Volume 4 – Chapter 3: The Question That Lingered

Date: September 9

Last 22 Days. 

No rain had come down the previous night, but the shelter was still redolent with damp earth and rust. Kanna woke wrapped tightly in her blanket, her eyes squinting against dim morning light. Rika was already gone, and Kaito sat crouched on the ground scribbling something into a small notebook.

"Writing again?" Kanna mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

"Yes. Days. Numbers. Now counting how much more to write before forgetting how little time we have left."

"To forget?" she repeated dryly. "While you're busy with that, Rika's building a dream. And you're helping her out. Is it a why?"

Kaito was silent for a moment. He flipped to the next page. Then looked up, calmly.

"Because I wouldn't want to do anything else. Every day I get with her means more than all the days I've counted."

Kanna did not say anything.

As they walked out, Rika awaited them, crouched beside a circle of stones that had been built without a good clear uniformity. She had a stick in one hand and drew on the ground two circles that linked one to another-resembling wedding rings.

"What are you doing?" asked Kanna, dumbfounded.

"Practice," Rika said, smiling. "A rehearsal. For the day before, the day after... whatever time even means anymore. I want to remember it."

Kanna stepped closer. She nudged one of the stones with her foot, watching it roll.

"Rika... about what I said before... I'm sorry. I guess... knowing the world's going to end makes you question what really matters and what doesn't."

Rika knelt beside her and looked her in the eye. "You're not wrong. We're scared too. But this-however it's being experienced-isn't pretending it's all going to be all right. It's about making a real choice, while we can still make real choices."

Kanna lowered her eyes. "Maybe... I want to hold on to something real too."

Rika held out her arm. Kanna held on to it without saying anything, but not empty. That summer afternoon, the three of them dug in in silence. Expanding their circle of stones. Built a fragile framework of dry branches with one small area for two; nothing grand, just something defiant.

The sun dipped behind the horizon, casting deepening shadows across the shelter. Kaito turned his eyes toward the darkness that was beginning to settle and whispered, "The countdown continues... but so do we."