I intended the first chapter to have a cliffhanger.
Yes, fucking cliff hanger!
I will make sure every chapter will have it!
I am that evil.
The cliffhanger was that Satoru realizes someone nearby is about to die.
After finishing the first chapter, I went to the next chapter.
[Acting on instinct, Satoru rushes forward, narrowly preventing a tragic accident. The situation unfolds quickly, with panic, confusion, and disbelief from those around him, but the outcome is undeniable: someone who should have died is now safe.
As the moment settles, time snaps back to normal. No one else seems aware of what almost happened. To them, it was just a coincidence. To Satoru, it's another reminder that he's been given a strange and burdensome ability.
Shaken but outwardly calm, he reflects on how often this has happened before. He never asked for this power, yet he can't ignore it either. Each time, he is forced into a role he never chose, someone who intervenes, someone who changes fate.
Despite saving a life, he feels no satisfaction. Only a lingering question remains:
Why him?]
Then, I went for the cliff hanger where that night, Satoru returns home… and notices something is wrong.
I still remember this scene so clearly and so inspired, I quickly wrote the third chapter.
[Satoru enters his home expecting normalcy, but instead, he is met with silence, heavy, unnatural silence. The air feels different, suffocating. As he moves further inside, a growing sense of dread takes hold.
Then he sees it.
His mother lies lifeless, the scene unmistakably violent. Shock freezes him in place as his mind struggles to process what he's seeing. This isn't something that can be undone with a few minutes of rewind. This is final. Permanent.
Before he can react, the situation spirals. Evidence, circumstances, timing, everything points toward him. The reality crashes down: he is about to be blamed for this.
Panic sets in, but beneath it is something deeper, regret. His mother had been trying to tell him something earlier… something important.
He didn't listen.
Then my third chapter ended with the written words: "Footsteps approach. Someone is coming."
Damn, writing these three chapters made my fingers hurt. I knew being a novelist was hard, and having the endurance to type words would help me a lot.
I'm fucking young, so it's all good!