It was pitch dark.
The rain barely fell, hesitant, like it too was tired.
Kenta Tanaka walked home from work—late, again.
Mind numb. Back aching.
Just another day in a life that never changed.
He was thirty. Single.
Forgotten. Unnoticed.
No one waited for him at home. No dreams left. No fire inside.
Always ordinary.
Not brilliant. Not terrible.
Just… gray. In a world that moved too fast.
And yet—
That night, something stirred.
The smell of smoke reached him before the sight of flames.
He turned the corner.
An old apartment building was burning.
Second floor already in flames.
He could have walked away.
Called for help. Looked the other way.
But he didn't.
What if, just this once… I did something that matters?
What if I could save at least one life…?
He ran.
Up the stairs.
There were screams. Someone trapped.
He found them. Carried them out.
Just in time.
Then—
A beam collapsed. Another followed.
The heat wrapped around him like a closing fist.
Smoke burned his lungs. Clothes turned to ash.
But he wasn't afraid.
Maybe it's better this way…
Maybe I finally changed something.
And then—
Darkness.