesn’t like Usui.

  School, 3 PM, Present

  As soon as the closing bell rings, Niche cannot be found on school grounds anymore. This time, Usui was lucky to catch Niche before he took off home.

  “Niche. You wanted to know about your trials earlier, right?” Usui has to practically shout as he’s running to Niche just to catch up to him.

  Niche turns around, confused. “Yeah, sure. What do you know about them?”

  “Damage, Intelligence, Speed, Defense, Purity. Five trials every sun bearer faces." Usui quickly says in attempt to overwhelm Niche and crack his fa?ade. Watching Niche's reaction carefully, he says, "The car was probably your first. Damage."

  "How do you—"

  "My dad researches this stuff. Old cases, supernatural events. I've read his files." Usui shrugs. "When I saw what happened yesterday, I figured it out."

  Niche is silent, processing.

  "Look, I'm not trying to freak you out," Usui continues. "But if you fail the trials... bad things happen."

  "Define bad."

  "I don’t know, because information on the past bearers has been kept secret. No one besides agencies for the government even know about the sun cycles or bearers. The effects could range anywhere from a minor inconvenience to immediate death."

  Long pause.

  “Why the hell are you telling me this?” Niche asks, getting defensive.

  “I-” Usui replies. “I want to help you.”

  “What’s in it for you? What do you get from giving me this info?”

  “I…want to be your friend,” he replies sadly, looking down at the floor. “I really just want to have a friend like you. I see you and your friends, and it seems so fun…and I wanted to have that.”

  Bullshit. There’s no way this guy is as innocent as that. Theres definitely a reason that he’s not telling me, and the reason he’s sharing this stuff isn’t just to find friends.Silence for a bit, then Niche breaks it. “Hm. I guess that’s a valid reason, but next time you shouldn’t just say stuff like that. I personally wouldn’t tell anyone, but you don’t know who might sell you out.”

  Perfect. I have to act oblivious to this guy to trick him. He thinks I fell for his dumb explanation. How funny.

  Niche continues, now leaning into playing the innocent role, “Just know you don’t have to give me anything physical gifts or information to be friends with me. My loyalty doesn’t have a cost.”Well, at least that part’s true.

  Fully embracing the role, Niche says, “If you know about this stuff... I want to show you something." He pulls out the crystal. "My dad had this. Said never to use it."

  Usui leans forward, recognizing it. "Is that a time crystal?"

  "You know what it is?"

  "Read about them. They can show the past, but—"

  "But observing might change things." Niche turns the crystal over in his hand. "You know quantum superposition? How particles exist in multiple states until observed?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Same principle. Past events that could go either way - like someone choosing left or right at an intersection - they exist in both states until they're solidified. But if you go back and observe..."

  "Your presence locks in one outcome," Usui finishes. "Even if you don't interfere."

  "Exactly. Just being there forces the universe to pick one path over another."

  "Your dad warned you about this?"

  "Said to never use it unless I had no choice. And if I do, only look. Don't touch anything and don't be seen."

  "Smart man." Usui pauses. "You thinking of using it?"

  "Maybe. If these trials get worse."

  "They will," Usui says simply. "They always do."

  Silence. Usui says “see you around” before walking away.

  Residential District Streets, Present

  Niche walks home from school.

  I gave up the information about that crystal, but at least it had a purpose. I was able to gain Usui’s trust a bit. That’s all I really needed today. But still, I don’t trust that kid at all. Despite all those other people like the interrogator guy and Jupiter who’ve basically tried to kill me, this kid is the most immediate threat. I have to either get him to lose interest in me or force him to.

  The lot is empty today, and no car tries to attack him. Everything is silent. The road seems a lot quieter than it should be.

  Niche’s Room, Present

  Niche lays down on his bed facing the ceiling.

  Just this morning, this same ceiling had a roach on it. Well, not the exact same ceiling but close. Now that I think about it, it IS the same ceiling. Are all the ceilings on this floor of this house connected?

  The doorbell rings.

  What the hell? Who could be ringing the doorbell?

  Before Niche could get up to go to the front door, he heard a creak. His room door opened, and Ryota walked in. “You know your front door is just…open.”

  “Yeah, I keep it unlocked for Maruka. It’s a pain to lock the door whenever Mika and Maruka go out together.”

  “You could just give Mika a spare key.”

  “My parents don’t trust her with one,” Niche chuckled. “Anyways, what brings you walking in my house like you own the place?” Niche asks jokingly.

  “The project,” Ryota asks confused. “We made a plan, remember? Said we’d work on it today after school.”

  “Oh, yeah.”I remember talking about it two days ago, but I don’t remember making a plan. Whatever, I’ll just go along with it.

  “So,” Niche starts, “do you wanna do the research part or…”

  “I’m fine with whatever, but I’m better at putting the information together. I could do that whole portion.”

  Damn, that’s a lot of work. He’s gonna do it all?

  “Fine by me. I’ll research.”

  They start working on the project independently, with Niche collecting information and sending it to Ryota, who compiles it together in a presentation.

  Niche’s Room Floor, One Hour Later, Present

  An hour into the project, Ryota says, "You know, something always happens around you."

  Niche looks up. "What?"

  "Like, remember last month when that vending machine just exploded? You were standing right there. Or when those birds all crashed into the science room window during your presentation?"

  "Probably just coincidences."

  "Maybe. But they're interesting coincidences." Ryota sets down his pencil. “I feel like when I'm around you, stuff actually happens. Weird stuff, sure, but stuff."

  "That's a terrible reason to hang out with someone."

  "Is it though?" Ryota leans back. "I used to think I'd meet someone cool at a party or through friends or however normal people do it. But, I’ve grown to think that maybe being where the chaos is gives me better odds. Those kind of people just seem to flock to you. Not the ‘copy-and-paste’ people you find at parties, but the real ones. Those interesting ones, you know?"

  Niche stares at him. "You think being near me will help you find love?"

  "Not love necessarily. Just... someone interesting." Ryota immediately looks away. "That's pathetic, right?"

  "Yeah."

  "Yeah." Ryota picks up the pencil again. "But pathetic with something happening is better than pathetic with nothing happening."

  They go back to working.

  "Pass me the ruler," Ryota says.

  “I think I have one in my desk.”

  Niche stands up and goes over to open his desk drawer, looking for a ruler or anything straight. He pulls out some old stuff: erasers, broken pencils, and a crystal.

  "What's that?" Ryota asks.

  Niche closes the drawer.

  "No idea. Found it in my attic last year." Niche lied. "My dad collects weird rocks."

  "My sister used to collect rocks…" Ryota's voice is casual. “Hey, is your attic cool? Mine's just insulation."

  "Yeah, it's got all this old stuff. Boxes my parents never unpacked. Bunch of books in some language I can't read."

  "Can we check it out? We can take a break from this project. We’re almost done for the day, anyways. Might find something for the history portion of our project."

  "Sure, why not."

  Niche and Ryota climb up to the attic. Dust particles float in the afternoon light, streaming through a small window.

  "Man, you weren't kidding," Ryota says, looking at boxes stacked everywhere. "This is like a museum."

  They dig through old boxes of photo albums, clothes, and books in various languages.

  "Here," Ryota pulls out a stack of history books. "These look old enough. Meiji era stuff."

  "Perfect. That'll work for the project."

  They flip through a few, confirming the content.

  Suddenly, they hear rustling from behind the boxes. Both boys freeze.

  "What was that?" Ryota whispers.

  More rustling. Something moving.

  "Probably a rat," Niche says, but he's tense too.

  A box tips over. They’re both startled, jumping back in sync.

  The cat walks out, tail high, covered in dust.

  "Damn," Ryota exhales. "How the hell did your cat get up here?"

  "No idea." Niche glares at the cat. "She's been acting weird lately. Following me everywhere."

  The cat sits down and starts grooming herself with deliberate precision.

  "It's like she understands everything," Ryota says, watching her. "Creepy."

  "Yeah." Niche's voice is flat. "Almost like she's not a normal cat."

  The cat pauses mid-lick to stare directly at him.

  "Anyways…" Niche says quickly.

  Ryota chuckles. "Yeah. Let's get out of here before I die," Ryota says, gathering the books. "I'll use some of this info and work on the project tonight."

  "Sounds good."

  Ryota heads down first. Niche is second, but Raizen doesn’t come down. Niche glances back at the cat, still sitting the top stair of the attic. She is pawing at a box.

  "Okay, okay," he mutters quietly. "I'll check it after he leaves."

  The cat purrs, satisfied.

  "Your cat's being weird," Ryota says.

  "Yep. She's always weird."

  At the front door, Ryota gets ready to leave but pauses for a minute, expecting Niche to say something.

  "Oh, before I forget," Niche says, standing in the doorframe. "I was thinking we should make our meetings more official."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Create a company. Official meetings at Masuto Café. Go there to talk about…this kind of stuff.” Niche shrugs.“Why would we do that?” Ryota asks. “What do we need meetings for?”

  They likely won’t attack us if we’re out in public. Anyways, it’s safer there than my home, which is probably being monitored daily.

  “Well, you’ll know tomorrow.”

  “Aw, man. You’re leaving me on edge? But, I mean,” Ryota's eyes light up, "the purpose doesn’t really matter. You actually want to set up a real company? That's pretty smart."

  "It's just for meetings."

  "Still, that's way more creative than anything I would have thought of." Ryota leans forward, interested. "How does it work? Do we need permits or anything?"

  "I can handle the paperwork. Make it look legitimate."

  "And we just... meet at a coffee shop like we're discussing business?"

  "Exactly. Hidden in plain sight." Niche starts typing. "Anyone watching sees teenagers playing entrepreneur.”

  "That's actually genius." Ryota leans forward. "What's our cover story? What does our company supposedly do?"

  "Academic consulting. Helping students with projects." Niche smirks slightly. "Not even a lie, technically."

  "Wait," Ryota says. "If it's a real corporation, we need official positions. Who's the CEO?"

  "Does it matter?"

  "For the paperwork, yeah."

  "Rock paper scissors?"

  "For company leadership?"

  "You got a better idea?"

  "Literally any other method?"

  "Best of five. Come on."

  They raise their fists.

  First round: Both throw rock. Tie.

  "Already off to a bad start," Ryota jokes.

  Second round: Ryota paper, Niche rock. Ryota wins.

  Third round: Ryota scissors, Niche paper. Ryota wins.

  "Dude..."

  Fourth round: Ryota rock, Niche scissors. Ryota wins.

  "This is getting weird—"

  Fifth round: Ryota paper, Niche rock. Ryota wins.

  Sixth round: Ryota rock, Niche scissors. Ryota wins.

  "Holy shit," Ryota laughs. "Five to zero? That's embarrassing."

  "Shut up."

  "How do you lose every round?"

  "Just lucky I guess."

  "That's the opposite of lucky?"

  Niche shrugs. "Whatever. You're the leader then."

  "I've never seen someone fail that badly at something that's literally random chance."

  “Yeah, whatever.”

  Ryota chuckles for a while to the point he starts laughing out of spite instead of genuine laughter. "Anyways, I should be going home now," Ryota says when he’s done laughing. "Oh, weird thing - to be honest, I had another reason for coming over today, but I completely forgot what it was."

  "Seriously?"

  "Yeah. It'll come back to me." He shrugs. "Thanks for the books."

  "No problem."

  After Ryota's gone, Niche heads straight back up. The cat hasn't moved.

  Niche’s Attic, Sunset, Present

  "You lost five times in a row? At a game of chance? Against a human? I'm bound to the worst possible bearer."

  "It's just a game—"

  "Everything's just a game until you lose."

  "Why am I getting mocked by a cat -"

  "Your incompetence aside, there are pressing matters."

  "Finally. What's so important up here?"

  Raizen leading him, Niche opens the cabinet and finds the Takeshi file.

  "That looks important," Raizen's voice drifts up. "Good thing you listened."

  "Shut up."