Eri’s heart was still hammering when she eased herself out from behind the pantry.The faint creak of the floorboards sounded like thunder in her ears.

  She froze—waited.No reaction.

  Her father was still in the living room, the murmur of the TV just barely audible now.

  She swallowed hard, tails pressed tightly around her legs to stop them from brushing the walls. Then she took her first step toward the stairs.

  Each one felt like walking through a minefield.The floor groaned under her bare feet, soft enough to make her flinch.

  “Come on…” she whispered under her breath, voice trembling.

  She reached the corner that opened toward the living room. From here, she could see the back of her father’s head over the couch — rexed, focused on the screen.

  Eri crouched low, moving as quietly as she could, her tails instinctively curling tighter, the fur brushing against her sides in anxious rhythm.

  Then—The floor creaked.

  Louder this time.

  Her father shifted. “Ethan? That you?”

  Eri froze mid-step, every muscle locking in pce.

  A long pause.

  He sighed. “Guess not.”

  The TV volume clicked up a little.

  Eri didn’t breathe again until a full ten seconds passed. Then she darted for the stairs—silent, quick, bare feet gliding across the wood.

  One step. Two. Three—Halfway up, her tails brushed the banister, flicking a loose photo frame.

  It cttered softly.

  Her father called again, sharper this time, “Ethan? You home?”

  Panic surged through her chest like lightning.She bolted up the rest of the stairs, slipping once, catching herself on the railing, cws barely scraping the wood.

  She made it to her room—smmed the door shut with shaking hands—then froze, realizing the noise was too loud.

  Her father’s footsteps echoed from below.

  “Ethan?”

  Eri’s breath hitched. She spun, scanning her room—the bed, the desk, the dresser—until she spotted the neckce lying right where she left it, on top of her nightstand, glinting faintly in the light.

  She rushed to it, snatching it up in trembling fingers.

  Downstairs, the footsteps reached the base of the stairs.“Ethan? You okay?”

  She fumbled with the csp, fingers slick with sweat.

  “Come on, come on—”

  It caught.Clicked.The magic shimmered.

  The tails vanished. The ears, the markings—all gone in an instant.

  Just Ethan now.

  A second ter, her door opened—Her dad standing in the doorway, worry written across his face.

  “Ethan? What was all that noise?”

  Ethan turned, chest heaving, forcing a tired, crooked smile.“Sorry, I—uh… tripped on the stairs. Guess I’m clumsy today.”

  His dad sighed, shaking his head. “You scared me for a second. You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah,” Ethan lied. “Just… tired.”

  The older man hesitated, then nodded. “Alright. Try to get some rest, okay?”

  “Yeah. Will do.”

  When the door finally shut again, Ethan stood there for a long moment, staring at his reflection in the dark window.

  His throat tightened.Because for a few moments, he hadn’t been Ethan at all.He’d been her.

  And now she was gone again.

  The door clicked shut.

  Ethan stood there, staring at the faint line of light under it.He didn’t move for a long time.

  The room felt… heavier noke all the color had been drained out the second Eri vanished.

  He looked down at his hands — just pin, human hands again. No pale shimmer to his skin, no soft fur at his wrists.His chest felt wrong.Ft. Dull.Like he’d been shoved back into someone else’s body that didn’t fit anymore.

  He pressed his palms against his face and let out a shaky breath.

  “Damn it…”

  The word barely came out. More like a cracked whisper than anger.

  He turned toward the mirror across the room, the same one Eri had smiled into earlier that day. The same one that had reflected a person who felt real.

  Now it showed him — Ethan — pale, exhausted, with shadows under his eyes and a haunted expression he didn’t even recognize.

  He stared at that reflection for a long time.Then his hand came up to his chest, clutching the neckce like it might choke him.

  “I hate this,” he whispered.

  The silence answered him.

  He sank down onto the floor beside his bed, legs pulled close, head resting on his knees. The neckce swung from his hand, catching the dim light, glinting faintly — like it was mocking him.

  “I just… I just want to be her again.”

  His voice trembled on that st word.

  Because when he was Eri…He didn’t have to force every breath.He didn’t have to act.He didn’t have to pretend to be okay.

  As Eri, everything felt lighter. The air, the world, himself.

  Here, now, it all felt heavy again.

  He pressed his forehead to his knees, clutching tighter.Each second stretched out endlessly, like the walls were closing in.

  He thought about what it meant — what he was doing to himself. Living two lives, breaking every time he had to return to this one.

  And yet… he couldn’t stop.

  He needed to be Eri.Not as an escape — but because that’s who he was.

  And sitting there in that suffocating quiet, Ethan finally let the tears fall. Not loud or dramatic — just quiet, bitter sobs that no one would hear.

  He hated this body.He hated the lie.He hated the name “Ethan.”

  And worst of all —He hated that he had to keep pretending that Eri didn’t exist.

  I am really sorry for the very te chapter