Four days ago, in the living room, upon learning about KRS and GRS.

Kazane gazed down at the ground, not wanting to meet my face.

Staring at her pale face, I let out a breath.

“Kazane... What are you doing so late at night?”

Upon hearing my words, Kazane dropped her feet from the couch to the ground, resting her hand on the cushion. 

“I couldn’t sleep. I mean, it’s quite a lot to digest.”

“Dad talked to you too?”

“Well... Not quite. More like mom.” 

Kazane’s eyes wandered to the window, her expression soft as she stared outside. I could see her mouth moving, as she formed her next words. 

“I assume he told you everything too?”

Kazane stared at her fingers, at the bracelet around her wrist that always glowed when she put it on.

Seeing Kazane’s passive expression, her soft voice, as I put my fingers on the wall, the hard, rough sensation, it was then I realized that yesterday was no dream. And neither was what was happening now.

“What a shock. To think, after all this time.”

 Kazane murmured, running her fingers through her hair. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared intently at her hand. 

“Is that so? Well...” Kazane closed her eyes, before returning to her gaze out the window. “I...” Her voice lowered. 

“I’m kinda worried. About what is to happen in my life.” 

She finished. Her gaze dropped to the ground, and she waited, as if waiting for her big brother to say some reassuring words, to comfort her, to tell her that he’ll protect her, to tell her everything is going to be okay.

Something about her line bent my mind. Up till now, my life was normal. Wake up. Study. Sleep. Normal things happening. There was no need to ever wonder what happened next, except for false delusions that maybe something cool might happen. 

The worst has been opening up emails that informed you your test has been graded. So for the possibility of life being some fantasy happening now, it was absurd beyond belief.

I wasn’t that kind of person to smooth over broken glass. The situation was seriously wild. There was no way I could lie to myself, lie to everyone, that “everything will be okay.” 

No matter what sentences like those that I thought of, my mouth couldn’t speak it out. They would be the same lies I told myself, that losing was okay. But I still remembered my dad’s words.

Ayato is going to die.

Perhaps what he meant was that man who chose to live differently. Perhaps that meant that man who put his all into studying to show the world that he was not something normal. Perhaps that meant the man that wanted to believe that there had to be something more to life than an endless cycle of sleeping and working.

And so, when I walked to the window my sister looked out of and put a foot on the window sill, I knew exactly what I wanted to say.

They weren’t out of concern to reassure Kazane. They weren’t smug words to criticize the world. They were words from the bottom of my heart for self-satisfaction. They were directed at no one other than myself.

“You see? I’ve been telling you all, all this time, Ayato Hinode was someone special!”

My eyes were shut as I waited for a response. A response for who? I did not know. The remainder of my sentence bounced around the living room, echoing on the word special.  

Special.

Special.

Special.

That’s right, I was special. It wasn’t those higher, special classes. It wasn’t those meaningless competition victories that I got in junior high. No, it was the fact that I, Ayato Hinode, could have special powers and had the chance to be the main character in some fancy, action-packed plot. There was no need for any of the sacrifices made earlier in my life.

A small giggle came from behind me. Then it turned into laughter.

“Haa? Why are you laughing?” 

I turned around to find Kazane covering her mouth, her eyes smiling as she laughed.

“You know, I’ve never thought of you as ordinary. But sometimes, you do some really stupid things.” 

She shook her head. 

“To think, that was your first thought after finding out you could have some special powers.”

“ーーーー”

“But maybe that’s also why...”

Kazane’s voice trailed off as she glanced at me. Her mouth opened, her lips moved. 

“That there's no way I could accept such a thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Normal humans. What in the world could that mean?” 

Kazane stared out the window. Her hand shook by her side. 

“The days that I spent in school. The days that I became friends with the others. There’s no way they could be for nothing, right?” 

Her voice thinned as she finished her sentence.

“Kazane...”

“Ayato too. You were always something special. There was never a need for something like this to make you special.” 

Kazane lowered her head. 

“Even though sometimes you're annoying, I can’t help but think... that the banter we exchange will come to an end.”

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

“Hey, it couldn’t be that you’re afraid of the dark?”

“N-no, no no, nothing of such sorts.”

“Hmm, what a shaky denial.”

Ayaka tilted her head and stared at me.

We were back in the dark shortcut area that led to the lake. After talking for a bit longer, we decided to return back since it was getting dark.

On the other hand, the moment I returned to the pavement, the chilly feeling had also returned. In addition, the sun was setting, leaving the pavement darker, making it harder to see in the woods.

Doing my best to look up, I could only see the figure that appeared before me yesterday.

If on cue, an uncomfortable feeling bursted in my stomach, causing me to cough.

Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong.

Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong.

Ayaka glanced at my hand that was trembling against the fence. She turned to face me.

“Is something wrong?”

“N-no, nothing at all.”

“Hmm. You’ve been acting weird since we got back to the trail. Did something happen on this trail?”

“I-I told you, it’s nothing in particular!”

Panting, I clutched my chest. Then I took a deep sigh. Looking back up, I bit my lip and turned my eyes away, clenching the ends of my shirt to stop shaking.

Ayaka gently played with the tips of her hair, her eyes closing. Then, she opened them again.

“Sorry.”

Her voice was quiet, and it barely reached my ears.

But the moment they did, I blinked.

“Huh?”

“ーーーー”

Her eyes closed, Ayaka turned around, before starting to walk back. Noticing that I didn’t follow, she turned around.

“Ayato? We should probably get back. It’s getting late.”

“Ah, yeah…”

Slowly trudging after her, I slowly pondered on her apology.

For what had she apologized to me for?

Perhaps it was because she saw how uncomfortable I was, and she felt bad for pressuring me, or she felt bad for dragging me here.

At the end though, it didn’t feel right to say it was her fault or anything like that.

In the first place, I didn’t even state such, or give her any sort of reason. It was expected she would think it was fine.

As I watched Ayaka, observing her figure as she stepped forward, I stared at the trees, trying to feel a good time to talk up.

“ーAyaka.”

My voice that called out to her, it didn’t have any sound to it. It was quiet, confused, and like a lost calling, it didn’t reach anywhere.

“ーAyaka.”

My voice didn’t produce any sound again.

I clenched the edge of my shirt.

This wasn’t anything special. There were always problems like this that I had in doing things such as apologizing. I wanted to say something, do something, and end up not.

“Nothing’s actually changed, huh.”

Stiffing a bitter laugh, I bit my lip, while watching Ayaka’s figure, her steps, the edges of her jacket fluttering in rhythm with her footsteps, the wind gently lifting it up.

I wanted to change. I needed to change.

With all the GRS and KRS stuff, with all these new life things, there’s no way I could do anything if I couldn’t even do something as simple as apologizing. That’s why.

“Ayaka.”

My voice rang in the woods, echoing in the trees. Ayaka, in front of me, stopped and turned to look at me. She tilted her head.

“Hmm? What is it?”

“I… I…”

The next words were in my head. I was going to get them out.

“I am sorryーhk!”

Sputtering and gagging, my apology was cut short.

The cold feeling from earlier had slammed into my brain, and a sharp pain was in my head. Clutching my head, my eyes shot around my environment. 

Even though there was nothing that I could see, something felt awfully wrong.

Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong.

Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong.

Something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong, something’s wrong.

Ayaka furrowed her eyebrows as she stepped towards me.

“Ayato, is something wrongー”

Her eyes widened.

Slash.

Specks of red flew towards my face.

The collars of Ayaka’s shirt suddenly soaked with red. A long stream of red stretched across her neck, running down like a waterfall. Foamy red liquid poured out of her lips. 

Blood.

Her widened eyes closed as she fell on her knees, before collapsing to the ground in front of me.

The instant surge of pain had caused her to lose consciousness. 

As she laid on the floor, her chest didn’t rise up, and her blood spilled on the floor, spreading out. 

In a few seconds, her blood had already reached my feet.

“A-Ayaka…”

My entire body trembled. My hands shook, and found my limbs to be paralyzed.

The front of my shirt was soaked with specks of Ayaka’s blood.

This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening.

This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening.

This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening.

“So it seems, the foul smell did give me something.”

My eyes widened.

The voice from yesterday, the voice that haunted me called out. My blood felt like ice, my body froze. Slowly turning, I found myself looking at a human figure, who had a cloak slung over himself.

“We meet again, don’t we?”

In his face beneath the hoodie, he smiled. His face was pale, one of his eyes red.

Purple light emitted on his hand.

Seventh Bishop of GIRUS.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

The figure scratched his chin.

“Strange, you were able to survive the death attack. I wonder how you were able to survive. Well, they say some have lucky resistance.”

He paused. In his hand a purple orb formed, its glow leaving flares. Its gas bent into the shape of a knife.

“Though I wouldn’t call it lucky. It seems your death won’t be painless..”

The body I had trembled.

“Y-you…”

“Hm? What’s wrong, mad I killed your friend? It doesn’t matter anyway. You both were bound to die anyway.”

“I…”

Unable to finish my sentences, I stepped backwards. The cold, metal fence pressed against my back. Trembling, I found myself unable to move.

This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening.

This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening.

This wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening, this wasn’t happening.

The figure frowned.

“Scared?”

He took a big sigh, before brandishing his knife.

“Since I do have a bit of humanity, I’ll just make this fast.”

He crouched down, as if getting ready to sprint. The next second I blinked, he was in front of me. Without sparing a second, he smashed the purple fog knife into me. My arm shot up, in front of the knife. Thenー

Blood splattered on my face. The arm that had blocked the knife fell, and bounced on the ground. In place of the arm, I saw the end of the bone, and the cut muscles, gray matter flowing out with clumps of blood pouring out like a waterfall in place of where my arm had been.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Falling down, I clutched the end of my right arm. 

It felt unnaturally slimy, and I could feel the edge of the bone I had.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The blood from my arm soaked into the tiles below me, red splattered all over the railings. It didn’t stop, and I could feel my consciousness slowly slipping away from blood loss.

In front of me, the figure grimaced.

“I told you I was going to give you a painless death, and yet you resist. Very well, I’ll give you a death full of pain.”

He pointed the knife at me.

“My name is Cesare Khosrow. Remember that in your afterlife.”

He lounged for me, slashing the knife.

“ーーーAHHH!”

My head lunged forward, blood erupted from my mouth. My blood splattered onto the figure’s hoodie, coloring his green shirt dark red.

A deep arc of red stretched across my stomach, 

Collapsing to the ground, I clutched my stomach. My head laid on the tiles, which were now dark red. Slowly, slowly, slowly, my blood flowed out. 

The figure, watching me struggle on the ground, took a sigh.

“Now slowly, slowly, bleed to death.”

With that, he turned around andー

“S-save… me…”

The voice escaped past my lips, towards the figure.

All the pain. The dizziness from blood loss.

I was going to die.

And yet, I clung on to my life.

There was something that I couldn’t be satisfied with, that things end this way.

Perhaps it was the ‘looking up’ Ayaka had told me about.

Truth was, I was okay with not being any sort of main character.

I thought the old life that I considered worthless was nice. And I also thought the days after, when I daydreamed about being some cool character, and even though it never happened, were nice too. Even the talks with Ayaka.

But to die like this, there wasn’t any way I thought it was nice.

“...save…me…”

My final hope floated in the air, floating in the air as it entered the figure’s ears. 

Broken and raspy, my voice trembled. 

The moment it entered the figure walking away, he stopped. Then he turned around, and looked at me.

“Save… you?”

His face suddenly clouded incredulously, his eyebrows raised..

“Who do you think you are, thinking you can beg your enemies to save you!? Is your pride so low that when you’re taking your last breaths, you come crawling, begging to enemies!?”

“...save…me…”

The figure trembling in anger, just stared at me. His hood fell off, and for once, I could see his green hair. It wasn’t a natural hair color.

But none of it mattered to me.

“...saveー”

“SHUT UP!”

Teleporting in front of me, the knife in his hand slammed into my chest.

Blood flew from my chest, accompanying a horrifying crack. Pieces of soft, pink membrane -most likely an organ- poured out.

My head snapped up, and my mouth opened to cry out. 

No sound came. Instead, blood spewed from my mouth, before splattering over my face. My head fell to the ground. The only taste in my mouth was my own blood. I could feel my throat fill with blood as I gagged. 

My throat constricted, and I found myself unable to breath.

That guy… must’ve hit my lungs…

Pain flooded through me, as I clutched my chest.

Can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath, can’t breath.

Struggling on the ground, I clutched my burning throat. My vision blurred, the buildings in front of me turning into brown streaks, the figure in front of me blurring into black. I felt as if I could pass out any second. 

“Save you. Ha.”

The voice that called out to me, it sounded familiar, but I had lost track of who it was. The pain was slowly numbing. My body was getting colder. All my energy left, and my hand fell into the pool of blood. Darkness tugged at the edge of my vision. With every blink, I found it harder to open my eyes again.

I’m going to die.

Too numb to think about what it meant, I felt like closing my eyes and letting everything fade away. But in the corners of my eyes, Ayaka’s body laid on the ground, motionless.

Ayaka… Ayaka…

With the last bit of my strength, I reached towards her body.

“Hmph. Very well, I’ll save you, whatever the hell you mean.”

The next moment, a blurry hand with something purple in it had smashed my head, a loud crack, probably the fracturing of my skull, and my soul faded away.