When We Hit the Horizon

Bright light shone from every direction, white in every angle. Memories, scenes, locations, they spun around him, flashing for fractions of a second before new ones took their place, and then eventually, nothing at all.

It was hard to sense what was going on. Everything felt so fuzzy, shifting… undefined.

Itsuki wasn't even sure if he existed anymore.

The only thing that he could sense were presences, one still intertwined with him, three grander ones surrounding them.

A feminine voice echoed in the space first despite there being no sensible walls.

"An open heart and a guarded one, opposites in many ways. Yet both wounded, both bleeding…"

The presence bound to that voice neared closer to examine them before a masculine voice replied.

"Interesting is it not? Ironic too, their ends… Do you think them fitting perhaps? To be sent there to the bound world? They may be what that place needs."

"Hm, is that truly wise? Tragedy weighs heavily on them. And while one has learned its burden slightly, the other may sink. Perhaps they may find respite now instead? Given peace? There are other planes which may grant that."

A last voice sounded, bellowing a cadence and tone somewhere in between the other two, or perhaps, one that was both and neither.

"They will go," the voice said, finality punctuated the statement as it faded into the ether. "Of course, not without blessing, but it must be done. The state of its existence will not hold for long without aid."

The other presences stilled as it continued, an aura pulsing from it.

"Hardships may burn, yet through them is temper—refinement. The open one seeks to aid, the other seeks penance. Both may be gained there."

The presence intertwined with Itsuki began to flicker suddenly, perhaps perceiving the conversation's meaning as well.

A warmth abruptly enveloped both of them, twisting and grasping before injecting something within their souls. Everything felt lighter, connected, bright.

"To hold life in one's hand no matter the pain, and to fray all danger beneath conviction. These are your tools, chosen. Now go forth."

The voice echoed one last time as everything began to fade. He tried to call out, to say something.

But before he could even think—

***

—he opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the sky. Not the twilight he'd fallen from, but daylight, vivid blue and clouds spanning as far as he could see.

He tried sitting up, squinting his eyes as things settled.

Warmth registered in his left palm, and Itsuki realized he was still holding tight to something—someone.

He looked over.

The woman from earlier was sitting right next to him now going through the same motions as him. Although, while he was more confused than anything else, she seemed to be going through an entirely different emotion too.

Their eyes met briefly, and she froze. For a good minute, they just stared at each other, their hair bobbing in the wind.

She was beautiful in a plain way. Medium black hair gracefully brushed her shoulders, and while she had bags beneath her eyes, there was something in those grey pools that hinted at something deeper.

Eventually though, before he could linger any longer, warmth withdrew from his grasp.

"W-what's going on? Why are we still alive?!"

The woman immediately scooted away from him, snatching the hand he'd held close to her chest as if he'd done something terrible to it.

He blinked at the reaction, almost hurt by the way she was 'nursing' it.

"Are you asking me?"

"Um, yes? Who else would I be?"

"Fair." Itsuki scratched the back of his head, taking in the situation and trying not to think about the warmth he'd been holding in his hand mere moments ago.

They looked roughly the same from what he could tell. No new hair colors, limbs, or other changes about them. The only thing different was their clothing: a blue dress for her, a tunic and pants for him, both looking like they were straight from some modern fantasy anime.

His eyes flicked over to the tree line, noticing a few strange plants he'd never seen prior that blended amongst some more familiar species.

"Well, my best guess is reincarnation of some sort. That, or this is the afterlife. Regardless, it's a good view."

She gave no reply to his answer but a stare.

He coughed. "What? I gave you the best answer I could. I think it was decent considering I'm just as clueless as you are."

The stare continued on for a bit longer before the woman curled in on herself, pivoting to face away from him.

"Go away."

A brow raised. "E-excuse me?"

She didn't respond. Instead, she just collapsed sideways to the grass again, withdrawing even further inward like some sort of depressed shellfish.

That was definitely… something.

After looking around again to confirm that their surroundings were safe, he slowly made his way over to her.

"Look, I don't know exactly what's going on here, but do you mind if we at least try to talk? I feel like it might be best for both of us." He gave a good effort to smile despite her not even being able to see him.

Once again though, she didn't respond.

A pause. "Well, my name is Kisaragi Itsuki. I'm an office worker and volunteer that patrolled around the cliffs in my free time before… this." He gestured at their surroundings. "It's a pleasure to meet you, circumstances aside."

"…why can't I just die…"

The muttered response immediately flattened his expression.

"Miss?"

Silence again.

He breathed deeply to steady his nerves, the memory of the white void flashing in his mind.

If he were honest with himself, he was probably in some state of shock right now. None of this felt real, even with the tactility of it all.

What kind of place was this? Who were those voices? Were they safe here? What kind of powers did they have? Why were they sent here?

There were a ton of questions going through his head, but he knew they couldn't just stay in one place and linger on them—he knew from experience.

They had to move forward.

He looked over to the downed woman, still speechless on the ground. Cautiously, he scooted next to her.

"Um, miss, I get that there are a lot of unknowns right now, but that makes communication that much more important." His hand gestured toward the horizon. "How we got here aside, it's probably best to think about what to do next—"

A wet sob cut him off, extinguishing his words.

"Miss…?"

He cautiously stood up and moved over to her other side, curious as to what was going on. The moment he did though, he felt his heart drop.

"A-are you—?"

"GO AWAY!"

The scream jolted him back with its intensity. Raw. Painful. Ugly.

Tears flowed down her face like a stream, drenching the soil beneath her in salt. Her hands moved to try and block his vision of her on the ground, to prevent him from seeing her, but it was futile.

Tears like those couldn't be hidden. He knew from experience.

She swatted at him when he didn't move.

"Why are you still here?! Go away!"

Her words faded into the forest around them, swallowed up quickly by the quiet.

Itsuki raised his hand, trying to think of something—anything—he could say to help.

No words came to mind though, only an action.

Her breath hitched as he abruptly took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"W-what are you doing?!" She weakly tried pulling away between tears. "Leave me! I already took your life. Don't you dare waste anything else on me!"

He shook his head. "I can't do that."

"W-why not?!" A sniffle. "It's easy! Just stand up and go. Walk away—"

"No."

He cut her off to prevent her spiraling any further, tugging her up to her feet.

The woman flailed in a panic at the sudden shift, nearly losing her balance as she stood. However, Itsuki steadied her, pulling her close.

He felt a heartbeat as they touched, warmth brushing together briefly, gazes locked beneath the rustle of trees.

And then he let go, allowing her to stand.

A pause.

"I'm not sure what you've gone through, but…" He smiled at her slightly. "I'll say this much. You won't get much done just lying on the ground."

He cautiously dusted off a few blades of grass from her dress, careful to be sensible.

"Anyways, sorry. For grabbing your hand and all that." He exhaled, showing a little teeth as his smile quirked into an awkward grin. "But uh, I hope you can understand. I'm not the type to let stuff like that slide. It's just not my style."

Bewilderment loitered in her expression for a minute. Eventually though, the tension in her shoulders eased into melancholy.

"Um, it's fine, really. It's just…" She trailed off, eyes flickering to the sky. "Don't spend any more time on me, okay? Leave me behind. Be happy, do your thing, enjoy yomi or wherever this is."

She tried forcing a smile at him, something that would've looked nice had it not been fake.

"But uh, before you go, I'll say one thing."

He blinked at her curiously. "Hm?"

A sigh, framed by black hair.

"As pointless as it was… thanks for trying to save me, Kisaragi."

For a moment his heart jumped, an echo of Kaede slipping in with the name.

But he quickly shook it off. Not just because of the darkness that lay in that direction, but because it wasn't fair to the woman in front of him.

He shouldn't project.

Instead, he breathed slowly. Then once his heart settled back down, he stared at her, deadpan.

Her smile faltered upon seeing his new expression. "H-hey, what are you looking at? Didn't you hear what I said? You can leave me now. Go. Shoo."

"Mmm, No."

She scoffed incredulously. "A-and why not? Tell me one good reason."

"Erm, besides human decency?" He gestured to her, his brow a line. "Your life is valuable, and frankly, I don't think you're in a good place right now."

"Valuable?" She gave him a look that was somewhere between disgust and disbelief. "No. My life is anything but that."

"And if I'd like to disagree?"

Itsuki felt her judging him now, her eyes narrowing.

"Give me another reason besides those."

He shrugged.

"Alright. You haven't even told me your name yet."

She went silent at the response, fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

"…If you want, I can try to think of other reasons—"

"Usami Sayaka," she blurted out. "There, you know my name now. Happy?"

"A bit more, yes. Nice to meet you, Usami."

Her lips scrunched up. "A-anyway, you can go ahead and leave me now. There are better things to do than—"

A scream pierced the air, killing the rest of her sentence.

Both immediately tensed, heads turning in the direction that came from. It sounded muffled, but it was probably relatively close if they could hear it.

Itsuki scanned the horizon looking for anything out of the ordinary, straining to see over the top of the trees, until he spotted it.

It was hard to see, but the sight was undeniable.

Smoke.

His feet immediately kicked into gear before anything else could be processed, sprinting headfirst in its direction.

"K-Kisaragi? If you're leaving, don't do it in that direction! You need to run away from fires!"

He didn't bother to look back at Sayaka—or rather, he couldn't afford to without risking tripping. He just kept running, hoping that whatever was happening up ahead, he wouldn't be too late.

She kept yelling at him, a sort of panic creeping into her tone. "D-did you not hear me?! Stop! Run in the opposite direction!"

The tree line was right in front of him now, the glow of fire faintly flickering from deep into the forest.

Before he entered though, he inhaled, puffing up his chest with as much air as he could and shouted back.

"Sorry! That's just not my style!"