Volume 3 – Chapter 33: Embers of the Past

Date: 3 September

Last 27 Days

Time scurried by like sand in the hourglass, like an inching march toward an inevitable date. Countdown now, as if to announce every fleeting moment as if it was all about to run out. Each moment was heavy with expectancy, rolling heaviness in a breath bearing the weight of an impending end of the world.

Still, there were decisions left to make in the final days. Decisions that would define who they are, who they will become, and who they would leave behind. It had come this far, and the distance ahead looked terribly long but at the same time unbearably short. In between, Kaito stood in the midst of what used to be a very busy marketplace, now a quiet, deserted place. The broken stalls, the abandoned carts-it was as if the world really had given up on this place long ago. Yet in the stillness, he could almost hear the echoes of life-laughter, arguments, the sound of busy feet. The past felt so long ago, as though it belonged to some other world.

Rika was beside him, though; her eyes stared eye-level into the distant horizon, where the last rays of sunlight bled their color in an orange and purple sky. A view they had witnessed countless times, but not this time. As though the sunset bid them farewell.

"How long do you think we have left?" Kaito asked, his voice a whisper. The question had been haunting his mind for days, but out of cowardice until this moment he had never found the strength to voice it; and what lay between them was no longer such a luxury.

Her expression unreadable for the moment, Rika sighed softly as she turned to face him. "We have as much time left as we do, Kaito. And that is precisely unimportant. What matters is what we do with that time."

He nodded but was not sure what she meant, how exactly one could be sure of such an intangible thing. After all, finality—how would anyone prepare for that?

In some way, to answer his question, a figure was coming toward them from a distance. It was Kanna,' her expression determined more than ever, and she walked in slow but heavy steps, drowning under the burden of the choices that lay ahead.

"You came," said Rika, calm, though a bit relieved.

Kanna nodded a little and looked around before meeting Rika's eye. "I was thinking," her tone low but firm, "of what it is that we're really fighting for. And whether it's enough."

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Kanna began, her voice gaining more fervor, "I've seen the world fall apart before. I've seen people give up; I've seen people resign themselves to the end. But you... you're still fighting. You're still trying to make it count, even though you know there is no guarantee of success. And I can't help but wonder-why? Why keep going when the end is already written?"

Never abandoning her gaze, Rika took a step forward. "It's not the end that's important; living is important, facing anything that comes by, and deciding to make every moment count-one at a time, if needs be."

Kanna had had a long gaze distance from Rika's words when she realized- what she could understand was slow nodding of the head. "Now I understand: it's not the destination; it is the journey; the choices we make along the way. The people we choose to stand beside."

Kaito watched her, thoughts raced a thousandth in his mind. This is what they had fought for all from the beginning-a moment, a fragile existence. What they still have, what they can still hold to. Against all odds, perhaps it's enough.

Kaito softly said, 'We can't change the past, but we can make this last days count. Together.'

Kanna looked at him, and for the first time there was something almost like hope in her eyes. "Together," she said, almost a whisper.

The three remained standing for a while, the wind whispering along the empty streets. The city was on the brink of collapse, as is the world. In that moment, however, they found something worth the fight. Something worth holding on to.

The dissolution of sunlight chose to cast the world in twilight shadows, and along with this settling of dusk, the prospects became uncertain. But for now, at least, they had one another. That, in the end, was all they needed.