Renji woke to the sound of birds.
Real birds.
Not the warped echoes from the Mirror World. Not the looping, glitching versions from the Spiral. Just… normal morning birdsong.
His eyes opened slowly.
He was lying on the riverbank.
The early sun glowed through the trees, warm and soft.
The sky was clear — impossibly clear — as if someone had wiped it clean.
For a moment, Renji wondered if he had dreamed everything.
Then he heard a groan beside him.
> "Ugh… did someone get the license plate of that river?"
Kuro sat up, soaked to the bone, hair matted, looking like he had fought a washing machine and lost.
Aoi was there too, lying half-asleep against a stone, breathing steady.
They were alive.
And the river?
It flowed normally again.
Forward.
Calm.
Silent.
---
The Memory That Stayed
Aoi blinked awake, confusion flickering across her face.
Renji crawled to her side.
"Aoi, hey — you okay?"
Her eyes focused slowly. She touched her face, then her chest, then the ground beneath her.
> "She's gone," she whispered.
Kuro nodded. "Shiori?"
Aoi closed her eyes, tears slipping free.
> "She… let go. Really let go."
Renji squeezed her shoulder, grounding her.
The mirror shard she had held was now dull, completely ordinary. No glow. No presence. No echo of a voice.
Just glass.
Aoi held it to her chest.
> "It's strange," she murmured. "I thought I'd feel emptiness. But I don't."
Renji tilted his head. "What do you feel?"
She smiled softly.
> "Peace."
---
The Town Forgets Again — But They Don't
When they walked back into Yukihama, the town was already awake.
Students in uniforms heading to school.
Store owners sweeping their porches.
Cicadas droning from the trees.
Everything was normal.
When they passed a group of older locals near the station, they overheard:
> "Strange weather lately."
"Humid nights."
"Feels like a dream I can't remember."
Renji exchanged looks with Kuro and Aoi.
The town didn't remember.
Not the loops.
Not the mirrors.
Not Shiori.
Not the river that almost ate them alive.
The Spiral's last echo had faded.
But the three of them remembered everything.
---
The Rooftop Return
Later that day, after classes, they gathered on the school rooftop once more. There, in the corner, sat the old mirror, sunlight reflecting off its clean surface.
No cracks.
No shadows.
No lingering presence.
Just a simple mirror.
Kuro touched it cautiously. "Feels weird."
Aoi laughed. "Because it's finally just doing its job."
Renji looked at their three reflections — standing side by side, alive, whole, changed in ways the world would never know.
> "We should say something," he murmured.
Aoi nodded, placing the dull shard gently on the concrete beside the mirror.
They stood together, and for Shiori — for Emiko — for every forgotten version of themselves — they spoke softly:
> "Thank you."
The wind carried their words away.
---
A World Without Spirals
They sat down, leaning against the fence, watching clouds drift lazily across the sky.
"Do you think it's really over?" Aoi asked quietly.
Kuro shrugged. "As over as something like that can be."
Renji looked upward, letting the sun warm his face.
> "Maybe the world isn't perfect. Maybe it never was."
"But the spirals… the reflections… they're done."
"And we're still here."
Aoi smiled gently. "Together."
Kuro grinned. "Yeah. Unfortunately for you two, you're stuck with me."
They laughed — all three — the sound bright and unburdened.
No echoes.
No distortions.
No darkness waiting around the corner.
Just the day after.
And the quiet promise of days still to come.
---
End of Chapter 77
---
To Be Continue