Snow drifts down in fragile wisps, dancing under the glow of a lonely streetmp. I stand at the edge of the park, watching fkes settle on the empty pyground. A half-buried swing creaks in the wind, and I pull my scarf tighter around my neck. In this life, I’m called Hisato Nakamura—the so-called “genius once in a millennia,” or so they say.

  I’m here for a few minutes of quiet. Away from the sterile bs and reams of code that dominate my days. Away from the constant hum of AI research and the whispers of colleagues who think I’m some unstoppable prodigy. I let the cold fill my lungs, a bracing ache that distracts me, if only for a moment.

  People always ask how I managed to excel so quickly—how I developed cutting-edge machine-learning models before hitting thirty. The real answer? My first life. Back then, my name was Adrian Cole. I spent every breath chasing knowledge, sving away at computer science, machine learning, anything that promised me a way to “change my life.” I pushed aside family, friends, and even love, determined to climb a mountain of achievements. In the end, I died alone, lying on a hospital bed surrounded by meaningless accodes. I remember the beep of the heart monitor, how it slowly faded, how the silence afterward was almost a relief.

  Maybe it should have ended there. But it didn’t. I found myself reborn into this world. As Hisato. And for a while, I was determined not to repeat my mistakes.

  “Hisato?” A voice behind me breaks the hush.

  I turn to see Marina, a colleague from the university research team, wearing a thick coat and knit cap. Snow rests on her shoulders like a yer of powdered sugar.

  “What are you doing out here?” she asks softly.

  I shrug. “Trying to rex.”

  Marina gives me a small smile, then wanders over to the swing set. She settles on the sagging seat, fingers gripping the chains as she rocks gently. For a while, neither of us speaks. The night feels vast, lit only by the moon and falling snow.

  She clears her throat. “You know, this reminds me of our college days. You were...unstoppable. Top of every css, tutoring professors half the time. And then you went on to help build that AI—everyone said you were a once-in-a-millennia genius.”

  I say nothing. The title feels hollow. Genius, prodigy—whatever. They’re just words.

  Marina exhales a cloud of breath. “I treated you so unfairly back then,” she murmurs. “Because of the rumors.”

  Rumors. Right. The same old script.

  “I don’t care,” I say ftly. “I’m used to it.”

  I’ve been used to it since high school—when everything fell apart with Ai Amamiya. Ai was my childhood friend, my first love. The one I promised I’d be good for in this second life. At the start, I really tried. Good son, good student, good boyfriend. We dated at the beginning of high school; I gave her my whole heart—my time, my care, and every st ounce of faith I had in love.

  Then, one day, I discovered she was sleeping with her senpai from the sports club. When I confronted her, worried she might have been coerced or threatened, Ai just ughed. She said she liked what he did in bed, something I’d sworn we’d save for marriage. A vow she tossed aside in an instant.

  Maybe I could have coped if it had ended there. But Ai spread lies—said I was abusive, that I forced her into sex. Everyone believed her. Even my parents. I was left with no one. No friends, no support, no home that felt safe.

  For a while, I staggered under the weight of it. Then I remembered who I was before—Adrian Cole, the man who turned his back on everything to chase machine learning. So I did the same thing again. Only this time, it wasn’t ambition driving me; it was an emptiness I couldn’t outrun.

  “I’m sorry,” Marina says, her voice trembling. “For believing those rumors. For staying quiet when others spread them. I– I only found out the truth because the company you’re working with now ran a background check. They wanted to ensure there’d be no scandals tied to your name. A friend of mine had access to the report.”

  She looks up, eyes pleading for some kind of forgiveness or absolution. I just sigh. “It doesn’t matter,” I say. “None of it does.”

  Marina nods slowly. She probably knows I’m beyond caring. I pour all my energy into AI research, but even that’s nothing more than a distraction—an echo of my first life’s obsession. In truth, I feel dead inside, like I’m just dragging my body through each day.

  Silence stretches out between us, broken only by the quiet hiss of snow nding on the ground. My breath fogs in the cold air. It’s strange how calm I feel. No anger, no real sadness, just…emptiness.

  Suddenly, another voice calls out from across the park: “Hisato, is that you?”

  I freeze, heart beating faster despite myself. There’s something familiar about that tone, about the way it cuts through the stillness. Marina turns, too, her eyes questioning.

  “Ai…” The name leaves my lips in a whisper, yet the sound of it ricochets through my mind like a thundercp. There’s no mistaking her: Ai Amamiya, once the love of my life—the one who betrayed me in the worst way possible.

  Marina steps off the swing, scowling at the woman standing a short distance away. “Ai? The ex from high school?” she asks, her voice sharp.

  I let out a slow breath, feeling a knot tighten in my chest. “Yes,” I say quietly. “That’s her.”

  Ai looks the same as she did years ago, only older, more subdued—her eyes flicker with uncertainty. She takes a few cautious steps forward. “What do you want, Ai?” I ask, my tone ft. “And how did you find me?”

  “My hometown’s far from here,” I think to myself. It’s basically countryside. Even if I’m a well-known researcher, it shouldn’t be this easy to track me down.

  “They came asking about you. About…our retionship,” she answers, voice trembling just a bit. “I got information on where you were living.”

  I shake my head. “So? Why are you here?”

  Ai shifts on her feet, her breath visible in the cold air. “Your parents,” she begins, then hesitates before meeting my gaze. “They passed away. You didn’t come to their funerals. Why, Hisato? They waited for you to come home—even if it was just for that.”

  A bitter chuckle escapes me. I can’t help it. “Did they really care whether I came back? When everything went downhill, they were the first to cut me off. Never once did they try to listen to my side. They believed your lies right away.” The words taste like ash in my mouth, but I keep going. “Now you’re telling me they cared about me?”

  For a moment, Ai seems stunned. I see her jaw tense, her eyes darting sideways as if trying to hide guilt. She should know better than anyone the ruin she brought upon me. She’s the one who convinced my parents of my so-called crimes in the first pce.

  “Marina,” I say softly, my voice sounding hollow even to myself. “Could you give us a moment alone?”

  Marina immediately bristles, turning sharply towards me. Her expression tightens, her eyes fshing with worry. "Hisato, why? You don't need this. You don't owe her anything, not after what she did."

  I gaze at the snow collecting gently on the ground, the cold seeping through my bones. “Please, Marina. Just give me some time. I'll resolve this quickly, and then I'll return to the facility."

  She hesitates, her mouth tightening into a thin line. After a tense pause, she relents, though unwillingly. Her eyes linger sharply on Ai, filled with clear warning. Finally, she turns around and walks away, her footsteps muffled by the snow, leaving a painful silence behind.

  I turn slowly to Ai. “Speak. What else could you possibly want to say now?”

  Ai's eyes shimmer with desperation, tears already pooling. Her voice trembles as she whispers, “Hisato, it was all a misunderstanding. Everything that happened—it wasn't supposed to happen like that. None of it.”

  A confused numbness creeps into my chest, freezing my insides more than the winter chill ever could. “Misunderstanding?” My voice barely rises above a whisper. “You cheated on me. You had his child. What kind of misunderstanding could expin that?”

  Her breath quickens as her face twists in anguish. “I—I still love you, Hisato. I've never stopped. Not even once. You have to believe me.”

  The absurdity of her words strikes me harder than anger could. I stare bnkly, detached, yet somehow unable to tear my gaze away. “Love me?” I echo softly, disbelief heavy in my voice. “You betrayed me. You gave yourself to someone else entirely. And now you're telling me it was love?”

  Ai's shoulders tremble violently, her voice rising to a strained shout. "It wasn't supposed to go like this! I—I don't even understand why I did it. I just gave in. My senpai… I couldn't resist him. I kept promising myself to stop, to come back to you, but every time… every time, I failed."

  She buries her face briefly in her hands, shaking uncontrolbly. Her voice muffled, she continues, "When you discovered it, I panicked. I couldn't bear losing you. So I lied. I spread those rumors because I thought… I thought if I isoted you, you'd eventually come back to me. No one else would have you, and you'd have nowhere else to go but me."

  My heart squeezes painfully, the memory of isotion surging forward. Yet I remain numb, staring at her like a stranger. "If that's true, then why continue with him? Why bear his child if you cimed to love me so deeply?"

  Ai grits her teeth, her eyes wild with something darker. "You were supposed to break, Hisato. You were supposed to be shattered, desperate. And then I'd be there to comfort you, to fix you. But you—you changed entirely. You became someone else, someone cold, someone unreachable. When your parents died, I was certain you'd return. I waited. But you never showed. You disappeared completely."

  I look away, the pain of my parents’ betrayal rising again, bitter and familiar. “They were never really my family,” I whisper, voice faint but clear. “They abandoned me first. You made sure of that. Why would I go back?"

  She steps closer, desperation twisting her features. "People came asking about you. Investigating your past. I helped them, Hisato. In return, they told me how to find you. That's why I'm here."

  I exhale heavily, the white mist of my breath quickly vanishing into the cold. "Even if everything you say is true, Ai, it's over now. You've built your life. You have your child. Prioritize that child. Forget about me."

  Suddenly, Ai ughs—a harsh, broken sound that chills my blood more than the winter ever could. Her eyes narrow with unsettling intensity. "You think I care about that child? About him, that pathetic man I married? I haven't stopped thinking about you since you left. Day and night, I think of you. I love you. And I still don't understand why I betrayed you. Why I chose him over you.”

  Her words fade into silence, swallowed by the falling snow. Her manic ughter subsides into quiet sobbing. I watch her silently, my heart heavy with a sadness too deep to express. Whatever we once had is irreparably broken, poisoned by betrayal and misunderstanding. I'm no longer angry, no longer filled with grief. Just empty.

  Slowly, I turn away from her, my voice weary and hollow. "Go home, Ai. There's nothing left here for either of us."

  “Hey, who is that girl?” Ai asks quietly, her voice sounding fragile amidst the gentle snowfall.

  “My colleague,” I respond ftly, my gaze fixed somewhere beyond her.

  Ai's eyes soften painfully, and a faint, hollow smile crosses her lips. "If I hadn't done what I did back then, maybe I'd be in her pce right now."

  I look directly at her. The smile doesn’t reach her eyes—they’re still filled with sadness and regret. I'm so tired. Why does she keep reopening these wounds? I came here to escape, to find a moment of peace, only to be dragged back into a past I've desperately tried to bury.

  “You know,” Ai continues, her voice trembling slightly, “I recently got divorced. My child was taken from me; they said I’m too unstable. That worthless man couldn’t even support us. I don't have qualifications, so I work dead-end jobs, barely scraping by each day. My parents took custody of my child. Now, I live alone in some cheap apartment, surviving on whatever I can make.”

  Silence is my only response. What could she possibly want me to say? We have nothing left between us, nothing that binds us anymore.

  Slowly, Ai walks towards me, her hands hidden behind her back, eyes cast downward. “I’m sorry, Hisato, for everything.”

  Her words fall ft against my emptiness. I feel nothing. Ever since I decided to chase this meaningless dream again, emotions have become foreign to me. I'm simply going through familiar motions, repeating my previous life's hollow achievements.

  Ai draws closer, halting just before me. Her voice trembles again, hopeful yet fragile. "Hisato, please… let’s try again. This time I'll be faithful. I'll never betray you again."

  A weary sigh escapes me. I'm exhausted, drained of any will to rekindle something long dead. Why won't she just move on? The memories of those two hellish years in high school are scars that refuse to heal. Any normal teenager would have succumbed to despair. But I survived—barely—only to feel utterly lifeless each passing day.

  “I’m sorry, Ai," I say quietly, "but I can't start again with you. You of all people know why.”

  She remains motionless for a long moment, then slowly raises her head. A gentle smile spreads across her face. “It's okay,” she whispers softly.

  Relief washes through me momentarily, and just as I prepare to leave, her voice grows cold, razor-sharp. “If I can't have you, then no one can."

  Before I can react, a sudden, cold sensation pierces my stomach. It takes several seconds for my mind to register what’s happened. I've been stabbed. Ai stabbed me.

  “Why?” My voice is weak, confused, searching her eyes for answers.

  Her expression darkens, twisted in anger. She screams, her voice shrill and broken, “IT’S YOUR FAULT! EVERYTHING HAPPENED BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU DIDN’T PROTECT ME FROM THAT SCUM! NOW I'VE LOST EVERYTHING!”

  I'm stunned. She's bming me now? My legs give way as she pushes me, and I colpse onto the snow-covered ground. Ai yanks the knife from my body, and searing pain spreads rapidly, warmth seeping out onto the snow.

  But strangely, I don't care. I'm tired, unbearably tired. I don't bother crying for help. My mind drifts, lost and confused. What did I do wrong?

  “I’m sorry, Hisato,” Ai murmurs, tears spilling from her eyes.

  My vision blurs. Blood soaks my shirt, warmth turning quickly to cold. Snowfkes gently nd on my face, melting away slowly.

  “Hisato!” A distant scream breaks through my haze. Marina. She must have stayed nearby, hidden somewhere.

  “You bitch! What have you done to him?!” Marina shouts furiously, running towards us.

  Panicked, Ai stabs me once more. Her voice fades into meaningless noise as my senses dull. Marina reaches us, pulling Ai away and pushing her roughly aside. Marina’s terrified face hovers above me, her voice frantic, calling desperately for help. Ai’s ughter echoes hauntingly in the background.

  “Hold on, Hisato! Stay with me!” Marina cries, her voice trembling.

  My sight fades completely, strength leaving my body. Coldness envelops me, numbing all sensation.

  Silence and darkness take over, familiar and haunting. Ah, this sensation—I recognize it.

  I've died again, haven't I?