The next morning came too fast.

Kai blinked awake to Ren shaking his shoulder with zero mercy.
“Rise and shine, my fellow future idol! Breakfast and humiliation await!”

Toma threw a pillow at Ren from across the room. “Let him breathe, you golden retriever.”

Sora sat on the floor tying his shoes, humming softly, while Min finished making his bed so neatly it looked illegal.

Kai rubbed his eyes, smiling despite his nerves.

Today wasn’t just training.

Today was the first step toward proving he belonged here.

The Vocal Room

The trainees gathered in a mirrored studio. A stern vocal coach, Ms. Hoshino, stood at the front arms crossed, eyes like a hawk.

“Welcome to vocal evaluation,” she said. “Warm ups first. Then each of you will sing solo. We want to assess your limits.”

Ren winced. “Limits? That sounds scary.”

“It should,” Ms. Hoshino replied without blinking.

The warm ups were chaotic in a charming way:
Ren’s voice cracked like puberty 2.0, Toma tried to out-volume everyone, Sora floated through notes like a sleepy angel, and Min hit every pitch perfectly annoyingly perfect.

Kai held back. He did the exercises cleanly, lightly. Safe. Controlled.
Not Echo. Just Kai.

But Rei… Rei sang like polished glass. Every note gleamed. Not a tremor, not a mistake. When he finished, the room clapped without being told.

Rei bowed slightly, then looked across the mirrors straight at Kai.

Your turn, his eyes seemed to say.

Kai’s Solo

“Kai Mizuno,” Ms. Hoshino called. “Step forward.”

Kai’s heartbeat thudded in his throat. He inhaled, remembering his plan: Sing well, but not too well.

But the room was silent. Waiting. Expecting.

Then he saw it Ren giving two thumbs up, Min watching calmly, Sora listening with a soft smile.

He wanted… to make them proud.

He opened his mouth.

And the real voice came out.

Not the restrained Kai voice.

The Echo voice.

It was warm, aching, and vulnerable. The kind of voice that held stories. It filled the room, trembling with emotion he didn’t mean to show.

The trainees froze. Even Rei stopped breathing.

When he finished, there was absolute silence.

Ms. Hoshino blinked once. “…That voice. You’ve trained before.”

Kai’s blood went cold. “O-only a little.”

Ren whispered to Toma, “Bro. A little? That sounded like heartbreak and heaven had a child—”

Rei stepped forward ever so slightly, eyes sharp. “Your tone… I know it from somewhere.”

Kai’s stomach dropped.

Before he could react—

hssssh—

A burning scratch tore through his throat. His breath hitched, and pain flared behind his voice. He coughed once, forcing it down, hiding it with a bow.

No one noticed… or so he prayed.

Dance Training

Vocal eval was followed by choreography. Dancing was chaos, but the fun kind. Ren tripped twice, Toma turned everything into a competition, Min memorized moves instantly, and Sora glided like water.

Kai kept up, but his throat throbbed with every sharp breath. He hid it. He smiled. He danced.

Only Rei kept glancing over watching.

After Practice

“Today was insane!” Ren laughed as the boys collapsed onto the dorm floor after training. “But tomorrow, we’ll be even better. Right, Kai?”

Kai forced a smile. “Yeah. Tomorrow.”

But later, when everyone else fell asleep…

Kai slipped into the bathroom, gripping the sink. His reflection stared back tired eyes, trembling hand.

He swallowed.

Pain shot through him like a blade.

He covered his mouth to stop a sound from escaping.

Not again… he thought. Not my voice. Not this soon.

No one could know.

Not the boys.

Not the coaches.

Especially not the world.

He turned on the faucet to drown out the quiet rasp in his throat and the fear building in his chest.

Outside, the dorm was peaceful and warm.

Inside Kai’s body…

The damage had already begun.

To be continued...