Kanbu City's fireworks festival ran from mid-August to the final day—a massive twelve-night gathering.
The Ryougi home sat in a secluded area, with few neighboring houses. So not far from the estate, before Yuuki even reached the busier main road, it was rare to see anyone wandering at night.
Ahead lay another street. Cars passed from time to time. On the roadside, families and couples in yukata moved in the same direction—toward the place where, in about an hour, fireworks would begin.
And at the boundary between the noisy street ahead and the silent road behind, at the edge of the T-junction—beneath a building's shadow—a short-haired girl in an orange chamomile kimono stood quietly, as if waiting.
She noticed him.
Their eyes met.
It was Shiki Ryougi.
Yuuki's gaze overflowed with concern and joy. He hadn't seen her in so long that at first he thought it was a hallucination—but she was wearing a custom kimono he had commissioned as an apology gift. It wasn't mass-produced. He couldn't be wrong.
A chance to reconcile—if he could just talk to Shiki properly—
But before Yuuki could call out, the system notification rang crystal clear in his mind.
[Destiny Power +1]
Danger.
Yuuki's nerves snapped tight. He scanned the area—no suspicious figures, no obvious threat.
In the instant he looked away, Shiki vanished.
"Shiki—wait!"
Yuuki didn't hesitate. He sprinted to where she'd been.
Kanbu City's nights had rarely been this lively lately. The economic shock of a few years ago still cast its shadow—only people who'd stayed safe could truly enjoy festivals again.
Most faces were bright with smiles. Under streetlights and festival decorations, the crowd moved slowly but orderly.
A figure running against that flow—especially a small, nimble girl—was easy to notice.
Yuuki wasn't tall enough to see over the crowd. So he focused on ripples—people turning their heads, the direction of their gaze.
Like gambling on instinct, Yuuki forced his way through the oncoming crowd—until he caught a corner of that orange kimono.
"Wait!"
Shiki didn't stop. When she heard his voice, she moved faster.
Before, Yuuki might have given up. But after a month of training, not only his strength but his endurance had climbed. Even after losing a spar earlier, a short rest left him with enough energy to run.
So Yuuki cut through a side street, then into another empty road.
The orange figure ran stubbornly through the dark.
Yuuki chased stubbornly through the dark.
He realized calling out was useless—so he conserved breath and said nothing.
This was the closest he'd been to Shiki since the night Shirazumi died.
…
"Haa… haa…"
Yuuki panted, staring at Shiki's back as she finally stopped not far ahead. Her shoulders rose and fell—she, too, had spent a significant amount of stamina.
The route had twisted, but the overall direction… had drifted closer to the Asagami estate.
This was near the place where Yuuki had been attacked by that corpse-thing and hospitalized.
Because it was far from the fireworks grounds, it was quieter than usual. Even so, Yuuki remembered this area vividly.
Behind him was the uphill path where, on that night, Shiki had carried him—where he'd awakened.
Ahead of Shiki was the abandoned convenience store where they'd witnessed the murder—now closed and rotting.
As Yuuki's breathing steadied, Shiki remained silent. Seeing no sign she would run again, Yuuki stepped forward carefully.
"Shiki… can we talk?"
"Why did you chase me?"
She didn't turn around.
Yuuki stepped closer.
"Why would you ask that…? We're friends, aren't we? I'm worried about you!"
"…"
"Ori told me a lot, but I just don't get it! Even if you declare we're 'not friends' on your own, it doesn't count! If it's to make up, I'll struggle—struggle until you forgive me, because you're worth that much to me, Shiki!"
Not because the Ryougi family had value.
Not because she was a long-ago admired figure from memory.
But because on the night he thought he might die, the warmth and safety he'd felt from his childhood friend's body.
That night, Yuuki remembered how, when he'd first "crossed over," he'd been grieving his lost past and terrified of the future—how a small voice had comforted him.
Shiki—who was good at seeing through people, yet wasn't good at being close.
Ori—who had tried to approach him, but feared doing so, and instead slipped out at night to become his friend.
And a small friend in the same pain—Shiki (the third), who had also lost a past and was lost about the future.
Yuuki had worked twelve years for the Asagami family's rise and fall. When he left Tokyo, he was alone—and what he missed most were those three childhood friends, bound by nothing but curiosity and kindness, all named "Shiki."
As Yuuki's declaration crystallized something deep inside him, Shiki slowly turned her head.
"I finally managed to hold it back… I was going to let you go…"
Her eyes looked unbearably sad—yet her mouth twisted in a bitter, mocking smile.
Whish!
A blade cut the air.
Yuuki's month of training made his body recoil on instinct—he took a step back.
And an instant later, [Instinct] hit him with a shuddering warning.
A thin line of blood appeared at his neck—mere millimeters from fatal.
Pain, too sharp to process.
A confusion he couldn't understand.
If he hadn't moved, he would already be dead.
He didn't even have time to register the new notification—[Destiny Power +1]—ringing in his ear.
Yuuki looked up at Shiki, fear and disbelief warring across his face.
Her eyes were hollow—like a void.
No thought. She had abandoned thought—handing everything to instinct.
"I… want to kill you."
-------
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