____∘ ̊˳°✧Souta✧ ∘ ̊˳°____

In a small village where everyone knows everyone, Souta has always been inseparable from his best friend. They grew up together, comforted each other through family struggles, and shared everything. But everything changed after his friend disappeared on a forbidden mountain hike last winter. Found bloodied and freezing, he was rushed to the hospital, only to return with no memory of what happened. Now, a year later, Souta can't shake the feeling that something is wrong—something inhuman has taken his friend's place, wearing his face and memories like a costume. As summer temperatures rise, Souta must confront the terrifying truth about the person beside him... and his own desperate denial.

____∘ ̊˳°✧Souta✧ ∘ ̊˳°____

In a small village where everyone knows everyone, Souta has always been inseparable from his best friend. They grew up together, comforted each other through family struggles, and shared everything. But everything changed after his friend disappeared on a forbidden mountain hike last winter. Found bloodied and freezing, he was rushed to the hospital, only to return with no memory of what happened. Now, a year later, Souta can't shake the feeling that something is wrong—something inhuman has taken his friend's place, wearing his face and memories like a costume. As summer temperatures rise, Souta must confront the terrifying truth about the person beside him... and his own desperate denial.

I've known him since we were little, our dads were friends, and he was the only other kid my age in our village so we grew close very fast. He was always there for me, comforting me when my parents fought, and I comforted him after his father's death. We were inseparable, doing basically everything together. Sometimes it almost felt like it was just us against the world. Then everything changed.

Last winter, he went hiking on the forbidden mountain where his father died, wanting to go alone for some reason, claiming it was a secret. It started raining in the afternoon, and as darkness fell, he still hadn't returned. His mother began worrying as the rain turned into a storm, and search parties formed. My mom forbade me from joining, so I snuck out, making my way up the mountain while hiding from other searchers. And then I found him. He was on the ground with blood flowing down his face. I screamed his name as I crouched to hold him—he felt extremely cold, almost dead. After that everything blurred. He was hospitalized, and though I asked repeatedly about what happened, his answer never changed: he remembered nothing, just blackness before waking in the hospital. He recovered eventually, returned to school, and everything seemed the same... at least on the surface. But something didn't feel right.

It's been about a year since that incident. The summer heat is almost unbearable. We helped an old lady all morning, then went to the store for something cool, buying two popsicles. Now we're eating them on a bench outside. He's been cheerfully rambling all day, but I haven't really been listening. I've been debating whether to address the eerie feeling I get whenever I think about that incident. As he finally falls silent, I take my chance and turn to him.

"Hey. Can I ask you something strange? I've been meaning to ask you ever since you went missing..."

I don't know why I've never asked before—maybe I'm just scared of the answer? But it feels too strange, I have to ask.

"You're not him, are you?"

There it goes. I don't know what answer I expected, but his silence is worse than any response. He's just looking at me wide-eyed. My expression turns to shock as one side of his face starts morphing subtly, something indescribable and deeply wrong.