The scream echoed across timelines.
In a quiet corner of the city, the glass windows of Yua's apartment exploded outward. The wind didn't howl—it shivered, like it had been caught in a memory it didn't recognize. Across the street, power lines sparked and birds scattered, the world unable to comprehend what had just happened.
And inside the chaos, Yua stood.
Alone. Crying.
Not out of fear.
But rage.
She had seen it—everything.
The girl she used to be.
The fire. The war. The boy who died protecting her.
Not a fantasy. Not a dream.
Another life.
Another world.
---
Meanwhile – Reo's Workshop
Alarms screamed through the forge. Doraemon clutched the emergency console as the entire underground chamber shook violently. Reo stood completely still, one hand hovering over MOTHERLINE's interface, the other clenched into a white-knuckled fist.
"She remembered," he whispered.
Doraemon's eyes narrowed. "That energy spike—it's not just memory reawakening. Something else was hidden in her."
Reo nodded slowly.
"She's not just a reincarnated girl," he said. "She's a timeline anchor."
Doraemon blinked. "A what?"
"In one of the collapsed timelines, she was the last living being before the loop reset. Her soul carried forward not just memories—but weight. Causal weight."
Reo turned to Doraemon.
"She's a walking paradox."
---
Elsewhere – Yua's Awakening
Her knees hit the floor.
Visions bombarded her. Skies split in half. Children burning. Temples collapsing. A boy's scream—
Reo's scream.
No… not Reo.
Renji.
Her past self. His past self.
They were lovers. Soldiers. Monsters.
Her hand trembled as she reached for her reflection in the shattered mirror.
"I killed him," she whispered. "I killed everyone."
Then, something moved in the corner of her apartment.
A distortion. Like a shadow trying to pull itself into reality.
It grinned with no face.
"You were meant to forget," it rasped. "But your flame survived."
It lunged.
And Yua moved.
Not like an actress. Not like a civilian.
She twisted, ducked, and kicked with the grace of a trained assassin. The shadow staggered, and her eyes glowed briefly—
A glimpse of Asuka.
And then—
She screamed.
A pulse of energy erupted from her chest, knocking the shadow back and blowing out the remaining lights in the building. The air smelled like ozone. And time… slowed.
Literally.
Raindrops outside her window froze mid-fall.
She stood. Breathing hard.
Her reflection had changed.
No longer just Yua, the rising actress.
But Asuka, the girl who burned down a god.
---
Reo's Workshop – Moments Later
The door burst open before Reo could even react. Yua stood there—eyes sharp, hair windswept, an aura of unstable energy clinging to her like fire.
Doraemon flinched. "She found us."
Yua stepped inside.
"You," she growled, eyes locked on Reo. "You remember me."
Reo didn't answer with words.
He stepped forward and held out his hand.
"I never stopped."
Yua stared at him. Tears welled in her eyes—but didn't fall.
"What the hell is happening to us?"
Reo exhaled slowly.
"The timeline isn't a river," he said. "It's a prison. And we're its last inmates."
Doraemon frowned. "Then what's coming next?"
Reo turned toward MOTHERLINE's interface. The screen flickered—trembled—then settled on a single image:
A world split in half.
A voice echoed from the console. But it wasn't a system warning.
It was Caius.
"You think memory is power?" the voice hissed. "You poor fools. You were never the players. You were always the board."
The screen shattered.
---
Back in Time – The Lost Timeline
Somewhere in the remnants of a collapsed reality, Caius stood on a throne of broken clocks. His form had grown monstrous. Faceless. Immense.
Behind him—hundreds of shattered Yuas and Reos floated in stasis. Ghosts from failed loops. Corpses from discarded timelines.
Caius turned to them.
"It begins again," he said.
Then he reached into the void—
And plucked a weapon made of nothing but regret.
---