Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Maybe if i keep my eyes closed, I'll be able to pretend it's just a nightmare.

Minori was sitting curled up in Stage SEKAI. Images of the situation that had happened were flashing through her head over and over. Even though it all ended many hours earlier, she could see everything as clear as if it had happened just a few seconds ago.

They were just doing their usual stream. Recording a city tour was Airi's idea. First it was full of laughs, because Shizuku's lack of sense of direction showed off. Then the tragedy happened.

It was a city tour stream, right? And that meant, everyone could see where the members of MORE MORE JUMP! were going. There were so many people watching... The girls were crossing a bridge. Minori took the camera, to show Haruka standing nearby the bridge's edge, looking at river flowing underneath it. Then, someone walked towards her.

"You're Kiritani Haruka, the idol, right?"-They asked.

"Yeah! That's me."

"I love it when everyone's glowsticks turn blue when you sing at your concerts. You said it looked like water, right?" Haruka wanted to say something, but the fan continued: "Have you ever wondered how does it feel to be in water looking like this? The sparkling, blue world closing around you..."

They pushed Haruka off the bridge. She didn't even scream. All they heard was just repressed splash.

Airi screamed first. Her eyes were full of tears. She attacked the fan, punching and kicking them, and they were laughing. It sounded so maniacally. Shizuku called other people for help. Her voice was so shaky, yet she managed to process what just happened. Minori couldn't. She was just standing. The camera felt heavy in her numb hands. Comments of panicked fans were showing up faster and faster on the screen. She couldn't understand.

Her friend. Her groupmate. Her idol. Was gone.

Her friend.

Her groupmate.

Her idol.

Her friend.

Her groupmate...

She pulled her hair, trying to quiet the voices in her head. Her orange hairclip was gone. She couldn't get rid of the words appearing in her mind, so she started saying them out loud.

"I-I never thought i would experience something like this..." Oh, it was so obvious. She sounded so pathetic and helpless, choking on her own tears, not being able to put a sense-making sentence. "I never thought we would get a psycho-fan. Who would want it? That's awful. I don't understand. What did Haruka do wrong? I'm... I'm..." She screamed. She couldn't describe the pain. She could feel every cell of her body, so confused and hurt.

"What will i do now?"

"My whole life, interests and thoughts, my dreams, all of them were focused on becoming an idol... but now..."

She gasped for air and screamed again.

"Haruka!"

She didn't really know why she said that name.

"I don't want to be an idol anymore!"

Because losing her friend was never a price she would pay for being an idol.

What Minori didn't know, was that as she said the last sentence, the floor started cracking gently, and the cracks filled with a shining substance.

If she opened her eyes, she would see that the substance's color is diffrent depending on how one's looking at it. Once it seemed black, once it was white, or green, or pink, or blueish.

What Minori didn't notice, was that SEKAI got darker, colder, and no vocaloids were around.

What Minori didn't notice, was that when the weird substance touched her fingers, she was no longer alone.

Something wasn't right.

Hearing weird screeching behind her, Minori got up and saw the thing.

Not even taking a closer look at it, she started running away, still blinded by tears. All she could see were stages in front of her, falling apart one by one. Then she tripped and fell down into one of the cracks. She was falling, surrounded only by lights and sounds.

Chapter Text

"Maybe if I never asked Honami to stay behind to practice, she'd never get targeted!"

"Saki..."

"Maybe if I spent more time with Shiho, she wouldn't go back to the rooftop..!"

"Listen to me, please."

"Maybe if I just stayed with Ichika and Emu, neither of them would have...."

"Saki."

Tsukasa's voice sounded much more worn-out and tired than usual. He sat on the edge of her bed as Saki cried, trying to find a way to calm her down.

"Saki, it wasn't your fault. None of it was."

In her mind, she should've stopped this. She should've spent more time with then all, especially after Haruka's death. Maybe if she just did something.

"Why does this keep happening? First Hona, then Shiho..Then Icchan..and now Emu, too...Why? Why do i keep losing everyone around me?" Her sobs got louder. Tsukasa couldn't find a way to respond. How do you comfort someone who's just lost so many people? Especially when you're dealing with grief yourself?

After Haruka's life was taken by a stalker, deaths just kept occuring around them. Minori going missing, Honami getting killed while walking home, Nene getting into a car accident, Shiho falling off the school rooftop, then Ichika and Emu being found dead by their phones, without any explaination to what happened. All of them seemed like a series of unfortunate accidents, yet Tsukasa couldn't help but feel as if they were connected in some way. Especially since they all happened so fast, one after another.

"Saki, I'm so sorry, but-" He wanted to say something more, comfort his mourning sister, but was interrupted by the ground shaking suddenly. An earthquake? With no alarm or anything? The shaking escalated , white cracks showing up all around them. Tsukasa jumped to cover Saki, shutting his eyes to avoid the bright light coming from seemingly nowhere.

The last thing he heard was his sister's scream, before he lost consciousness.

Once he woke up, everything looked different. There were cracks everywhere. The sky turned to an odd shade of orange, making everything around them to look almost post-apocalyptic. There were no clouds, either.

"What happened? Where are we?" Tsukasa sighed upon hearing Saki's voice behind him. At least he wasn't the only one seeing this. He looked out the window, seeing everything has been destroyed. Instead of humans walking around, there were weird shadowy figures, floating slightly above the ground as if they were ghosts.

There was one creature that stood out. Much taller than all the shadows, its body seemed to change shape and colors constantly, as if it didn't have a solid form. Its hair had all the different shades of blues, greens and grays, tied in loose pigtails in all the weirdest places.

Its movements didn't look human at all, either. They were uncoordinated, as if the creature struggled with or didn't know how to move yet. It felt familiar, yet so unfamiliar at the same time. How odd.

Upon seeing the monster, Saki gasped, covering her mouth. It seemed to hear her, turning what was supposed to be its face around, trying to locate where the noise came from and allowing them to see the front of it.

There was absolutely nothing. Just a few empty holes where its facial features should have been. It wore multiple layers of clothes, sewn together into one messy pile of different styles. What surprised him, however, were the 4 pompons hanging from the side of where its waist should be. Ones he recognized very well. The green one was destroyed, only bits of it left. The pink one was covered in a weird substance, one reminiscent of what came out of the cracks. The last two, the yellow and purple ones, seemed unharmed. They were all tied  by a huge red bow. That shouldn't be possible. How were they so similar to-

"Miku?"

He jumped when he heard Saki say the exact same thing with him. How did she recognize it? Did she just see the pigtails and think of her? Surely she didn't recognize it from the same thing as him. She didn't have access to his SEKAI. Surely.

Tsukasa pulled Saki down when the creature turned in their direction fully. The last thing he wanted was for that..thing..to find them.

They stayed silent, barely breathing in fear of it hearing them. Eventually it left, loud footsteps getting gradually further and further away from them. Saki looked at him, tears in her terrified eyes and her face still red from crying before.

"What. The hell. Was that thing."

If he only knew the answer.

The blonde looked out the window again, searching for any clues to what happened or anyone that wasn't a ghostly figure. Nothing.

Where were they? What happened to everyone? Were they alone there? What happened to everyone they knew? What happened to Rui? To Toya? Were they safe?

"We have to get out of here and look for anyone who knows what's going on. We can't be the only ones here. Take something to protect yourself." His sister nodded, looking through her drawers. He went downstairs in the meantime and took a small knife out of one of the cupboards, just in case. Saki returned with a slingshot, and they left right away.

The outside world seemed dead. There was nothing, nothing but shadows of normal people and broken buildings. No plants, no animals, nothing. It felt like they were trapped in an abandoned town after an apocalypse.

He subconsciously started leading them straight to Rui's house, just wanting to know if the other was okay and if they were even there. After Emu's death, Rui seemed to isolate themself completely, not responding to anything. No messages, no calls. Nothing. The only reason he knew they were alive was because they still read everything he sent. Maybe if he just checked up on them earlier...

They walked without a word, both of them extremely cautious of everything surrounding them. The silence around them was nerve-wracking.

"Tsukasa. I think I see something. Or...someone?"

Tsukasa immediately looked in the direction she was pointing at, recognizing the figure walking in circles around remains of a building. He ran up to them without really thinking much of it, desperate to just find someone else there.

"Ah? Tsukasa-kun? Saki-chan?" Shizuku's voice sounded shaken up, almost as if she's been crying a lot. Not that it wasn't expected, since she lost both her sister and multiple close friends in just a span of a few days, yet so unlike her it felt wrong. She smiled when they walked closer, pulling both of them in for a hug. Okay, definitely the real Shizuku.

Her hair was cut short, almost resembling Haruka's right before her death. Her skirt was torn and her face was scratched, but other than that she seemed to be doing okay.

"I'm so happy! I was worried it was only me and Airi-chan, but then even she disappeared..."

"Airi-chan was here too? What happened to her?"

"Well, she told me to stay by this building while she checks out a noise she heard...so I've been walking around, waiting for her to come back."

The siblings froze, looking at each other, then back at the girl in front of them. She was most definitely not aware of the creature, and the fact Airi most likely heard it and got captured.

Tsukasa's heart stung a little, unable to look neither of the girls in the eyes. Both of them lost so much. The entirety of More More Jump and Leo/Need were gone. Saki lost her girlfriend and her entire band. Shizuku lost her group and her sister. How was she feeling? What was she thinking? Did she blame herself for that accident? Did she blame herself for anything that's happened?

"Come with us, Shizuku." He was surprised by how cold his own voice sounded. Even he could hear how much it lacked his usual energy, which everyone claimed as one of his characteristics. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the hours he'd spent crying over his friends' deaths at night were finally catching up to him. "There's a weird monster going around, and it's not safe to stay in one place. We're looking for others, so maybe we'll find her too." Although he doubted it himself, there was a chance there were more people there. Maybe Airi found shelter in time.

Shizuku didn't say anything, looking behind her as if she was searching for someone. After a while, she just sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Aren't we just heading to Rui's house..." Saki whispered under her breath, just loud enough for him to hear. How she knew the direction to Rui's house, considering she's never actually been there before, would remain a mystery.

"Ah- Well- Obviously I want to see if they're here first...Now let's get out of here, fast!" Tsukasa turned away from them, trying to hide the deep shade of red on his face. How embarrassing, to get called out like that.

He knew the way there by heart. He didn't even need to think, his body practically leading him in the direction of the director's house. He just had to make sure they were okay. Saki quickly passed both him and Shizuku, aiming her slingshot in the direction of the tiniest noises she heard.

"Tsukasa-kun? Is Saki-chan doing okay?" She seems..angry. Did you two have a fight?" Shizuku finally caught up to him. He wasn't exactly sure how to respond. His sister was most certainly not okay. Far from it, in fact. But to worry his friend even further, especially after she lost so much?

"She's...grieving. Just give her some time. I'm sure it'll get better soon. How are you holding up?"

She smiled at him, sadly. Her eyes were swollen, with visible bags under them. Her hair was pretty messy and tangled too, although it was hard to tell if it was because of the earthquake or the grief. It was a weird sight, to see an idol like Shizuku in such a horrible state.

"I haven't cried this much in years. This is the first time I've gone out of the house since Haruka..." She shook her head. "I was afraid to even leave my room, especially after I heard the news about Honami-chan. Airi-chan stayed over at my place the entire time, too. I hope she's okay..." She went quiet for a moment again. "How are you feeling, Tsukasa-kun?"

"Eh?"

"You knew Emu-chan and Kusanagi-san, way better than I did. I heard they both passed this week too."

Oh.

Right.

Truth was, he was doing horribly too. He tried his best to just ignore everything and focus on comforting his sister and his remaining troupemates, but it always came down to his emotions catching up to him at night. But nobody needed to know that, right?

"I'm...not good, if I had to be honest. But don't worry about me. I'm way better than the two of you, anyway." Tsukasa shrugs, trying his best to avoid the topic without sounding insensitive or careless. It was true. He couldn't possibly imagine what it was like to lose a partner or sibling. He couldn't compare to them.

"Tsukasa-kun..." The idol sighed, but before she was able to say something else, Saki screamed. They both ran to get her, turning the corner to see her standing over a presumably dead creature. It was much different than the one they saw. This one was taller than them, maybe 2 meters tall, its eyes wide open with its small pupils staring up at the sky. Its clothes were made out of multiple different materials and colors, just like the creatures, and its hair was mostly blonde, with multiple different streaks in random places. It felt like multiple different dolls sewn together into one. Like the last one, it felt so oddly familiar. Too familiar.

"Holy shit..." The girl kicked it's head, ensuring it was no longer alive. Her hand was bleeding quite heavily, and the slingshot was covered in that same weird substance mixed with her blood.

"Hold on, Saki." Tsukasa walked over to her, trying to keep his composure. He kicked the corpse away, standing in front of her. He tore off the sleeve of his already destroyed blazer, wrapping it around her arm to stop her bleeding at least a little. It had to do for now. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt anywhere else?"

"No. I'm okay. Thanks." She hugged him, her entire body shaking, and he had to fight with all his will to not break down right there. It wasn't the right time for it. None of them needed him to be a burden right now.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your siblings bonding moment, but there's multiple of these...things...staring at us."

As they turned to what Shizuku was pointing at, Tsukasa felt himself shivering. There were at least 15, getting closer with each second. Each looked a little different from the other. No way they could make it out if they caught them. Saki was injured, Shizuku was weaponless and he was definitely not going to beat them all on his own.

"Run, just run." He grabbed both of their wrists and just ran, trying to get away. They were fast, but not fast enough to catch them. He really had to thank Rui and the lion dance robot later for getting him used to escaping things trying to kill them.

He wasn't sure how long it took before they got to Rui's house. They were all breathing heavily, trying to catch their breaths after running for an unknown ammout of time. The creatures were no longer visible anywhere, luckily.

"Are you two okay?" He asked the girls, looking through one of the windows. Nothing.

He didn't really wait for an answer, opening the door without even knocking. Rui wouldn't mind.

Please, just let them be okay.

Chapter Text

"Haruka-chan..."

Not this one again.

"I'm sorry to call a meeting at a time like this, especially to you, Emu. We'll discuss everything as fast as we can." Tsukasa's voice felt less confident than usual. He sat by Rui's side, going over a schedule the two created. Nene and Emu sat on the opposite side, Nene's arms wrapped around Emu.

To have a tragedy like this happen so suddenly. It felt like everyone Rui knew was hurt over Haruka's sudden death.

Emu was the most affected out of all of them, being a close friend of the idol. The news came fast, basically right after the accident, as it did happen live. Rui remembered it clearly, they were just walking out of the park when they heard about it from one of the staff members. As soon as they found out about it, they both rushed back to the Wonder stage to comfort Emu.

Hanasato going missing didn't help at all. Right after MORE MORE JUMP lost one of the members, another one disappeared just a few hours later. There were a lot of rumors surrounding her disappearance, ranging from "Her parents made it up so she could recover in private" to the more wild ones, like her commiting suicide. None of them had any reasoning or proof, of course. The girl just vanished without a word.

Rui didn't know either of them too well. Yes, they've spoken before, but they never really got the chance to meet them better, unlike their friends.

They just had to go over the schedule. Then they could go back home.

"Emu, are you sure you're okay to continue right now? We can always take some time off..."

"No, we need to bring the people smiles, Nene-chan, remember? Especially now, when they need it most!"

Nene didn't look convinced. She was also tired, it was very clear. All of them were. In fact, the entire park felt a bit more quiet than usual. The entire town was in grief over the loss of the two members of More More Jump. Before Nene could say anything else, however, Tsukasa's phone went off.

"Hello? Saki, is everything o-" He gasped, covering his mouth. "Oh."

Rui's reaction was almost instant, wrapping one of their arms around their partner's waist and pulling him closer. They heard his sister sobbing on the other side of the call, but they couldn't understand anything she was saying. They could tell whatever it was, just based on the boy's reaction, was nothing good.

"I'm so sorry, Saki. I-I'll be right there. Do you want me to bring Emu and the others too?" Emu jumped upon hearing her own name, fear evident on her face. All of them sat impatiently, waiting for any sort of explaination. It couldn't be someone else passed, right? There was simply no way so many deaths could have happened at once.

Tsukasa hung up eventually, his eyes full of guilt as he looked at the two girls sitting in front of him.

"It's about Honami. You might want to come with me. All of you."

Rui woke up with a gasp.

Of course. They fell asleep at their desk. Again.

The sky didn't change one bit, still remaining that unusual orange color. It was hard to tell what time it was. It must have been a while since the earthquake.

Their hands had a series of new scars on them, most likely from working while half-asleep. When was the last time they got up? When was the last time they did anything?

"You can't run away forever, Rui-kun."

KAITO's voice broke the silence of this weird world they were brought to.

"Why not? It's just you and me here. Nobody else is. There's no point, so I might as well focus on doing something i love."

"Rui-kun... I'm sure there's somebody else here. Maybe others connected to SEKAI..."

"There is nobody connected to SEKAI anymore. It got destroyed, you said it yourself. Emu-kun and Nene are dead, and I don't even want to know what happened to Tsukasa-kun if SEKAI broke apart."

Of course, they had no way of confirming Tsukasa was actually hurt or gone. In fact, they kept getting texts from him every day. But at the same time, they also kept getting texts from Nene and Emu, who were both most definitely dead, so it could just be their mind playing tricks on them, or another side effect of the weird earthquake. Weird things wouldn't stop happening after Haruka's death, after all. Maybe they were all a warning. That's what KAITO believed, at least.

They looked under the desk, where their newest creation was hidden. Eventually, they'd use it, maybe when KAITO wasn't there to stop them. For the time being, they just kept working and working on every creation they previously abandoned.

"I already told you. I don't think this is an issue with Tsukasa-kun's SEKAI alone. It looked... corrupted. Rather like, the in-between was damaged by something in a different SEKAI. It doesn't mean Tsukasa-kun's gone." KAITO's voice sounded desperate, as he tried to reach out to Rui from the phone. They moved their hand away, not allowing him to touch them. Not that his worry was something unexpected.

He hasn't been able to leave their side, forced to watch as Rui sat still for what could have been hours. Normally, they'd try to do something, anything, to make sure nobody was worried about them, but it felt like their brain just shut off after all the tragedies. It was after Emu's death that they gave up completely, their mind already damaged enough from witnessing Nene's accident.

They couldn't do the most basic things, they weren't even sure if they remembered how to do anything but mindlessly tinker with their robots. They couldn't get themself to just move KAITO somewhere else, either. As much as they hated it, his presence and voice were the only things keeping them sane. A selfish act of theirs, truly, to force him to watch them in this state.

Yet, despite being their mind still being blurry from the fatigue and exhaustion, his words actually caught Rui's attention.

"The in-between?" They lifted their head for the first time in a while, waves of pain hitting them with every move. Maybe sitting on a stool for this long wasn't that great of an idea. "What are you talking about, KAITO-san?"

The front door to the house opened, interrupting their conversation and causing Rui to deliberately fall off their seat in surprise.

"Rui!?"

Tsukasa rushed in first, and they couldn't even process if what they were seeing was true and not a hallucination until the boy was in their arms, feeling so real. They couldn't believe their own eyes until they could feel his breath on their neck, one of his hands on their back, the other on their chin, his lips on their own and-

Holy shit.

He was real.

"I'm so glad you're okay." His voice, barely a whisper, bringing what little of Rui was left back to life. His hair was messed up and his outfit was completely ruined, opposite to his usual neat and organized self, but it was definitely him. He was real. He was okay. Tsukasa was okay. And all they wanted to do was to hug him, to hold him close, to kiss all over his face until the end of time.

"Jesus, get a room you two."

But that wouldn't be possible, because apparently Tsukasa and Rui weren't the only two in the room.

Saki and Shizuku stood by the door, staring at them awkwardly.

Right.

Tsukasa got off of them in embarrassment, helping them stand up. Their legs barely held them up (when was the last time they got up or at least stretched?), so they just leaned against him for support, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, with the excuse of wanting to be as close as possible. Which was only partially an excuse, and partially the truth. With their boyfriend no longer on top of them, they looked at the two girls in front of them.

They stood by the entrance, staring at one spot of the workshop, no longer focused on their reunion. Both of them wore slightly messed up and torn clothes, and Saki had what seemed to be a sleeve from her brother's blazer wrapped tightly around her arm, blood basically dripping from it. That definitely needed to be taken care of immediately. Maybe KAITO could-

Wait.

KAITO.

Rui turned to where the girls were looking, their heart almost stoping right there at the realization KAITO could not hide and was just discovered by two people. Tsukasa presumably did the same, as they heard a quiet gasp coming from him.

"Ah- This is just- A hologram test for me..." It technically wasn't a lie. They did try to see how the SEKAI holograms worked not that long ago.

"There's no point in hiding. Since they're here too..." The vocaloid just shook his head, giving Tsukasa a soft smile. "It's good to see you again, Tsukasa-kun. I apologize for not checking up on you. I haven't been really able to move from here much. As for you two-" They looked over at Shizuku and Saki, who both looked absolutely dumbfounded at the situation. Not that Rui could really blame them. It all felt too surreal. "My name is KAITO. I assume both of you have met a different "me" before, since it seems all of you have your own SEKAI, or at least have access to one."

The room went silent at the collective realization. Of course. It was obvious that Tsukasa's SEKAI wasn't the only one to exsist, that would make no sense. But it never really hit any of them that someone they met before could also have their own world.

Once everyone processed the newly obtained information, the next few minutes consisted of everyone excitedly exchanging everything about their worlds. From what Rui had caught, Saki was a part of a school SEKAI with her band, and Shizuku and the rest of MORE MORE JUMP had an endless ammout of stages. What they found odd was that the groups seemed to be collectively responsible for the creation of the strange worlds, unlike Tsukasa. But the others didn't really look like they noticed or felt bothered by it, so why should they?

"So you're telling me the clouds in your SEKAI are made of cotton candy? And the flowers sing songs? How come you never told me!? I would have loved to see that!"

"Saki-chan is right, it sounds like a lot of fun. I wish i could see it, too..."

Rui looked up at them all, still leaning against Tsukasa so they wouldn't fall over. They really had to sit down soon, but they didn't want anyone noticing or getting worried about them. Plus, nobody ever questioned their love for physical contact. Or their love for Tsukasa, for that matter.

"Well, i don't think you'll be able to, since it seems Tsukasa-kun's SEKAI is impossible to access. Even KAITO-san can't go back." Their voice came out colder than expected, breaking the light atmosphere of the room and causing everyone to go silent. KAITO nodded along from the phone.

"Rui-kun is right, unfortunately. Something happened, something so intense it affected multiple worlds, and i believe it also is the reason for the earthquake and you being transported here. Those creatures you most likely already saw...i think those are small parts of the other vocaloids that came together in these..weird, corrupted versions."

Silence.

That infuriating silence.

They had grown to absolutely despite silence. It felt so unsettling to not hear any people talking, mashines making noise, or even cars passing by outside. They hated it. Maybe that was why they couldn't move KAITO away when they wanted to. Whether the fear of being alone had a part in that hatred was not important.

Tsukasa cleared his throat, squeezing one of Rui's hands lightly as if he had noticed their discomfort. He always knew what they were feeling, huh.

"Either way... It's probably not safe to stay here, right? This house is completely destroyed and those creatures could come in here easily. It's a miracle this workshop is still standing. We should get as many things as we can and try looking for someone else now that we're certain others are here somewhere. Rui, do you have a med kit somewhere here?" Tsukasa turned his head around, his eyebrows furrowing at the sight of their face. They must have looked really pale and out of it by then. But the only mirror they had in the room they shattered, so there wasn't really a way to confirm that theory. "Rui?"

His confusion snapped them back to reality, shaking their head before putting on a smile.

"Apologies, Tsukasa-kun. I must have zoned out. There are bandages in the cabinet over there. You can take care of Saki's injuries if you wish." They let go of his waist, stumbling on their way back to the stool they sat on before. KAITO looked at him with a hint of genuine frustration, one they've never seen on him before.

"Oh, one more thing, Tsukasa-kun."

Uh oh.

"You might want to make sure Rui eats and drinks something."

And that's exactly when Kamishiro Rui knew they were absolutely fucked.

Tsukasa immediately got the hint, turning to Rui with an expression they would never forget, one of mixed concern and annoyance. He gestured at Shizuku to get the bandages for Saki, then looked them dead in the eyes.

"Rui?"

"..."

"Rui."

"...Tsukasa-kun?"

"Kamishiro Rui."

"...Shit."

The next thing they remembered was being forcefully dragged into the kitchen by their wrist, with their boyfriend scolding them about the importance of self-care.

"...I leave you alone for a couple of days and this is what I find out the moment i get back? No wonder you kept clinging to me like that...you can barely stand on your own! How long did you spend working? Is that all you were doing since i last saw you?" Rui sat down on one of the chairs, drinking the water he handed them instantly. It felt refreshing, their throat no longer feeling like it's on fire due to being so sore from crying and dehydrated from well, not hydrating. They smiled sheepishly, trying to ease Tsukasa's worries at least a little. Of course, that did not convince him one bit.

"Well..maybe...?"

"Rui, for god's sake- You can't just ignore your needs like that! You're barely holding yourself up, you definitely need to rest. But first, you need to eat." He handed them an energy bar with a tired sigh. It filled them with guilt, to see the already exhausted blonde stress out over them. This wasn't supposed to happen, they weren't supposed to ever see him again. Not that they would complain about seeing him, it was a relief to know that he's alive and semi-well, but for them to be in this weak state...No, no time for that. Tsukasa was staring at him impatiently. "Eat. It's very little, but you barely have anything else here. I'll figure something out later."

Of course, Rui immediately listened, opening the bar and taking a bite out of it. Getting food for the first time in days felt much worse than they expected. In fact, it only made them feel more nauseous and sick. To make matters worse, the bar tasted like absolute shit. How could something with so many different good ingredients in it taste so bland? It felt like eating cardboard, but worse and healthier. Or even worse, like eating vegetables! They could have sworn they've never had to taste anything less devoid of flavor, not even their worst nightmares were that dull and boring. But their boyfriend ordered them to eat it, and how could they ever disobey their precious Tsukasa-kun?

And so, they pushed through, trying to eat the disgusting snack as fast as possible as the blonde observed them carefully. Once they were finally done, they stuck their tongue out, making sure their dissatisfaction was known to the boy next to him. He only looked at him with annoyance.

"Seriously, Rui... You're acting like a child. There weren't even vegetables, or anything else you could have possibly disliked, in that bar. It can't be that bad."

They rested the back of their hand on their forehead, putting on their most mock dramatic tone possible.

"Ah, how cruel! You don't see me for days, and yet this is how you welcome me again? Forcing me into eating that horrendous energy bar, then insulting me even when i obey? Is this really how you treat your dearest partner?"

Tsukasa only facepalmed in response.

"You're an idiot, Rui."

An idea came into their mind, and the boy had just given them perfect opportunity to act. They pulled him down to their lap and wrapped their arms around him again, their head resting in the crook of his neck. They heard a quiet sigh coming from the shorter at their antics. He didn't fight it, of course, he wouldn't dare to ever fight Rui's clinginess. Especially after not seeing them for so long.

"Your idiot."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying eachother's company. It felt nice, relaxing in a way. It wasn't the type of silence they hated so much, in fact, the sound of Tsukasa's calm breath was enough to make it quite comforting. Eventually, Saki and Shizuku entered the kitchen. Saki had a new bandage around her arm, while Shizuku had a small bandaid on her face. The blonde haired also held Rui's phone in hand, with KAITO standing on the screen.

"We're all set. So, what now? Where do we go?"

Chapter Text

"Kanade. You look tired." Mafuyu pointed out.

"We've only been walking for 30 minutes since the last break. I can do it for a while more." Kanade sighed.

"Let's take a break now. You'll get your energy back faster."

"If you say so..."

Kanade and Mafuyu met while Kanade was going to the hospital where her father was, and Mafuyu was heading back from archery practice. Some time later they felt the earthquake, people around them disappeared and turned into shadows. The landscape turned into ruins. Kanade was confused at first, but Mafuyu, as she had looked around with her ice-cold look, stated that there must have been something wrong with their SEKAI.

They didn't risk going there, though.

They were trying to get to Kanade's house to check if it's damaged too. But for now, they had their third stop. And they've only been there for two hours. They sat on a bench nearby a ruined place that used to be some park.

Suddenly, Kanade raised her head. "Did you hear that?"

Mafuyu started listening. There were, indeed, some noises coming from the street next to them."Do you want to go and check this?"

Kanade nodded. "There may be some people over there."

They got up and walked towards the noise.

Yeah, there were some people there.

People they knew.

"Hinomori?" Mafuyu asked, noticing a familiar face.

"Oh! Asahina! I didn't know you were here too."

"We only appeared here a few hours ago."

"So did we." A tall person with purple hair Mafuyu recognized immediately joined the conversation. She reminded herself their last name- Kamishiro.

"Does anybody actually know what this place is?" Kanade asked.

"Not really." The purple-haired shook their head. "We all got here in the same way, but none of us knows why."

"Hm. Okay."

"For now, we're looking for people we know. Maybe someone else was here, and is now going around in circles, confused."

"That's what happened to me!" Hinomori raised her hand.

"You say that as if it was a good thing." Kanade rolled her eyes.

A bit further, Mafuyu noticed two blonde-haired people standing. One of them was a junior from her school, Tenma. And the boy next to her must have been her brother. She noticed him too.

"So, you can go with us and look for others." Kamishiro finished.

"We will. But Kanade needs to take breaks from walking often, so we hope you understand." She smiled, but it wasn't a honest smile. Just a one that felt right to show in this situation.

"Good. It's better not to leave anyone alone. This place is not very safe."

"Not safe? What do you mean?" Mafuyu put her hand on the bow she was carrying, ready to use it as a weapon any moment."

Let's hope you never have to find out."

"Is it just me or is the sky a bit darker than a while ago?" Saki pointed out.

"You're right." Tsukasa nodded. "I guess it means night is coming."

"We don't know what will happen. Maybe even more creatures appear at night?"

"Creatures...?" Mafuyu interrupted.

"We'll explain everything later." Rui assured her. "For now, we should find some place to hide. Again, we don't know what's going to happen. And we should rest, we were walking for quite a few hours now."

"Well, my house is nearby. We can check if it got damaged, and stay there if it's in a good condition." Kanade suggested. Everybody agreed. Kanade began to lead the group to her house, while Rui explained everything they knew about the world so far.

"You cut your hair." Mafuyu noticed, separating from Kanade and coming closer to Hinomori as they were walking forward.

"That was the first thing i did when i got home. I felt like Haruka would be closer if i had a hairstyle similar to hers... it's hard to explain."

"No, i understand what you're trying to say."

"Ah. Alright then."

"We're almost there." Kanade signaled, pointing at a small one-floored house. It seemed pretty much undamaged on the outside; only the sidewalks and roads nearby were cracked. She unlocked the door and let everyone inside.

"Are you sure we can stay here? The inside looks pretty bad." Saki asked, looking at scraps of paper and trash laying on the floor.

"Nope. It usually looks just like this. Especially after Mochizu-" Kanade stopped, but it was too late already. Everybody guessed what she wanted to say.

"We should plan where everyone will sleep." Mafuyu pointed out.

"Right." Kanade moved a streak of her hair behind her ear. "Actually, i was thinking about it while we were walking. Me and Mafuyu would go to my room, Saki and Shizuku may sleep on mattresses in my old room, so Rui and Tsukasa are left with the sofa in the living room."

"Sounds alright." Tsukasa nodded. "

So, you try to rest and we're going to work. We have a new song to make." Kanade looked at Mafuyu.

"You've got a melody idea even in such a confusing situation?" Mafuyu tilted her head.

"Apparently. It would sound as chaotically as the world we're in looks like. Imagine sudden rhythm and melody changes, irregular and strange, but creating some specific harmony..." The white-haired described, while walking with Mafuyu towards their room.

Saki yawned. "I think I'll just get those mattresses and go to sleep. I'm tired from walking for a few hours straight."

And from crying for a few hours too- Tsukasa thought.

"I can help you look for them. We'll be sleeping in the same room so i should get my mattress ready too." Shizuku offered.

"And I can watch if there are no creatures coming" Robo-Nene said from the doorstep.

Wait.

What the hell is Robo-Nene doing here?

Tsukasa screamed so loudly that Rui jumped.

"Robo-Nene?! How did you get there?"

"I came here with Rui and KAITO. Rui told me to check if you are safe, then they passed out. So I was following you and your sister, ready to help you if any creature is too strong for you."

"Rui? You did that?"

"I don't remember it, actually. I must have been really stressed and exhausted." They scratched their head, trying to remember the situation.

"Oh, my. Will you protect us all now?" Shizuku asked, looking at Robo-Nene. 

"I can do it."

"Thank you, ms. Robot!" She giggled. "Alright, I will go and help Saki now. I'm wondering, wasn't she bothered by Tsukasa screaming just now?"

"Nah. She's used to it."

"Oh. Alright then, I guess. Goodnight!"

Tsukasa decided that him and Rui should get some sleep too. They found some blankets and went to sleep on the sofa.

He didn't remember his dream. Sleeping seemed just like laying in this cold relaxing darkness, but for some reason he woke up rapidly with his heart squeezed, as if he had just experienced the worst nightmare in his life.

He rolled on the other side of the sofa, looking for Rui. Then he remembered that they should probably not wake them up to seek comfort. It wasn't a normal sleepover; they were fighting for their lives and their partner who tended to overwork themself needed as much rest as possible.

"I'm not asleep." He heard Rui's voice and saw his open eyes, stared into the ceiling and reflecting pale light coming from Robo-Nene standing by the door.

"Wh... What..? You should... Go to sleep.."

"I can hear them crawling outside."

"Who?"

"The creatures. I can't stop focusing on them. I'm trying to, I'm trying to think about something else, I'm trying to cover my ears but somehow i can still hear them..."

The tone of their whisper only highlighted how annoyed and tired they were.

What can I do...?

"Can't sleep because of the weird sounds, huh? Well, in that case we have to make some noise that'll distract you from the entities."

"Please, tell me you're not going to start singing."

"No, not this time. How about we cook something?"

"Huh?"

Tsukasa pointed at a rice cooker standing on a counter by the sofa.

"If we find rice, I don't see any problem. It would be a more nutritious meal than that one energy bar from a few hours ago."

"I guess we can try."

They spent 10 minutes searching through the kitchen looking for any rice bag. All they could find at first were instant noodles hidden in various places. Finally, Rui found a rice bag on the bottom of some drawer.

"Now let's hope there's electricity here." Tsukasa took a deep breath and pressed the 'turn on' button on the rice cooker.

It responded with small dark blue lamps turning on, throwing light at buttons used to choose rice cooking options.

Which meant it worked.

Tsukasa prepared the rice and turned on the mashine. He sat by the kitchen table; Rui laid down and listened to the quiet rattling of the cooker. 

"How do you feel?" The blonde asked. Even though he tried to whisper, his voice was loud enough to surpass the noise of the mashine.

"Slightly better." Rui whispered back after a while. "I can't hear them anymore, I think that my body is stressed because it's conscious that these creatures are nearby."

"Robo-Nene is here to protect us. You don't have to worry that much." Their boyfriend tried to comfort them, but he was anxious as well. He was just able to hide it more than this exhausted mess of a person.

Quiet beeping signaled that their rice is ready. Tsukasa put it in two bowls and prepared chopsticks for them both. Dry rice was not the best dinner, but they had to eat what they cooked. Literally.

Rui sat next to him by the table and they began to eat the rice slowly.

"My star." Rui muttered while looking straight at Tsukasa, taking another portion of the meal.

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, i'm curious now. Tell me what you wanted to say."

"It was literally nothing. I just wanted to call you my star."

"Ah. Okay." Tsukasa felt his face blushing so he looked down and stared at his rice for quite a while.

Rui cleared his throat. "Why did you become so silent suddenly, my star?"

"Ugh. Could you just focus on eating your food instead of talking?"

Rui grinned. It looked odd, a smile contrasting with dark circles under their eyes that seemed even darker in the pale light.

But Tsukasa was glad to see them smile even in the difficult situation they were in.

Finally, both of them finished eating and he put the dirty dishes in the sink.

"Now, as your stomach is full, maybe it'll be easier for you to fall asleep?"

"Maybe." Rui came closer and kissed their boyfriend's cheek. Apparently, cooking rice at 3 AM was a truly bonding experience. Then, without any further word they went back to the sofa and laid down. Tsukasa smiled and after a while sat next to them.

"Goodnight, Rui."

"Goodnight, my star."

Chapter Text

"An?"

Kohane, Toya and Akito entered Weekend Garage, looking for their friend. They quickly found her, sobbing in stage's corner, hiding under a tablecloth.

"You're aware that other customers can see you, right?" Akito asked, taking off part of the tablecloth that was covering An's head.

"I...I'm sorry.." An's eyes were red and swollen, her voice shaky.

"An" Kohane came closer and sat next to her. "I understand how you feel. Haruka was my schoolmate, she was always so nice to everyone and..."

"She was my best friend. My only friend for most of my life. You don't understand how i feel" An took a few deep breaths and tried to smile. "I'm sorry. You know what... I... I should calm down. We have practice for the next battle gig."

"No. We came here to tell you that we don't have to practice if you don't feel like it." Toya stood between Akito and Kohane, looking right into An's eyes. "As you just said, you lost one of your best friends, so it's clear that you feel really awful."

"Yeah. You should get some time to process it." Akito nodded.

"But what about the battle...?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll find some other occasion soon"

"Okay, then...Thank you."

"Now, come with us." Kohane stood up. "We'll ask your dad to make you some tea to calm down." An nodded and followed the others. Akito ordered drinks for everyone, and all four of them sat by one of the few free tables.

"You see," Kohane started. "Minori, my classmate, was in the same idol group as Haruka. She was probably her biggest fan, too. She didn't even come to school today, so i guess she feels really terrible too. My other classmate, Shiho, wasn't at school either. Maybe she stayed at home to support her sister Shizuku, who was also Haruka's groupmate..."

An covered her head with her blouse's hood and sighed. "Thank you for all of that but... I don't want to talk about it. I just feel lost. I don't know how to deal with it. I don't know what to do."

As soon as she said that, everything around them started to shake out of nowhere.

"Is that an earthquake?" Toya stood up.

"I don't think so." Akito held his bag tighter.

"Look!" Kohane pointed out at something behind him, but with corner of her eye, An saw lighting, looking kind of like the air cracking. It was white and shiny, and disappeared quickly, just to appear again in some other place, bigger and lighter. She closed her eyes.

When the world stopped shaking, the first thing she heard was Akito swearing. She opened her eyes and regretted it almost immediately. They were sitting in a ruin of what was left of Weekend Garage. One of the walls was completely destroyed. The floor was cracked and filled with broken glass shards. Tables and chairs were broken. Through the broken windows she could see that the sky has changed it's color to a weird shade of orange. But the strangest thing was, they could only see the shadows of restaurant's customers, living people visible just a few seconds earlier. Only the shadows. Not the people. Still, not moving shadows.

"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?"

"What happened?" Kohane squeaked.

"It felt like teleporting, like when we go to SEKAI. But way more sudden and brutal. And this is neither SEKAI nor real world." Toya replied while looking around.

"I think we should just get out of here." An stood up and went towards the exit. They left through the front door, or whatever they could call this shapeless piece of burnt wood and broken glass, and started walking towards less damaged buildings. An felt like her body was going forward on automatic mode. Her legs were moving, her eyes could see the view of the destroyed city and her ears could hear the rest of her group talking. But it seemed like going through her brain instead of to her brain. She couldn't focus. She couldn't think. Her mind felt numb and blurry, too tired to think and analyze anything. Just this mix of feelings she couldn't recognize and couldn't cope with. As if her skin was a shell, not letting anything inside or outside. She only 'woke up' when Kohane touched her shoulder.

"An? Is everything okay? You didn't answer to Akito's question."

"Ah... I must have zoned out for a while."

"A while?" Akito snorted. "We've been walking for 3 hours and you haven't said a word."

"Three... three hours?!"

Kohane nodded.

"I'm sorry. Really. Could you repeat the question?"

"Well, we noticed that it's getting dark. And as we don't know what this place is like at night, we wanted to know if you have any idea where we could hide." Toya explained. "Right. Uh, what about going there?" An recognized a familiar structure of a music shop she used to buy CDs at. The outside looked a bit damaged, but comparing to Weekend Garage it looked almost normal. They opened the door and locked it from the inside. Toya opened Akito's bag and got a few bottles of water and some cheesecake. First it was supposed to be a snack for their practice. Now it was probably their only food. An took her piece and went to look at some poster. Kohane followed her.

"What is it?"

"It's an ASRUN poster."

"Haruka's previous idol group?"

"Yep." They would probably have another talk about how great person Haruka was, if not Akito for shouting at them.

"Guys! You have to see this." The four gathered by the shop's window and looked outside. It was completely dark, except one thing, radiating pale light. Was it... some creature?

"What is this thing...?" Kohane whispered. The creature made some noise, sounding more like animal's roar.

"It sounded just like KAITO!" Akito gasped.

"It sounded just like Luka!" An said at the same time.

"Luka?! Are you crazy? It was definetely KAITO."

"Are you really going to start a fight now?" Toya hissed. And then, the creature turned around. Everyone immediately sat down, below the window's level, hoping the creature hadn't seen them. An tried to process everything she saw in this one second. The creature looked like a very tall human. It had long, yellowish hair and was wearing many layers of diffrent materials, most likely clothes fragments. An could even recognize that some of them were similar to the clothes worn by vocaloids in their SEKAI. But the most scary thing was definetly...

"It's eyes-" Kohane squeaked quietly. An nodded. The eyes were, indeed, terrifying. They had no eyelids, were full of blood, the irises around little pupils were colorful and bland at the same time, shining with unnatural light. Even Toya looked visibly shocked. They made sure the creature was gone, then they stood up.

"What the hell was that?!" An coughed out, letting the air leave her lungs. She didn't even notice she was holding it in.

"It sounded like Luka... or KAITO. Looked like Kagamine siblings... but wasn't fully either of them." Toya analyzed.

"Now as I'm thinking about it, no vocaloid came to check on us. Usually they appear when they notice something bad is happening, but they've been quiet all the day." Kohane pointed out. "Do you think they got sucked into this world and destroyed just like the buildings and the people?"

"Possible."

"Damn, my head is starting to hurt from all this thinking." Akito groaned. "I just hope we'll never have to see this thing again."

"You know what? Maybe it's time some of us went to sleep." Kohane suggested. "Two will go to sleep, and the other too will watch if the thing's back."

"Okay. You guys can go to sleep first. I don't think I'll be able to sleep after seeing whatever that creature was." An sighed.

"Same here." Kohane nodded. "We'll wake you up when we feel tired."

Akito and Toya went to sleep, barely fitting under the tablecloth An somehow brought with her, and Kohane with An stayed awake, looking through the window and talking quietly. They woke the guys up when it was still dark, yet Akito could feel the sun would be rising soon. The girls went to sleep. He and Toya spent this time talking. They talked about their rivals in the battle gig they had missed. They talked about a new video game that was added to the arcade Toya went to. They even talked about a new café opening nearby Vivid Street. And finally, they talked about cheesecake. Talking about cheesecake was Akito's favorite part of the night. Well, he liked talking to Toya in general. But what's better than a conversation about your favorite food with your favorite person? Then they were observed sky become lighter above buildings in front of them, hovewer they couldn't see the sun anywhere.

"Did you notice that the sky was red at night?" Toya asked.

"I didn't really pay much attention to it. But now as you said this, yeah, i think it was." Akito watched the pale light illuminate his partner's face. "Are you worried?" He asked.

"Worried? Well, maybe. It's a very confusing situation and i don't really know what i can do."

"Remember, we're all in this. I think we should make it through together."

"I guess..." Toya sighed. He pulled Akito's bag closer and took a watter bottle out of it. "We're running out of water."

"You're right. What are we going to do with it?"

"We should get some as soon as possible." "

But one of us has to stay and watch over the girls. What if the creature comes back?"

"We don't know if it's going to attack us at day."

"It's not a video game, Toya." Akito rolled his eyes.

"It seemed to ignore us as long as we were quiet."

"You really want to go and take the water, don't you?"

"I just want to help."

"You're already helping." The ginger-haired caught Toya's hand. "I don't want to risk your life!"

"Akito. Please, don't worry about me. There's a grocery store just around the corner. I won't be gone for long."

"Ugh. Fine just promise me you'll be very quiet and careful."

"I promise."

"You promise?"

"I do." He left. Akito wanted to wait for him, but somehow, he fell asleep. He was only woken up by An's voice.

"Where is Toya?"

"W..what? He's not back yet?"

"You saw him leaving?"

"He went to look for some water."

"You let him go alone?"

"I didn't want to but his arguments were better!"

"Akito, you're such an idiot! Who knows what happened to him?"

"We need to go and look for him!" Kohane joined.

"Okay, okay. He said he was going to some grocery store that's nearby."

"I think i know what place he meant." An nodded. "Let's go."

The grocery store was closed. There was no way they could open the door locked from inside. Which meant, Toya didn't open it either. What happened to him, then?

"He couldn't have ran away" Akito shook his head.

"What did he do, then? Disappear?" An rolled her eyes.

"Maybe he did." Kohane looked at something on the ground.

"What?"

"Look-" she pointed at two characters painted on the street. "SEKAI."

An's eyes opened wider.

"Right. Why didn't we go there earlier? Still, there's one thing worrying me. Why is this sign red?"

"Toya hadn't got a red marker with him, did he?" Akito denied. And that meant only one thing. Toya was hurt. They teleported into SEKAI and looked around, shocked. The place was even more corrupted. Flashes of the glitchy substance they saw while transporting earlier were everywhere, along with other objects that shouldn't be there, like school desks or random glowsticks.

"I don't like this." Akito sighed. "Where could he go?"

"MEIKO'S café, maybe?"

"Right. We should check there."

Finding the place took longer than they supposed it would. Finally, they opened the door and walked into the place.

"There's no one here.." An stated.

Akito walked behind the counter and stopped breathing.

"...Toya?"

His eyes were closed, skin was pale. He didn't seem like he was breathing either, but the last thing that killed Akito's hope was noticing a giant wound on the other's stomach. Akito started screaming and crying, and he couldn't let go. He couldn't calm down. It was all his fault. It was all his fault. It was all his fault.

"Akito!" An yelled, but he didn't want to listen. He wanted his partner back. "We need to get out of here!" An repeated, and Akito finally opened his eyes, to see why she was so desperate. Well, the black substance was appearing out of nowhere, creating a giant poodle just between them and Kohane. The ground shook, making Akito drop his phone. As it touched the substance, it melted. He gasped.

"How do i go back now?!"

"I have an idea!" Kohane yelled to him. "The poodle seems to be moving towards you, so take my phone and leave faster."

"What about you?!"

"I'll take Toya's phone! I can do it, really. You need to disappear now." The substance moved a few centimeters further. "I'll throw you the phone now. Ready?"

"Wait!" The phone flew above the substance and...

Akito didn't catch it.

An did.

"An. Give me the phone."

An was hesitating. Can she risk losing Kohane too? When she teleports back, she won't be able to help her. She can't leave without her.

"An."

"I can't!"

"An. Give him the phone." Kohane smiled. "I'll come soon. I can do it."

"All of us are going to regret this." She whispered while handing the device to Akito. Maybe it's a good idea. Maybe nothing bad will happen. An kept that thought in mind while teleporting back. And then she heard it. Kohane's scream.

Oh.

Oh no.

She fell on the hard ground and crawled towards her phone. Akito caught her and kicked the phone away.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She cried, trying to fight him.

"You can't go back there!" An kicked his knee. Akito hissed and loosened the hold. The girl slid out and took the phone.

"It's broken..? It's... it's..." She turned to the ginger-haired once again. "It's all your fault!"

She was punching his stomach and kicking his legs but Akito didn't break. Soon An's attacks became weaker and less desperate.

"She'll make it on her own. She'll find Toya's phone. I'm sure about it."

"What was that scream, then?! Why isn't she here yet?!" Tears were streaming from her eyes, making her whole face wet.

"An. I'm afraid we can't do anything now."

"We can't?! We would be able to if you didn't break my phone!"

"I'm grieving them just like you do!"

"Stop talking as if both of them are dead!"

"I'm sorry!"

Both of them were crying now.

"It's all your fault!"

"I know!"

"I hate you!"

An ran away.

"I...hate myself too."

Akito sighed and curled up on the ground. He felt so helpless. His partner died because of him. Who knows what happened to Kohane. It was all his fault, indeed. All his fault.

Did he fall asleep crying? Probably yes, as he suddenly became conscious again, not remembering what happened after he had started sobbing. With the corner of his eye he noticed two people walking on the end of the street. Was that Toya...? And... Ena? Toya's dead. Does that mean something happened to Ena too? Is Akito dreaming, or is he seeing ghosts? Is he a ghost himself?

"Wait for me!" He yelled, running to them. He was so close. Then he blinked, and recognized that they're somewhere else. Akito went left, following the ghosts.

"I'm so sorry. That's all my fault. Please, wait for me. An hates me. I won't go back to her. Please, can i go with you? Wait..."

Both Ena and Toya were dressed in white. Ena was holding some plushie Toya gave her a long time ago. They were talking, but Akito couldn't hear a word. He spent so much time chasing them, and when he gave up, he noticed he's lost.

Akito would never find his way back now. All that was left was to go back to chasing after the ghosts of the people he disappointed.