Saeyo fell into a deep slumber.
***
A flame stood between the two figures. Someone had to keep them apart, yet one of them was able to speak to the other.
"Get up, Saeyo!"
"Remember who you are!"
Your name is Saeyo!"
Don't forget it!"
Under no conditions!"
The blue flame glowed incessantly, making Saeyo break out in a sweat.
"Who... who are you?"
He tried to make out whose voice was breaking through the burning wall in front of him, but the flames distorted the sound.
"Huh… Where am I?"
Out of fear, Saeyo suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream, causing the strange voice to pause its relentless repetition.
Beneath him was nothing. Yet he was floating on this so-called nothingness. Had he not smelled the flames, he would have even doubted his other senses.
He realized this only to realize once more that there was nothing in every direction he looked. This realization gave his mind great unease.
It did not escape his notice that all of this seemed somehow familiar to him:
"Where am I?"
The figure in front of him held out its hands and broke through the barrier. The heat didn't seem to bother it. At least, that's how it looked.
With one finger, it pointed to a birthmark on its left wrist, leaned closer to the fire and reached for Saeyo's hand to point to the same spot on his wrist.
Saeyo didn't find this coincidental similarity the slightest bit astonishing. If anything, he found it rather strange. He stared into the flames as he tried to communicate with the person, with sarcasm in his voice:
"Wow… We've got the same birthmark. What a coincidence."
The person let go of Saeyo's hand and returned to its original position. A soft chuckle could be heard:
"You idiot… You never notice anything. Do you?"
The mysterious figure walked through the flames. Saeyo took a step back, before the figure stood before him, at which point Saeyo realised that this figure was, after all, a normal human being.
He smiled at the sight of Saeyo and studied his expression:
"I am…"
Standing before Saeyo was a young, slender man with unbrushed hair, the same colour as a raven's wings. Yet that was not the darkest thing about him. His eyes were far darker than that.
Saeyo saw his own reflection in the man's eyes. Unfortunately, he could not make out his own pale skin within that reflected image. Nevertheless, he saw that the man's skin was the same as his own. Even the absence of a beard on his face was exactly the same.
His upper body was covered by a T-shirt — which was a little too big for him — which hid the muscular features of his physique. His trousers, on the other hand, gave the impression of being unworn and durable.
From one of his trouser pockets hung the hilt of a small but sharp dagger, ready to protect the wearer at a moment's notice.
At that very moment, they both began to speak:
"…you."
Saeyo was the one who continued:
"Wait. How can this be?"
For a brief moment, there was nothing but silence. It was much louder than any scream Saeyo had ever heard. His heart was pounding against his chest like never before, and panic took hold of his body.
A cold shiver ran down his spine as he asked a question that would confirm his realisation:
"Am I..."
Saeyo took a deep breath; but he couldn't finish the sentence. Nevertheless, an answer followed:
"No. You're more alive than you've ever been."
A sense of relief broke the chains of fear from Saeyo's soul. With a bewildered expression, he asked:
"Where am I, then? Why do you look just like me? What sort of strange place is this anyway? I've never seen anything like this before. I must be mistaken. I can't even see it. There truly is nothing..."
Despair was evident in his words. His barrage of questions knew no end. Finally, the person who looked exactly like him stopped him by placing both his hands on Saeyo's shoulders:
"Calm down."
It was easier said than done. Saeyo still didn't know where he was or how he'd got there in the first place.
The man added:
"To answer all your questions, you must first listen calmly. I'm begging you.
Saeyo took a step back and removed the other Saeyo's hands from his shoulders. His feet were floating in space. He still wasn't entirely convinced by the whole thing. After all, nothing like this had ever happened to him before. Saeyo whispered quietly to himself:
"I'm calm."
The foreigner Saeyo did not approach him any further. He did not want to do anything he himself did not want to do. In the end, he simply said:
"First of all, you must understand that I am not someone who has taken on your form or anything like that; rather, I am you. It is quite simple. You are me and I am you. We think alike and we would even behave the same way. The only difference is that I know more."
He let Saeyo take the information and process it in his mind before continuing:
"This 'nothingness', as you called it, is merely the physical form of empty thoughts. At its core lies this flame. But only when it is gone will the seed begin to sprout and take shape as your inner world. Before that happens, it is merely the culmination of your thoughts and the world that will become yours."
Saeyo's eyes widened. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. In the middle of the conversation, he dared to speak up without hesitation:
"Does that mean I've become a Kyoza?"
The man, interrupted by Saeyo's outburst, rubbed his eyes as he replied to his question:
"Not yet. Only when that flame has been completely extinguished."
Upon hearing this, an even bigger smile spread across his face. He shouted and jumped about like a toddler:
"I'm going to be a Kyoza! I'll be the strongest! Me, Saeyoo Arakawa! I…"
Just as Saeyo had done before, so did the person opposite him. He spoke whilst Saeyo performed a somewhat peculiar dance:
"That flame might not be extinguished for another fifty years. You mustn't compare the laws that apply here with those of the human world...."
He carried on talking, but Saeyo could no longer listen. His dreams had shattered; and with them, his entire reality.
'No. No. No. He only said it might happen. It doesn't have to. No. I might become one by tomorrow.'
But his hope had completely crumbled after the other version of him had uttered that sentence. He had already waited that long. He didn't want to wait any longer.
Everything around him collapsed.
The void shattered, and behind the shards were words that flew out and wandered everywhere.
Not hundreds.
Not thousands.
Not tens of thousands.
But millions of sentences, spiralling around Saeyo.
He himself fell to the ground, and just as the other Saeyo was about to reach out his hand to him, it vanished. But before any more of him could disappear, he roared:
"Saeyo, don't forget anything! No, forget everything, even me. Destroy all unnecessary thoughts. But remember who you are!"
In the end, his mouth was the last part to remain. Before everything vanished; and only Saeyo was left alone with the words and the burning flame, he uttered his final words:
"You are 『The f[??]go[?]ten...』"
But the end of the sentence was left unfinished.