Rebirth

Brand New Day

December 12th, 2050

Heaven’s Reach Shrine

Rei staggered, eyes wide, as he made his way to the golden cloud in the middle of the shrine.

A figure stood before it, the silhouette of a man wearing a long trench coat with his hands in his pockets. When he turned to look at Rei, a pair of mischievous eyes looked at him as one would a chess board. Calculating, precise, and a tad bit amused.

“What’s going on here, chief?” he asked.

Chief Ninomiya turned back to watch the cloud as it slowly dissipated into the shape of a woman. “I suppose we’ll find out,” he said. “I searched Keisuke’s coat and pockets and found another one of those sphere things.”

Ruby appeared before them, hugging herself on the ground like she did in that other reality. Her body was brimming with aether, almost like it cracked gold as the cloud battled inside her.

Ruby looked up at them. Her eyepatch had fallen to the ground. She tried to say something, but before words could reach them, crimson flames burst from her body, surrounding her with fire and blossoming like a red flower.

Rei’s heart tightened. In his mind’s eye, he recalled the night Shinozuka’s body rejected his ascension and exploded in a fiery mess.

But neither he nor the chief left. In fact, more people came closer. Kiyotaka and Issei. Lucia. Detective Miyabi. Yukari helped Souichiro up to watch in a distance. Even Jirou the lawyer somehow survived the ordeal and was there.

Ruby stood up slowly, her flames shifting from crimson to a cool, pale azure. A pair of fiery wings sprouted from her back, outstretched as if she was about to take flight.

Little by little the flames were reabsorbed back into Ruby’s body until all that was left was the woman herself. She blinked at them as if confused. Curious. Her right eye was normal. Colorless and blind, but otherwise normal with not a single speck of bronze.

“What happened?” Ruby asked. “Rei? You’re alive!”

“So are you,” he said.

“Seems like my gamble worked!” the chief exclaimed. “Miya-chan said the medics are on their way, but I figured ascending to peak exaltation would do the trick!”

“You idiot,” Detective Miyabi grumbled.

Ruby looked at herself and flexed her fingers. The hole on her right chest was healed. She must’ve done that herself using the powerful amounts of aether billowing inside her. Rei still remembered the healing sensation from when he woke up in her limousine. He knew she had the ability.

“What happened to Hidenori?” Ruby asked. “How did you do against him, Rei? Did you win?”

“He did that,” the chief said, pointing at the night sky.

Above them, above the highest peak of the ascended world, the chromatic clouds of shimmering bronze was parted above the shrine like a cloth with a giant tear in the middle, provoking the people below with a peek behind the curtain. Behind the possible future that awaited them.