"I love you..."
Sayuri's voice echoed through Kaito's mind, as soft as wind brushing through the cherry blossoms, and yet, it thundered with unbearable weight.
His eyes shot open.
The coldness of the cemetery clung to his body. The ground was damp beneath him, the morning dew soaking through his pants, but he couldn't feel it. Not really. He pushed himself to stand. "I need to save them... I have to—"
But his knee buckled beneath him, and he collapsed. The impact sent a jolt of pain shooting up his leg.
"KAITO, STAND UP!!"
He punched his knee, gritting his teeth. His entire body trembled, not from the cold, but from fear. From trauma. His limbs were weak, like they no longer belonged to him. He had seen too much—felt too much—and now his body betrayed him.
He tried again. One foot. Then the other. Unsteady, staggering. Every step felt like dragging chains made of memories and regret.
He didn't leave.
Sayuri's gravestone stood in front of him like an unmoving judge. He stared at it, empty-eyed, as if trying to decipher the truth of the world from the carved letters. The afternoon sun shifted into dusk, then into the starless black of night, but he remained. He didn't eat. He didn't drink.
He just stared.
"I have the power to go back in time," he whispered, voice hollow. "But I still couldn't save them… This isn't a blessing. It's a CURSE."
The words hung in the air, unheard by anyone but the dead.
He curled into himself near her grave, trembling, tears long since dried. Hunger clawed at his stomach, but he ignored it. He was scared—terrified. Not just of what he'd seen… but of what he would see again. Because he knew. The loop always restarted. The curse always took him back.
And yet…
This time, it hadn't.
Eventually, exhaustion claimed him.
He passed out.
Warmth. Something soft beneath him. A blanket over his body. Light filtering through the curtains.
Kaito's eyes fluttered open. He blinked at the ceiling.
His room?
He sat up abruptly, heart thundering. The sheets rustled beneath him. The familiar posters on the walls. His desk. His uniform.
He was home.
"Where… am I?" he muttered.
He stumbled out of bed, legs surprisingly steady. He looked at his hands. They weren't trembling. His chest didn't feel like it was caving in. His mind didn't feel like it was shattering.
He stepped to the window.
The town was there. Just like always. Kids walking to school. Birds flying overhead. Cars passing by.
His sister's laughter echoed from downstairs.
His mother called his name.
His father's footsteps echoed in the hallway.
They were alive.
"I… what is this?"
A dream?
He pressed his hand to his chest. His heart was beating. His lungs filled with air. But something was wrong. Too clean. Too perfect.
His mind told him this was real. But his heart?
His heart screamed otherwise.
He walked out of his room. Down the hall. Into the kitchen.
His mother turned to him with a bright smile. "Good morning, sweetie. Slept well?"
His sister waved from the table. "You overslept again, dummy."
His father chuckled. "You're lucky it's Sunday."
It was perfect.
Too perfect.
Kaito stepped back. His hands trembled again.
"Something's… wrong," he whispered.
The scene froze. Their faces began to distort. The colors faded.
The warmth vanished.
"Kaito."
A voice. Not Sayuri's. A man's. Deep. Cold.
Kaito turned.
The man in black stood at the end of the hallway. His coat flowed like shadow. A star-shaped insignia gleamed on his chest. His eyes pierced through the dream like knives.
"You're still alive," the man said.
Kaito's breath caught in his throat.
"How are you still alive? You haven't eaten. Haven't drunk a drop of water. You should be DEAD."
The house around him cracked like glass.
Kaito's eyes widened. "This is… a dream."
The man stepped forward, slow and deliberate. "Even dreams can end in death."
Kaito turned to run—but the hallway stretched into infinity.
The laughter of his sister twisted into screams. His mother's smile melted into terror. The floor cracked beneath his feet.
He fell.
He gasped.
The sky.
The stars.
The cold earth beneath him.
The gravestone in front of him.
He was back.
The cemetery.
Just like before.
No reset. No rewind. Just back where he left off. As if the dream had mocked him. Shown him what he couldn't have.
Kaito pushed himself up slowly.
But this time, his expression wasn't lost.
It wasn't broken.
His eyes narrowed.
His breath was calm.
Resolved.
"…This is it, isn't it?" he whispered. "No more illusions. No more mercy."
The man in black would come again. He would kill again.
But this time…
He would fight.
Even if he died again.
Even if he failed again.
He clenched his fists. The wind brushed through his hair. Sayuri's name echoed in his mind.
He would make this power his. No more curse.
He would find the truth.
And he would protect them all.
No matter how many times it took.