Kara stood in an endless white void.
She looked down, staring at her hands in confusion as echoes of a familiar voice rang in her ears.
"Nee-san... Nee-san..."
"Hoshi-san?.."
She muttered, looking around.
"Where am I?.."
There was a long silence in the endless white as Kara kept looking around, searching for anything.
Then, a faint voice reached her ears. A man's voice.
She couldn't make out the words at first — just a muffled echo.
But as it continued, it slowly became clearer.
"K-Kara-san! Watch out!"
As Kara realized, the voice was coming from Kirashi in the real world. She snapped back to herself, her eyes glowing crimson red as she looked around, lying on the floor.
The bald man stood at the top, shouting orders to his men.
"LET IT RAIN!"
Everyone outside—Ryujin, Aldrin, and Kara carried by Kirashi—immediately sought cover near the SUV. They all ran as the bald man's men opened fire.
They all piled into the vehicle, desperate for shelter from the rain of bullets. Their driver didn't make it—bullets pierced his body, blood splattering across the metallic floor.
Kirashi clutched Jayu and Kara tightly, shielding them from the onslaught as they closed the door. Meanwhile, Ryujin and Aldrin tended to Itoshi and Ayro, both still unconscious. They moved as far away as possible from the shattered windshield.
The man then shouted,
"HALT!"
His men immediately stopped firing and began reloading in perfect sync. Dust swirled across the deck once again from the barrage, the sharp scent of gunpowder lingering in the air—all the dust trying to escape through the single hole Itoshi had blown.
The bald man smiled coldly.
"Ehh?.. Where did they go?... Did they go hiding?.." he mocked.
Inside the vehicle, silence hung heavy as they waited.
Kara slowly closed her eyes—and was once again drawn into the endless place of white.
[Kara's POV]
"I'm... back here... Why is this feeling... so familiar?.. Have I been here before?.."
Kara muttered to herself.
Once again, the echoes of a familiar girl's voice drifted through her ears.
"There it is again... Who is that?.. Why is her voice so familiar..."
Then, another voice whispered softly in her left ear.
"Welcome her."
Kara flinched and turned to her left. Suddenly, she found herself in a town.
~~~Nagasaki. January 14th 2154~~~
"Wha-... I'm back in Nagasaki?.."
She muttered to herself.
"I... I can't move..."
In the old streets of Nagasaki, a voice called out,
"Mori!!"
Suddenly, through Kara's eyes, she moved.
"I'm... moving?.. But I don't have control over my body... Is this a dream?.. Or perhaps... a memory?.. She called me Mori... and I responded?.."
Through her eyes, she began to run toward the source of the voice. Tiny hands waved in front of her vision.
"Are these... Hoshi-san's... memories?"
She rushed to a tall figure—a girl with eyes like sunset and long black streaks flowing through her hair.
The young girl leapt into her arms with delight as the older girl smiled back warmly.
"Nee-san!" the young Hoshi shouted.
Her sister caught Hoshi, holding her by the underarms.
"Let's go?" her older sister asked.
Hoshi nodded with a huge smile, clutching a small doll in her hand.
With Hoshi in her sister's arms, they walked uphill toward an isolated school.
"Is this...? Where you used to live?" Kara thought to herself.
"We've sold a lot of bread! Nee-san!" young Hoshi muttered.
Her sister replied warmly,
"That's right! You helped me a lot, that's why! Thank you so much, Mori!"
Hoshi's face lit up with delight as they entered the school they called home. Basket on her big sisters right arm.
Teachers greeted them as they walked in.
"Good morning!"
"Welcome back!"
The two returned the greetings with smiles.
They made their way to the back of the school. Hoshi jumped out of her sister's arms with excitement, grabbing their indoor slippers as her big sister removed her shoes.
She handed them over with a smile.
"Here you go, Nee-san!"
"Thank you, Mori!"
Her sister slipped on the indoor shoes as Hoshi played happily with her doll.
The little doll was a ninja. As Hoshi played with it, her big sister sat beside her, curious about the doll Hoshi had found.
"Hoh?.. A ninja?"
She asked.
Hoshi blinked, unsure what a ninja was.
"N-ninja?"
"Yes! Your doll!"
Her big sister smiled and paused.
"I love those! They're so cool!"
Hoshi blinked again, and her sister began to explain how much she liked ninjas.
"Back when we still lived with Papa, I used to watch a lot of movies about ninjas... They'd go out at night... protecting people from danger."
Hoshi's face lit up with a smile.
"Hoh! They sound cool! Tell me more, Nee-san!"
Her big sister chuckled softly and agreed. She sat on the floor as Hoshi climbed into her lap. Her sister gently patted young Hoshi's head.
"I've also watched another ninja series... I vaguely remember the story but... all of them were ninjas. The main character had... yellow hair, I think? He was a boy..."
Hoshi nodded, listening closely.
"He also had a friend who was a little cold, but they got through it.. He also had a crush with pink hair..."
"They were trained by their teacher... I don't remember much about how the story went, but I remember copying their moves as they fought... hehe."
Hoshi's eyes sparkled as she clutched her doll tightly.
"Oh! I think I have an outfit like this too! Dad bought me one when we were role-playing at school... Let me go get it!"
Her big sister smiled warmly and soon returned, holding up a small kunoichi outfit.
"Hoh! So cool!"
Hoshi muttered, her excitement growing.
"I know, right!"
Her sister replied with a grin.
"Nee-san!! Wear it!!"
Hoshi begged eagerly.
Her sister blinked in surprise, but then a bright smile spread across her face.
"Okay! Sure!"
As her big sis switched to the kunoichi outfit, the excitement in Hoshi's eyes grew even more.
Her big sis showed her how the ninjas and kunoichi's worked, and she thought they were very cool—working for justice and freedom against evil.
The spark of love eventually grew in Hoshi's heart, and she wanted to become what her big sis loved.
"Nee-san! Let's become kunoichi! Together!"
Hoshi suggested.
Her big sis took a deep breath, hearing what her sister wanted to do. She patted her head as she smiled.
"I can't no more... but you can be one!"
Hoshi then asked,
"Eh? Why is that?"
"Well... because there's something I want to do more than being a kunoichi, Mori."
Her big sister paused, her voice filled with warmth.
Hoshi blinked, confused.
"And that is?"
Her big sister smiled, gently patting her head.
"To be with you, Mori!"
As the memories flashed, another voice echoed—Hoshi's voice, from the present day.
"Ah... that's right... I didn't understand what you meant that day. I was a fool."
Kara flinched as she heard Hoshi's voice, her body still frozen.
"H-Hoshi-san?.."
"I truly was a fool... Nee-san..."
"Tha- that's not true!"
Kara cried out, desperately trying to reach her.
In the memory, young Hoshi jumped onto her sister, hugging her tightly.
Old, fading memories of Hoshi flashed through Kara's eyes. Their joy, their laughter — all the time she had spent in her childhood with her big sister.
The passion, the idolizing of kunoichi. The constant hard work her sister did every day just to put food on their table. The moments they played, the quiet happiness they shared.
One day, the young Hoshi watched as students poured into the schoolyard as she stood quietly, holding a small straw bag in her hands.
She paused, watching the other children happily walk into their classrooms.
Her big sister noticed and gently asked:
"You wanna go to school?"
Hoshi turned to her, eyes hopeful but worried.
"But... aren't those expensive?.. Nee-san?.."
Her big sister smiled again, that same warm, reassuring smile.
"It's alright! I'll find a way!"
As Kara watched this memory unfold, the present-day voice of Hoshi echoed again in her head.
"There you go again... with that smile... You were hiding so much from me... Why didn't I realize earlier?.. Keep saying it's alright.. Nee-san.. That's not fair.."
Eventually, the young Hoshi started school. A big smile lit up her face, excitement written all over her as she proudly carried her tiny bag. Her big sister stood nearby, watching with pride as Hoshi stepped into a new world.
But it wasn't what Hoshi had imagined.
On her very first day, the harshness of the world crept in. Children gathered around her, curious. Their voices innocent, yet their words pierced far deeper than they understood.
"Why are you guys so poor?"
"Do you really live up there?"
"Don't you have a daddy or mommy?"
The questions weren't meant to hurt — but they did. Each one like a small dagger twisting inside her chest. She smiled awkwardly, pretending not to care, but the shame slowly chipped away at her excitement.
The young Hoshi grew quieter as days passed. She couldn't find the courage to socialize with the other students. In her mind, school was supposed to be the place where she would make friends, build trust, and find people who would accept her.
But none of it happened.
She became the loner. Her isolation made her an easy target. Whispers followed her in the halls, and soon, those whispers turned into mockery.
They taunted not only her, but the life she and her sister lived. Slowly, the joy she once held vanished. Her tiny heart carried a weight far too heavy for her age.
Her sister saw the change. She noticed the dimming light in Hoshi's eyes. One rainy morning, as gray clouds loomed and raindrops pattered softly against the windows, she sat down beside her.
"Tomori?.. Why don't you want to go anymore?"
Hoshi sat curled on the wooden floor, her knees pressed to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around herself. She didn't respond. She sank deeper into her own storm of thoughts.
"Something happened?"
Her sister gently asked as she leaned over.
The silence broke as Hoshi's trembling voice whispered.
"Nee-san... Where is Mama and Papa?"
Her sister flinched. The question pierced through her.
"They said... I'm boring... because I have no Mama or Papa..."
Tears began to fall from Hoshi's eyes, each one mixing with the quiet rhythm of the rain. Her sister could only stare, the pain swelling inside her heart as she tried to hold her own tears back.
Her sister's chest tightened as she watched Hoshi cry. She gently reached out, wiping the tears from Hoshi's cheeks with her thumb.
"Don't listen to them, Tomori."
Her voice was soft but firm.
"You're not boring. You're never boring."
She gently cupped Hoshi's face, forcing her to meet her eyes.
"We may not have Mama and Papa with us anymore... But we have each other. And that's enough.. You hear me?"
Hoshi's lips quivered as more tears streamed down.
"B-but... they always talk about how different we are..."
Her sister pulled her into a warm embrace, cradling the little girl's head against her chest.
"We are different. And that's nothing to be ashamed of."
She smiled softly.
"They don't know what we've been through, and they don't know how strong you really are, Mori.."
The sound of the rain outside grew stronger, but in her sister's arms, Hoshi finally felt a sense of warmth and safety.
"Even if the whole world turns against you, I'll always be here. You're my little sister... my precious Tomori."
"On that day onwards... I gave up on other people... In my world... There was only me and you..."
Hoshi's voice trembled softly as Kara listened, trapped in the vision.
"But then again.. I caught you so many times... Late evenings... you were crying all alone. Why didn't I... speak to you? Why didn't I... help you get through it?"
Flashes of her big sister crying alone at night filled Kara's eyes, showing a side of Hoshi's past no one had ever seen.
"Why... Why did I?..."
Her voice cracked.
"Why did I just watch you... Through the dark... A-as you drifted into your own thoughts?.."
The weight in Hoshi's heart grew heavier as she continued, her voice starting to break.
"Kunoichi are supposed to be heroes... But why... why couldn't I act like one back then?.."
Kara could feel it all — the guilt, the helplessness, the self-blame building inside the younger Hoshi like an unbearable storm that had been hidden for years.
"Yet through all the darkness... you still smiled at me... You never showed me your pain.." Hoshi's voice quivered, breaking with regret.
"Why didn't I notice sooner? Why was I so blind? Why didn't I see your suffering through your eyes?"
A pause, as if the weight of her words crushed her chest.
"Nee-san... You're not a real kunoichi... You didn't have to carry it all alone... You didn't have to keep pretending you were strong... Not for me..."
The pain in her voice cut deep, filled with sorrow as Kara listened, still frozen in the stream of memories.
It was another cloudy day the sibling's were walking back to their home, umbrella in her big sisters hand after doing their usual work selling bread.
The rain fell heavier and a black van stopped in front of them. The door swung open. Water splashed against the pavement as boots stepped out.
The bald man stood tall, smiling through the downpour. His single eye gleamed under the gray sky as he spread his arms casually.
"Hello!"
He greeted, his voice cheerful, almost playful.
Young Hoshi instinctively moved closer to her sister, clutching her hand tightly. Her big sister took a protective step forward, shielding Hoshi with her body.
"Who are you?.." her sister asked, her tone firm but polite.
The man chuckled, lowering his head slightly as if amused.
"Ah, don't worry, don't worry! I'm not here to hurt anyone."
He tilted his head.
"You two live here, right? Such a sweet little family... Struggling a bit though, Aren't we?"
His words pierced through like needles. Hoshi felt her sister's hand grip her own tighter.
Kara, watching from within this memory, trembled, powerless. She could feel the unease in Hoshi's heart—the anxiety her younger self had buried for so long.
"H-hoshi-san..."
Kara whispered helplessly.
The bald man's smile widened.
"I can offer you something much better than this life of scraps, you know.. Something that'll get you out of your sad life."
Her big sister shot back, hiding Hoshi behind her.
"Sad life? What do you mean? We're plenty happy with our life — Just the two of us."
The bald man smirked.
"Oh? Is that so?"
He closed his eyes briefly and shrugged.
"Do you really think your sister will grow up well with your kind of life?"
Hoshi's sister tensed, holding Hoshi tighter.
"Going out early in the morning, stealing food from other houses..."
Present-day Hoshi murmured,
"Ah... that's right... You always left early in the morning... So that's what you've been doing... I—I was such a fool... So blind..."
The man interrupted with a sneer.
"Then you pretend you sell that 'bread' early in the morning just to make some 'gains'?"
Her sister's fist clenched tightly.
"Oi! Shut up! Who the hell do you think you are?!"
Her sister's voice cracked under the weight of her anger, but she stood firm, shielding Hoshi from the man's gaze.
The bald man chuckled softly, tilting his head as the rain dripped from his shiny scalp.
"Ahh... so defensive."
He opened his eye again, sharp and cold.
"You're not a bad sister, I can see that. But you're desperate. You're scared. You know this life can't sustain both of you for long."
Hoshi's sister gritted her teeth, trying to suppress the rage rising inside her.
"We'll manage. I'll work. I'll do anything. You don't get to stand here and talk like you know us!"
The man smiled wider.
"That's exactly my point."
He took a slow step forward, causing Hoshi's sister to step back instinctively.
"You'll do anything... and I'm here to offer you something. Something that can end all of your struggles."
His tone dropped into a low whisper, almost like a snake slithering in their ears.
"Come with me. You... and your sister. Leave this miserable place behind. I can give you purpose. Comfort. A future."
Hoshi, peeking from behind her sister's waist, trembled. Her young mind couldn't grasp everything, but something inside her was screaming that this man was dangerous.
"Nee-san..." she whispered.
Her sister lowered her hand to Hoshi, squeezing it gently to calm her down, but her eyes never left the man.
"Get lost."
She hissed.
"I don't need your help. I'd rather starve than owe scum like you anything."
"I know what you are... You're one of them.."
She thought.
"Eh?.. This is your first time meeting me and you're already calling me scum?.. Oh no, nee-san... You're making a horrible example for your little sister on how to socialize."
the man mockingly replied.
Her big sister stayed silent for a moment before finally answering.
"Sorry, we're not coming."
She walked quickly down the road, tense, passing by the bald man and the SUV.
Young Hoshi and the bald man locked eyes as they passed each other.
The man's sinister smile grew wider, his single eye burning with menace.
"This is not the end."
The two returned to their home behind the school. Hoshi looked up at her sister and asked,
"Nee-san?.. Who was that?"
"I cannot let Tomori get exposed to that kind of work.."
Her big sister thought to herself.
She looked back to Hoshi as she removed her muddy shoes.
"If she does.. I'll never be able to forgive myself.."
Her big sister gently patted her head and replied,
"He was nobody... Ignore him, okay? Now! Let's prep our things! We're going to clean our home!"
Young Hoshi nodded eagerly in agreement.
The pair cleaned their home until the sun sank below the horizon. Her big sister let out a deep sigh,
"Phew! We're done!"
She turned to Hoshi with a warm smile.
"Thank you, Tomori!"
Then, from outside their home, echoes of clapping pierced through the wooden front door.
Her big sister instantly went on guard. She knew danger was near.
"Hoshi... hide." she whispered.
Then, the bald man's voice echoed.
"Bravo! Bravo! That kind of hard work will be put to really good use!"
Hoshi ran to the closet as the man forced the front door open.
"Look! Such perfect work! You could really gain a lot from this, you know!"
"What are you doing here?! Get out! Or else I'll call the cops!" her big sister threatened.
"And then what? Tell them you've been stealing every morning?"
The bald man shot back.
Her big sister was speechless, unable to reply.
"Hoh? Where's your little sis? Nee-san? I thought you were with her?"
Still, her big sister didn't respond.
The bald man cleared his throat.
"Tomori-chan?? Where are you?? Are you here?"
Her big sister's eyes widened in shock—the stranger who barged into their house was calling out Hoshi's first name like he knew her well.
Slowly, the closet door creaked open. Hoshi stepped out, her small frame trembling but determined.
"I'm here,"
She said softly, her voice barely above a whisper.
Her big sister's eyes widened in shock, a sudden fear flashing across her face.
"H-Hoshi... no, don't—"
But it was too late. The bald man's sinister smile deepened.
"Ah, there you are, Tomori. Don't be shy now."
Hoshi's eyes darted between him and her sister, searching for strength.
"Why are you here? What do you want from us?"
Present-day Hoshi's voice echoed faintly, filled with regret:
"Why did I come out? Why didn't I listen?"
The bald man then smiled and spoke into his comms.
"그들은 여기 있어요." (They're here.)
Suddenly, men in black suits flooded their home. They grabbed Hoshi first, carrying her effortlessly despite her struggling. Her resistance was futile.
"彼女を放して!" (Let go of her!)
Her big sister shouted.
The bald man barked another order.
"둘 다 먹어요. 소중한 피부를 다치게 하지 마세요." (Take them both, Don't you their hurt their precious skin.)
The men easily got hold of the two, dragging them toward the van as they struggled fiercely. Shouts echoed through the rainy evening at the empty school, muffled only by the hands covering their mouths.
The pair resisted in desperation as they were easily dragged into the van, their struggles growing weaker with each passing second. Tears streamed down both of their faces.
Her big sister frantically scanned the inside of the van, searching for any chance of escape — but the empty, rainy schoolyard offered nothing.
Her eyes widened as the crushing truth sank in.
Her resistance slowly faded. Her grip loosened.
"It's useless... isn't it?.."
She thought to herself, her heart slowly breaking.
~~~To be Continued~~~