Volume 4 – Chapter 21: The Weight of Silence

Date: September 27

Last 4 Days.

The day broke without ceremony, light creeping through the cracks of the curtains, while outside, the world stood still. It was a nudity with Kaito standing beside a window, eyes far-off. He was looking like he wanted to peer beyond the horizon, see what would be left of a future that felt intensely like a distant dream.

Rika would join him moments later, her hand settling lightly on his shoulder. "Kaito," she whispered; the voice was weak and soft, a balm on his soul for the quiet intimacy they shared. "Are you okay?"

He leaned in toward her, his weightless eyes, heavy with all those words left unuttered. "I don't know," he murmured finally. "Some days... it feels like I don't even exist." Like I'm watching somebody else's life."

"You're not alone," Rika said, fingers brushing through his cheek. "I'm here with you." We're all here."

He felt like nodding, yet the silence hanging between them suffocated him. What holds up the world for their embrace before it completely crumbles? It was a haunting idea that had kept him awake more in recent days.

Kanna had already left for downstairs, leaving this familiar thread in the house as well these last days. That somewhere out there, she did what she could do among the ruins of the town. She cared. It was changing, too. The quiet acceptance that had taken root in her was one that Kaito was wondering if it wasn't maybe also her way of dealing with the inevitable.

"Do you think... it will really end?" asked Rika softly with trembling voice.

Kaito swallowed hard; the query screamed in his mind. For it was more than just the end of the world but of everything they knew, of all they loved. "I don't know," he replied, strained. "I wish I could tell it would be okay, that we'll find a way out of this. But.. I don't know."

A heavy silence surrounded them, broken only by the faint sounds of the world-ing from outside. It was indeed a silence like a funeral, that kind of a silence hanging in thick air, suffocating everything in its path.

But there was something else in that silence, something subtle. It was the quiet hum of resilience. The faint glimmer of life, even in the face of the end. Kaito clenched his fists. They hadn't given up yet.

That night, Kaito saw Rika, Kanna returning and now sitting quietly by the flames. No one had to say it, but the weariness was quite evident in their faces. But that tiredness brightened a little by the quiet might in their eyes. Thus, they were together in this broken world. And that, Kaito understood, was enough.

From outside, everything was falling apart, but they were still here for this moment -- and for as long as they could, they would keep fighting, even if it was just for each other.

"We'll go to the outskirts of the town," Kaito said quietly, breaking the lingering silence for too long, "tomorrow." I heard that there is a safe place. Maybe there is a chance we can find something... someone."

Rika nodded, but her eyes were focused on quiet sadness.