March 8, 2169. Storm warnings blanketed Okinawa as the pressure dropped and the winds howled louder. The clouds rolled in like an army in slow motion—gray, heavy, angry. The wind, now sharper and colder, slipped through every crack in the Kiyagari household.
The waves slammed harder against the shore, each one louder than the last, as if the sea itself was waking up to something far worse than a storm. There wasn't much Itoshi and Kara could do.
No money for evacuation. No government shelters nearby. No promises of safety.
All they had was this house. All they had was each other.
[Noon]
Itoshi sat alone by the shore, just a few dozen meters from the house. The wind tossed his long blue hair wildly, and salt clung to his skin like ash.
The ocean raged in front of him—but he didn't flinch. He watched it like he was waiting for it to speak.
And then—That vision again.
The same white-haired woman—hazy, ghostlike—appeared on the horizon, walking toward him across the water, feet never touching the surface. Her presence was like a memory trying to become real. The wind went quiet around her.
Inside his head, her voice whispered.
"Come.. Come With me.."
Itoshi's eyes twitched, his fists clenched.
"Tsk.. What the hell do you want from me?!"
He muttered to himself.
No answer—only the repetition of her warning. The same three words, over and over, echoing like a broken record deep inside his skull.
"Come.. Come With me.."
The first few raindrops hit his face.
He didn't move.
He looked up at the sky, where thunder crawled through the clouds like distant beasts.
He smiled.
A calm, eerie smile.
"You're coming, aren't you?"
~~~The Storm - 1:20 PM~~~
Just thirty minutes ago, the sky was calm—blue and hesitant. Now, it was swallowed whole by a thick, brooding darkness. The rain poured down in sheets, sharp and endless. The wind screamed like a beast unleashed, tearing through signs, leaves, and anything that dared stand in its path.
The Kiyagari household trembled.
The old roof groaned under the pressure, shaking violently with every gust. Wood creaked, nails strained, and a metallic shriek echoed with every shift in the tin sheets.
"Seems like the roof's not holding too well. Kara, bring your things to a safer place."
"Ok!"
Kara didn't argue. She rushed to grab whatever she could—photo albums, and an old necklace.
Itoshi climbed up toward the roof, wanting to see how bad things had become.
And then— He froze.
His heart dropped into his stomach.
A storm surge—massive, surging like a living wall of gray and white—was racing toward the shore. There was no siren. No announcement. No mercy.
Just silence before the roar.
Itoshi's eyes widened.
"Kara! Take your important belongings, we got no time!"
Itoshi roared.
"W-Wha!"
Kara said confused.
He slid back down the roof with urgency and grabbed Kara by the hand.
"We got no time! Let's go!"
Together, they ran.
The rain stung their faces. The wind threatened to knock them off their feet. The visibility dropped to nearly nothing. But they kept running.
And then they saw it.
The first wave—taller than any house, fast as a charging beast—came crashing toward the shoreline.
Their ears picked up the wailing of sirens only now, far too late to matter.
Itoshi and Kara turned back for one last glance.
And there it was.
Their home—The Kiyagari home, the place they were raised, the place filled with the memories of Mr. and Mrs. Kiyagari, of Hishiki, of long nights and warm mornings—was being swallowed by the sea.
One snap.
One crash.
And it was gone.
They stood there, soaked and shivering, watching the only place they'd ever known vanish into the ocean like it had never existed.
"Shit—we're not high enough!!"
Itoshi screamed, voice cracking with panic.
They ran harder, feet slamming against waterlogged pavement as the wind screamed like banshees in their ears. But the wave was too fast. Too strong.
It hit them like a freight train.
"Kaahh!"
Kara shouted.
The two were instantly swallowed—torn from each other's hands as they desperately tried to hold on.
"KARA!!"
Itoshi called out.
"KOYAA!!"
Kara called back.
They reached, fingers barely brushing—but the current was merciless. Itoshi felt her hand slip from his, the last bit of warmth vanishing into the chaos.
"I'LL FIND YOU, KARA!! Don't worry about me—just STAY SAFE! SURVIVE!"
Itoshi told a white lie, he did not know if he'd ever return.
"I'll wait for you!!"
Kara cried out.
And then—they were gone from each other.
Kara was thrown inland by the wave's retreating edge, her body carried to higher ground—up the slope toward Kin's residential zone.
The force of the surge weakened the farther it got from shore. She coughed, wheezed, but survived, thrown into safety by sheer luck.
Itoshi wasn't as lucky.
The tide dragged him backward—back to the beach, back toward the open sea. The world was upside down and screaming, filled with splinters and broken pieces of the only life he had.
His limbs burned. His lungs screamed for air.
"So this is it, huh...? Dying at 15, with nothing to show for it. You couldn't protect anyone—not Hishiki, not Kara, not the home. Pathetic. Just how pathetic can you be?"
He thought to himself as his eyes began to close.
The cold wrapped around him like a coffin.
But then—she appeared again.
The white-haired woman from his dreams.
Her voice tore through the void like a bolt of lightning.
"Not yet, Itoshi!!"
The woman was reaching out for Itoshi. He couldn't see her, but he felt her presence, what she felt.
His eyes snapped open. A breath ripped from his lungs.
Not yet.
"Idiot! You can't die yet! Think about Kara! You promised her!!"
Adrenaline surged through him. His legs kicked. His arms clawed at the current.
Debris swirled around him—broken signs, shattered furniture, fragments of houses. He spotted a drifting wooden beam, reaching out—
Too far.
Another piece. Missed.
Another—missed again.
Then, something massive emerged from the flooded shore.
A dried tree—ripped loose, torn from its roots—capable of impaling him barreled straight at him.
"Shit!"
He thought to himself seeing an impending doom.
But then, and idea crossed his mind.
He took a deep breath.
He dove.
He dove to avoid the incoming tree but in the end, he got hit. Pain exploded through his back as a thick branch slammed into him.
Blood bloomed in the water like red ink. He screamed beneath the surface but refused to give in.
Fighting through the pain, he pushed upward, lungs burning.
His head broke the surface.
And there—floating nearby—was a roof. A full section torn off one of the nearby homes, drifting aimlessly.
He reached for it.
And this time—he grabbed it.
He clung tight, ignoring the pain, the blood, the cold.
Itoshi gritted his teeth out of adrenaline and he clung tight on the roof.
"Take me somewhere... anywhere... Just let me survive."
He didn't know where the current would take him.
He didn't know if Kara was safe.
He didn't know if he'd wake up again.
But for now—he was alive.
And he wasn't done yet.
~~~Okinawa — 2:00 PM~~~
The eye of the storm opened above the battered islands like a false blessing.
The black sky broke into a silver wound, casting pale light upon the wreckage left in its path. Roofs torn. Cars overturned. Streets submerged.
And yet—amidst the destruction, came a moment of silence.
Birds did not sing.
Sirens did not wail.
The world was still, broken only by the soft hum of survival.
Kara stumbled barefoot through the soaked streets of Moshinumori, clothes drenched and skin scraped. Her hair clung to her face, her body trembling.
Then—voices.
A family opened their door to her, eyes wide, faces kind.
"Are you hurt?! Come in, come in, hurry—before it returns!"
She didn't have the energy to answer and to doubt. She just nodded, falling into their arms.
She was safe.
But her heart screamed: Where is Koya?
~~~Meanwhile, near Kin Beach — 2:10 PM~~~
Itoshi's hands gripped the battered roof as the water pulled and shoved like a raging beast.
His vision was hazy, his body screaming from pain—especially the deep wound in his back, still bleeding, throbbing with every breath.
But he kept pushing.
The wind, now eerily calm under the eye, began to shift again. A sudden gust shoved the makeshift raft closer to land. He could see rooftops—wrecked but upright. Maybe a hill. Maybe shelter.
He whispered,
"Just a little more..."
He was so close.
~~~2:16 PM — The Eye Passes~~~
The sky snapped shut like a trapdoor.
The clouds churned violently, and the wind returned with vengeance.
Rain slammed the surface like nails from the sky. The calm was over.
Itoshi looked up—just in time to see something coming toward him.
A sheet of twisted wooden wall, carried by a violent gust, spun wildly—aimed straight at him.
His eyes widened.
CRACK.
The debris slammed into his head. Blood sprayed across the waves. His hands slipped.
Darkness swallowed him instantly.
His body drifted, unconscious, still clinging weakly to the roof.
The storm raged on above, merciless and unrelenting.
But somehow, through sheer chance—or maybe fate—he didn't sink, he was still a top the metal roof.
The current, pulled by the second half of the typhoon, dragged him north, away from Kin Beach, away from Kara... and deeper into the mystery that awaited.
~~~5:02 PM — Off the Coast of Okinawa~~~
The ocean shimmered gold beneath the waning light. The storm had passed, leaving in its wake a trail of devastation... and survivors.
Itoshi's eyes fluttered open. He was lying on a stretcher in a rescue boat, swaying gently on the calm water. His body was a map of agony—every breath felt like fire in his ribs, and his back throbbed from the deep wound he'd sustained. His lips were dry, and his stomach twisted with a hollow, gnawing hunger.
But he was alive.
He slowly sat up, his fingers white-knuckled as they gripped the metal rail for support.
"Whoa, hey—hey! Easy, kid!"
A rescuer shouted, startled by the sudden movement.
The man rushed to his side, placing a firm hand on Itoshi's shoulder to keep him pinned to the stretcher.
"You're safe now. We're heading back to land. Don't move too much, you've lost a lot of blood."
"...Where am I?" Itoshi's voice came out hoarse, barely a whisper scratching through his throat.
"About two kilometers from Kin. We found you drifting. Lucky we were searching this late. Any longer, and... well, you'd be gone."
Itoshi looked past him. Land was finally in sight, but it was unrecognizable. He saw blackened trees, half-drowned houses, and emergency lights flickering like fireflies in the distance. He gritted his teeth and tried to stand again, ignoring the way his vision swam.
"I need to find... Kara."
"You need to rest! Once we dock, there's a relief center set up. We'll help you find her!"
The rescuer recommended urgently, his voice rising in concern.
But Itoshi's gaze was unwavering. His heart pounded—not from the physical trauma, but from a desperate, clawing urgency.
"Kara... please be safe."
The boat began to slow as it approached the emergency docks. A sea of people gathered at the shoreline: survivors huddled in blankets, medics rushing with supplies, and rescue crews shouting orders. There was chaos, but beneath it, a flicker of hope.
One name screamed louder than the storm ever had in his mind. Kara.
"Sir! You've only been resting for two hours. You need to take it slowly!"
The man insisted, reaching for his arm again.
Itoshi shut the rescuer down with a cold, sharp look.
"Shut up. I appreciate you saving me, but I gotta see her."
[Kara's POV]
The storm had barely passed when I slipped out of the strangers' home that had taken me in. It was just a family of two—a husband and his wife. At their front door, I bowed low, thankful, as I clutched my teddy bear and diary tightly to my chest.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you for the food! I gotta find my Koya now!"
"Take care!"
The wife called after me as I turned to run.
I bolted down the road, heading into the lower lands. Branches, toppled posts, and scattered leaves littered the path. My lungs burned as I sprinted, my breath ragged, but I forced my legs to keep moving. I had to reach him. I had to reach Koya.
The fields opened before me. The sky was still heavy and dark, but the rain had faded into a damp mist. Then, an engine's roar cut through the silence. An electric truck pulled up behind me, honking its horn. I glanced back, still gasping for air.
"Hey! Are you alright?!"
An old man shouted from the driver's seat. A child leaned from the passenger side, eyes wide and curious.
"Where are you headed?! Are you going to the rescue zone?!"
I only nodded, unable to find the words. The man jerked his thumb toward the truck bed.
"Hop in!"
Swallowing hard, I climbed onto the back, clutching my teddy bear and diary as the vehicle rolled forward.
[A few moments later...]
My shoes splashed through the wet soil as I leapt down from the truck. The driver gave me a silent wave before heading down the other way; I looked back and waved goodbye, but I couldn't find the strength to smile. I scanned the shoreline frantically, my heart pounding in my chest like a war drum.
The aftermath of the storm lay before me—rescue boats docked unevenly, medics shouting names, and dazed survivors being rushed to ambulances. The beach had become a triage zone, soaked in seawater and heartbreak. I clutched my diary tightly against my chest, my fingers trembling.
"Please be here. Please, Koya..."
I muttered to myself.
I ran from boat to boat, stopping only to search each stretcher and every medic tent. My eyes burned from the wind, tears, and pure desperation.
Then—there he was.
He was collapsed on his knees, blood-soaked bandages wrapped around his torso, with a medic trying to keep him steady. His face was pale, but unmistakable. Itoshi.
I dropped the diary and sprinted with everything I had left.
"KOYA!!"
My voice reached him through the chaos like lightning. Itoshi's head jerked weakly in my direction. His vision was hazy, but through the blur and the noise, he recognized me.
A broken smile formed on his lips.
"Told you I'd... find you..."
I collided into him, throwing my arms around his battered frame as gently as I could. He winced at the pain, but he didn't pull away.
"You idiot! You really had to go get swept away just to prove how dramatic you are?"
I cried.
"Had to make an entrance... I guess..."
He smiled at me weakly.
I laughed through my tears as I rested my forehead against his. All around us, the coast was still in total chaos. People were crying, yelling, and searching for the lost. But for this single moment—for just a few seconds—we were the only two people in the world.
Together.
Alive.
~~~To be Continued~~~