That night, I had a dream.
I stood in ay room with a rge mirror in front of me. However, my refle in the mirror didn’t move as it should.
Slowly, the figure smiled.
—You’re finally here…
I was startled. The voice was exactly like mine, but also… not.
—Have you ever wondered why you’re here?
I opened my mouth to answer, but suddenly the mirror cracked, and another familiar voice echoed.
“Don’t listen.”
It was Azami Yuki—the female version of myself.
But before I could see her, I woke up.
I sat up in bed, breathing heavily. Cold sweat dripped down my temples.
What was that?
During breakfast, I couldn’t shake the dream from my mind.
Azami sat across the table, stirring her coffee casually.
“You look weird. Nightmare?” she asked without looking up.
I hesitated before answering, “I don’t know… maybe.”
She just nodded. “Dreams are sometimes just refles of what we’re thinking about.”
I sighed, then tried to ge the subject. “By the way, I’m curious about the rules of Witches. You said they bey, but there are limits, right?”
Azami stopped stirring her coffee.
“…Yes.”
Her eyes seemed slightly sharper before she leaned ba her chair.
“Witches manipute the world, but that doesn’t mean we do whatever we want. Every a has sequences.”
I swallowed hard. “Like what?”
Azami looked at me with a serious expression.
“There are rules that must not be broken.”
She raised one finger.
“First, Witches must not kill ordinary humans without reason. If they do, they will immediately lose their powers.”
A sed finger.
“Sed, Witches must not deliberately alter the past. Time is something stable, and if someories to manipute it, they will be swallowed by temporal chaos.”
A third finger.
“Third, Witches must n anything from another reality into this world… uhere’s a valid reason.”
She looked at me deeply as she said the third rule.
I felt my throat go dry. Did that mean…
“…What if someone from another world suddenly appeared here?” I asked carefully.
Azami paused before saying softly, “Then it’s sidered a serious viotion.”
My heart raced. Why was she saying that while looking at me?
I started to think.
From the beginning, I didn’t know how I ended up in this world. The crack that appeared in front of me, the sensation of being sucked into darkness, and then suddenly I was here.
As if someone… deliberately brought me.
I looked at Azami. She looked calm, too calm.
“…Azami.”
“Hm?”
I swallowed hard. “Do you know something about how I got here?”
She stopped drinking her coffee, then looked at me with a ft expression.
“What do you mean?”
“You said bringing something from another reality into this world is a viotion. But I’m here… That means someone broke that rule, right?”
Azami was silent.
I felt my heart beat faster.
“Whht me here?”
She just smiled faintly.
“Why don’t you find out for yourself?”
I ched my fists. She was avoiding the answer. Why didn’t she want to tell me?
But I could feel something. Something I hadn’t fully realized yet.
Was it possible… that Azami herself brought me here?
I ged the subject to ease the tension.
“If someone breaks the rules, what’s the punishment?” I asked.
Azami leaned babsp;
“It varies. Losing their powers, being imprisoned in the Omnion World forever, or even being erased from reality.”
I shivered.
“Has any Witch ever been punished?”
Azami looked at me with ay expression.
“…I’m one of them.”
I froze.
“What do you mean?” I asked softly.
She sighed. “I used to be an 'Indepe Witch'. But because I broke a rule, I was demoted to Hughes.”
I swallowed hard.
Azami used to be a top-tier Witch… but she unished?
“What did you do?” I asked carefully.
Azami smiled faintly, but her eyes were cold.
“That’s not something you o knht now.”
I felt my blood run cold. Why wouldn’t she answer?
I uood ohing.
Azami Yuki, the woman in front of me, was hiding something big.
And for some reason, I felt that I myself art of that secret.
