The bed was still warm when he left, silent as the night breeze. Jeanne didn't wake up.
Her body remained there, under the sheets beside the empty space left by Kazuya. Her long lashes rested serenely, and her face, still with a slight flush, was turned toward where he used to be.
His mind entered a strange state...
...
..
.
The boy opened his eyes, startled.
Panting, he pressed his hand against his chest, over his pajamas, while still seeing the ceiling all blurred.
As he regained his senses, he also felt wet strands running down his face.
With the fingers of his other hand, he touched just below his lashes. Indeed, they were tears...
"Why...?" The question slipped out in a directionless murmur, just like his trembling gaze: "Am I crying?"
Silence ruled the small room, lit by the orange rays filtering through the curtain's gaps at the window.
Still struggling to understand the weight in his chest, the young boy exhaled a sigh unfit for a child and pouted as he said:
"I don't know why..." He covered his teary eyes with the base of his palm: "I just feel like... I had a long dream... Dad would be disappointed if I cried; men don't cry..."
He rubbed his long-sleeved arms over his eyes to dry them, got out of bed, picked up the candy gifted by his younger brother, and placed it on the desk near the window.
He looked at himself in the mirror, all dirty. He saw how his blue eyes were quite red around the edges.
"I have to clean this up..."
While searching for fragments of that strange dream he had—because he remembered facing some kind of mecha monster and then, a second later, sitting in front of the computer? Trying to forget, determined to leave it behind and stick to reality, he turned around.
"I have to go..."
As that morning passed, he forgot.
After all...
"Come on, my son!" A woman shouted from the stairs, minutes after the boy had composed himself: "We're late. The wedding won't wait!!"
Even if he wanted to keep trying, it would be hard for him to stay focused on it, because today was a busy day.
After taking a shower, he began to hear his mother's hurried calls. In response to them, he adopted silence. While ignoring that pressure, he put on his pants, his favorite sneakers, and a light jacket over his white T-shirt.
Properly dressed, he went down the stairs without haste. His pace was the complete opposite of the frenzy downstairs.
The woman moved frantically between the living room, the kitchen, and the bathroom.
"Finally!!" She widened her eyes upon seeing her son ready, turning off the bathroom light: "You knew we were leaving now, didn't you!? And yet, you decided to sleep!"
"I didn't even want to go, Mom. It's gonna be boring..." Kazuya huffed, sitting on a chair at the dining table.
"Enough of that..." While finishing applying mascara, the woman grumbled: "A deal's a deal, and I won't tolerate complaints in my ear. I took you to the zoo in exchange for this, remember?"
He pouted and turned his face away from his mother's irritated laments, speechless.
"Stop arguing and let's go already..." The man bellowed, passing through the kitchen with the car keys toward the exit: "We can still make it on time, but for that, I'll have to speed up a bit..."
The woman followed him:
"Lock the door, Kazuya!"
And so, the boy jumped from the cushioned seat to go with them. Almost dragging himself, he locked the door. A strong gust of wind suddenly hit his face, making his voluminous brown curls dance in the air.
He lost focus for a moment, looking at the sky, even after hearing the sound of the car engine.
"Let's go!!"
It was the woman's new shout that snapped him out of his reverie.
So, he finally got into the back seat, buckled his seatbelt, and the whole family set off.
Given the delay, the man's urgency at the wheel was evident, even running a few red lights in an attempt to make up for lost time. The mother remained furious because her eldest son had delayed them by oversleeping.
During the ride, ignoring his mother's persistent complaints, he put on his earphones and rested his head against the window.
For some reason, the starry sky, already darkening, drew him in more than usual.
Perhaps it was because of the amount of time he had spent locked up at home.
The wedding ceremony would be outdoors.
Arriving minutes before the main courtesy began, none of them managed to speak with the bride and groom. The only option was to wait for the party to start.
While the mother and father still greeted the guests, he did the same, receiving people's greetings with a polite smile and responding in kind. Well, it was easier to be sociable when you're a child who hasn't yet hit adolescence.
This continued until the ceremony began. The three sat on one of the benches arranged along the sides of the aisle where the red carpet stretched.
Soon after, the groomsmen and bridesmaids began to enter.
Kazuya took out his phone to watch an anime he couldn't finish the previous night. Suddenly, he felt a sharp nudge on his leg, coming from the side where his mother was seated.
Turning his face, he met a piercing glare directed at him. It made him swallow the grumble forming in his throat.
"Put that away for now..." she said through gritted teeth to avoid drawing attention, "Show a bit more respect..."
The boy didn't argue. He simply put the phone away.
With the tension still lingering between them, the ceremony proceeded naturally until the arrival of the bride and groom.
The rings were exchanged between them, and then, following the priest's final declaration, they became husband and wife.
After the priest's final declaration, the husband and wife sealed the matrimonial kiss, concluding the ceremony amid applause and cheers from the entire audience. Most stood to congratulate the new couple as they walked back down the aisle, but Kazuya preferred to stay where he was.
He was dying for that monotonous sequence to end once and for all, because he wanted to get some fresh air somewhere far from there, watch an anime in peace.
When the main event ended, he thanked the heavens for the freedom to go to a more secluded spot.
He breathed the fresh air among some trees, away from the loud music and cheerful guests.
In favor of this, he looked at the sky again. As he had imagined earlier, it was different from usual.
"The Summer Triangle..." he stumbled upon the distant asterism of three specific stars that caught his attention the most.
It was beautiful. He could see them on the same celestial plane in a way he could never remember.
He almost managed to muster a faint smile.
"Why are you alone out here, son? I was looking for you. I got worried..." His mother's questioning arrival pulled him out of that small comfort, "Go eat something; the buffet is already served."
He stared at her for a while, surprised. That expression quickly changed as he looked away from her, hiding his face.
"I don't want to..."
With that refusal, the woman opened her mouth to argue but immediately gave up.
Instead of creating another problem, she approached and stood by his side.
"Look. You're a smart boy for your age. Your father and I know that, and that's exactly why we worry about you. You shouldn't act so withdrawn..." Her words received no response, "Talk to me, my son. Is something bothering you...?"
"I'm fine, Mom," the boy interrupted sharply, "Just leave me alone for a bit, okay?"
A sharp blow struck her heart with his curt reply. Again, she parted her lips to insist but abandoned the attempt halfway.
She simply kept a firm gaze as she said:
"Alright, I'm going back because your father needed me. But when we get home, we're going to have a good talk about you answering me like that, young man..."
She walked away without saying more.
Kazuya felt some remorse for acting that way but let her go in silence. He didn't even turn around.
With an uncomfortable grunt, he turned his attention to the sky again. That's when the headache he felt upon waking returned.
This time, however, a sharp pang hit him, forcing him to bring his hand to his left eye.
He nearly leaned backward from the sudden agony. He remained unsteady until the effect slowly faded, replaced by a wave of relief.
"What's this pain...?" He adjusted his posture, feeling nauseous.
Only then did he turn his body, not finding his mother.
Something inside him seemed to urge him to find her and apologize for how he treated her.
He couldn't imagine, but that would be his last peaceful memory of that night.
Everything went dark.
...
..
.
At a slow pace, the darkness began to fill again with a warm light.
"Huh…?" As the unknown discomfort grew, his eyes began to open slowly. "Where am I?"
He blinked slowly—painfully. At the start of this strange awakening, he contemplated bright spots filling a dark space.
"It's so cold…" Only one eye opened. The other was soaked in blood, dripping from a wound on his forehead.
A strong headache quickly brought him back to consciousness. He let out hoarse groans as he recognized the nature of what he had encountered.
The night sky, still surrounded by some trees.
Once his vision cleared, his touch recognized the damp grass beneath him. His taste wanted to reject the earthy flavor mixed with metallic iron coating his tongue.
His sense of smell and hearing came almost simultaneously, picking up a strong scent of burnt metal and the sound of crackling fire.
He tried to turn, but his arm screamed with searing pain. It might be broken; his mind began to better recognize his situation.
Realizing this cost him pain that made him grit his teeth. With the return of bodily functions, soon the burning sensations spreading through his legs afflicted him.
An intense fatigue dominated him both physically and mentally.
The lack of strength to stand felt like chains binding his entire torso to the cold ground. However, no matter the scale of the agony, he felt the need to free himself from that uncomfortable position.
And so he did.
His bones seemed to creak, muscles with slight tears in various areas screamed. The boy managed to rise, experiencing the discomfort of his left arm dangling as he turned his entire torso. Looking at the internal fracture in his elbow made him feel nauseous.
Struggling to put weight on his left foot, he imagined it was injured too.
Still, driven by the urge to escape those incomprehensible conditions, he began to move forward while dragging the injured limb.
After taking a few steps, he found an orange glow as he rounded a thick bush. He decided that was his target in search of answers...
He tried to reorganize his memories; amid the whitish expanse, some blurred voids stood out.
Not being able to remember something filled him with a longing in his chest; he felt his heart tighten as its beats quickened. With effort, his mind recalled some things, but only gaps existed between that moment and when he was alone at the party.
What existed in that space was blurred, as if black ink had been spilled over several papers.
With his throat choked by having no idea how he ended up there, the reason for being in such conditions, and everything else, he tripped over a piece of wood.
"Argh!!" He fell to the side, feeling his already injured arm hurt even more.
He swallowed more dirt and felt the smell of grass enter his nostrils. He held on tightly due to the pain throughout his body, managing to avoid fainting.
He didn't even have the strength to utter words of misfortune; thus, he limited himself to murmuring with a whispering voice. He struggled to stand, pushing the ground with his right arm. He needed to keep going, do what he could.
He didn't let himself faint again, thanks to the intense pain on the left side of his forehead that seemed to be the fuel keeping him active.
In pain, he stood again.
"I have to keep going… I have to keep going," he repeated to himself to avoid falling into a faint, bending his injured right leg with agony and managing to regain balance. He breathed as needed after the excruciating sequence.
He continued forward until the warm light grew before him.
A few steps from reaching the glow, he came across a body lying beside a tree.
It seemed to be a man, whose white dress shirt had a huge red stain around the abdomen.
All sorts of thoughts crossed his mind, but he refused to delve into recognition.
With his heart racing, almost at two hundred kilometers per hour, he turned his eyes to the source of light, the high flames engulfing a wrecked car.
The state of shock didn't even allow him to notice the tears streaming down his face. He could see two other bodies intertwined in the vehicle's wreckage.
There was no longer any prospect of life for them.
In an instant, blurred images crossed his mind, causing new discomfort. He brought his hand to the lacerated area on his forehead, as the localized pain seemed to worsen. Feeling a burning sting upon touching the wound that left a trail of blood down his face, the memories collapsed.
Voices echoed in his head at an abnormal speed, bringing a decline to his sanity. Just as his body seemed about to fall forward, a loud noise roared to his right.
Engulfed by the spreading flames, a branch from one of the trees broke off. The target was just below; the boy himself.
Unable to move to avoid it, he would surely become another victim of the scene.
But luck was on his side; his body tilted to the other side, and he instinctively took two steps back, stumbling until he fell on his back in the grass. The charred tree trunk fell beside him.
With his heart pounding, his lungs begging for more oxygen than he could inhale, he faced the consequences of the recent event.
The headache struck him again, this time causing a powerful shock that ran through his entire body.
The blackout couldn't be fought. Consciousness faded all at once, causing him to collapse with his torso.
The last piece of information he managed to receive in that state was the sound of sirens wailing in the distance.
But before he could fully surrender to unconsciousness, a strange sensation pulled him back by a thin thread, as if something or someone refused to let him fall.
Footsteps.
Light, soft. The wet grass barely reacted to their touch, but his ears caught the muffled sound as if it were all that remained of reality. And then, a silhouette emerged through the curtain of smoke and darkness.
It was a woman.
Tall, graceful, dressed in a simple beige overcoat that swayed with the midnight breeze. Her blonde hair was tied in a loose braid, slightly damp from the humidity. A pair of blue eyes glimmered under the flickering light of the flames, not supernaturally, but with a pure and silent sweetness.
She approached the boy without haste, as if fearing to startle him further.
"…Hey," she said with a serene voice, low enough not to seem intrusive, loud enough to reach him: "It's going to be okay now..."
"Are you an angel...?" All he could say was that, his eyes glimpsing twelve wings behind the woman...
The woman smiled gently and said: "Yes, your guardian angel. I'll protect you, so rest..."
He couldn't respond. Nor move. But the way his eyes fixed on her showed he was still conscious. Still trying to understand if that woman was real… or just part of the nightmare consuming him.
She knelt beside him, the hem of her coat touching the wet grass. Without hesitation, she extended her hand. She carried no heavenly light. No divine aura. No celestial trumpet.
Just human hands. Warm hands.
"You're safe now..." she said again. Her voice seemed warmer than the fire consuming the car a few meters away.
With care, she touched the boy's face. The palm of her hand slid over the blood- and dirt-stained cheek, gently brushing aside some dark strands stuck to his forehead. Her fingers trembled, but she didn't let it show. Not when she saw the deep wound above his eyebrow, nor when she felt the involuntary stiffness in the small body.
She looked at the burning car. Then at the bodies. Her eyes wavered for a brief moment, tightening as if the weight of that image was too much even for her. But then, she looked back at the boy and forced a gentle smile.
"It's going to be okay..."
He didn't respond. But a single tear rolled down his face. Maybe he didn't know why. Maybe he was just too exhausted to resist.
Gabriel pulled him closer carefully, wrapping him in her coat and arms. Kneeling in the cold grass, she held him against her chest like one would a lost child. As if, for a moment, the world wasn't broken around them.
She wasn't a paramedic. She wore no uniform. She hadn't come by helicopter or ambulance.
She was there because… something had guided her.
Later, when asked why she was on the road at that hour, or why she approached without hesitation, Gabriel would only say that she "felt she needed to."
And when the first firefighters arrived, when the sirens finally covered the desperate silence of the forest and spotlights bathed the scene, she was still there. With the boy in her arms. Not letting go. As if only her presence could keep him from disappearing too.
Her soft words, like a melody, helped calm his chaotic mind on the brink of unconsciousness.
And then, in that brief moment between pain and unconsciousness, he heard something.
Not with his ears, but with his heart.
A gentle voice.
As if spoken directly to his soul.
"You are not alone..."
The words came wrapped in tenderness. Like an invisible blanket on a winter night.
"I know I can't take away this pain… nor bring back what was taken from you. But I will be here..."
Her arms tightened a little more around the boy's fragile, bloodied body.
"Even if one day you forget me…
Even if your mind tries to erase this to survive… Even if you grow up without remembering my face or my voice…"
Her hand moved carefully to rest over his chest, above his racing heart.
"…I will be with you."
And there, in that scene surrounded by fire, death, and chaos, she sealed a promise.
"I will be your guardian angel..."
She leaned slightly, gently resting her forehead against the boy's, as if sealing a silent pact between souls.
"One day, when you're strong enough to walk on your own… maybe you'll remember.
But even if you don't… I'll keep watching over you."
The last thing he saw before blacking out was that face.
A calm face. A gentle smile.
...
..
.
His new awakening was in a comfortable bed.
The ceiling was unrecognizable.
Full of pain in his injured body, he turned his face toward the light coming from the window and realized the nature of the space.
A hospital bed.
He had several bandages covering the wounds on his arms and legs, as well as his injured forehead, along with a small splint on his arm.
When he was seen awake, the nurse rushed to call the doctors responsible for his case.
He was soon visited by a psychologist, who told him about what had happened.
A fatal car accident that took everyone except him. His father, his mother… He already knew.
But the way he responded and spoke seemed to worry the psychologist, who was present at most of the daily interrogations meant to check the boy's progress.
He avoided talking about the boy's deceased family, but he already understood.
Either way, his responses were short, curt, and mostly silent. He only confirmed with a downward nod.
His eyes, almost devoid of light, remained half-closed, feeling heavy. Nothing but suffering fit in his chest.
Despite this, it was as if he had resigned himself. He didn't fight against reality or anything like that; he just accepted it.
In the first few days, he didn't even leave the bed. Nurses came by, doctors came and went. The food was barely touched.
He didn't sleep. No matter how much he tried, no memory beyond those he already had emerged.
When they crossed the field of recent events and reached a not-so-distant past, he closed his eyes tightly and tried to stop.
And that's how he spent the first days under the hospital's care.
Without the desire to fight to stay there.
Utterly alone.
No one came to visit him, not even the closest relatives of his father's or mother's families.
Besides the daily visits from doctors and psychologists, a lawyer came to his bedside, saying he had been "hired by one of his mother's sisters."
He was responsible for passing on some details about the identification of the deceased bodies, as well as the funeral and subsequent burial.
In the end, the decision fell to the eldest son, the only survivor. And he decided they could be buried before he could be discharged to attend.
All he wanted was to avoid thinking about it.
So, when his leg healed enough for him to walk, he didn't think twice.
Still aided by a crutch, he wandered through the silent hospital nights.
Undisturbed by anyone, he cleared his mind and tired his body to at least have a chance of sleeping without difficulty.
Just him and the silence.
Although it was impossible to rid himself of all memories, many of them involuntary, he began to feel a little better.
Two more days passed this way. His insomnia began to lessen. The walking strategy was working.
On the turn from the fifth to the sixth day of his stay, he decided to take a walk a bit earlier.
He encountered some doctors still on duty and few awake patients.
He didn't exchange words with any of them. He followed the same route as always until he reached the vast courtyard, full of well-kept grassy areas and some trees.
He walked through the courtyard and sat on a bench while looking at the dark sky above, still suffering from the pain caused by the accident's injuries, and above all, he was going through the grieving process for his parents' death.
His fatigue was visible in the deep dark circles, slightly labored breathing, and even the difficulty focusing on the sky.
The memories were slowly returning; he remembered how wonderful his parents were...
His father was the kind of cold man who didn't like to show much affection but loved him. In fact, his father hadn't finished his studies, as he had to work early to support his family; because of this, he saw his father studying at night several times to help him with homework the next day.
His mother was a complainer but was always there when he needed her. She liked to be involved in his life in the best way...
And now, neither of them was by his side anymore...
Again, the locks imposed on his own memories began to give way; his desperate attempt not to remember. The familiar voice of a woman, still with some strange interference, echoed in his mind.
Talk to me, my son...
His mother's voice returned, as did the vivid images of that night before the worst happened.
Just leave me alone for a bit, okay?
His response. His mistake...
He gritted his teeth until they nearly came loose. He could never see his mother again; nor his father.
They were gone...
"And it's your fault," he said to himself, pressing his hand against the ground.
It was impossible to go back. The past could never be changed. That was the harsh reality responsible for crushing him for five days.
Lost in a sea of disjointed thoughts, he sat there for a few more minutes before standing and walking toward his room.
Back in his bed, Kazuya lay down and sought sleep.
And his greatest fear came true; those images remained vivid, so vivid in his mind, that sleep was slow to come.
Staring at the ceiling, he could barely close his heavy eyes. It would be nice to have a button inside himself to simply get rid of everything, he thought.
Since he couldn't sleep, he had some books, magazines, and even manga found in certain hospital areas, so he used them to distract himself and, consequently, erase all the memories with something more recent, like the fact that there would be a second season of Re Zero. This helped him forget a bit about the events, the past, and how his life seemed like a parody of suffering crafted by a cosmic entity.
But while reading the pages of some manga, his mind worsened. He was restless. The written words seemed to detach as the pages turned. He reached a point where he became unable to read the sentences printed on the paper.
His very heavy eyes seemed about to fall onto the bed. Sleep began to creep in, but the desire to lie down and close them was nonexistent. It would be another long night in that silent room lit by moonlight.
It was located in a perfect area of the building that, to the boy's misfortune, allowed a complete view of the sky he wished to ignore.
The more he stared at it, the more the locked memories began to resurface. In an attempt to avoid this, he approached the windows and pulled the blue curtains on the sides.
This action plunged the room into complete darkness. The heavy silence was interrupted by the steady ticking of the clock on the wall. The patient seemed to be undergoing a mental endurance test, where he had to preserve his sanity against the repetitive sound.
At least he considered it a good pastime until falling asleep. He could stay there for a long time; soon he would be lying in bed covered up to his head, a declaration of victory against the bothersome post-traumatic disorder.
Finally, he fell asleep.
The awakening the next morning brought Kazuya an indescribable relief from the pains he had been living with.
He got out of bed, illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the open windows, where the fresh morning breeze still flowed.
The first thing he did was pick up his phone to check the time.
He got out of bed and saw the sun flooding the room through the open windows, where a gentle breeze made the curtains dance in soft waves.
Despite his young age, he was allowed to visit his parents' grave after many conversations with the doctors. So, after the doctor came to see him and asked some questions with pity in his eyes, he left him alone. As promised, he had released him, but only for today. He had to return to the hospital tomorrow.
If, after losing his parents, he had no idea how he would move forward with his life, now it was worse, as the doctors were deciding he would go to an orphanage after dealing with everything...
Confused, tired, and unmotivated. After being discharged from the hospital, Kazuya expressed the mix of unsettling sensations through his melancholic expression. Thanks to all the unpredictable events during his stay, he considered it a rather unpleasant experience.
He was very physically tired, but his mental state was worse. He contemplated that everything could be the result of a nightmare culminating from the excessive insomnia of previous nights. He hoped to leave that establishment, return home, and forget all the details tormenting his disordered mind.
He hoped his family would be there waiting for him...
But he knew that couldn't happen.
He had always been much more intelligent and mature than other children, and he understood the cruelty of the world from a young age...
All this crossed his mind as he got out of bed, walked through the hospital corridors... and reached the gate.
He took a taxi to the cemetery, money given by the doctors out of pity for him.
The burial had been yesterday; thinking about it made his throat dry.
It didn't take long for him to get out in front of the large cemetery. Although the place had a low flow of people, he experienced an unusual anxiety. Wishing not to encounter any distant relatives there, he gathered courage and took his first steps forward.
He thought it best not to ask for help from any cemetery staff. He proceeded alone down the central path, his heavy eyes scanning the surroundings for their names.
He walked slowly for a good few minutes, still feeling pain in his injured foot, freed from the orthopedic boot. The memories trapped within him fought to break their chains, but the boy remained steadfast.
The path led him to the final section of the cemetery, where empty areas seemed ready for any future burials.
In the final stretch, he took a deep breath upon realizing no name had crossed his gaze. He considered their absence, but then the wind blew strongly.
As his straight hair swayed, Ryusei turned to the left. It seemed like a warning from the world itself.
He found the two names he feared to see.
Ryougi Misa and Ryougi Takeru, his mother and father.
The rounded stones, side by side, indicated their birth and death dates.
The sight turned into a fresh monochromatic gray.
Silence filled his ears. His racing heart could be heard like screams.
What could he say? He clutched his shirt at the chest. He didn't want to remember anything, after all...
"I can't reach them..." he lowered his head, his lips trembling as intensely as the rest of his body.
After losing an amount of time he could never calculate, he struggled to go to them.
With dragging steps, he reached the graves. A burning sensation dominated his darkened eyes, but tears didn't manifest.
After losing an unknown period there, he struggled to lift his face again.
What did he have to say?
He couldn't find the right words.
He simply accepted his defeat. Without strength to remain in that place any longer, he turned on his heels with a heavy conscience.
He retraced his steps without properly saying goodbye.
Kazuya returned to his home, one last time before going to the hospital the next day.
...
..
.
Though tired and still weak, he managed to walk to his residence, which wasn't far from the cemetery.
Feeling his feet throb with pain, he faced the facade of the two-story house.
He was already starting to think about how he would deal with everything alone from then on. It would be difficult, but somehow, the silence was comforting.
He could no longer decide how he felt.
His father always said a man doesn't cry, so he was trying his hardest not to cry to honor his words, but although he was mature, he was still just a child...
But he no longer had anyone in this world with whom he could share his thoughts.
And that angel who appeared at the accident? She never existed, the doctors said there was no one there when the ambulance arrived, though it was a miracle he was alive, according to them...
Finally, he gathered the courage to walk down the paved path between the lawn.
He climbed the small steps. Hesitantly, he put his fingers in his pants pocket, pulling out the door key.
He inserted it into the lock and turned it against the latch, but nothing happened.
He repeated the motion more than once, and the sound of the lock refusing to open remained silent.
Incredulous, he furrowed his brows. He thought the tool might be damaged, but upon inspecting it, he found nothing.
Then, he gripped the doorknob with a trembling palm. He took a good few seconds, in a silent hope, then, in an impulsive act, he turned it.
He was surprised when he opened the entrance, which had been unlocked from the start. He blinked a few times until he remembered.
He had forgotten to lock it. It went unnoticed after everything that happened, but it made sense.
When he got lost in the starry sky that night, the boy got into the car without locking the door.
Finally, he entered. He soon experienced the familiar aroma permeating the silent space, capable of sweeping away his thoughts.
The conflict of feelings began to grow again. Not long ago, that place was full of life and voices.
His mother's shouts, his father's tired reprimands, the noises produced by daily tasks. None of that would return.
Thinking about it made him want to laugh and cry at the same time. He swallowed it all, after much trembling, to sum up that absurd confusion in a single sentence:
"I'm back..."
He passed through the living room. Everything seemed darker than usual, even though it was a sunny morning.
He passed through the other rooms. The kitchen, the bathroom, the downstairs bedroom. Then, he climbed the stairs and reached his personal room.
The place of the last words exchanged with his younger brother. The spacious room, where there were two beds, side by side.
Kazuya lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling, his eyes searching for something in the white paint; though it seemed so, the lack of shine in his pupils told a different story. He was just staring at nothing while drowning in his depression.
The constant feeling that he shouldn't have survived the accident ate at him from within; his parents were more deserving than him; they had a life ahead while he... well, he no longer found meaning in living or any prospect for a better life.
He found it unfair that the good people who loved him, his strict father, whom he so admired, his mother who was always there giving him all the love and affection he needed. They. Had to pay the price for his useless existence.
He placed his arm over his eyes while letting the bad emotions drown him.
Slowly, he fell asleep.
The next morning, as soon as he woke up, he took a taxi and headed to the hospital.
After being treated for his injuries, he was taken to an orphanage...
...
..
.
Jeanne gasped.
Her eyes opened suddenly, the familiar ceiling of the mansion coming into view. She was lying in bed, but Kazuya was no longer there. His side was cold.
She clutched the sheets to her chest, her heart still racing.
"This...?" She murmured, drawing in the cold air, was that her master's past in this world?
The weight of what she had just experienced, Kazuya's memories, so vivid, so raw, still pressed on her heart like an invisible chain. She, who had faced battles against dragons, demons, and even gods by his side, now felt a pain that no spear or flame could inflict.
It was the pain of a boy who had lost everything, of a young soul marked by suffering he didn't deserve to bear.
Her fingers gripped the sheets tighter, as if seeking to anchor her soul to the present. The emptiness beside her, where Kazuya should have been, seemed to echo the loneliness she had witnessed in those memories.
"Kazuya…" The name slipped from her lips in a whisper, laden with tenderness and determination. Her blue eyes, usually serene as a clear day's sky, now shone with a mix of compassion and resolve, many complex emotions.
How could he still smile like that?
In fact, he had always been like that since his past life as the master of Chaldea, always smiling in the face of difficulties and always helping people because he felt it was his duty. Just as he was doing in this world where people were less than slaves in the eyes of others and supernatural beings, that was exactly what never changed in him...
She rose from the bed with a graceful movement, her blonde hair cascading over her shoulders and went down to the living room, she could feel someone was there with her master who wasn't Asia-chan...
A warm presence that reminded her so much of the voice of her lord guiding her through her life's difficulties...
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