The chamber was quiet again. Too quiet.
The shattered glow of the mirror had faded, leaving only the faint hum of the relic at the room's center. Kiyoshi breathed heavily, sweat clinging to his brow, but the suffocating weight of that crimson presence had lifted.
Rei kept a steady hand on his shoulder until his posture straightened. "You're still here," she said simply, as if testing reality.
"I almost wasn't," Kiyoshi admitted. His voice carried no shame, only exhaustion. "It tried to show me everything I feared. Everything I wanted."
Daiki sat cross-legged a few feet away, fanning himself dramatically. "Yeah, well, you didn't end up stabbing us, so I'll call that a win." He flashed a grin, but his eyes lingered on Kiyoshi longer than usual—measuring, curious, maybe even a little worried.
Rei ignored the joke, her eyes searching Kiyoshi's face. "You fought it."
"I had to." His gaze drifted to her, then to Daiki. "Because if I didn't… I don't think I'd be standing here with either of you."
Silence lingered, but it wasn't heavy anymore.
Daiki leaned back with a sigh. "Well, I guess that makes us the official keepers of your sanity. Should I start charging for that service?"
Rei rolled her eyes. "Don't cheapen it." Then, softer: "We're a team. That's what matters."
Kiyoshi looked down at his hands, faint traces of crimson chakra still flickering before fading. The mirror's words hadn't left him—the promise of power, the threat of isolation—but when he looked at Rei and Daiki, the whisper in his chest quieted again.
"I thought being Chinoike meant I'd always stand alone," he said slowly. "But today… I didn't."
Rei's lips curved into the smallest of smiles. "You don't have to."
Daiki huffed. "Yeah, but if you ever do go all crimson-monster again, just give me a heads-up. I'll bring marshmallows for the fire."
That broke the tension. Rei shook her head, exasperated, and Kiyoshi actually laughed—short, tired, but real.
For the first time in what felt like forever, the three of them didn't feel like individuals thrown together by chance. They felt like a team forged in battle, in choice, and in trust.
But as they turned to leave the chamber, the relic still hummed faintly in the dark, its pulse echoing softly.