~ Ayano's Pov ~
.
.
.
I thought it'd be too good to be true that I got some amount of alone time these past few days… Still, why did the system even want me to explore? It just kept running me in this weird loop. Every time I thought I could relax, something tugged at me—like it was trying to push me somewhere specific, without actually telling me where I should even go. Or why.
And that was frustrating me... "Guys, I'll be back," I said casually, brushing some sand from my sleeves. "I've decided to… look around a bit, yeah. Give me like, 10-15 minutes."
Renji was mid-back float and lazily raised a hand without looking at me. "Don't get lost in Atlantis, man."
Sekai glanced over her shoulder. "Um, you need someone to come with?"
I shook my head. "Nah, I'm good! I just need a little breather is all... I'll be back before anyone even notices I'm gone."
She nodded, though her eyes lingered on me for a second longer than normal—maybe trying to read between the lines. I gave her a small grin, then turned away before she could push.
.
.
.
The further I walked away from the beach, the quieter everything became...
The sound of laughter and water splashes were fading, replaced by the soft trickle of streams and sounds of the sea itself, muffled yet almost always present. I wandered through some of the narrow paths between the buildings, some of them were empty, others quietly lived-in.
Glass windows shimmered with faint bioluminescence, and glowing vines crawled up some of the structures, swaying..
I didn't really have much of a destination in mind right now. My feet were just carrying me forward, guided more by my instinct at this point—or maybe the system's gentle push—than anything logical to me.
Eventually, I came across a path I hadn't seen before... A good distance away from most of the other facilities, and even compared to the habitats on the land. In fact, it was barely visible...
It looked as if it was tucked between two larger coral-like structures, almost completely hidden by a gently arching plant with blue, translucent leaves. It didn't look like anyone had come through here in a while, but something about it… Called out to me.
'I guess, it's now or never...'
I brushed past the leaves, following the path...
_____________________________________________________
~ Third Person Pov ~
.
.
.
Sekai looked ahead, watching the sea's torrent... Katsura seeing her oddly melancholic, sat beside her.
"Sekai-san... Are you, ok? You seem a bit..." She asked.
Sekai's gaze remained on the distant shimmer of the water, her legs tucked loosely to her chest. The faint laughter of students echoed behind her, but she didn't react. It was like the tide had pulled her thoughts out with it.
"…He does that a lot, y'know?" she said finally, her voice quieter than usual. "Disappears."
Katsura blinked, surprised by the sudden honesty, but she didn't interrupt.
"Not in a bad way," Sekai added quickly. "It's just… Ayano. He's always carrying something. Doesn't matter how much he smiles or makes jokes, there's this… weight to him. You feel it too, right?"
Katsura nodded slowly. "I, do... I think he tries his best to hide it, but it's there. Like, he's always looking at something the rest of us can't see."
"Exactly." Sekai responded. She hugged her knees a little tighter. "I know I shouldn't worry—he said he was fine—but I still feel like he's not being entirely honest with us. Not in a malicious way. Just… like there's something he thinks we can't handle."
Katsura tilted her head, her long hair falling to one side. "Maybe he's not wrong... We all have things we hide, Sekai-san... Pain that doesn't have words. Even now, being in this place… doesn't it feel like we're somewhere we're not really supposed to be?"
Sekai turned to look at her, a little startled by the question. But, she understood completely.
"…Yeah," she admitted after a pause. "It, does, doesn't it... Beautiful, sure. But it's like… standing in a dream that knows you don't really belong in it, at least not for long."
Katsura's eyes drifted to the sand, fingers absentmindedly drawing small patterns in it. "Do you think he feels the same? That he doesn't belong—here, with us...?"
Sekai frowned, slightly frightened by the question. "N-No! I.. I think he wants to belong with us. Maybe more than any of us. But something keeps dragging him; I don't know how to explain it, but it keeps pulling him back into that other world of his… whatever, it is. And he won't even tell us what it is."
For a moment, neither of them spoke to each other. The sea flowed in the background, calm but, ever-moving...
"I think… He'll, come back soon," Katsura said softly.
"Yeah," Sekai replied, her voice just as low. "But every time he walks off like that… I worry that one day, he won't."
They both stared out at the water then, silently waiting, hoping the tide would bring him back before the calm turned into something else entirely.
...
"S-Sekai-san..."
Both Katsura and Sekai had turned around, but both had completely different reactions, one was of mild curiosity, and the latter was of mild trauma.
Sekai's lips squirmed before she responded, but she calmed herself, answering, "I-Itou...?"
The boy in question smiled weakly, "H-Hey, Sekai-san..."
Sekai stood up slowly, brushing a bit of sand from her legs, heart thudding lightly in her chest...
She hadn't heard that voice in months—not since things spiraled between them. Not since the chaos and the tears and the numbness that followed. And yet here he was. Makoto Itou. The same soft, slightly unsteady voice. But somehow… different too.
"…I-Itou," she said again, more steadily this time.
He scratched the back of his neck, eyes lowering as if ashamed of even making her say his name out loud. "Sekai-san…" he said again.
Katsura glanced at her for a moment, then slowly, quietly stepped away—respecting the silence and space between them...
Sekai didn't stop her. She just stood still, watching Makoto as he fumbled to find the words. There were bags under his eyes, his posture slouched with guilt, or weight, or both. He looked like someone who'd been through a hundred sleepless nights. and still hadn't found any rest...
"I, uh…" he began. "I didn't come here to stir things up or anything. I just… I wanted to talk. Privately, if that's okay."
Sekai hesitated for a beat, then nodded once. "A-Alright."
They walked a short distance down the shore, just enough to escape the voices of the others, the tide gently curling over their feet like a reminder that time hadn't stopped...
Makoto stood with his hands in his pockets, not looking at her just yet. "You're probably wondering why I showed up all of a sudden, right? Especially after everything I've done."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't..." Sekai replied softly, arms crossed, but not, cold. Just guarded.
He gave a tired sigh. "I came to apologize… for how I treated you. For how I treated everyone. I've been spending a lot of time alone lately, thinking. About everything. And I realized... I hurt a lot of people. And not just by accident. I was careless. I was selfish."
His voice was genuine. Tired. It wasn't rehearsed—it was raw.
"I wanted to tell you first," he continued, "because out of everyone, I think I… I wronged you the most. You were kind to me. You cared. And I took advantage of that."
Sekai looked at him now, studying the slump of his shoulders, the way he couldn't quite meet her gaze. There was no trace of the arrogance, or charm, or even the confusion he used to wear. Just someone small and honest.
"…And?" she asked gently.
Makoto exhaled through his nose. "And… I realized I still care. Maybe more than I ever let myself admit before. I missed you, Sekai. So much more than I thought I would. I want to be with you again. For real this time. No games. No confusion."
There it was. A confession...
And yet… Sekai didn't flinch. She didn't even blush. Her lips didn't tremble...
She simply looked at him with a quiet, solemn clarity in her eyes. "…I appreciate that," she said after a moment. "I do. And I can tell you're being honest this time. You've, grown Makoto. I can see that."
Makoto's expression shifted—hope flickering into his eyes.
"But," she said gently, her voice steady, "I just can't do that kind of relationship anymore."
The hope cracked just a little. "Why... Why not…?"
"Because, I can't trust you," she answered honestly. "Not with my heart. Not again..."
Makoto's mouth parted slightly, pain flickering across his face, but she wasn't done.
"But even more than that…" She turned her gaze out toward the sea, and something about the way her eyes softened, and how that small smile crept on her face—even how her entire posture shifted slightly—made something in Makoto sink.
"I've… found someone else," she admitted, her voice carrying a quiet but unmistakable certainty.
He didn't speak. He, just couldn't...
Sekai seeing this continued, "Someone who makes me feel, safe. Someone who doesn't run away from themselves… or from, me. I didn't expect it, but… I've fallen for them. Really fallen."
Makoto's hands clenched slightly in his pockets, his breath catching. "…Ha... I see."
She turned back to him, eyes no longer full of resentment or hurt, but understanding. Maturity.
"What we had," she said, "Was, young. It was, reckless. It was… a kind of puppy love, no just an infatuation... And, it was toxic too. I thought it was everything back then, but now I know it wasn't love—not the way I understand it now."
The wind brushed past the two of them. Makoto didn't wipe away the tear that slid down his cheek... He just, let it fall.
"…Can... Can we at least still be friends?" he asked, voice cracking slightly.
Sekai gave him a small, warm smile. "Yeah. We can. Just, friends."
He looked away, the pain still real, but something like relief washing into him too. "T-Thank you. For still… accepting me."
She nodded, then looked out over the sea again—silent, soft, and sure this time. Makoto stood there for a minute longer, then gave her a small bow… before quietly walking away.
And Sekai stayed there, alone now. Watching the sea. But this time, her heart wasn't weighed down with old memories.
She took one last solemn look behind herself, then finally walked back to her new friends...
________________________________________________________
~ Ayano's Pov ~
.
.
.
The path looks like it ends here...
It led me straight to an abandoned house... "It looks like it's been here for well over a few hundred years." Like, a miracle standing.
That was the first thought that popped into my mind—and I didn't think I was exaggerating. The structure was a half-sunken building made of dark stone and bleached coral, its roof sagging under the weight of both time and pressure.
It wasn't huge, maybe once a small home or shrine, but it had felt ancient—like it had been swallowed and forgotten by time itself, only to be gently unearthed by accident.
The strangest thing about it though… it was still intact. Not exactly pristine in any sense, and definitely not clean either—but intact. Like something had kept the nature from eating it whole. The glowing flora that covered everything else was missing here. No vines, no bioluminescent colors. Just raw, nearly untouched stone.
I looked a little ahead, realizing that what was left of the door was already open. Just a small crack.
Of course it was.
'…I'm going to regret this, aren't I?' I told myself.
But I stepped in anyway.
.
.
.
The inside was dim, but not completely dark. The interior was quite simple too. One room. A stone floor. Dust that didn't float—it just all sat still, something anyone would expect of a place like it. A few shattered pieces of furniture too, if you could even call them that at this day and age. And at the far end of the room...
A pedestal.
There was a photo on it too... When I got closer, I could see two people in the frame; to the left was a beautiful woman with long dark purple hair with ocean blue eyes, and another of a man with grey or silver colored eyes. When I looked even closer, I could see both were smiling, and on their hands, were, rings...
'These two, they were married...?' It was the only logical conclusion I could draw, from what I saw. Not only that, the woman in this picture... Why did she look so much like the Chisaki from my class?
...
"I see... you've found it."
I instantly turned around. When I looked, I saw Chisaki herself standing in the door frame...
But it was, Chisaki...?
She stood in the doorway, the glow of the outside casted a faint light over her silhouette. No visible weapons. No guards. Just her, in that calm, unassuming presence of hers—but her eyes… they held something else this time...
She stepped inside slowly, her shoes quiet against the ancient stone. "You're not exactly the first person to find this place, you know. But you're definitely the first who wasn't led here by a map."
I might as well go with the flow, since I'm not supposed to even be here... Still, I glanced back at the photo again, my gaze lingering on the woman. "She looks, a whole lot like you…"
...
"Well... she, should." Chisaki added, smiling gently, walking past me and towards the pedestal. "That's my great-great-great-great-grandmother."
She paused, then turned to look at me directly. "Her name was Chisaki too. I was named after her due to our great resemblance..."
I blinked, looking at her again. If I didn't know any better, I'd say there were twins. But, I'm a little surprised by what she was telling me, or why she was telling me. Before I could even say anything more about it, she continued.
"She was part of the original Ofunehiki incident, the one your world only half remembers," she said, fingers brushing over the stone edge of the pedestal. "And the man beside her? That was her husband, Tsumugu. A surface dweller who saw the sea not as a mystery to fear, but something sacred. He devoted his life to understanding people like, us. To bridging that gap."
She glanced back at the photo, her tone softening. "Eventually, he succeeded... But politics have a way of spoiling even the purest dreams. When tension between the surface and the sea people grew… He initiated a project to protect us all. To isolate this island from the world. That wall you saw on the way? That was the beginning, and ending of it."
I felt my breath getting caught a bit. It all made a weird kind of sense now... The tension I felt coming, here... Maybe it was due to the system too...
Never mind that, "does that mean…" I started, but Chisaki cut in gently.
"Yes," she said. "I'm technically the head, or future head of this place. Not officially 'queen' or anything, but… I lead. I'm royalty, in the old sense of the word... funny, isn't it?"
That honesty—it wasn't grand or dramatic either... She didn't say it like it made her better than anyone else. She just… said it. Like it was just as normal as saying what her name was.
She turned to me, stepping a little closer, her expression a bit softer now. "I've been coming here ever since I was little girl... It's always been my secret place. A space where I could think, breathe… just be myself. Even back then, I felt different. Like I was carrying too many lives at once. My own, and theirs."
She stopped in front of me now, close enough that I could see the quiet weight behind her eyes.
"You weren't supposed to find this place," she said. "But… maybe, that's not entirely a bad thing."
I didn't say anything. I just stood there. What else could I reasonably do?
She gave a small, almost bittersweet smile. "I think… a part of me wanted someone else to see it... To really see what this place means to me. And maybe…" She hesitated, for just a second longer. "A part of me wanted it to be you."
I swallowed, fully uncertain what to even feel at the moment. This was way too sudden for me...
Then, "Why, me?" I asked. In fact, why was she even telling me all this?
Chisaki looked me dead in the eyes then... "Because... you feel like someone who carries more than he lets on... To be honest... You seemed like a good person too...
...
Creak~
'That, sound...' and that's when I noticed it, the roof of the house, it was wobbling.
"Oh, No! CHISAKI!!! MOVE!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
END