The streets were empty. No cars. No people. Just the sound of Tadashi's
footsteps echoing like a reminder that he was still here… and they weren't.
He walked with his head down, eyes fixed on the cracks in the pavement.
Each one felt like it had more life in it than he did. Kei floated beside him,
unusually quiet. Rin followed a few paces ahead, her hands buried in her
jacket pockets. No one said anything.
Tadashi wasn't sure if the silence made it better or worse.
Faces kept flashing in his head — people he'd met in these worlds, the ones
who had stuck around long enough to matter. Rin bleeding out in an alley.
Kei's stupid grin fading as he collapsed. The voices, the laughter, the
promises. All gone.
And for what? So he could keep playing some twisted survival game?
Kei finally spoke, his voice softer than usual. "You did good, you know.
Most people don't even make it this far."
Tadashi let out a short laugh. It sounded wrong in his own ears. "Yeah. Real
impressive. I'm the last man standing in a group that's already dead."
Rin glanced over her shoulder, her expression unreadable. "You're still
alive. That's what matters."
"Is it?" Tadashi asked. His voice cracked just enough to make him hate
himself for it. "If surviving means losing everyone over and over… what's
the point?"
Neither of them answered.
At the end of the street, a pale light shimmered in the air, swaying like it
was breathing. Tadashi stopped walking. "What is that?"
"Your exit," Rin said.
"Or your entrance, depending on how you look at it," Kei added, trying for
a smirk but failing.
Tadashi stared at the light. His chest felt heavy. "I don't want another
world."
"You don't get to choose," Rin replied.
The glow expanded, swallowing the ground beneath him. Kei's voice called
his name, Rin's sharp "Stay alert!" cut through the air, and then —
Cold.
He woke lying on damp earth. The air was thick with the smell of wet
leaves and something faintly metallic. When he sat up, his fingers brushed
moss, his shirt clinging to him with cold sweat.
A forest. Tall, shadowy trees pressed in on all sides. Mist curled low to the
ground, and small points of light floated lazily between the branches.
Tadashi pulled his knees up to his chest and sat there for a moment,
listening to the sound of his own breathing.
No Kei. No Rin. No one.
The silence here was worse than the empty streets.
A low growl rolled through the air, deep enough to make the ground under
him tremble.
He turned his head slowly. Two figures stood at the tree line — short,
hunched, their outlines jagged. Their eyes glowed faintly, locking on him
with a predator's patience.
The growl came again, closer this time.
Tadashi's throat tightened. He didn't run. He just stood there, watching
them watch him, wondering if this was finally it — the moment when all
the losses, all the restarts, would finally be over.