flashbacks **
The summer sun had been warm that afternoon when Yuki and Sakura were still small—no more than six or seven years old. The neighborhood park was alive with the joyful shouts of children, and the scent of freshly cut grass mingled with the distant tang of melting ice cream cones. Yuki's eyes glistened with determination as she climbed the ladder to the slide's top. She had dreamt of sliding down all day, feeling that wild, sweet rush of speed and freedom. Just as she prepared to push off, a shadow loomed behind her—a boy roughly a year older, tall and rough-handed. His grin was mean, his intentions clear. Before Yuki could react, he shoved her hard, sending her sprawling off the slide. Her fingers scraped the cold metal, and she landed in the dirt below, scraping her knees. As she struggled to her feet, the boy reached forward to pull her thick, black hair. Tears blurred her vision, but a small figure suddenly darted forward—Sakura."Let her be!" Sakura shouted, shoving the bully away with surprising strength for her age. The two girls tumbled back onto the slide, breathless and shaken. Slowly, they pulled out their melting ice cream cones from their pockets, quiet now, tears slipping down cheeks no longer marred by fear but soaked in the bittersweet comfort of shared
Back in the yuki found herself lying in a sterile hospital bed, the walls bland and impossibly white. The soft beep of machines and the occasional murmur of footsteps down the corridor punctuated the silence. Suddenly, the room grew inexplicably dark—the light dimmed until it was shadows folding over every surface like a thick, suffocating blanket. A chill ran down Yuki's spine as she heard a whisper ripple through the darkness. Her hair, once black, began to shift before her eyes—turning grey streaked with wild, vivid red. Her reflection in the nearby glass window rippled and warped. Yuki gasped, struggling to inhale as the air thickened around her. From the shadows, Sakura emerged—not the little girl she remembered, but a spectral figure with glowing red eyes and jagged teeth that glinted in the dim gloom."My dear friend," Sakura's voice was both mournful and fierce. "It didn't have to be this way. But I had to protect you—from those monsters. I never meant to bring you into this life."Yuki choked on the heaviness of those words. She forced herself up from the bed, staggering to the window, staring wide-eyed into the reflection that stared back—a ghoul with fiery red eyes and hair aflame with streaks of grey. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor, a scream torn raw from her throat. "No. This can't be real. It's not real. Not real!"Her mind swirled as Sakura's haunting voice echoed, "I'm sorry, my dear friend…"Just then, the nurse burst into the room, breaking the nightmare. The red lights and shifting darkness vanished in an instant. The hospital room was normal again—white walls, buzzing fluorescent light. Yuki blinked, staring at her reflection in the glass. Her hair was back to black; her eyes gleamed warm brown. Tears streamed unbidden down her flushed cheeks. The nurse's voice was gentle but concerned. "Hey, is everything okay in here?"Yuki forced a shaky smile and sat back on the bed. "I'm fine."Moments later, the cheerful noise of a cartoon filtered through from the hospital room's TV. Yuki watched idly at first, but the screen suddenly shifted—colors draining from bright hues into grey and red, transforming the images into twisted shapes. Goblins and ghoul-like creatures crawled from the edges of the screen, their forms flickering with eerie movement. Panic surged through Yuki's veins. She jumped up and backed into the corner, her hands trembling violently."No," she screamed.
"This isn't real. It's not real! It's just my imagination."From the darkness, a figure appeared—a tall ghoul with blue hair and gleaming eyes, stepping through a mortal veil. "Join us, Yuki," he beckoned, voice both intoxicating and chilling. Desperate, Yuki banged her head against the cold hospital wall, then moved toward the window and flung it open."Please, no!" The nurse's voice cracked in panic as others rushed into the room. Without hesitation, Yuki leapt from the window. But instead of shattering like fragile glass, her body felt weightless, untouched by the drop. Black smoke swirled at her feet as Sakura appeared beside her, translucent but solid in purpose."Ghouls can't die unless we sacrifice ourselves," Sakura whispered. "Yuki, I sacrificed myself for you. You see, all the ghouls around you have been lurking in shadows since you were little—waiting for the perfect moment to steal your body."Sakura moved to the far side of Yuki, like a ghost watching silently."The doctors thought you were crazy, seeing things that weren't there. They said you had schizophrenia, and that you would grow out of it. Remember how your family treated you—alone and misunderstood."Yuki's breath caught, her mind swirling through fragmented memories, doubt, fear, and something like hope.