SYDC 01

chapter 01

Bang! Bang! Bang!

At dawn, loud explosions rang out, followed by towering flames. Startled, Serena sprang upright from her bed, only to find the raging fire painting her entire view red.

“C-can’t… breathe…!”

Had fire always spread this fast? The flames seemed to engulf everything so quickly, and thick, acrid smoke filled the room.

“I need to get out…!”

Serena’s room was at the far left of the third floor.

The fire was too intense—she couldn’t summon the courage to go downstairs. She turned toward the window.

But she had already inhaled too much smoke; her body felt heavy, her head splitting with pain and dizziness.

Thud.

Eventually, her weight collapsed to the floor. Her consciousness began to fade.

From the hallway beyond, she could hear her family’s screaming. She wasn’t the only one suffering.

“Why is this happening…?!”

Before she could think further, her vision went black.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

More explosions echoed, and the fragile thread of consciousness she had clung to slipped away.

“Remember, this is your second life.”

Startled by the whisper, Serena’s eyes shot open. Before her, her mother and sisters’ faces were pale as death.

“…Could it be? Did I survive without dying? But the fire spread so fast…”

As she thought this, a coughing fit shook her body.

“Cough… cough!”

Water gushed from her lungs, soaking everything.

“Water…? Not smoke or ashes?”

Before she could wonder further, her second sister, Daisy, called out triumphantly.

“See! I told you you’d be fine!”

Despite her confident posture, her voice trembled uncontrollably.

“Hey! How dare you scare me like that with your little prank? Aren’t you getting up?!”

Daisy grabbed Serena’s arm and yanked her up. Her soaked, trembling body was forced upright.

Her mother, Rianna, glared at her with axe-like eyes.

“Do you know how worried I was?! I already have enough to do without worrying about these trivial matters!”

“Ugh, so annoying.”

Her eldest sister, Caroline, crossed her arms and glared.

Even though Serena had just barely survived a deadly fire, her family scolded her without mercy.

Yet Serena didn’t care at all. Something about their appearances seemed… off.

“Why are they so small…? Like children…?!”

Unlike her own blonde hair and pink eyes, her family now had shining silver hair and deep blue eyes like the night sky, along with mischievous expressions.

They were all her family, yet they looked unnaturally young.

“Am I… going crazy? Is this a hallucination…?”

Before she could decide, another coughing fit wracked her body. Pain surged through her chest and every limb.

“Cough… cough!”

As Serena spat out the water, Daisy recoiled in shock.

“Stop pretending to be hurt! You’re perfectly fine!”

“Hey! Finish your little act and go make lunch. Do you even know what time it is?”

Caroline clicked her tongue, while Rianna’s frown deepened.

“Unbelievable… two hours wasted over nothing.”

…A joke? Nothing?

“Are you kidding me? Saying that in front of someone who just barely survived death?”

After going through fire and water, her body and mind ached, yet they continued to scold her. Anger flared. Serena glared at them.

“…What’s your problem? Why are you staring at me like that? You dissatisfied?”

Daisy was the first to react. She was already the most irritating sister, and now provoking her pushed Serena over the edge.

Summoning all her strength, Serena shoved Daisy into the lake.

“—?!”

Splash!

Daisy fell in, screaming not a sound.

“D-Daisy?!”

Rianna screamed and leapt into the lake to save her, while a pale Caroline grabbed Serena’s shoulder.

“You’re insane…?!”

Without hesitation, Serena shoved Caroline into the lake too.

Splash!

“Screaaaam!”

“Ah!”

The splashes drenched Daisy and Rianna, causing more screams.

Serena wiped the hair clinging to her face and looked down at her family with cold eyes.

“Now you get it? I’m completely crazy. I’ve been driven crazy by you, Mother and sisters, all along.”

She turned and strode toward the opposite side of the lake, leaving the three women screaming behind her.

“Hey! Don’t you dare leave! Stop right there!”

“You…! I won’t let you go!”

“Serena—!”

Returning home in a rush, Serena was struck by an overwhelming question.

“What on earth is happening…?!”

She had thrown her rambling family into the lake, but she couldn’t comprehend her situation.

Grabbing her soaked blonde hair in despair, she thought:

“I thought I died in the fire, so why the lake…? And why is the house intact? There was definitely a fire!”

It hadn’t been long, but she remembered clearly—how the flames suddenly spread, how she lost consciousness from the pain.

“Could it… have been a dream?”

If not, there was no way she would have survived without a single burn.

She felt her arms—just bare skin. No pain.

“Why has my body shrunk… like a ten-year-old’s?”

Beneath her tattered dress, her legs were thin as twigs. Even her sisters and mother looked younger, like children.

It was as if…

“…I’ve traveled back in time.”

Immediately, Serena slapped her own cheek. It stung.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream.

“Am I really going crazy…? Is that why I’m seeing things…?”

She had endured her family’s torment countless times before, finally becoming an adult. She had thought she was ready to escape this cursed house.

“What is going on…?!”

Her breath caught. She couldn’t believe the situation.

“Dream or not, please let me go back! I’m sick of this house!”

As she shouted desperately into the void, someone grabbed her hair.

“Hey! You thought you could throw me in the lake and get away with it?!”

It was Daisy, furious despite looking like a drenched mouse. Caroline followed closely behind, glaring.

“Daisy! Hold her tight! Don’t let her go!”

“Of course! Hey! You’re dead today!”

“…Ah! Seriously!”

Dead? She had practically already died and survived!

“This is not the time to fight over this nonsense!” Serena’s irritation surged.

“You pushed me into the lake first!”

She grabbed Daisy’s hair tightly. Her body remembered—Daisy had shoved her first.

“Ah!”

“Hey…! What’s gotten into you today? Are you crazy?!”

Caroline tried to pull Serena away, but it was useless. Clenching her teeth, Serena grabbed Caroline’s hair with her other hand.

“Ah!”

“Yes! I told you! I’m crazy! I’ve been driven mad by you already, and I can’t even think straight, so just leave me be!”

“Ah! M-Mom! Mom! Come quickly!”

“W-what…! What are you doing?!”

Rianna rushed over, trying to separate them, but only her daughters’ hair was pulled tighter.

“It hurts! Let go! Let go!”

“Ah! Let go! I said let go!”

“No! Not until every hair comes out!”

“Ah! Mom! She’s crazy!”

After a long struggle, Serena finally let go when she had no strength left. Her sisters collapsed to the floor, spent. Rianna, exhausted from trying to stop them, slumped in a chair, glaring at Serena.