It began in the stillness before dawn.A mist lingered over Aoritsu, curling low across the rooftops like it was listening.
Yukiko awoke in her small room to the sound of dripping water. But when she turned, the window was gone. In its place… was a corridor, endless and gray.
She stepped forward, barefoot, the floor smooth like glass. Every step echoed twice—once now, once seconds before.
"Akuzai?" she called.
No answer.
Instead, a figure appeared ahead—her mother. Alive. Smiling. Holding out her hand.
Yukiko's heart thudded. "Mama…?"
Her mother nodded gently. "You've been dreaming a very long time. Come home."
She took a step forward—then froze.
Her mother's shadow stretched unnaturally, curling up the walls, swallowing the light. And when she looked into her eyes… they weren't her mother's.
They were Veyrix's.
Outside, Akuzai stirred from restless sleep. He felt a pull—like a string tugging at his chest. Tanishk was already awake, scanning the horizon.
"Where's Yukiko?" Akuzai asked.
"She hasn't come out," Tanishk replied. "Her light… feels dim."
They rushed to her home—but when they entered, she wasn't there.
Only her shoes.
Inside the warped space, Yukiko found herself in Aoritsu—but not as she knew it. The houses were empty. The air still. Every door she opened led to another door.
Veyrix's voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere.
"I wanted to see what you remember, little mortal. You are the anchor he clings to… so I will cut the rope."
"I'm not afraid of you," Yukiko said, trying to steady her voice.
"Not yet," Veyrix whispered. "But fear… is made of memory."
The village around her shifted. Now she stood at the riverbank, years younger, the day her parents died. She watched herself—crying, screaming, calling for help that never came.
Veyrix stepped beside her, taller than the sky.
"See? The world did not save you. Akuzai will not save you. Because everything you love… forgets you."
Yukiko clenched her fists, tears burning her cheeks. "No. Akuzai found me. I chose to stay."
Veyrix smiled, cold and thin. "Then let's see how long that choice lasts… when he forgets your name."
In the real world, Akuzai knelt in the field, eyes closed, forcing his will through the Bloom's pulse. He saw her—trapped in a loop, running from nothing.
"Yukiko!" he shouted into the void.
Her head snapped up in the dream.
Akuzai stood in the distance, hand outstretched. "You're not alone!"
Veyrix's form towered between them, whispering into her ear.
"Choose him… and you'll watch him die."
Yukiko's breath shook—then she shoved past Veyrix and ran toward Akuzai.
Light flared. The false world shattered.
She woke in his arms, crying but alive.
Veyrix was gone. But his voice lingered in the wind.
"She is the thread. Cut the thread, and the weave unravels…"