"Some dreams bleed more than nightmares."
Airi's Apartment – 11:44 PM
Rain tapped softly against the windowpane.
Airi Yukishiro sat alone in her room, brushing the edge of a page with her thumb. A report from their last case—Hiragi's encounter with the Librarian. Ink analysis. Residual dreamwave patterns. And the final line:
Target: Airi Yukishiro.
Her fingers trembled.
Not from fear.
From certainty.
"It's already here," she whispered.
The mirror across her desk darkened.
A Memory Rewritten
Suddenly, Airi stood in her middle school uniform—inside her old classroom.
No door. No exit. Just desks, papers, and a chalkboard that bled words onto the floor.
Her voice echoed, a younger version of herself.
"Why did you leave me?"
Airi turned.
The figure sitting at the desk wasn't anyone real—but it wore her brother's face. The one she lost.
"You should've saved me, Airi."
She shut her eyes. Bit her lip.
"You're not him."
The Librarian's voice crawled in from the ceiling tiles.
"Then save yourself."
Outside – Hiragi Runs
The warning sigil lit red on Hiragi's watch.
"She's been pulled in."
He didn't hesitate. No shoes, no coat. Just grabbed his blade and bolted into the rain.
Suguru's voice crackled through the earpiece.
"Her location's warping—bro, this dream trap's not a domain, it's a narrative cage! She's being rewritten live!"
"Keep her soul anchored," Hiragi said coldly. "I'll handle the ink."
Inside Airi's Dream
Books floated in the air. Pages fluttered around her like dead leaves.
The classroom had shifted into a library, endless rows stacked with versions of her past.
"You don't get to choose what to forget," the Librarian hissed.
Airi clenched her fists.
"Maybe not. But I choose what I remember."
Her spirit flared. Light burst from her palm—a binding charm shaped like a cherry blossom seal.
It struck the dream world like a hammer.
The Rescue
Glass shattered.
Reality cracked.
Hiragi burst through the ceiling, sword drawn, Void glyph trailing behind him like smoke.
"Get away from her."
The Librarian hissed, retreating into the shelves.
"She's mine. Her pain writes her better than your truth ever could."
"Then let's rewrite the ending."
Hiragi sliced through the shelves, each cut severing false memories, ink illusions, and fragments of rewritten guilt.
He grabbed Airi's hand.
"Wake up."
Back in Reality – 11:59 PM
Both of them gasped awake on Airi's floor.
She was crying.
Not from fear.
But from the weight of a memory too long held alone.
"You came," she whispered.
"Always."
Hiragi looked away, voice low.
"Next time, don't wait for me to save you."
"Next time," Airi said, wiping her eyes, "I'll save you first."
The Librarian Watches
From a distant mirror, the Librarian's stitched eyes narrowed.
Two names now appeared on the page.
Hiragi Ren
Airi Yukishiro
And beneath them, in crimson ink:
Let's see if love can survive the next chapter.
To Be Continued…