Kaede was smaller. Her body was more fragile, she was not tall at all, and her face was gentle and confused...
An inner voice began to speak—a woman, a young and somewhat timid voice.
"Your life... was one of the best. You had a peaceful life on the outskirts of Solarin."
A young Kaede sat in a dining room. She looked much the same as before: white skin, blue eyes, and somewhat long blue hair.
The dining room was made of wood. Kaede sat in one of the five chairs around the table, waiting for something. She looked back with a slightly exaggerated pout.
—"Mom... I'm hungry! The food!"
A relatively young woman glanced back over her shoulder. White skin, dark blue hair, eyes of the same color. She smiled faintly.
—"Relax... your brother is still sleeping...?"
Kaede's eyes widened as she laughed lightly.
—"He's such a sleepyhead, a sleepyhead!"
Her mother laughed softly. Despite being able to see her eyes, the rest of her appearance was blurry...
—"Could you wake him up for me...?"
—"Yes!"
As Kaede got up from the table and started walking, someone suddenly burst through the door in desperation.
A man with dark blue hair, white skin, and simple clothing dropped several bags of groceries onto the floor and hurried toward his family, panting.
—"Here... let's go! They're already here...!"
Her mother tensed, beginning to worry as she frantically searched around her.
—"W-where is Lyr—"
The memories became more distant, blurry, and jagged.
Fire, screams, agony, blood, cards...
A young Kaede knelt in the grass, her face covered in blood.
The bodies of both her parents lay on the ground, massacred.
In front of her, two people walked quickly.
One was a tall and admirable figure.
The other... looked like a child.
Around Kaede, flames reigned, and thousands of crystallized creatures consumed by fire surrounded her.
—"Mizuki...? What do you think?"
Kaede raised her gaze.
Mizuki was practically a child playing dress-up in a doctor's coat, but her face was that of someone who had no choice.
—"Two identical siblings, two Abyssal Cards, and a third one hidden. Curious."
In her hand, Mizuki carried an Abyssal Card with extinguished flames.
Beside her, the tall man stepped forward. In one hand he carried a child Kaede did not recognize, practically a baby. In his other hand, he held another Abyssal Card with equally dim flames.
—"They're just children. It's a shame..."
—"There is no other choice. The cards only react to them," the man murmured.
The tall man gently set the child beside Kaede.
He had the same blue hair as Kaede, white skin, and eyes the same color as his hair.
Mizuki and the man beside her raised their cards and cast together.
"Fragmented card divided into four parts from ancient times, have mercy on this metropolis in its final moments."
The cards separated and entered the siblings.
Both immediately felt a power so immense that it made them writhe in agony.
They began to cry and scream.
As the cards within them lifted them into the air.
And then everything exploded.
Two gigantic shockwaves spread across the area.
And there... once again, the memories became blurry.
The only thing she could see was Mizuki beside her while someone carried her toward a helicopter.
On the other side, the man carrying her brother walked down a different path...
Little by little, Kaede lost consciousness.
The last thing she did was raise her hands to either side.
—"Lyra... C-Calius... Mom... Dad..."
At last, the memories faded away.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Shiro moved forward between heavy breaths, climbing down over rocks and wires that could cut him.
Alma Rigel's card floated beside his shoulder, accompanying him as he advanced through the collapsed building.
—"Shiro... stop. You're extremely exhausted," Alma Rigel murmured in his mind.
—"It doesn't matter... she's there. I have to... help her."
Shiro kept walking, staggering.
He spotted her among the flames surrounding the rubble.
Slowly approaching, he dropped down beside her.
His body felt like jelly, but he held on, embracing her while gradually transferring ether—energy—to her.
When Kaede opened her eyes and understood part of the situation, she saw Shiro.
—"Shiro... I had a strange dream..."
Suddenly, every memory came together like pieces of a puzzle without Kaede's consent.
She screamed from an inexplicable pain inside her card.
But more importantly...
The wound Amaya had inflicted disappeared.
Shiro tightened his embrace even more, and Kaede returned it despite the pain within her.
—"Thank you for being with me, Shiro..."
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
On a street far removed from the conflict, Calius rested against a wall, sighing and panting from exhaustion.
Beside him, Selina sat down, releasing a tired sigh of her own.
—"Seriously... you can't just suddenly tell me that when your card collapsed because it exceeded the ether limit I allow you to store, you remembered part of your past... you're really stupid sometimes," Selina murmured.
Calius was still catching his breath, trying to speak.
—"I'm telling you... I saw it. And by the way..."
Calius glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
—"Don't do that out of nowhere..."
Calius wiped his lips.
Selina laughed lightly.
She raised her gaze toward the sky and suddenly looked surprised.
Calius noticed and shifted his attention to her.
—"What's wrong...?"
Selina smiled with joy and hugged Calius like a brand-new stuffed toy.
—"They arrived! We're going home!" she said as though it were her last hope.
Above them, a helicopter flew over the metropolis, observing the devastation below.
From inside, a pair of crimson-red eyes looked down with contempt.
Beside them, another pair watched the ground with fear—
bright purple eyes.