Michael was leaning on one of the many pillars in the Shrine in Hinamizawa, as this was also Rika's house, and he was praying as she spoke.
Rika didn't open her eyes as she spoke. "To answer your question, I still don't know what is causing these loops"
Michael looked at her as he spoke. "500 loops od experience and you still don't know anything".
Rika opened her eyes as she looked at him. "No, the only thing I know is that after a while, everyone starts going crazy and killing everyone, and if someone doesn't kill me there, I die at the hands of some people with guns or get dissected".
Michael just stopped as he heard the last part. "Wait what do you mean".
Rika then spoke. "I get hit by something while I am with my friend Satoko, get wrapped in something, taken to the shrine and will as I said dissected, takes me a few minutes to die and when I go back to this place, the start of June".
Michael blinked, staring at Rika in stunned silence.
"...That's... really specific. And really messed up," he finally said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Rika stood, brushing off her skirt as she walked slowly past him, eyes calm but distant. "I've lived through that pain more times than I can count. Every route I take, no matter how careful, ends in blood."
Michael turned to follow her. "So why not just leave? Move away? Get out of this cursed little town?"
Rika looked over her shoulder, her expression unreadable. "Because I tried. The loop resets no matter what. Sometimes the people with guns come earlier. Sometimes the madness spreads faster. And sometimes…" Her eyes flicked down. "Sometimes I die even before I get the chance to run."
Michael's mouth went dry. He leaned against the wall again, trying to process it all.
"So," he muttered, "I'm stuck in this 'New Game+' with a glitchy death loop. Great."
Rika tilted her head. "You're not part of the original cycle. You weren't in any of the other loops. This is your first appearance. That's what worries me."
Michael narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
She walked back toward him. "Because when the rules change—when a new player appears—it usually means the game's about to get worse."
Michael gave a low chuckle. "Y'know, I thought coming to Japan would just mean awkward school days, maybe culture shock, and some anime tropes. Not death loops and creepy shrine girls trying to kill me."
Rika didn't laugh, but a small smile touched her lips.
"That was only one timeline. Let's try not to repeat that again."
Rika looked as she stopped as she saw in the forest a brown hair, frain-skinned little boy with brown eyes and holding a golden Freddy teddy bear, as he desired.
"That's new".
Michael looked at her as he spoke. "What's Wrong".
Rika blineked as she spoke. "Noting, I don't think you will believe me, but let's go inside".
Michael raised an eyebrow. "Why?".
Rika sigehd as she spoke. "A lot easier to talk to people in there".
They walked as they went to Rika's house, then they went to a particular place in the house a door, she opened and Michael saw a basement, they walked down the stairs as Michael saw on the wall was a map, with red string's attached to it, with pins on them, table with supplies and a notebook
That is not what surprises Michael; there is a prison-like bar; behind it is a bed and a chain ready to Chain someone's arms or legs on the wall.
Michael looked at her as he spoke. "Do I wanna know".
Rika looked at him as she spoke. "I put Sakoto behind that when she goes mad first in some of the loops".
Michael took a small step back, eyes glued to the cell.
"...Damn," he muttered. "This is... a lot darker than I expected."
Rika crossed her arms, leaning against the wall with that practiced tiredness of someone who's seen too much. "Sometimes she's the first one to snap. Sometimes she's the last. But when she does, it's always… terrifying."
Michael glanced around again—his gaze resting on the red string-covered map, the notes scrawled in messy handwriting, the array of medical supplies and even… was that a taser?
"This looks like a bunker for surviving the apocalypse," he said. "You've really prepared for everything, huh?"
"No," Rika said softly. "Just everything I've already lived through."
Michael was quiet for a moment. Then he turned to her. "That kid outside. The one with the Freddy plushie. Who was he?"
Rika hesitated, her lips tightening. "I don't know. That's what scares me. I've never seen him in any of the previous loops. He doesn't belong here."
Michael frowned. "Think he's like me? A... new game plus player?"
"Maybe. But if he is," Rika said as her voice dropped, "why does he feel older than us?"
Michael's mouth dried again. "What, like... some kind of ghost?"
Rika didn't respond immediately. She looked toward the basement stairs, eyes distant.
"I don't know what he is. But I know one thing..."
She turned back to Michael, her eyes serious.
"If he's here now, the game's changed again."
Michael looked as he spoke. "So can you describe him to me? I didn't get a clear look".
Rika describes the ghost boy, and Michael's eyes lose all colour as he speaks. "So you see him too".
Rika looked as she spoke. "You know him, childhood friends?"
Michael spoke. "My brother that I got killed, Christopher Evan Afton". Michael then spoke. "I have been seeing his ghost-like Vision since the day he died in the hospital".
Rika's breath caught in her throat as the weight of Michael's words settled into the room like dust. Her mouth opened slightly, but no words came. She studied Michael's face — the way his gaze had dimmed, his pupils shrunken, haunted — and she knew this wasn't a joke.
Michael looked away, resting his hand on the cold, rusted bars of the makeshift cell. "I thought I was going insane," he muttered. "When I saw him in the corners of my room. When I heard his voice whispering when I was about to sleep. I thought it was just... trauma. Guilt."
Rika took a step closer, quiet. Careful.
"But I've never seen a ghost from someone else's past. The loops never did that," she said softly. "They only ever showed me our story. Hinamizawa. This village. These people. Not… this."
Michael chuckled bitterly. "Then maybe the loop isn't just yours anymore."
A cold silence followed, until Rika finally asked, "How did he… die?"
Michael's fingers tightened on the bars. "He was ten. I was thirteen. We were playing near the old pizzeria my dad used to work at—he snuck in without me noticing. One of the animatronics malfunctioned. He was too small to defend himself... and by the time I got to him, it was too late."
Rika's eyes softened, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "And since then, you've been seeing him?"
Michael nodded. "Sometimes... I feel like he's trying to talk to me. Other times, I'm sure he's just angry. That he's waiting for the right time to drag me down with him."
Rika's expression darkened. "If he's showing up here, now... this isn't just your past coming back to haunt you. Something bigger is happening."
Michael glanced back up at her, eyes clearer now — steadier. "Then let's find out what. Together."
Rika gave a small nod, her resolve matching his.
From the shadows beyond the basement stairs, something faint and childlike giggled.
Christopher watched. And waited.
Later that night, when Rika woke up in the middle of the night, she was all alone in this place, Nothing scared her that much, so she grabbed a flashlight and went to the kitchen she saw a shadow sitting on the chair, as flash her light, there was nothing there, she then removed the light the Shadow was they, she moved the light and it was not there, then she heard a voice, which if she didn't die so much, she would have gotten chills
"He lied".
She turned on the light and noting was there.
Rika stood frozen in the kitchen, the hum of the old refrigerator the only sound filling the heavy silence. Her grip on the flashlight tightened, her knuckles pale. She slowly turned it off again.
The shadow was back—sitting calmly at the chair, as if it had been waiting for her. Watching her.
The voice echoed again, this time quieter, nearer.
"He lied to you."
Rika took a shaky breath, gathering what remained of her courage. "Who are you?" she asked aloud.
No reply came immediately. But then—scratched faintly into the wooden table as if by invisible nails—letters began to etch themselves.
"L I A R"
She stepped closer, her fingers brushing over the word. It was real. Carved. Fresh.
Her eyes narrowed, voice firming. "If you're trying to scare me… I've lived through worse."
The shadow slowly turned its head toward her. Though it had no face, she felt its eyes. Empty. Hollow. Endless.
And then, just like that—it was gone.
The overhead light flickered once.
Then silence.
Rika backed away slowly, heart pounding now despite herself. She didn't sleep that night. She couldn't.
In the morning, the carved word was still there.
And Michael… wasn't.
Back in Michael's house, as Michael saw the mirror, he remembered the bite of 83, as he just slumped down. "I lied to her, I lied to her, will more like half truth".
Michael sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, staring blankly at the mirror. His reflection stared back—haunted, tired, fractured.
"The bite of '83… it wasn't just an accident," he muttered under his breath, voice hoarse. "I was… I was just a kid. I didn't mean to…"
He buried his head in his hands.
"I didn't tell Rika about what really happened. I said it was a hospital… that it was an accident. That Chris just... died."
He looked up again. His reflection seemed to judge him now.
"But I was there. I put him there. I watched that animatronic close on his head and I—"
His voice broke.
"I heard him scream, and I ran. And I've been running since."
There was a flicker in the mirror—his reflection's eyes briefly glowing a soft, sorrowful golden hue.
Michael didn't react. He'd seen worse. He'd been worse.
"I told her half the truth because I didn't want her to think I was a monster. But now…"
He looked toward the window. The forest outside was dark, the air still.
"...that shadow last night. That voice. Chris?"
The lights in the house flickered.
Michael stood slowly, determination slowly hardening behind his eyes.
"If he's really here… then maybe I can finally make things right."
The next morning, Michael and Rika just looked at eachother, as Rika looked at him as he looked back at her.
Rika was the first to break this silence. "Didn't sleep well".
Michael looked at her as he spoke. "That is a understatement, how was your night".
Rika looked at him as she spoke. "Not the worst night I had".
Michael raised an eyebrow at that. "That's… comforting?"
Rika gave him a half-smile, though her eyes betrayed her unease. "You have no idea," she muttered. She shifted her gaze, looking out the window, her thoughts clearly elsewhere.
Michael sat up straighter, sensing something off in the air between them. "What do you mean?"
Rika sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "Last night, I saw him again... Christopher. I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me. But then, I heard him. His voice. He said something that didn't make sense."
Michael froze, his heart skipping a beat. "What did he say?"
Rika's voice dropped lower, almost a whisper. "He said… he lied."
Michael's stomach twisted. "Lied? About what?"
Rika shook her head, frustration flickering in her eyes. "I don't know. I've seen him in the loops before, but this time… it felt different. It was like he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't hear it all. It felt like he was warning me about something."
Michael stood up, running his hand through his hair. "I've been hearing things too," he muttered. "That voice last night, the shadow in the kitchen... I thought I was losing my mind."
Rika studied him closely, eyes narrowing. "You think it's connected to the loops?"
"I think it's connected to everything," Michael said, his voice tense. "Something's not right, Rika. It's like I'm trapped, but not just in this loop. Something… or someone is playing a game. And I don't know if I can escape it."
Rika looked at him as he spoke. "Do, you wanna tell me what happened In your pass, why he called you a Liar".
Michael looked at him as he spoke. "I don't wanna say"
Rika smiled at him as she spoke. "Will you have all eternity to say this to me".
Michael took a few steps back. "That was creepy".
Rika laughed lightly, but her eyes held a strange glint of sadness. "Well, it's true, isn't it? If the loops keep resetting, you're stuck with me. Might as well get comfortable."
Michael rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable. "Yeah, but still, maybe try not to say it like a yandere next time?"
Rika tilted her head, still smiling. "No promises."
Michael sighed and sat down on the porch of the shrine. The morning breeze brushed past them gently, but the weight of the conversation still hung thick in the air.
He finally spoke, voice low. "It was my fault... the bite of '83. I was the reason my little brother, Chris, ended up in the hospital."
Rika's smile faded, and she sat down beside him quietly, listening.
"I thought it was just a prank. We were just kids. I didn't think it would go that far. I didn't want it to go that far. But..." he paused, swallowing hard. "I put him in the mouth of that thing. That animatronic. And it bit down. Hard."
Rika remained silent, her expression soft.
"I thought he hated me. But after he died... I started seeing him. Not like hallucinations. Real. Like... he never left. Sometimes he just watches. Sometimes he whispers things. Sometimes..." Michael clenched his fists. "Sometimes he blames me."
Rika looked forward. "And you told me he died in the hospital… but you never told me how."
Michael nodded slowly. "Because I couldn't. Because every time I do, it makes it real again."
A silence settled between them, but this time, it felt different. Not heavy. More like understanding.
Then Rika whispered, "You're not the only one with blood on their hands."
Michael turned to her.
She looked at him, eyes distant. "I've had to kill my best friend with my own hands more times than I can count… because she went insane. Or someone made her that way. And every time, I think I can stop it. But I never can."
They sat there quietly, two broken souls bound by fate and loops, slowly beginning to understand one another.
"You know," Michael said, "maybe eternity won't be that bad."
Rika smirked. "Don't get soft on me now."
To be continued
Hope people like this ch and give me power stones and enjoy