Luca woke up with a terrible headache. He'd already traveled through two worlds in a single day, and now a third. Thinking about the four people he needed to rescue was pure torture.
Rivenhart, seeing Luca's exhaustion, lifted him gently.
"Are you alright?"
Luca nodded before standing up. Now he was only curious about two things… This place was so unusually normal, everyone was smiling so brightly, which only made it seem more artificial than ever, and finally, where was Luxie?!
Just as they were talking, Luca's "bomb" arrived, albeit weakened, but the little girl was a radar that could pinpoint Luca's location, or so it could be said.
"MOM!!"
Luca jumped, looking at Luxie hugging him tightly, her entire body seemingly covered in blood. Rivenhart could tell just by looking that Luxie was a boss in the game, and that Luca had somehow won her favor… in his opinion, that was an interesting plot point.
Luxie picked Luca up and spun him around as if they hadn't seen each other in years. That creepy smile on Luxie's face really gave Luca goosebumps again…
She was cute just a moment ago, but now she looks disgusting…
BOOM!
….
WHAT?!???
The surrounding neighborhood exploded right in front of them. Rivenhart stood calmly, looking at Luxie.
"You have a pretty formidable weapon."
Luca could only sigh at Rivenhart's comment, while Luxie, unconcerned, let go of Luca to retrieve the giant scissors, which were also covered in blood. Luxie watched the building recover, the blood on her and the scissors beginning to disappear, and everything returning to normal.
"Is this your fear?"
Rivenhart looked at everything. This was the first time Rivenhart had seen the truth. After all, when in love, few people want their partner to lose face, and Sol was exactly that kind of person… Rivenhart would probably use this opportunity to understand Sol a little better.
Luca currently needs to find Sol. Whether to save Sol or to escape, he must first find the subject before doing anything else.
"If you want to find Sol, chances are he's already left the house."
"How do you know?"
"He'll probably have a habit of looking for me when he's in a strange place, that's pretty likely, though I could be wrong, but I have a feeling he's not home."
They were surrounded by Gaeahelm, the same land Luca was in, but Luca didn't recognize it.
"This is Bradelly City, if you're curious."
"Understood, thank you."
Luca nodded as if he understood. As far as he remembered, besides Germico, there were indeed many other lands in Gaeahelm. Luca really should go back and check more carefully, he thought to himself.
Luxie looked at the two adults talking and could only sigh. Looking around, Luxie realized her efforts to destroy this place had been in vain; once destroyed, it would restore to its original state. This made Luxie extremely frustrated.
Luca noticed this, so he just gently patted the little girl's head while continuing his conversation with Rivenhart, who knows what she might do if she really lost her temper…
"So, should we find Sol now?"
"Yeah."
Rivenhart replied briefly and walked away as if it were nothing, and Luca followed with Luxie perched on his shoulder.
"Aren't you going to hide your weapons?"
Rivenhart raised an eyebrow and asked Luca, who was staring blankly like a startled deer:
"What kind of weapon?"
"A pair of scissors behind your back?"
Luca looked behind him, and indeed, there were scissors behind him, floating in mid-air, so he hadn't noticed anything until he was told. Luca suddenly felt uneasy.
"Rivenhart, did you see a very strange-looking kid?"
"No."
Rivenhart looked at Luca, then looked up into the air where Luxie should have been sitting on his shoulder, but Luxie was just smiling brightly.
"Don't worry, only you can see me. Those ordinary people don't deserve to see you anyway."
Luca understood. So this girl could make herself invisible to others. She really was a boss, after all.
"Who are you looking for, Mom?"
"Another player, remember the man who plucked the rose?"
Rivenhart watched Luca talking to thin air and understood that Luca possessed a talking weapon, but it was rare for a new player to have such a weapon… Rivenhart had to agree with Sol; Luca was strange but also interesting.
Luxie's eyes lit up, and she smiled.
"I've met him before."
"WHERE?"
Luca was surprised; for the first time, such luck had come to him so naturally. Luxie jumped down from Luca's shoulder and skipped along, leading the way.
"Does he know the way? Follow it."
Rivenhart watched the scissors detach from Luca and fly in a straight line, so he followed, while Luca, like a child, followed Rivenhart.
Truly, the experienced one is different!
The two followed Luxie to a park where a young man was sitting alone, feeding a group of stray cats. That man was Sol, and next to him was an incredibly bad drawing, but Sol's effort in trying to draw Rivenhart was remarkable.
Luca approached to see if Sol could see him, and as he drew closer, Sol looked into Luca's eyes with a hopeful gaze, as if Luca were the light of hope he had found in a paradise of deceptive perfection.
"Is that you, Luca? How did you get here?!"
"You remember me?"
Sol nodded repeatedly and stood up, releasing a stray cat from his lap.
"Have you seen Riven anywhere?!"
Luca stared intently at Sol, then looked over at Rivenhart standing next to him.
"What are you talking about? Rivenhart's standing right next to you!"
Sol looked next to Luca, but all he saw was space.
"Is there something there?"
"Perhaps his fear is me, isn't it? I don't know whether I should be happy or sad."
Rivenhart spoke up, his expression unclear, though a hint of worry in his voice suggested sadness.
Luca was about to say something more when he noticed Sol's drawing of Rivenhart strangely fading away.
Sol followed Luca's gaze as the painting completely vanished. Almost hysterically, Sol picked it up and tried to redraw it… But the strangeness began here.
"Riven… how does he look?"
Sol asked naturally, as if the only memory of Rivenhart remaining in his mind was the name. At this moment, Luca and especially Rivenhart truly understood the seriousness of the situation.
Luca also picked up the paper, looked at Rivenhart beside him, and then at Sol.
"Do you have a pen?!"
Sol hastily pulled out a black ballpoint pen from his pocket, the kind he'd bought from a nearby bookstore before buying food for the stray cats.
Luca took the pen and tried to draw, but with each stroke, it vanished instantly, as if wanting Sol to forget Rivenhart completely.
Rivenhart looked at everything, then at Sol's suffering before him, seeing a reflection of his past self. Even though he couldn't see him, he wanted Sol to be happy, not like this.
Rivenhart approached and hugged Sol tightly. Although Sol couldn't feel it, Luca saw it all, truly a beautiful and admirable love story.
Luca watched Sol looking around and then running off somewhere. Luca immediately chased after him. Luxie, startled by the stray cats, also flew after them. Rivenhart watched their figures disappear into an alleyway, leading straight to a shortcut.
Psychiatric hospital.
That's their destination, to put it bluntly, Sol brought them here.
"Riven will be in here, right? How come I didn't realize that!?"
Luca shuddered slightly at the sight of this mental hospital. He had just escaped from one, and now he had to go back in again?
Luca felt heartbroken. He didn't want to, but he had to go inside.
Luxie looked at Luca's expression, then at the mental hospital before her. Luxie took a pair of scissors, enlarged them, and laughed.
"Shall I just completely wreck that place?"
The girl said innocently, while Luca shook his head in shock. If Luxie messed up this place, how were they going to help Sol remember everything?!
"Hey, do you want to come in?"
Sol looked at Luca, shaking his head like a madman. Luca suddenly remembered he wasn't alone.
"I'm coming in."
Luca followed Sol into the psychiatric hospital, which was more like a playground. The patients were all free to move around, laughing and socializing like a group of children in an orphanage. Luca saw Sol enter room number 01314.
Sol walked in to find only an empty bed, while Luca saw Rivenhart standing beside them as if he had been waiting there for a long time.
"Just arrived?"
"How did you get here so quickly?"
"I took a shortcut."
That's what Rivenhart and Luca were talking about before Sol looked at Luca.
"Is he here?"
Luca nodded at Sol's question, while Sol, usually so cheerful and calm, was now more panicked than when Luxie was chasing Luca.
Sol entered the room in the silence of the group. Sol sat on the bed, and suddenly a voice that didn't belong to anyone echoed throughout the room.
"Let go, he doesn't need you anymore. You two are just strangers passing through each other's lives."
One sentence caused the surrounding scenery to collapse instantly…
They were back at the starting point, the same park, Sol still sitting there feeding the stray cats, the same painting, only it had no image; it had transformed into an ordinary piece of paper.
Luca approached again, this time getting closer to Sol, who looked at Luca with eyes full of hope, as if Luca were the light of hope he had found in a paradise of deceptive perfection.
"Is that you, Luca? How did you get here?!"
Lucac remained silent this time. Was he and Rivenhart trapped in the very loop Sol had created?
"Do you remember who you were looking for?"
"Of course! I was about to ask you that! Did you see... see... who was it... You remember, right?!"
Rivenhart watched Sol slowly forget himself in silence, a silence that made the atmosphere truly suffocating. Every time Sol tried to remember, it was as if some force prevented him from recalling anything.
"That's your lover, his name is *********."
Luca looked at himself, then at the person next to him. He could only see him now, but only vaguely, almost as if he were about to disappear.
********* also just looked at the two of them; even this person couldn't remember his own name, as if he too were about to vanish. Sol looked around as if trying to remember something, and so did Luca; he didn't expect to be in the same situation.
Luxie then looked at *********, then at the other two, and burst out laughing.
"Mom? What's wrong? That guy is right next to you, isn't he? His name is *********."
At this moment, perhaps only Luxie could see *********, and she circled the three of them before sitting right on the shoulder of the one who was gradually disappearing.
Luca and Sol continued their journey as if searching for something non-existent, while ********* and Luxie stood watching; after all, one person was disappearing, and the other could only stand and watch, not knowing how to help.
Luca remained relatively calm, while Sol, the most severely affected, slowly lost his memory little by little over time.
"Who am I looking for? What do I want?"
Luca looked at Sol and asked, but even then, all he got in return were...
Buzzing sounds
Perhaps the husband didn't want them to make his game easier? No one has an answer to that yet. Currently, they are still at 1:14 PM, and the time they entered, as far as I remember, was also the same. Anyway, there's a watch repair shop next to the park.
Things only got worse as they went on. Luca, though somewhat forgetful, still remembered he was a player thanks to Luxie perched on the shoulder of that mysterious figure, while Sol was pathetically pathetic.
Sol was now like a zombie searching for something; he himself didn't even know what he was looking for. Gradually, Luca himself became a variable, destined to be erased from Sol's perfect world, and Luca realized this.
"Where did he go?"
Sol gazed at the space beside Luca, involuntarily uttering those words. Tears fell, glistening so beautifully that he looked cruelly handsome.
That beauty, like a knife, slowly cut deeper into the heart of the one who was disappearing, causing excruciating pain, yet that person could not wipe away the tears, only stand and watch.
********* stared intently at Sol as he slowly fainted. As the clock struck midnight, everything reverted to the original scene.
In a park, a young man sat alone, feeding a group of stray cats. That man was Sol, and beside him lay a blank piece of paper.
Luca approached to see if Sol recognized him, and as he drew closer, Sol looked at Luca with eyes full of hope, as if Luca were the beacon of hope he had found in a paradise of deceptive perfection.
"Is that you, Luca? How did you get here?!"
"You remember me?"
Sol nodded repeatedly and stood up, releasing a stray cat from his lap.
"Hey, let's go find it!"
"Yeah!"
Luca and Sol continued their search for the unknown entity. Meanwhile, ********* and Luxie watched Luca, who, of course, still remembered his purpose for being there, but for some reason, he suddenly felt he had to find someone… But who could that person be?
********* understood that perhaps this person had to save themselves and the other two.
So ********* went alone to some library, unnoticed and unnoticed; in short, no one noticed the newcomer. Luxie only split herself into two main bodies, following Luca, while Luxie's four arms remained on *********'s shoulders to see what this person intended to do.
At a nearby shop, ********* found a book in section 13, which was the 14th book in the shop's total inventory.
********* knew that the number 01314 was strangely associated with him, so he searched for a book that explained the meaning of the number.
At that moment, Luca and Sol were walking past. Sol suddenly stopped, causing Luca to stop as well. Sol didn't see anything, but Luca did. He saw Luxie's arm in the air… This proved that Luca had lost more memories, which was very unpleasant.
"Sol, you go ahead."
"Why?"
Sol didn't know why he felt something, a strange warmth waiting for him on the other side, just a little more, and he could reach it. Luca said nothing, just smiled and walked into the library. Sol was about to follow when suddenly his parents appeared there.
"Sol, what are you doing? Let's go home, Mom has cooked lots of delicious dishes, all your favorites!"
"That's right, let's go home!"
Sol was about to follow them, but then turned away.
"Yes!"
Sol smiled brightly and followed his parents…
Luca then walked over to where Luxie's hand was resting on *********. Perhaps having a weapon like Luxie wasn't so bad after all. Luxie, feeling she had helped Luca, smiled much more brightly. After all, she had been so bored just watching a romance story that she didn't understand, and all she wanted was to get out of here quickly.
Luca looked at the book and the watch and smiled slightly…
"So that's it, no wonder… It's true that a simple person's world is equally simple, isn't it?"
Luca went back to ********* and grabbed the book defining numbers, then turned to look at the other person, who was now almost transparent. If Luxie or this person hadn't suggested it, Luca would probably have been stuck here forever.
"Hello, *********"
********* just smiled as if he had anticipated it, and his body was regaining some color.
....
After the family meal, Sol asked to go back home, although he couldn't remember which house was actually the one he was looking for.
Returning to his old rented room, Sol felt like it wasn't his home; it felt depressing, as if something was missing. He sighed and went back to the park where Luca was already waiting.
Luca was wearing a watch that had just struck midnight.
In a park, a young man sat alone, feeding a group of stray cats. That man was Sol, and beside him sat a blank piece of paper.
Luca looked and smiled; it was 1:14 PM. Luca, with his digital watch in hand, approached Sol, not letting him say anything, and simply handed him the watch and smiled.
"Good luck, that's what he wanted to tell you…"
Sol sat there, frozen, trying to process all the information Luca had just said, but when he looked again, Luca had already disappeared, the remaining variable having been eliminated.
Sol stood up; he felt he had to do something to meet something important… If he didn't know, Sol would regret it; that was what his instincts told him.
Sol put the cat down and looked at it, unconsciously smiling a little…
"I like you very much, but I hope we don't meet again."
Sol felt he didn't want to see it anymore, even though it was something he really liked because there was something related to cats that Sol loved and adored, but no matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn't recall anything...
Every time Sol tried to think about it, his memory became a chaotic mess, so he just gave up.
"Keep going, I believe in you."
Sol stood there, looking around, not knowing why his heart was beating so fast, tears still falling, but this time they were tears of happiness, and a smile remained on his face.
"I will try my best for you."
Sol didn't know why, but he knew someone was still waiting for him, just as he was waiting for that person…
Sol started running, clutching his lifesaver watch, searching for clues. Many people tried to stop him, including his parents, but Sol ignored them all and headed towards the library… But it was closed.
Sol continued running like never before, this time stopping in front of a house. The number 01314 was displayed. Sol stared intently at the number, ignoring the silence, the conversations of those around him trying to get his attention, and even the shouts.
"What's your favorite thing?"
Sol glanced at the clock, which was still stopped at 1:14 PM, and the house number 01314. Even a fool like Sol noticed the strange coincidence of these two numbers.
"Are you interested in this data?" a familiar voice asked. A man was standing right next to him.
"What is this number?"
"Just a string of identifications unrelated to you."
"Then why am I bothered by it, and why do you want me to forget it?"
The man was silent for a moment, shorter than a second.
But the memories never faded from his mind. He felt his hand grasping someone else's, the hand trembling, sweat dripping, the grip uneven but incredibly real.
"Don't forget."
Sol looked at the numbers on the clock and noticed something interesting. The number 01314 appeared in more places when he noticed it on a doorstep, and it was even faintly engraved on an unused door of an abandoned house.
Each time he saw it, memories stirred, not images, but different emotional states, most of which made his chest tighten.
"What if I try to remember something that's been erased?"
The other man looked at him longer than usual.
"You'll hurt yourself."
"And what if I don't remember?"
"You'll be fine."
"I don't want to be fine."
Sol smiled, looking into the man's eyes. The surroundings gradually crumbled, everyone around maintaining that terrifying smile as they slowly vanished, no one speaking.
"Am I right, even myself?"
The man then removed his hat and looked at Sol. Yes, this man was Sol.
"You still love him, even though he's the one who turned your life upside down? The one who made you lose everything? Your family, your friends, and even your career? The one who dragged you into this life-or-death game?"
"Yes, I still love him. Even though he destroyed everything I had, turned everything I had painstakingly built into ruins… I still love him."
"He, carrying my fears, he would understand, wouldn't you? You've probably already found your own answer, haven't you? Only he ever loved me for who I truly am."
"He loved my flaws, loved me in my most imperfect state, and what made me love him most was how could I not love him when he looked at me with that gaze? A gaze as if I were his whole world. That look made me believe I was something truly special. Perhaps… that's why I still love him."
The other version of Sol saw himself as a lovesick person, no different from his other self.
"You... should cherish him."
"I know, you don't need to remind me. After all, he's my Riven."
Sol, the boss version, just smiled. This time, the smile was still bright, but unlike the usual Sol, it was more formal, slowly fading away. The usual Sol simply approached and handed the watch to the boss version of Sol.
"Here, take it."
The boss's version of Sol took it and turned to leave…
"Thank you."
Those were the last words Sol heard before everything collapsed before his eyes, and Sol responded with a smile.
.....
Sol woke up to find himself lying on Rivenhart's lap. At that moment, he didn't care about anyone around him; he knew he hadn't reached the outside world yet.
"RIVEN!! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!"
Rivenhart gently hugged Sol while
"Riven, when we go out, I want…"
"Shut up, there are outsiders."
Sol just laughed and hugged Rivenhart even tighter, as if afraid something would separate them again.
.....
Luxie looked at Luca, about to say something, but Luca just pulled him a little further away.
"Don't ruin their atmosphere. If you want to ask, just ask."
"What does that guy Sol want with Rivenhart, Mom?"
It's an adult matter, ask something else."
"If so... what does the number 1314 mean?"
"It means eternal love, like forever or being together forever. It originated in China."
So that's it… If that's the case, then we're also 1314, right?"
Luxie's eyes sparkled as he looked at Luca, while Luca just shook his head in exasperation.
"That's for a different kind of love."
Luxie still didn't understand, but he just nodded to get it over with. Luxie didn't want to upset Luca at all. Luca decided to give the two of them some quiet time together before returning to the cruel game of reality, while he went to find Sol's rose.
Luca kept walking and walking until he stopped at a lake with a pristine white swan statue in the middle, and there he saw a gray rose.
"Does everything these two have to be about love?"
With Luxie's help, Luca used scissors to cut a line across the lake, and just as he plucked Sol's rose, Sol and Rivenhart arrived.
"Let's go back!"
Sol smiled, hugging Rivenhart like a koala, and Luxie smiled brightly and immediately imitated him, hugging Luca.
The space around them shattered, allowing them to escape, but the outside world was even more chaotic than they had imagined.
The butler appeared, and as soon as he did, they received another announcement.
[Branch Mission 1]
[Take care of the young master until the butler returns]
[Warning: Protect the young mistress]
[Completed]
[Punishment: Death]
[Reward: Live]
But what shocked them more wasn't the announcement, but the fact that Arknight was sitting in the chair waiting for them, having overcome her own fear.
"Welcome back, young ladies and gentlemen, just in time."
The butler looked at his watch, and the other two, Crestfall and Mareen… were consumed by flames along with their roses, while Sol's rose had luckily disappeared just in time.
Luxie looked at Luca and smiled even more brightly. Luca then saw four of her hands clinging to his shoulders, and Luxie used her scissors to create a teleportation portal.
"I have to go back to my floor!"
Luxie walked through the gate and disappeared before Luca's eyes… Luca looked at the butler; perhaps his days of racing against time were about to begin again.
He had only just been saving Sol's a few seconds ago!!
This damn game!!