Volume 2 – Chapter 32: Before the Silence Breaks

11:40 PM

The night was as quiet as in a graveyard.

Not the peaceful, restful, gentle kind of quiet but the heavy one, the kind that weighs into your bones, as if the whole world is finally about to crack.

Kaito found sleep impossible. He really tried to sleep beside Rika, his eyes closed to take in the cadence of her breath, hoping to feel comfort in the shared warmth. Tonight a still night would not do.

As he stood in the living room at this now, his feet felt cold on the floor, and his arms cupped across his chest. Outside, streetlamps produced a whining flicker across shadows that scuttled along the pavement like restless spirits.

Tomorrow would be the wedding day.

That never bothered him much.

The same ever-present atmosphere was now ever-looming. The faces of their parents, quivering timbre in Rika's voice, and the very wind outside had mirrored this weight.

Something was coming. Something real.

Rika stirred behind him. "You're awake," she said, her voice hoarse and half-asleep, like a caress.

Slightly Kaito turned. "Sorry. Did I wake you?"

"No," Rika said slowly lifting her head. Her clumsy dark hair hung all around her tired face, and the huge shirt she wore slipped off one shoulder. "I couldn't sleep, either."

In silence, she walked across the room until she stood beside him, almost shoulder to shoulder.

They stood in silence for a bit—nothing more to say anyhow. But in the air around them was a joint throbbing with mingled emotions: fears defied together, shared acts of defiance.

Commercial purpose: "Do you think the world is going to last long enough for us to get married?" she asked suddenly, her voice almost a whisper.

Kaito took a long moment before he answered. He studied every bit of her; those tired streaks under her eyes, the wavering tone that crept through her face, and the quiet strength that had never really left.

"I don't know," he said.

She gave him a single nod of understanding.

"But this much I know," he continued. "Tomorrow, we will stand in front of our loved ones and we will choose each other. In a world that is full of uncertainties, we are making a choice. That has to count for something."

Rika's eyes lit in their dim light. "I hope so."

Yet another silence settled in between them, while the world continued to hold its breath. Then came an elongated rumble.

Inarguable.

Thunder?

No. This was not the kind of rumble thunder makes.

Kaito went stiff; every nerve ending in his body went alert.

His fingers were enveloped by Rika's. "That was crazy loud. Did you hear that?"

He nodded but could not form any words.

A rumble once again, this time a low vibration, like some gigantic mass shifting in massive underground rooms. The windows trembled but barely. Either way, the sanctity of silence was breached.

Something snapped.

"Kaito... What is that?" Rika's quavering voice offered.

He wasn't provided with an answer. Then again, he didn't really know such an answer. But his body acted before it understood his mind. He then jerked from the window, with his heart pounding heavily inside.

Another long rumble, this time deeper and more far-off. The lights above flickered once.

Twice. Then steadied. Their parents woke up now. He could hear the footsteps, confused voices from the other rooms. Someone called out: "Did you feel that?" "What was that noise?" Another tremor, only this one is sharper. The chandelier in the hallway swayed slightly.

Rika's grip on his hand tightened. "It's starting, isn't it?" Kaito was noncommittal. He was still listening. Still trying to understand. But deep down, he knew. Something shifted in the world, a line crossed, and whatever comes next will be different. Bigger. Irreversible.

They had lived through chaos, the fearful, and the uncertain, but this was something else. This was the moment before everything changed. The quiet before the storm, the breath before the scream. And in that moment- surrounded by people they loved, standing in a house that had become their last fragile refuge- Kaito understood something in terrible clarity: They were not preparing for a wedding. They were preparing for war. Not the sort of war with guns and armies, but for meaning. For memory. For identity. For all those bits of humanity that might still be spared in the collapse. For if tomorrow never came... if ever the sky should fall before they could speak their vows... then these last moments indeed were as important as anything.

He turned to face Rika, his voice steady despite the dread swelling in his chest. "We don't run this time." She looked at him with wide eyes. "What do we do?" "We face it," he said. "Whatever it is."

And behind them, just as their parents gathered in the hallway, some afraid, some confused, some pretending to be strong, the sound came again. This time, it wasn't distant. It was here. The house shook. Not violently, but enough to tell everybody: today isn't a drill. Today isn't imagination.

The ground beneath their feet shifted. Rika reached up and kissed him—not out of passion, out of desperation. Not a goodbye but a promise. Just before the lights went absolutely out, Kaito spoke the words he hadn't realized he'd needed to say: "If the world ends tomorrow, I'm glad I had tonight with you." Darkness. A final tremor. And then... Silence. But not of the peaceful kind. The kind that comes before the screams begin.