Souta's Childhood Home, 3:00 a.m
The Resonator now glows with two full rings. A third remains unlit, pulsing faintly… like a heartbeat waiting to stop.
Souta sits by his window, flipping through an old photo album.
Souta (quietly):
"There's one memory I never let myself remember. Because if I did… it would change everything."
Toru sits nearby, watching.
Toru: "Where did it happen?"
Souta closes the album.
Souta: "In the shed. Behind my old house. The day my father disappeared."
The Abandoned Shed, Just Outside the City
Overgrown with vines. Cracked wood. Rusted chains on the door.
As they step inside, the air instantly shifts.
The temperature drops. Time slows.
And then Kuroda appears. Already waiting.
Kuroda (smiling faintly):
"You finally came. This is where you began. But it's also… where I was born."
Before Souta can respond, the Resonator ignites—pulling him violently into his mind.
The Original Memory
A dim, flickering bulb swings overhead. A child-Souta sits in a corner, crying, clutching a broken music box.
His father stands near a desk face hidden in shadow.
On the desk is a strange black device, identical to the Resonator, but older. Cruder. Handmade.
The father whispers:
"It hears more than sound… it hears the soul."
Suddenly
A scream rips through the memory.
The father is pulled into the device, and the light shatters.
Adult Souta gasps.
He now sees it clearly. His father didn't disappear. He was taken.
And behind the device… stood Kuroda.
But younger. Human. Confused. Terrified.
Young Kuroda (trembling): "He shouldn't have built it… It was too strong. I didn't want this"
Souta steps closer.
Souta: "You were there. You saw him vanish. That's why you hunt sound. You're trying to undo it."
Kuroda present-day, now fully manifested claps slowly.
Kuroda: "Bravo. You've remembered the origin. And now, you'll inherit it."
Chains of sound erupt from the memory.
They wrap around Souta's body, squeezing tight. His vision darkens.
Kuroda (grinning):
"This was never about fear. It was about passing it on. You don't just carry echoes, Souta.
You are now the source."
[Reality – Outside the Shed]
Toru hears screams from inside.
The Resonator sparks. The third ring is almost full but flickering.
Toru: "Come on, Souta… lock it!"
Inside the Device
Souta floats in an endless black field of soundwaves. His father's voice whispers around him:
"Finish what I started… Seal the gate…"
He looks down and sees the Resonator embedded in his chest half fused, burning with static.
Souta (gritting his teeth):
"You want me to inherit this curse, Kuroda?
Fine. But I choose how it ends."
He rips the Resonator free from his chest pure agony but channels every soundwave into it.
The three rings spin
And then snap closed.
A blinding pulse of silence explodes.
Back in Reality
The Shed Collapses
Toru drags Souta from the wreckage as everything caves in.
The Resonator in his hand now glows white.
Kuroda is gone.
No whispers. No echoes.
Just… silence.
A Week Later
Souta stands at his father's grave, holding the now dormant Resonator.
Souta (softly):
"You built it to understand the soul.
I used it to protect mine."
Toru approaches with a phone in hand.
Toru: "There's something you should hear."
He plays a recording.
It's Kuroda's voice faint, but not angry. Almost… peaceful.
Kuroda:
"You broke the cycle. I am free. And so are you."
Souta stares into the horizon.
The wind blows gently.
For the first time in a long while
He hears only peace.
To be continued…