THE RELUCTANT ECHO

the new beginning

The sky hung low over the city, a washed-out grey that bled into the concrete buildings and narrow, empty streets. Rain hadn't fallen, but it felt like it might — the kind of still, heavy air that makes the world feel slightly paused.

Anesthesia stood outside the school gates, fingers curled tightly around the strap of her backpack. It was her first day at this new school in Japan — a country that felt distant from everything she once called home. Back in Canada, life had been different. Not better, not worse. Just... less hollow.

The school building loomed ahead, modern in structure but somehow steeped in silence. It looked normal — too normal — and yet there was a gloom stitched into its walls, like the building itself had forgotten how to smile.

She let out a quiet breath and stepped through the gate.

---

The classroom was filled with the low murmur of students chatting before the bell rang. The homeroom teacher, a man with tired eyes and a faint ink stain on his shirt, introduced her with the same lack of enthusiasm he probably reserved for roll call.

"This is Anesthesia. She's from Canada. Make her feel welcome."

There was a nod, a few blank stares, and that was it.

No questions. No curiosity. No one even bothered to whisper behind cupped hands. It was as if she was made of glass — visible, but untouchable.

Anesthesia bowed slightly, murmured a polite greeting, and took the seat assigned to her at the back corner by the window. She liked it there. From the corner, you could observe everything without being seen.

---

She didn’t make any friends that day. But then again, she didn’t try to.

There were no lunch invitations, no glances in the hallway, no borrowed pens or accidental brush of shoulders. And that suited her just fine. She wasn’t here to socialize. She was here to pass time, earn her grades, and go home. That’s all.

Home.

If you could call it that.

---

Her father’s money paid for her tuition, her books, her clothes — and on days she asked for more, he gave it without a second thought. But money was the only thing he handed out freely. Affection? Effort? Attention?

No.

Not since her mother died.

He was busy now, wrapped in the arms of another woman. A different woman, every few months, like they were seasonal.

Her older brother barely spoke unless necessary. Her younger one, still figuring himself out, tried — but even his warmth felt diluted by the silence between them all. They were a family held together by obligation, not love.

---

In her room, her world was different. Books lined the shelf, sketches scattered the desk, anime posters peeled slightly at the edges of her closet doors. It was the only place where her thoughts didn’t have to wear a mask. She played games that transported her to different dimensions. She wrote stories about girls who weren’t afraid. She drew things no one would ever see.

But even here, in this self-made sanctuary, there was an ache. An invisible bruise beneath the ribs.

She wasn’t sad. Not exactly.
She was waiting.

Waiting for something to happen.
Something strange.
Something wrong.
Something real.

---

And it did.

But not that day.

That day, the only odd thing she noticed was a girl sitting by the library window who hadn’t blinked once in the ten minutes Anesthesia watched her.

She dismissed it.

For now.

---

[End of Chapter 1]

A/N: first part of the story is finally published!!! Hope y'all like it :)))