When Kotomi returned home one afternoon, she found a strange boy sitting in her living room. Her mother explained that her cousin, Ren, staying with them for a week while his parents were away. Kotomi immediately disliked him. He had an irritating habit of calling her by her first name without any honorifics, as if they were old friends.
Things took a turn when, due to limited space, Ren ended up sleeping in Kotomi’s room. That night, after a frightening TV show at dinner, Ren admitted he was too scared to sleep alone. Reluctantly, Kotomi let him into her bed. At first, he simply clung to her, trembling. But then, something shifted. His hands began moving with an unsettling familiarity, slow, deliberate, and increasingly sketchy.
What follows is a quiet, complicated aftermath.
