Not everything that drifts apart will shatter.
But when something you're holding slips loose on its own…
you know it's not weak fingers.
It's a heart that no longer wants to hold back.
The morning sky looked the same as always.
But inside Acxell's chest, this morning felt like nothing at all.
He sat at his desk, arms folded, eyes on the whiteboard—
but really, his gaze kept drifting to the seat on his right.
Yuriko's seat.
She arrived on time as usual.
Shoes lined up neatly.
Hair tied low.
Her footsteps silent, as if she'd been taught to walk on glass since birth.
She sat.
She didn't look at him.
And somehow, that struck harder than a slap.
Acxell reached for a carton of mango milk and set it on his desk.
Beside it—a coffee.
He drew in a breath and nudged the mango milk toward Yuriko's desk.
She looked at it for two seconds.
Then, without a word, she took it.
The carton was cold.
Her hand was not.
No conversation.
No glances.
But Acxell knew—
that was the first step.
During break, he waited behind the school block, a place no one else went.
The sky was brightening, but there was no wind.
He sat on the low wall, spinning a borrowed locker key between his fingers—
not because he needed the key, but because his hands needed something to do.
Footsteps echoed down the hall.
He didn't need to look. He knew.
Yuriko appeared, a cream bun in hand, her bag slung over one shoulder.
"Not many know this place," she said flatly.
Acxell kept spinning the key.
"I know who should."
Yuriko sat on the steps, five stairs below him.
Distance.
She opened the wrapper slowly, took a bite, stayed silent.
Acxell let the key dangle from his finger like an antique ring.
"You didn't answer my message last night."
Yuriko replied without lifting her head.
"I read it. Didn't feel like replying."
Acxell gave a dry laugh.
"So that's what we are now?"
Yuriko finally looked up.
Her eyes weren't sharp—but they weren't soft either.
"You talk like there was ever an 'us.'"
[SYSTEM: SOUL WARMTH – Dormant]
[Bond Connection: Fluctuating]
[Trigger Threshold Near]
"If I pulled back every effort I made before," Acxell asked, "what would you feel?"
"Angry."
"Why?"
"…Because you made me believe in something I never believed in."
Acxell lowered his legs from the wall.
Stepped down one stair.
Then another.
Now only one step separated them.
"And now?"
Yuriko dropped her gaze, exhaled.
"I'm not sure who you really are."
Acxell's smile was small, but his eyes didn't follow it.
"That's not my fault. You just liked the version of yourself I reflected back."
A breeze drifted through—soft but carrying something with it.
Yuriko gripped the strap of her bag.
But she didn't rise.
"Shiro… he…"
Acxell cut her off.
"This isn't about him."
Yuriko went silent.
"It's about us. Not him, not the system, not the past."
He pulled something from his jacket pocket—a single lavender candy.
He set it down on the step between them.
"If you take it… I'll know."
Yuriko stared at the candy.
Acxell stood.
"I'm not asking you to believe again."
"I just want you to remember who stood when everyone else walked away."
Then he turned and left.
His steps steady.
Not hurried.
Not dramatic.
[SOUL WARMTH – Sync Recalibrated]
[Emotional Phase: Stabilizing]
[Triggered: Micro‑gesture Acceptance]
[Item Interacted: Lavender Candy]
[Response Logged: BOND = +3]
Behind him, on the steps…
Yuriko slowly unwrapped the candy.
Placed it on her tongue.
Closed her eyes.
She didn't smile.
But it wasn't bitter anymore.
°°When your emotions push away but your memories pull you back—
who do you trust?
Your own tongue…
or the one you once let entwine with his?°°
12:42 a.m.
Yuriko's room was silent—
the kind of silence that matched the feeling she couldn't kill.
The curtain stirred faintly, as if the night air were trying to sneak into her thoughts.
She lay on the mattress, blanket pooled only at her waist.
Her hair was a mess, but she didn't care.
Her eyes refused to close.
Because her heart refused to rest.
"You think this won't leave a mark. But my body knows."
"My mouth's forgotten… but the taste hasn't gone."
Her right hand drifted up to her neck—
not sensually, but as though searching for the ghost of a touch once there.
Her lips moved slightly.
One name slipped out in a whisper:
"Acxell…"
She sat up slowly, turning toward her desk.
On it sat a small plastic container—empty.
She drew it toward her, holding it with both hands.
"Lavender candy…"
"Did he know I liked these… or was it just a guess?"
A small smile curved her mouth.
A smile that hurt.
And then the memory came—uninvited.
The sound of a door. A man's breath.
Chest against chest.
A low voice that didn't ask permission but was allowed in.
A hand at the back of her neck.
A first kiss—not gentle, but full of demand.
She shut her eyes.
"I didn't push him away."
"I didn't ask."
"So why do I… miss it?"
[SYSTEM DETECTED: EMOTIONAL TURBULENCE]
[TARGET: YURIKO HANEKAWA]
[SOUL WARMTH – ACTIVE MEMORY PING]
[EMOTION FRAGMENT: REGRET + LONGING]
[PHASE: Jealousy Layer 1 – Flickering]
She opened her eyes again.
"He never promised me anything."
"But I started feeling… as if he had."
She took a long breath.
Then set the empty plastic container back on the desk.
She stood.
Said nothing.
Thought nothing.
But that night…
her sleep stayed empty.
And every time she closed her eyes, she could still taste lavender on her tongue.
°°You placed the first piece. I'll move the last.
But don't forget, darling… this game isn't about winning—
it's about who stays sane when everything collapses.°°
The human sky lay silent.
But beyond the untouchable layers of dimension there existed a place without color, without form, without time.
That was where they were.
Lilith Veiyra, Goddess of Temptation.
Valestra, Goddess of Pride.
They weren't meeting physically; they existed as interlaced echoes—
waves of power that only the divine could feel.
Valestra's voice arrived first, sliding through the void.
"I think… you're going soft on your avatar, Lilith.
Either that or you're falling in love again?"
Her tone was like a blade whispered in metal—
not loud, but slicing straight under the skin.
Lilith's reply was slow, her voice more like a fragrance, a pull that lured instead of cut.
"Love and control don't contradict each other.
Sometimes… love is deadlier than domination."
Valestra laughed softly—
a sound like mirrors cracking, shattering across space.
"Funny… if love is a weapon, why were you the one exiled from the Palace first, not me?"
"Because you never learned the difference between admiration and submission."
Waves of violet and gold collided in the dimension—
not as an attack, but as a warning.
Valestra: "I've already sent Selena's replacement."
Lilith: "Shiro Kaname?"
Valestra: "He'll be the final shard to break Yuriko."
Lilith: "…You're desperate."
Valestra: "You're the one on the verge of losing.
Look at them yourself—Yuriko, cracking.
Selena, free.
And your avatar? Still playing at feelings."
Lilith fell silent for a heartbeat.
But within her thought‑waves pulsed something fierce—
not anger, but worry.
"I chose him because he's human.
And humans choose who they want to become, not who they're told to be."
Valestra gave a quiet, crystalline laugh.
"And when he starts choosing… are you sure he'll choose you, Lilith?
A goddess who once used love as a weapon—
but now stands as its victim?"
A long hush.
Then Lilith spoke again—
not in words but in dense emotion that seeped through the void:
Desire.
Pressure.
Jealousy.
And a threat still untriggered.
"Touch Yuriko too deeply… and I'll unlock System Level Two on Acxell."
Valestra's answer came heavier now, stripped of teasing.
"Do that… and this stops being a game."
The sky of the dimension began to fissure—
just slightly.
A hairline crack, like frozen glass heated from within.
Lilith:
"We'll see who breaks first—my system… or your arrogance."
Valestra:
"…We'll see who the boy chooses—
the one who offers softness…
or the one who offers power."
The dimension fell silent.
The waves receded.
And far below, Acxell exhaled in his sleep—
unaware that the heavens were already crossing lines to decide his fate.