Volume 3 – Chapter 35: No Shelter Left

Date: September 5

Last 25 days. 

It had turned windy overnight. By morning, a wall of ash and dust crossed the cracked horizon like a ghost army, blocking the light and enveloping the world in a feeble, choking silence.

Tension underlay the atmosphere inside the shelter. Kaito buckled his pack more firmly; it was almost as if his jaw was locked, and his eyes were unreadable. Rika clutched a half-crumpled map while seated on a crate. Kanna stood leaned against the wall, arms folded, her expression bird-like and sharp.

"We can't stay here," Kaito said flatly, broaching the silence.

Kanna narrowed her eyes. "So we're running again? That's your great plan?"

"A storm's coming, Kanna!" he snapped. "You saw it with your own eyes."

"Then what? Where do we run? There's nowhere left. What do you think, we'll run faster than death?"

Rika stood up, calm yet strained. "It's not about outrunning it. It's about staying human. Choosing something—anything—while we still can."

Kanna scoffed and shoved her hair back. "That reeks of somebody who thinks hope is enough. At this point, we are wasting our last days on pretence: marriages, promises, moving from one ruin to another. It's not noble: it is denial."

A silence fell. Kaito turned painfully slowly toward her, something cold flickering in his eyes. "So why are you still with us?"

Kanna flinched but said nothing. Rika stepped forward, holding onto Kaito's arm. "Don't. She's scared. We all are."

"No," Kanna muttered. "She has every right to ask. I stayed because...I wanted to believe it mattered, that being together meant something. But maybe I was wrong."

Then there was a loud bang outside, somewhere, disturbed by what sounded like metal being thrown. Everybody froze. A few seconds later, the roar of distant engines quaked through the choking dust. Not theirs—definitely not safe.

Kaito sprang to life. "Pack up everything. Now. We're leaving."

Kanna hesitated. "They found us?"

"There's no time to argue about that," Kaito snapped. "Move."

In the tumult, Kanna grabbed Rika by the sleeve. "I'm sorry. For what I said before...about you and Kaito. About marriage."

Rika met her gaze, her own discerning yet calm. "You weren't wrong to ask. But this—what we have—isn't an escape from reality. It's facing it with someone. Together."

Kanna nodded, biting her lip. "Then I'll fight too. Just...tell me where to run."

Kaito turned back, the door cracked now, with dust streaming in like smoke from a fire. "Anywhere that is still ours."

And then they were swallowed by the storm.