Turning back to Khosrow, Rei narrowed his eyes. He clutched his staff.

"Ayato, how's the situation on your side? Where's your family?"

"I... Tch."

Letting out a grunt, I clutched my shoulders. Rei let out a sigh and lowered his staff.

"My apologies for asking that question. I should've just assumed from the context."

"No, it's fine. I don't know where my parents are, but I'm currently with Kazane and Ayaka."

"Ayaka's with you?"

Rei turned back and gave me a glance. I nodded.

"Yeah. She paired up with me when we encountered each other."

"Interesting. Where did they go? Where are they now?"

"They're both here. Ayaka was injured pretty bad, but Kazane's with her right now. I told her to run while I distracted Khosrow, but I don't think Kazane did."

"I see."

Rei turned back to face Khosrow.

"I'll take it from here. You, get Ayaka and Kazane and escape north of this city."

"North? You mean the forest?"

"Yeah. Run into the forest. Take shelter there. When Ayaka awakes, she should be able to lead you two to a safe place beyond all this hell."

"A safe... place? Where can be safe from this hell?"

"The place made to combat this hell."

Saying that, Rei walked forward.

he does some dogshit

He was evenly matched with Khosrow. Khosrow's shards couldn't get through Rei's shield.

After vaulting behind the rock, I forced myself to breath. Deep breaths. Don’t panic. Calming down, I pushed myself up.

In front of me, Kazane's arms held onto Ayaka's slim figure. Ayaka's moddest chest rose up and down as she slept, matching her pale, peaceful face.

Kazane's brown hair fell over her green T-shirt. Her brown eyes gazed over the rock, as if she could see what was happening. Her sword laid on the ground, sheathed.

I frowned.

"Kazane, why didn't you run?"

She snorted as she ran a hand through her brown hair.

"Running? To where? I thought you were joking. I'm sure you figured everywhere in this city is dangerous, Fallacyato."

"Yato names again... That's not the point. If Khosrow had killed me, we'd all be doomed. Running was our only shot."

"Annoying. You're blabbering a lot. We survived, didn't we? It's alright."

"No, it's not all right. That's hindsight. Kazane, grab Ayaka. We're running north. Rei said there's a shelter in the forest."

"Running north? A shelter?"

"Yeah. Rei said the shelter there was safe from GRS, and once Ayaka wakes up, she can lead us there."

"Ha?"

"What do you mean ha? We need to go. It's too dangerous here, and it'll only get more dangerous. Let's leave."

As I was turning around, Kazane's thin fingers snatched my wrist.

"Rei's still back there. Are we seriously leaving him behind?"

"Kazane, you've got to be reasonable. If we don't run, Ayaka will be in more danger. Rei himself told me to run with you and Ayaka."

"Didn't you hear Khosrow? He's going after dad. If we run here and now, mom and dad will also die. It's not just Rei who will die."

"----"

"Nothing to say? If so, we're staying. I don't want mom and dad to die."

"It doesn’t matter—they’re probably already gone. We haven't seen or heard of them at all since dawn. What can we do? Stay here and die with them?"

"That's how you see it?"

Kazane narrowed her eyes. Her grip tightened around my arm-despite how petite her figure was, her grip was strong. Her voice was curt, suggesting me to be silent.

"I see. If that’s how you see it, fine. Take Ayaka and run. Get as far as you can."

Kazane shoved Ayaka into my arms. Her brown eyes looked icy as she looked down to me.

"Remember what I told you? Chase the light. If that shelter you talk of is truly the light, then surely you'll find something there."

She turned back, reaching into the pocket of her blue jeans. Pulling out a hair tie, she wrapped her brown, shoulder length hair into a bun. She gripped her sword.

"You probably want to escape this hell. I do too. But leaving now would mean the death of the others of whom I care about. I'd take the chance to ensure they're fine at the cost of my life."

Her eyes locked on the chaos ahead before she sprang over the rock.

"----"

 In my arms, Ayaka coughed. I rested a hand on her forehead. Her left arm was wrapped in a bandage sling, and her shoulders were covered with bandages.

Taking a sigh, I leaned back on the rock.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. Don't panick. Kazane was stronger than I was by a lot. Unlike me, she had stayed in combat training classes throughout her life. Those lessons that dad was teaching actually came pretty useful, huh.

Still. I looked over the rock, my height being just enough to see the sky. Collisions of rocks and shattering echoed the area, gusts of wind blowing.

"That's where you're wrong... I didn't die so many times for only me to stay alive. In the first place, running was my solution because I failed to save everyone."

Trees blew sideways, their branches swaying like a kite.

"That's why... if you do something like this now..."

I took a deep breath. My fists clenched.

"I’m not leaving you behind, Kazane. I’d never choose my life over yours—even when Khosrow had me shaking with fear."

"Ayato?"

"Ah? You're awake."

Ayaka stirred in my arms. Her eyes opened.

"Eh? What happened? Why am I in Ayato's arms?"

"You fought Khosrow and got badly hurt. I pulled you out. Rei and Kazane are fighting him now."

"They're fighting Khosrow? Oh yeah. I remember now. I'm surprised you managed to survived before Rei and Kazane showed up."

"That's too much credit to me. They arrived before my battle really started. I did tell you that I had a plan."

"Ha. Pushing around the credit huh. Anyways, what are we supposed to be doing? Surely, we're not supposed to be doing nothing while they're putting their lives out like that?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be running away with you. But you know, I care a lot about Kazane, so... I can't exactly run. Sorry."

"That's fine. I get that."

Ayaka slowly pushed herself up from my arms. Then, she winced, clutching her shoulder in pain. I caught her before she hit the ground.

"Woah, don't move too much—you’re still hurt. And, uh, it’s a bit awkward holding you like this."

"Oh, my bad. You can set me against the wall."

"Sure thing."

I set Ayaka by the rock. She let out a breath, before closing her eyes.

"Ayato, how's the battle going? Between Kazane, Rei, and Khosrow."

"I haven't looked. I just want to pretend nothing’s happening, like it’s all over and everything’s fine. I’ll deal with my heart when I get the wake-up call. For now, all looking over will do is make me anxious. It's not like me looking over will change the result of the battle or anything, so might as well get some free time of rest."

"That's true. It's not like either of us are in a state to change something."

Ayaka sighed, looking away. She rested her hand on her sling, clutching her broken arm.

"I get why you didn't run without Kazane."

"----"

"Before the battlefield, Khosrow attacked the restaurant. Rei distracted him and told me to run. We met at the city entrance after that."

"----"

"I told you about how I was looking for Rei, didn't I?"

"----"

"At that time, I think I was confused. Really, really confused. I didn't know if I was going to see Rei again, and I regretted leaving. Rei is somewhere around Khosrow's skill level, so if I had been there, the outcome could've certainly been different."

"-Ah."

"What I mean to say is, thanks for saving me and getting Rei here. You're pretty cool, you know. For someone who thought $1.00 could buy you something at a vending machine."

"That was embarrassing. You still remember that, huh?"

"Of course. It was the same day that you told me life could settle itself."

"----"

"Even when you ran off by yourself when I wasn't supervising you in the park that day. I remember feeling regret and guilt, I charged at Khosrow by myself. You can survive death, can't you?"

"-Yeah. I figured you would know if you remembered enough of what happened. Everyone seemed to."

"I wonder… how many times have you died to get here? I can tell from your eyes you've been through a lot. It's pretty crazy you're still sane."

"--hk."

The wind blew against my face and I found myself looking at the ground.

I thought of the conversation I had with Kazane earlier.

"Ayaka... What do you think of me? Do you think I've been doing too less with this ability to cheat death?"

"I think you're amazing. You've been doing a lot with your ability, like saving me, Kazane, and Rei many times."

"I've done a lot...?"

I hesitated, staring at the ground as the wind rustles around us.

Noticing my hesitation, Ayaka tilted her head.

"What’s wrong? Don’t you believe that?"

"Then why do I feel like I've done so less? Everyone around me tells me I've done much, how valuable I am to them. Why am I the one that values myself the least?"

"----"

Ayaka's gaze softened, but she said nothing.

My hand dropped and my voice lowered, almost ashamed.

"If they say your own beliefs are what matters, then what am I supposed to conclude? Am I supposed to think I've done too less, or am I supposed to think I've done a lot?"

"-You should think you’ve done something, no matter what anyone else says."

"I don't get what you mean by that."

"If you worked hard for something, you should be proud of it. No matter how easy it might seem, your effort matters. Why belittle the things you worked so hard for? Why disregard your effort saying things like 'anyone could do it'? So what if anyone can do it?"

"----"

"You got something done. Use that and try to do your next thing. Maybe if you think you could've done more, aim for more."

"----"

Same as Kazane's, huh.

"-I see. I'll try to keep that in mind."

As I was staring at my hand, a sudden snap vibrated the air. It sounded like a shot from the gun followed by the shattering of glass. It sounded like air pushing rapidly away from a single condensed point, as if there was an explosion.

"Kazane!?"

I pushed myself up and looked over the rock. Immediately, I coughed.

Smoke.

Thick, gray fog covered the scenary. The air smelled putrid, like the smell of a burning kitchen. In amongst the smoke, a silhouette of two figures emerged.

Kazane had her arm slung around Rei's neck, shifting her weight on Rei. When they approached us, Kazane pushed herself off Rei and took a seat on the rock.

I frowned.

"Are you alright, Kazane? What happened?"

Kazane coughed.

"One of Khosrow's heavier shards hit Rei's shield. It caused an explosion as well as large area effect that hit me. But it's nothing, don't worry about it."

"A-alright..."

"More importantly, is Ayaka alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. My arm feels pretty good."

Ayaka gave Kazane a wave with her unhurt arm, the one covered in a jacket sleeve instead of bandages.

"I see. That's good to hear."

Kazane glanced at Ayaka's bandaged arm before giving her a nod. She turned back to Rei.

Rei coughed, before looking at me and Ayaka.

"Anyways, we'll have to come up with a new plan. Khosrow's shield was a lot stronger than I thought, so we couldn't take him out long enough for him to lose chase of us. Me and Kazane were able to knock Khosrow down for a bit, and we can use this time to formulate a new plan. Speaking of the former plan Ayato, I thought I told you to run."

"Sorry. I couldn't leave without Kazane. She wasn't supposed to go with you. I hope she didn't cause trouble for you."

"Not at all, she did pretty well versus Khosrow. Her wind abilities are quite refined."

"Is that so... Hey Kazane, why do you look so smug? Wipe that grin off your face please."

"Hmph. It's punishment for your doubt saying something like that, I suppose. Have more faith in your little sister, she's doing a lot more visible work than you."

"Ah... Irritating. Despite all that prep talk you gave me earlier, you pretended like all that praise you gave me was gone..."

Watching us, Rei closed his eyes and smiled. He looked up and crossed his arms before looking at me.

"Stand here and blast time" - was my instruction to participate.

Khosrow was lunging towards Rei and Ayaka. Their synergy was slightly off. Occasionally while Khosrow took a swipe at Rei, he would glance sideways at Ayaka. Almost as if he was expecting her to make a dive. Ayaka, however, only fired an ice shard back- it took too long and wasted Rei's baiting.

"Ayaka typically fights at close ranged while Rei fights at a long range. So if they're both fighting at a long range, the synergy is probably not as good."

Scratching my chin, I wondered what the fate of the battle was going to be. My only instruction was to take down Khosrow's shield, but we had near invincibility.

Kazane was to use her wind abilities to give me, Rei, and Ayaka agility to dodge Khosrow. Rei had wrapped us each in a shield so that Khosrow's strikes won't kill.

"Basically, all that matters if I hit him."

Lifting my hand, I lined up my aim.

"Unfortunately, I have no idea how to hit him. It wasn't like that time when he was just casually walking towards me, and I got a good strike. This dashing Khosrow, I have no chance of hitting him."

"LI Exhauire."

"LI Annilation! LI Annilation! LI Annihilation!"

My hand stuck out, pointing at Khosrow. Despite imagining what I had for Exhauires and Shatters, nothing materialized.

In the corner of my eyes, I could see Kazane giving me a concerned look.

My hand lowered.

"Damnit, I really am unqualified to fulfil anything..."

"Fall back!"

"I... sorry."

"It's all alright."

"Everyone... believed in me."

This world, this timeline, this nth chance at life, where