The next night, Hinata returned to the library, clutching the mysterious book tight against her chest. She'd tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she heard Alya's voice begging from the darkness: "Don't let me disappear…"
The library was even quieter than usual, as though the air itself was holding its breath. Hinata set the book on the checkout desk and flipped it open, hoping the words would make sense.
But they didn't.
Sentences bled across the page, forming and dissolving like ink in water. Words shifted, letters rearranged themselves, sometimes vanishing mid-sentence. And beneath the rustling paper, she heard faint crying—so soft it might have been the wind.
"Hinata…"
The voice drifted from between the shelves. Hinata's skin prickled with cold. She turned toward the sound, heart pounding so loud it drowned out her thoughts.
"Where are you?" she whispered.
The lights overhead flickered. Between the stacks, shadows twisted, pooling into corners where no light could reach. And then she saw her—Alya—standing just beyond the nearest shelf, silver hair hanging limp, eyes dark and hollow.
"You have to help me," Alya whispered, clutching her chest. "She's coming… she wants to erase me…"
"Who?" Hinata breathed. Her hands trembled.
Alya's voice cracked. "The Writer…"
A sudden crash echoed through the stacks. Books tumbled from the shelves, hitting the floor like thunder. Hinata cried out, stumbling back as the shadows surged forward, thick and choking.
Alya's figure flickered in and out, like a broken projection. "She's here," Alya sobbed. "She knows you're helping me…"
The shadows curled around Hinata's legs, freezing cold against her skin. She tried to pull free, but they held fast, creeping higher, coiling like serpents.
Hinata screamed, clutching the book as though it were a lifeline. "Let me go!"
Alya's voice rose above the growing storm. "Read, Hinata! Read the words—keep me alive!"
Hinata flipped the book open with shaking fingers. The pages hissed and snapped, but she forced her eyes to focus, forced her lips to move, reading aloud half-formed sentences, broken phrases—anything that still remained.
With every word she spoke, the shadows hissed and shrank, pulling back like water retreating from shore. But the cold lingered in her bones, and Alya's sobs grew weaker.
"Don't stop…" Alya whispered, fading again.
Hinata's voice cracked as she read faster, tears streaming down her cheeks. But deep inside, a horrible certainty took root.
No matter how fast she read, the words were still fading.