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The world didn't end.
Kael had half-expected it to. After everything they'd been through—worlds unraveling, timelines fracturing, cosmic trees glowing and cracking—he thought losing Ayame would be the last straw for reality itself.
But no. The stars still burned overhead. The grass still waved in the whispering breeze. Somewhere, a bird chirped—mocking the monumental loss that had just occurred.
Ayame was gone.
Not dead. Not erased.
Just… tethered.
Somewhere far, far beyond his reach.
Kael stood in the middle of the glowing field, the Architect having vanished along with the Loom's vibrant pulse. The sky was still dusky, painted in soft blues and oranges. Peaceful.
It didn't feel peaceful to him.
"I should've flipped tails," he muttered, staring at the token still resting on the grass.
Yui appeared beside him, her projection flickering slightly. "It wouldn't have mattered. The Loom already knew which of you would take the thread."
"Then why bother with the coin toss?"
"To let you pretend you had a say."
Kael didn't respond. He was too busy trying to breathe without shattering.
After a long pause, Yui added quietly, "She did it to protect everything. Including you."
"I know."
"And she believed in you."
"I know that too."
Yui sighed. "Then maybe you should start acting like it."
Kael looked up sharply. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're still alive," she said simply. "She didn't give herself up so you could sulk in a meadow."
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
Because damn it, she was right.
After a long breath, he picked up the token. It was warm in his hand. Familiar. Grounding.
"Okay," he said. "Where do I start?"
Yui's projection blinked. "Well, first, you need to go back to your timeline. Time's already trying to rethread itself around you."
Kael turned. Behind him, a glowing portal shimmered open—gold and silver strands twisting gently like vines. A doorway home.
"And after that?"
"You find the anomalies," she said. "The glitches. The ones who've felt the tug of the Loom. You're not the only one out of place anymore."
Kael frowned. "Are there others like me?"
"There will be. Some will need help. Some… may be dangerous."
Kael clenched his fists. "Sounds like fun."
Yui smiled faintly. "You always did like impossible missions."
As Kael stepped toward the portal, the world flickered—and he caught, just for a moment, the faintest glimpse of Ayame.
Standing in a city of glowing crystals. Laughing.
Not at him.
But somewhere.
Alive.
He blinked, and she was gone.
But the warmth in his chest remained.
She was out there.
And he would find her.
---
### *One Month Later…*
Kael's new apartment was small, loud, and smelled faintly of curry. A step down from his old life in the mountains, but it had what he needed: privacy, multiple escape routes, and a decent internet connection.
He stood at the cluttered desk, surrounded by glowing blueprints and scattered research papers. A corkboard on the wall held a dozen red strings, all converging on one word: **"Echoes."**
They'd started appearing across timelines—strange fractures of reality. Places where people said time reversed, looped, or stalled altogether. Glimpses of other lives. Sounds with no source. Dreams that were too real.
In every case, they ended with one thing:
**A girl humming a forgotten tune.**
Ayame's lullaby.
He pressed play on a small audio recorder. Static. Then… a note. Soft. Fragmented.
Kael closed his eyes.
"I'm close," he whispered.
Suddenly, a knock at the door.
Kael stiffened. He wasn't expecting anyone. Yui's alerts hadn't gone off.
He grabbed a makeshift stun baton from the wall and moved to the peephole.
A girl.
Younger than him. Brown hoodie. Bright green eyes.
She waved at the peephole.
"Hi!" she called cheerfully. "My name's Rin. You don't know me, but I *dreamed* about you."
Kael opened the door halfway, wary. "Congratulations?"
She beamed. "You were fighting a dragon made of mirrors. And the sky was upside down. It was cool!"
He blinked.
"Also," she added casually, "you dropped this."
She held out a small thread of glowing silver.
It pulsed.
Kael's heart skipped.
Ayame's energy.
No doubt.
He grabbed it instantly.
"How did you get this?" he demanded.
Rin shrugged. "Dreamed it."
"People don't dream other people's timelines."
Rin leaned forward, grinning. "Maybe not. But I think I'm an Echo too."
Kael stared.
"You've got five minutes," he said, stepping back.
"Cool!" she said, strolling in like it was her place. "I brought snacks!"
She tossed him a pack of star-shaped cookies.
He caught it, half-smiling despite himself.
Ayame would've liked her.
Then again, maybe that was the point.
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