The silence came so suddenly, the faint, cold electronic tone still lingering in the air.
The young man's pupils trembled as he stared blankly at the shattered space before him.
The storm of mist dissipated, beginning to merge back into the fragmented space, starting the repair process.
The girl's blood still stained his face, the damp touch subtly emphasizing its presence.
She lay collapsed in his arms, her fiery warmth still clinging to his skin, yet her body felt light as air, almost nonexistent, utterly unreal.
The young man stiffly lowered his head. The faded blood-red cracks seemed like sharp swords piercing through his eyes deep into his heart.
"—!"
At that moment, the young man's breath, which had never ceased until now, stopped.
He opened his mouth but trembled, unable to form a single word, his throat incapable of producing a sound.
He didn't even know what he wanted to express.
He wanted to go home... She said she would take him home... She said... she would definitely take him home...
She said so...
But...
[Deceased]
What a jarring word...
"Ah..."
Looking at the girl in his arms, her face covered in blood-red cracks, the young man finally let out a mournful cry.
No breath, no heartbeat, no words, no warmth... So... this was [Death]?
Why... why was it so hard to accept?
The young man's arms carefully cradled the girl's body closer, wanting to feel her breath, hear her heartbeat. He awkwardly pressed his own body against hers, trying to share his warmth.
His mouth hung open, wanting to continue talking to her, wanting her to stand up, to open her eyes.
But his warmth selfishly stayed within his own body, unwilling to leave, much less transfer to hers.
"I..." The young man's voice choked, his hoarse tone still carrying the lingering hope that hadn't yet faded.
I just found someone important...
She said she'd take me home...
I... I finally found home...
"—Ah—"
The hollowest roar emerged powerlessly from the young man's mouth. He grieved, he wailed, plummeting abruptly from the path to paradise.
He didn't even understand what had happened.
But he knew... he seemed to have lost someone important too...
And... he could never get her back...
Never get her back...
The young man's arms tightened gradually. He cursed his own selfishness, unwilling to share even a shred of warmth. He held the girl's body tightly, unwilling to lose her.
Crack—
A crisp shattering sound made the young man flinch.
The sound came from within his embrace. He looked at the girl's face, saw the deep red cracks continue to spread, widening.
"No... no..." The young man watched in panic as the cracks crawled across the girl's cheeks. He shook his head helplessly, wanting to stop their spread.
But he didn't know how... he had forgotten...
He hated the blankness of his memory so much... He didn't even know this girl's name...
The young man withdrew one hand, gently touching the girl's face. The newly appeared crack made his hand tremble and pull back.
The cracks grew larger, spreading not only across the girl's body but also deep into the young man's heart.
Finally—
CRACK—!
The girl's body shattered.
Shattered into countless stars, into motes of light filling the air.
In this gradually repairing blank world, this sole splash of color escaped the young man's frantic grasp, drifting out towards the black void beyond.
Like dancing fireflies, they lingered reluctantly around the young man before floating away on an unseen breeze into the distance.
The young man reached out, clenching his fists tightly. He brought his trembling, clasped hands carefully before his eyes.
When his fists, clenched so hard they bled, loosened just a crack, the few captured specks of light also wobbled and drifted away from his sight.
They left, but they couldn't take the young man with them.
"What the hell..."
In this white world, the young man watched the "starry sky" helplessly, then suddenly bit down hard.
"What the hell is this—!!" he roared with all his might, tears streaming down his face like a broken dam.
The world around him suddenly changed. The mist could no longer repair this place. It began to tremble, to fade, leaving only the young man kneeling amidst the shower of blood-red starlight, screaming.
"HERRSCHER!!"
Kneeling on the ground, the young man let out a desperate roar towards the heavens.
"What else are you going to take!! Existence—Memory—Past—Future—You've taken all of it from me!"
"Now—You won't even leave me her body?!!"
"You're even taking away hope?!!"
He didn't know where these words erupting from his mind came from, didn't understand the source of the sorrow in his heart.
But he roared them out without hesitation, his bloodshot eyes staring into the boundless blackness, bellowing, breaking down.
The Herrscher didn't respond. The mist halted far away, facing the young man from a distance.
The blood-red starlight didn't linger because of the young man's roar either. They resolutely departed, vanishing into the distance.
The young man reached out, straining with all his might, trying to grasp the departing starlight.
"Take me home..." he choked out.
"Take me home, please..." he pleaded.
A shiny coin fell from the sky, landing unerringly in the young man's palm.
"—KIANA—!!"
The name suppressed deep within his heart was finally screamed out by Shu the moment the shiny coin landed in his palm.
[May Mei watch over me, Dad watch over me, the gods watch over me... Sob... If gods really exist... anyone will do...
Please watch over me... Please let this coin guide me smoothly to the person I lost...
And... please let him return home safely, completely whole.
I'll definitely study hard from now on, eat one less bowl of rice every meal, won't be willful anymore, will fold my quilt properly, will eat more vegetables...
As long as that guy can come home...
Hmm... what was that guy's name again... I remember it was written on that paper...
*His name is...*]
Shu froze. He stiffly withdrew his hand, staring at the coin glowing with golden light in his palm.
Every object here represented a memory.
They might be complex, or brief, their volume and complexity usually judged by the object's size.
But...
Often, the most precious memories—are just a few short sentences.
Or even...
A single word, a single name.
[His name is—Shu]
[Shu, as in Wish—Shu, as in Dawn.]