The Appearance and Struggle

A girl.

Standing silently beyond the collapsing world.

She didn't move.

She didn't speak.

She simply watched him.

The fractures racing through reality passed through her without leaving the slightest mark.

Countless fragments of light curved gently around her, as though they dared not come close.

For one impossible moment...

Rurouni wondered—

Was she standing inside this realm?

Or...

Is this realm standing inside her?

His vision blurred again.

He desperately tried to focus on her.

But her face refused to become clear.

Her clothes were impossible to distinguish.

Even her silhouette seemed to fade whenever he looked directly at her.

It was as though reality itself refused to let him remember her.

"...Who...?"

The word barely escaped his lips.

No answer came.

Then—

A gentle breeze passed through the collapsing realm.

Or perhaps...

Something that merely resembled one.

A single strand of her hair drifted softly through the air.

Sky-blue.

Neither the blue of the ocean.

Nor the blue of the summer sky.

A color so pure that no memory in Rurouni's life was comparable to it.

His heartbeat skipped.

The dream continued collapsing around them.

The crystal world shattered into countless fragments.

The endless white heavens broke apart.

Everything was disappearing.

Everything except her.

She remained completely still.

Untouched.

Unchanged.

As though the destruction of the world meant absolutely nothing to her.

Rurouni's vision grew weaker and weaker.

His body trembled as though he could collapse at any moment.

His mind screamed at him to look away.

Yet...

He couldn't.

For some reason...

He felt as though looking away would mean losing something that he had never ever possessed.

Then—

She finally looked directly at him.

Their eyes met.

And for that single moment...

Everything else disappeared.

Rurouni stopped breathing.

She wasn't looking at him with curiosity.

Nor surprise.

Nor caution.

She looked at him...

As though she had always known him.

As though...

She had been waiting for him.

"W-Why...?"

His voice trembled.

"I've... never..."

He was certain.

He had never seen her before.

Then why did those eyes feel so familiar?

The unbearable pressure inside his mind seemed to fade into the background.

Everything else disappeared.

The collapsing world.

The endless pain.

Even his fear.

Only...

Her.

His heart raced.

His fingers trembled.

Before he could stop himself...

His right arm slowly reached toward her.

"...Wait."

He took another step.

"...Please."

He didn't know why.

He didn't care why.

Nothing mattered anymore.

Not the pain.

Not the collapsing dream.

Not even his own life.

Only her.

Then—

A sudden burst of pain snapped him back to reality.

Rurouni staggered backward.

"...Hah..."

"...Hah..."

He stared at his trembling hand.

"...What...?"

What happened just now?

Why had he almost thrown himself toward her?

Slowly...

He raised his head one last time.

The girl remained exactly where she was.

Watching him.

Silent.

Gentle.

There was something in her eyes.

Not happiness.

Not sadness.

Something deeper.

Almost...

Longing.

Then—

The final piece of the dream shattered.

Everything dissolved into darkness.

...

Rurouni's eyes flew open.

His bedroom.

The familiar ceiling.

Moonlight illumination spilled through the curtains.

The digital clock beside his bed read:

11:34 P.M.

For one heartbeat...

Everything seemed normal.

Then—

THUD!

His heart slammed against his ribs.

Another beat.

THUD!

His breathing became uneven.

He tried to sit up, but his body felt strangely weak.

Cold sweat covered his skin.

"...W-What...?"

His voice trembled.

"...What's happening...?"

He forced himself upright.

The moment his feet touched the floor...

Rurouni's legs gave out.

He collapsed beside the bed.

His vision blurred and ears rang.

The heartbeat seemed impossibly loud.

Rurouni tried to steady his breathing.

Once.

Twice.

But the panic refused to fade.

His fingers trembled.

The edges of his vision darkened.

"...No..."

Rurouni reached toward the bed.

His arm barely responded.

For a moment...

His body felt completely disconnected from his mind.

Then a horrifying thought entered his mind.

I'm dying.

The words echoed silently.

If something happened to him tonight...

No one would know until morning.

Rurouni stared helplessly at the darkness around him.

His strength seemed to fade.

The thought returned.

I think...

This is my THE END.

Then—

A memory flashed through his mind.

Sky-blue hair. Those eyes.

Watching him... Waiting.

Something inside Rurouni snapped.

He forced himself to move.

Pain surged through his body.

His eyes widened. Nothing had improved.

And yet... Something had changed.

Anger.

Neither toward death.

Nor toward the dream.

But toward himself.

His trembling fingers pressed against the wooden floor.

His entire body shook.

Then—

Rurouni bit down on his right arm and roared.

"WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO GIVE UP?!"

His voice exploded through the empty house.

Silence answered him.

His body continued to weaken.

Rurouni clenched his fists.

His teeth ground together.

Then he roared again.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

It wasn't a cry for help.

It wasn't fear.

It wasn't even rage.

It was something far more primal.

Defiance.

The windows began to tremble.

His voice echoed through the empty rooms.

Again.

And again.

As though he could drown out the voice inside his head.

Give up.

"I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE!"

His voice cracked.

"FRIENDS!"

"ENEMIES!"

"BLUE-HAIRED GIRL!"

"WHOEVER YOU ARE..."

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR EXISTENCE!"

"GO TO HELL!"

His heartbeat hammered in his chest.

His vision darkened.

His body begged him to stop.

His mind begged him to surrender.

Rurouni answered with another roar.

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

One minute passed.

He endured.

Two.

Still conscious.

Three.

His entire body continued to tremble.

Four.

The pain began to fade.

Rurouni noticed.

Immediately...

He pushed himself harder.

"No..."

He growled through gritted teeth.

"...I'm..."

He slowly raised his head.

"...NOT..."

His fingers tightened against the floor.

"...LOSING!!"

Five minutes passed.

The pounding in his chest slowly faded.

His breathing finally steadied.

The darkness receded.

The numbness disappeared.

His heartbeat gradually returned to normal.

"...Ha..."

"...Ha..."

His entire body collapsed onto the floor.

Completely exhausted.

Yet somehow...

Still alive.

For several minutes, he simply lay there, staring at the ceiling.

He had won.

Not against an enemy.

Not against fate.

But against the part of himself that had already given up.

Silence returned to the house.

The only sound left was Rurouni's breathing.

"...I..."

He swallowed.

"...survived."

The words felt unreal.

Only a few minutes ago, he had been certain he was going to die.

Now...

He was still here. Still breathing. Still alive.

Slowly, Rurouni pushed himself upright.

Every muscle protested.

His legs trembled, and his throat burned.

His eyes fell on his hand.

The bite marks were still there.

He stared at them, and realised something.

So...

It wasn't just a dream.

Whatever happened just now...

…had crossed into the reality.

Rurouni picked up his glasses and somehow made his way downstairs.

The house looked exactly as it had before.

Peaceful yet empty.

Almost...

Mockingly ordinary.

He entered the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and grabbed a bottle of water.

One gulp... Two.. Three.

Half the bottle was gone before he finally lowered it.

"...Much better."

Not good.

Just... Better.

Rurouni placed the bottle on the counter and rinsed his injured arm beneath the tap.

The cold water stung. He welcomed it.

Pain was familiar. Pain made sense.

Unlike that dream.

Then he lifted his head.

His reflection stared back at him.

For the briefest instant...

Something looked different.

His irises seemed to shimmer with a faint blue light.

"...Huh?"

Rurouni blinked and adjusted his glasses, wondering if it was merely a reflection.

The strange glow disappeared as if it had never existed.

Only his usual dark eyes were there.

He stared at his reflection for another few seconds.

"...Guess I haven't fully calmed down yet."

He sighed... and closed his eyes.

"Now I'm hallucinating too."

Then, the moment he turned off the tap—

Sky-blue.

Rurouni froze. The image returned without warning.

Those strands of sky-blue hair drifting through the collapsing world.

Those eyes looking directly at him.

Not with curiosity or any fear.

But with...

Recognition.

Rurouni shook his head and tried to forget that.

"No."

Then turned away from the sink.

"That was just a dream."

The words sounded hollow. Very hollow.

Because deep down... He knew they weren't.

Rurouni somehow made it back upstairs

His bedroom looked exactly as it had before.

The fantasy novel still rested on the bedside table.

The chocolate-biscuit wrapper was still lying on the floor.

Rurouni sighed. He picked it up and dropped it into the dustbin.

"Forget about throwing it now."

"I couldn't even hit the dustbin in my perfectly normal state."

The blanket remained half on the bed.

Moonlight illumination still spilled through the curtains.

Everything...

...was exactly as he had left it.

Except him.

He slowly lay down, put his glasses near the pillow again, and closed his eyes.

...

Sky-blue.

His eyes opened immediately.

"...Seriously?"

The exhaustion in his sigh said more than words ever could.

"Come on..."

Rurouni rubbed his forehead.

"This is getting ridiculous."

He closed his eyes again.

...

Sky-blue... Again.

Rurouni immediately sat up.

"Nooo."

He instantly grabbed the pillow beside him.

“So my idiotic brain wants to play games with its master?”

“Fine, then. Let’s see who gets tired first.”

He began punching the pillow.

"One."

WHUMP!

"Two."

WHUMP!

"Three."

...

"Forty-nine." 

...

"One hundred" 

One final punch.

"One hundred and one."

WHUMP!

He stopped.

Silence. Rurouni stared at the pillow.

Then smiled bitterly.

I guess the master lost today.

If anything...

Her image had become even clearer.

He buried his face in the pillow.

"...Who are you anyway...?"

No answer came.

Only silence.

Minutes passed.

His breathing slowly calmed down.

Exhaustion finally began to overpower his restless thoughts.

Yet just before sleep claimed him again...

One final question echoed through his mind.

A question that would unknowingly shape the course of his entire life.

...

"Just what the hell...

...was she?"