Inside the void, Kagerou knelt upon the dark ground as tears finally broke free from his eyes.
"This... isn't true..."
Fragments of memories continued to replay inside his mind.
First, Kanae.
Then... someone older.
Although time had changed his appearance, Kagerou recognized him immediately.
Kyojuro.
His little brother.
After that came more faces.
Some belonged to people he knew.
Others... to people he had never met.
One after another, they died before his eyes.
Their final moments replayed endlessly, like memories he desperately wanted to forget but could never escape.
Again.
And again.
And again.
It wasn't merely the memories themselves that tormented him.
It was the helplessness.
No matter how desperately he reached out...
No matter how loudly he screamed...
He couldn't change a single thing.
He was nothing more than a spectator.
Watching.
Witnessing.
Powerless to stop the inevitable.
It was a feeling he knew all too well.
A feeling he thought he had left behind.
Yet somehow...
He couldn't accept it.
"This..."
His voice trembled as another sob escaped his lips.
"This... can't be true..."
He lowered his head, his fists trembling against the cold darkness beneath him.
"This is all just a dream..."
He repeated the words over and over, desperately trying to convince himself.
But deep within his heart...
Another voice whispered the opposite.
A voice that refused to be silenced.
As though he had truly witnessed every one of those deaths with his own eyes.
As though those memories... Had once been his reality.
"No... No... No..."
He shook his head frantically, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.
Tears streamed freely down his face.
His expression twisted with anger.
An anger directed at no one... Or perhaps at the entire world.
"I CAN'T ACCEPT IT!"
His voice echoed endlessly through the void.
"NOT THIS!"
"THIS ISN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO END!"
He raised both fists and slammed them into the dark ground beneath him.
*BOOM!*
"I CAN'T ACCEPT THIS!"
"I..."
His body suddenly froze.
The words caught in his throat.
Slowly...
He opened one trembling hand.
For some reason, despite the endless darkness surrounding him...
He could see it clearly.
Every finger.
Every scar.
Every line upon his palm.
"...I..."
Confusion spread across his face.
"I..."
His brow furrowed deeply.
His own hand...
Felt unfamiliar.
As though it belonged to someone else.
"...Who..."
The question slipped from his lips almost unconsciously.
"...Who..."
His breathing became uneven.
"...Who am I?"
Silence answered him.
No voice.
No echo.
Nothing.
The strength left his body.
He slowly lowered himself until he was sitting limply upon the cold darkness.
His empty eyes stared upward into the endless void.
Devoid of light.
Devoid of purpose.
Then...
*Drip*
Something cold landed on his cheek.
It slid slowly across his skin before reaching the corner of his lips.
"...?"
He blinked.
Salt.
He could taste salt.
A tear?
No...
It hadn't come from him.
Then...
A faint warmth spread through his hand.
Soft.
Gentle.
It slowly traveled through his arm before flowing into the rest of his body.
For the first time since entering the void...
He felt warmth.
Then...
A voice.
Faint.
So faint it was almost swallowed by the darkness.
"...Ka..."
Another followed.
"...Kage..."
"Kage-nii!!"
"Nii-chan"
Kagerou slowly lifted his head.
"...Who...?"
The voices...
They sounded familiar.
Painfully familiar.
Yet no matter how hard he searched his memories...
He couldn't remember who they belonged to.
But... His heart did.
Each call tugged at something buried deep within him.
Familiar.
Warm.
... Home.
Then...
A woman's voice whispered right beside his ear.
"Kagerou-kun..."
It was gentle.
Warm.
Filled with concern.
"Please..."
A brief pause.
"...wake up"
---
Outside...
At the Rengoku Residence.
Panic spread throughout the house after Kagerou suddenly began crying in his sleep, and his body started trembling uncontrollably.
Everyone gathered around his bedside, but no matter how carefully they examined him, they found nothing unusual apart from a dangerously high fever.
Before anyone could even bring a damp towel to cool his forehead...
Something changed.
Something far more alarming.
Kanae, who had remained by his side the entire time, was the first to notice.
"Kagerou-kun...?"
His breathing, which had been rapid and ragged only moments ago, gradually began to calm.
His trembling eased.
His fever remained.
Yet...
His heartbeat slowed.
At first, only slightly.
Then slower.
And slower still.
Kanae's expression changed immediately.
"...No..."
She quickly pressed two fingers against the side of his neck.
Her eyes widened.
His pulse...
It was becoming unnaturally slow.
Each beat came farther apart than the last.
As though his heart itself was gradually losing the will to continue beating.
It was the heartbeat...
Of someone standing at death's doorstep.
Panic gripped Kanae's heart once more.
"...No..."
The color drained from her face.
Shinjuro, who had just reached for the damp towel, immediately noticed the change in her expression.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice tense.
Without waiting for an answer, he hurried to Kagerou's bedside and placed two fingers against his son's neck.
The moment he felt Kagerou's pulse...
His own heart seemed to stop.
Each beat was weaker than the last.
Slower than the last.
As though life itself was quietly slipping away.
"No..."
Shinjuro's voice trembled.
"No... no, no..."
He shook his head in disbelief.
"Not my son..."
His hands tightened around Kagerou's shoulder.
"...Don't take my son too"
The pain in his voice froze everyone in the room.
Kyojuro and Senjuro didn't fully understand what was happening.
But they understood one thing.
Something was terribly wrong.
"Nii-san...?"
"Kage-nii...?"
The two brothers hurried to the bedside.
Each reached out, gently grasping one of Kagerou's hands.
Afraid of hurting him, they didn't dare shake him too hard.
Instead, they squeezed his hands tightly, desperately calling his name.
"Kage-nii!!..."
"Please wake up..."
"Nii-chan..."
"Please..."
Even Obanai stepped closer.
For once, the usually composed boy stood frozen, unable to think of anything he could do.
He could only watch...
And pray that Kagerou would answer.
Even Shinobu, who had come only to accompany her sister, found herself silently praying.
She still didn't particularly like Kagerou.
Yes, he had saved her life.
But he had also been the reason her older sister had spent so many nights in sadness.
Even so...
She knew one thing.
If Kagerou truly disappeared...
She didn't know what would become of Kanae.
So, without saying a word, Shinobu clasped her hands tightly against her chest and prayed with all her heart.
'Please... Wake up'
Kanae, meanwhile, felt the strength gradually leave her body.
She gently held Kagerou's other hand in both of hers, as though afraid that letting go would cause him to slip away forever.
Closing her eyes, she bowed her head in silent prayer.
"Kagerou-kun..."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"...Please... wake up"
At that moment... Something unbelievable happened.
Kanae, who was tightly holding Kagerou's hand, suddenly felt his fingers press back against hers.
She gasped.
Her eyes snapped open and immediately turned toward Kagerou.
At some point, the color had returned to his face.
For a brief moment, Kanae froze.
Then, without wasting another second, she quickly reached for his pulse.
Shinjuro noticed her sudden movement.
Though he had been drowning in grief only moments before, he didn't interrupt her.
Instead, he simply watched.
Hope slowly returned to his eyes.
Perhaps...
Just perhaps...
A miracle had happened.
Kanae's eyes widened.
She could feel it.
His pulse.
It was still weak...
But it was no longer fading.
Instead, it had begun to grow stronger with each passing heartbeat.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she slowly looked up at Shinjuro.
A smile spread across her face.
"He..." Kanae's voice trembled with relief. "...Kagerou-kun is..."
She took a shaky breath before finally saying the words everyone in the room had been praying to hear.
"...He's still alive."
---
That day, the Kocho sisters didn't return home.
Or rather...
Kanae refused to leave.
Shinjuro didn't object.
The Rengoku residence had more than enough empty rooms, and over the past several days, Kanae had helped care for Kagerou almost every day, even though she herself had only recently recovered from her own injuries.
There was no reason to turn her away.
So, he allowed the two sisters to stay the night.
But that night...
Kanae never left Kagerou's side.
She remained seated beside his bed, gently holding his hand as though afraid that the moment she let go...
He might slip away again.