The Last Remaining Light

“Here. Take these pills, Atsuko. The doctor said they’d help soothe your anxiety and make you think of something else.” I held out a small bag of medicine. We were sitting beside each other on the bed, her face darkened, fixed on the ground – no expression, no words – just a frail hand reaching for mine to take the medicine.

I gave her a glass of water and watched as she struggled to swallow everything. It hurt – not only to see her suffer this much, but because I had been completely incompetent. For the moment, I couldn’t do anything else but rely on these means to try to make her feel better. Nothing else would erase what had happened from her mind.

After long minutes, she finished the water and held onto the glass as tightly as she could, her hand trembling, her stomach grumbling, her face growing pale. With a tremendous crash, the glass fell to the floor and shattered into numerous pieces. She quickly got up and ran to the toilet on the other side of the room, stepping in the shards of glass that shredded her delicate feet.

I buried my face in my hands, digging my nails into my forehead. I felt both anger and sadness, my face torn between two emotions that didn’t mix well together.

A piece of glass cut into my foot, the pain helping me regain my composure. I was miserable. With the help of a broom, I cleaned everything that could hurt her, waiting, glancing at the bathroom door. It had been a long time since she went in.

“Two weeks have passed, and I thought we could do something about it. I have to go see Hayate. I didn’t even contact him since then. I need to put an end to everything before it’s too late. Since the temple, Atsuko has been throwing up regularly, trying to not make me notice… I noticed. I know you’re doing it right now, Atsuko. I know you can’t act like you used to.”

With the broom in hand, I knocked on the door.

“Atsuko, can I come in?”

“No…” She murmured painfully from the other side, her voice almost inaudible.

“I’m coming in anyway. Don’t hide – let me help you. Let’s ease your vomiting with some meds and some secrets skills I have.” I opened the door gently, preparing for the worst.

“Don’t look at me, Ryota… I might not be in a good state right now… You deserve better than this. Better than me.”

My heart skipped a beat. A tear shimmered in the corner of my eye. I crouched beside her, her pale, crying face hovering over the toilet.

“No need to say that. You’re more than I could ever hope to deserve. You’re the one for me, and there’s nothing wrong with you at all. Everything will be alright, my love.” I gently caressed her back to ease her pain – easing mine at the same time.

She looked at me. Her face was thinner. She hadn’t eaten much these last few days. Yet she was still beautiful, even in this chaos. Our eyes met, and her tears stopped for a second before flowing back even harder as she collapsed into my arms.

After a few minutes, her cries faded into silence. She fell asleep. I took her to bed and tucked her in, closing the curtains to plunge the room into complete darkness, even though it was the middle of the afternoon.

“It’ll soon be over… just see and see, Atsuko. I took sick leave for your job so you don’t have to worry about work anymore. Rest – for now, only time can heal. Wait for me, Leo. You’ll regret everything. I’ll make you pay.”

I put on my shoes and jacket, and as I crossed the threshold, I looked back one last time at the dark hotel room.

“I’m going to see Hayate. I’ll be back soon. Sleep well.”

I locked the door and went outside, heading toward Hayate’s place.

The sun shone brightly, low in the sky, blinding my eyes and forcing me to shield them with my hand, or else I would have bumped into someone during this crowded hour. Despite the bright sun, it was cold.

I was lost in my thoughts during the walk. Minutes, meters – everything passed quickly before I even realized it. My steps guided me somewhere I never thought I would return to.

I lifted my head from the ground I had been staring at, up to the front door of the hangar… or what should have been there.

The scent of burned metal filled the air. Dark marks from dead flames stained every surface they had touched. They had destroyed everything in their path.

I was standing before a horror show. Hayate’s place had burned down. According to a passerby, the firefighters arrived quickly and extinguished the flames, but everything inside had been completely destroyed. Nothing was left.

“Wait! There was supposed to be someone in there? Did they find him!?” I asked the man, panic flooding my voice.

“Someone? As far as I know, nobody ever lived there. And from what I heard, the firefighters didn’t find a body in there when they came the other day. So if you had a friend doing some kind of urban exploration there, he wasn’t inside, and he wasn’t taken by them.” He replied jokingly, belittling me at the same time.

I clicked my tongue, annoyed, before rushing back into the main street. I pulled out my phone and tried to call him. Ten times – nothing. Just his answering machine, terrifying me more each time. I sent messages. Nothing. No answers.

“Where are you, Hayate? This joke has gone on long enough… Tell me what happened. I was the one supposed to carry all the problems… I wanted to ease the weight you were bearing too. So why?” I whispered, staring at the ground, my phone hanging loosely in my hand as my grip weakened.

Night fell, and rain began to pour, slowly soaking my clothes. People ran for shelter, some opening umbrellas as if they had expected it.

And me – I stood there, alone, shivering from the cold, not knowing what to do.

“I should have thought about it earlier. It was too good to be true. I was just too occupied with Atsuko and Leo to notice. Why didn’t I come sooner? Why couldn’t I save you, or this place, from the flames? I was just too stupid, as always. You told me you found a solution – something to fix everything. You kept working on it even though we agreed you’d stop… That call came out of nowhere… and now I can’t even talk to you.”

I walked back toward the hotel room, drawn once again to the only place I had left. For days now, I hadn’t gone anywhere else – just there, the convenience store or the doctor.

“I need you, Hayate. I need to know what you found. I need to protect Atsuko. I need to defeat Leo. And I need to find you before all my chances disappear… even if they’re already fading.”

With renewed resolve, I walked on. My steps were heavy, water splashing beneath them. I was already soaked – more rain didn’t matter anymore.

I unlocked the door and crossed the threshold.

Something felt off.

I squinted into the darkness, fumbling for the light switch.

“Atsuko? Are you still asleep? Has your stomach ache eased?”

I found the switch. Light flooded the room, bathing it entirely, leaving no shadow untouched.

And yet… where’s Atsuko?

The bed was empty.

I rushed to it, pulling the sheets aside. Nobody. I opened the closet – nothing. The bathroom was empty, save for the lingering stench of vomit that wrinkled my nose.

“I searched everywhere… she’s not here… but how? The room was locked. She didn’t have a spare key. She doesn’t even have the hotel staff’s… So how!?”

I noticed the bag of medicine on the floor and grabbed it instantly, my heart racing.

“Don’t tell me she did that… please… don’t tell me the pain was this unbearable…”

I opened it. Everything was still there. Nothing missing. Nothing wrong.

I sighed in relief.

I walked in circles, trying to gather my thoughts, my hypotheses. Nothing made sense.

I sat on the bed and stared at the sheets scattered on the floor – lost, empty. The veins in my eyes burned from the tension, staining them red, like mad scientist.

“My last remaining light is fading… what do I do now…?”

A laugh echoed from across the room – a little girl’s laugh.

I turned toward the desk.

And what I thought could only exist in a child’s nightmare unfolded before my eyes.

“Hahaha! Don’t cry, little man! It’ll soon be your turn!”