[The world had ended before you even returned...]
Adam floated silently in a space that felt like warped velvet — a stream of colorless currents folding into itself, like static stitched into liquid.
"Huh...? What... does that mean?" he murmured. His voice dispersed without echo.
[But do not lose hope...]
[You must carry on.]
Meanwhile, Yoku walked with a steady gait, his mechanical arm humming faintly. Balanced on it was Mino — quiet, half-asleep. The arm was functional, even comfortable. The girl on it, less so.
Mino coughed. "Hey... my back's freaking cold from getting carried. Let me down. I can do this on my own."
Yoku blinked, hesitating. But he gently lowered her, wordless.
Yuruki smirked faintly, adjusting her scarf. "Good at following orders, huh?"
Yoku exhaled heavily, meeting her teasing eyes. He knew now—he wasn't the only one on this road who could crack a joke. "Well... for someone created from a pod, you're... pea-culiar."
Yuruki's eyes narrowed with mock offense. "He—y..."
Before she could finish, Mino tugged at her coat. Her stomach growled. Then Yoku's did. Then Mino's.
The quiet suddenly returned, broken only by wind.
Yuruki pressed her fingers to her forehead. "Ugh. Walking without a vehicle burns more calories than I remembered…"
She sighed. "I guess there might be food… somewhere outside."
They were far on the edge of the stratum now—at the crumbling border of the known city. Yuruki unfolded a weathered map she'd been drawing on for days. Ahead of them stood a colossal apartment complex: a towering rectangular structure stretching hundreds of meters into the hazy sky.
Old. Scarred. Still standing.
The only building around that wasn't in ruins.
As they approached, Mino clung closer to Yoku's back, half-shielded from the dust.
Inside, they reached a broken elevator shaft. Looking up, they saw exposed sky where the ceiling should be, fractured floors dangling like teeth.
Yuruki coughed again. "You gonna enter?"
Yoku glanced up. Then down. Then smirked.
"No."
There was a moment of something feeling in there chest which they never even feel before...
It was impending doom, as if someone was watching them... Or as if they are gonna die today, that death was incoming, and they dont know why...
But they taken up to themselves as they only huff and making long breaths, not noticing the other felt the same aswell..
They didn't speak of it. Each thought it was only them.
Yoku reached a door and kicked it open with his only leg.
The room inside was dust-choked and rank with decay. Rotten clothes, cracked furniture, cockroaches in slow migration. On two decaying beds: two skeletons. One smaller—maybe a girl. The other, a boy. Neither seemed older than fifteen when they died.
Yuruki squinted. "Let's… find the cafeteria."
Yoku turned. "What's a cafeteria?"
She raised an eyebrow. "You know… the thing the ancients used for eating together? We sort of just… passed that concept down."
As they wandered deeper into the complex, Yoku found himself lost in thought.
Why did I even survive this place?
He had no answer. He knew what tools to use, what scraps to find, how to build and fix and forage. But... didn't everyone try? Didn't everyone struggle to survive?
Maybe I'm lucky, he told himself.
Yeah. Lucky.
They found the cafeteria—sealed behind warped metal shutters. Yoku didn't hesitate. He grabbed a chunk of concrete and hurled it with a grunt. It thudded uselessly.
Again.
Again.
Finally—CLANG—a small gap appeared, just enough to crawl through.
Yuruki rolled her eyes. "Couldn't you check first? What if there were people in there? Cameras?"
Yoku shrugged. "Everyone's dead anyway. And the ones who aren't wouldn't know what to do with this stuff."
Inside: treasure.
Cans. Dozens of them. Most slightly dented. Past expiration. Still sealed.
One read:
[Made by MONO Corporation]
They pried it open. Ground beef, cold and chewy, but edible.
One bite. Then another. A spoonfull as they take in on cycle everything was relaxing... It was just so good to be eating something.
Yuruki: its so good~
The silence of chewing—the kind that feels like peace after a long day of suffering. Their faces all stretched into round, slack of relief.
{Potato}
"Haaahhh~" they sighed together.
Yuruki raised her head. "He—y. What's that?" thinking that she was going crazy... never did she saw something something like this, nor anyone.
They followed her gaze.
Floating.
A chunk of the building — floating midair, peeling upward like it was being erased. The clouds split apart, revealing a blinding white core in the sky. The city below shimmered, bending, warping.
Mino's eyes widened.
They all bolted.
Yoku scooped Mino onto his back. His neck screamed in pain, his spine compressing with every step.
What the heck is even happening?!
He didn't know. His only instinct now was survive. But he never did experience a mind bending reality shifting like this...
A beam of white light shot down into the city's heart. Then—BOOM—a deafening explosion.
Buildings cracked.
Glass splintered.
Wind reversed.
Everything inorganic—building, pipes and everything—was pulled upward.
The laws of gravity rewrote themselves.
Yuruki slipped below the breaking ground. Her hand flailed.
Yoku twisted his mechanical arm and caught her by the wrist. She gasped, and he yanked her toward him as the world tore apart beneath them.
They landed on a floating crater of soil and metal. All around them: islands of land, skyscrapers broken into jagged slabs, spinning in the air like driftwood on invisible waves.
At the center, a blinding sphere of light pulsed. Each flash birthed earthquakes that shattered silence into chaos.
Time felt like it stopped.
Yoku stood still, breathing deep, feeling the edge of panic claw at his ribs.
Mino wrapped her arms around his back.
Yuruki holding his mechanical hand.
All three stood there, alone in the air, terrified.
Yoku had faced death before. But this… this was beyond. Today, it wasn't just his life at stake.
So he breathed.
In.
Out.
huff… puff…
And moved.
Downward—leaping from floating slab to floating beam. Dirt and debris, rebar and glass. The sky had become a maze of wreckage.
Yuruki scowled. "Oh heck no. I'm not sitting this one out... I will never be useless"
She scanned the chaos, calculating.
Steel beams.
Falling pipes.
Shifting ledges.
Her mind lit up like a blueprint, seeing every trajectory, every temporary foothold, every possible safe zone.
"TRUST ME, YOKU. MINO."
She jumped first.
Yoku followed, carrying Mino close to his chest.
Each leap a gamble. Each landing a heartbeat.
As they dropped closer to the city's shattered remains, Yuruki shouted: "We need an open space! If these floating things fall—"
Mino looked as he was just hugging yoku on his back. Her eyes locked on the sky above.
Darkness.
A slow, spreading stain of black, oozing outward from the ceiling of the world. A collapsing hole—one that didn't belong. Like a mouth.
Like the end of everything.