"Sorry for earlier."

With my head bowed, I sent my apologies. Having freaked out in the front of his store, I genuinely felt bad. Though in all honesty, I had no idea Rei ran a store.

"It's no problem."

Rei replied, crossing his arms.

"Energy toxification. It's not something nice to deal with."

"Well..."

I managed an uncomfortable smile.

A lopped off head KRS, first time.

But I figured it was a good idea to omit that.

“A bit…”

“Say. Your name’s Ayato right? 

“Someone called me a few hours ago. Perhaps you were that person.”

“Riama Restraunt…”

Stroking my head, I found it hard to recall.

For that matter, a few hours ago, I was being killed by Khosrow.

They said people tended to forget unpleasant things. Unfortunately, the memories of the pain before death were sharp and clear in my mind. Ultimately, I had no collection of anything pleasant before.

“Never mind.”

Turning back, Rei let out a snort. His back turned on me, he observed the several people sitting around his restaurant.

Nodding, I watched as Ayaka interjected in response to my silence. They talked fluently, like the siblings they were.

Feeling my presence was no longer needed, I turned around and walked to a table.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Rei and Ayaka chatted, seemingly talking about me. They occasionally stopped and turned, giving me a glance.

Watching them and thinking about Ayaka, I did find her kindness strange.

She seemed to care for me a lot, and while the lengths she went out for me were not that large, it was still strange why she seemed to help me so much.

For what reason was a stranger at a vending machine worthy of care?

If friends were that easy to make, I'm sure I would've already had tons. There were plenty of times in my life that I'm sure I could've made friends.

So why now?

Maybe she felt bad for back then at the park when she thought that a random newbie like me would actually listen to her command to stay.

Though, we haven't discussed it much since that day at the wooden shack. It was my fault though, so I didn't want her to be helping me for such a reason.

"The city is about to get dangerous."

That's what Ayaka had told me the first time we had meet. 

Perhaps it was something to do with that.

Either way, it was hard to believe that our relationship was real.

"Ah, fuck it. I'm going crazy."

Stroking my forehead, I decided to focus on what was the present. As I shook my head, I noticed something strange in front of me.

It was a knife.

The edge of it had a purple glow. [Some turd description].

I slid it into my pocket. As I did that,

RING!!!

A notification of a text message.

Opening my phone, there was a new text.

[From: Kazane]

[You doing alright? It's going to get dark soon. Mom and Dad are returning home soon too.]

Ah.

Mom and Dad.

Their trip supposedly ended tonight, and are arriving home.

"Maybe they'll be able to help."

Standing, I walked to Rei and Ayaka. On the way, I overheard their conversation.

"Back to hunting shards? How long has it been since you've got your last shard?"

"ーA year."

“Umm.”

I coughed, clearing my throat. Biting my lips, I resisted the urge to 

“There’s something I have to return to.”

-----

“Back huh.”

In front of me was my house. The darkness of night illuminated its [Some random description faq]. 

Ringing the doorbell, I waited.

“Ayato?”

Kazane’s head popped up in the door. Her brown, neck-length hair flowed off her shoulders as she peeked out, as the wind blew against her light blue blouse.

Immediately, I let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m back.”

I had hoped that nothing happened to Kazane, and that she didn’t go out to try to find me.

It seems that she was safe for now.

“Hmm.”

Kazane stared at me.

“Well, it’s fine, I suppose. Ayato usually doesn’t come back this late, but.”

“But?”

“Nothing.”

Turning around, Kazane entered back into the house.

“Come on, Mom and Dad are waiting.”

I watched her as she slipped into the house and climbed the stairs.

[Greets Kotaro and Kana]

“Ah, Ayato. How’s it been?”

“Dad...”

There was so much on my mind.

Khosrow. GRS. The monster.

I stared at my dad’s black mustache, his brown overcoat, his blue jeans. His figure was around my height, and was around my weight.

My mom gazed at me.

“Ayato, you look rather stressed. Did something happen while we were gone?”

“N-no… It’s nothing.”

Looking around, both Kazane and my mother were gazing at me. Particularly Kazane. Her brown eyes speckled with worry as she ceased her eyebrows.

“It’s nothing!”

Of course, she had seen me wake up in that state, collapse on the ground before night. Returning to the same state, there was no way she didn’t suspect something happened.

And something did happen.

I had witnessed the deaths of myself, Ayaka, and Rei. I had suffered the pain of watching people die, and I had suffered the pain of death myself.

But it shouldn’t be Kazane’s concern. She shouldn’t waste time wondering what happened, and instead should focus on staying alive.

I took a deep breath.

“Well. If you say so.”

With that, my mother turned back to Kazane.

“How’s your ability going, Kazane?”

“It’s going fine, I suppose.”

[Some family sh$t]

“Why don’t we have a little talk, Ayato?”

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

[Talks to Kotaro alone about KRS & Khosrow (leaves out the fact you died)]

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Bed. As I walked up the stairs, I thought of the time when I was thinking, “I’ll still be special. I won’t give up. I’ll make everything right”.

When I looked down, I could imagine blood on my hands.

“What the hell did I get into…”

Perhaps everything was a dream.

This entire GRS thing. This entire KRS thing.

No killers in this world, no fighting, no abilities. 

No sight of blood covering your hands, no sight of your helplessness as enemies slaughter you, no sound of the dead.

No sound of your own screams, no sound of your own blood draining on the floor, no sound of skulls being cracked.

Just the peaceful idle sound of the night as I studied.

I thought of a time in middle school, where I had failed to qualify for the S academic competition of Brightful City. How little the stakes were, how high the reward was.

Compared to today, that meaningless, sheltered life was special in its own way.

And I was certain it was the life I yearned for.

“So please. Return everything.”

Muttering those words, I took my last step before I hit the bed.

The sensation of waking up.

Darkness tugged at the corner of my eyes pulling me towards deeper sleep.

Did I want to wake up? Did I want to see today?

“Ugh.”

Waking up like this every morning sucked.

Maybe it was better to just sleep more.

With all my might, I snapped my eyes open.

My sight was filled with desks, chairs, and books. A classroom. The idle sound of papers being flipped echoed in the room. 

A teacher walked around, dropping papers on the desks of the classroom, where students sat.

“Your tests are being returned,” the teacher said, walking around our classroom and placing them on our desks. 

The paper in front of me had 98% written on it.

And it was then, I realized.

“I’m in school?”