Five weeks had passed since the day the Tower of Caiya collapsed.
Five weeks since an entire group of adventurers fell without being able to do anything.
Five weeks since Aiko left that room, alive but broken.
Rayushen Castle still stood, its high walls protecting the survivors from the creatures outside... but not from those within. For there were wounds that monsters could not inflict, yet they still bled unceasingly.
Yui was returning from a patrol mission. His spear hung from his back and his steps were steady, but his face showed the accumulated exhaustion. Not just physical. Emotional.
With each passing day, that feeling weighed heavier on him.
That Aiko still hadn't gotten up.
That she spoke only in whispers.
That the eyes that once shone with determination... now reflected only ashes.
When she returned, as she did every morning, she did not go to the dining hall. Nor to the training courtyard. She headed straight for the room in the east wing, where her friend still remained locked away.
She knocked twice, but there was no answer. She didn't need one.
She opened the door carefully.
'Good morning, Aiko...' she said softly as she entered. 'I brought you some freshly baked bread. And some of that berry jam you hate, so you'll have to eat it.'
She forced a smile, as always.
Aiko was sitting on the bed, covered with a blanket up to her neck. She didn't look up. She barely blinked.
Yui sat down beside her.
'I went out with the south squad today... the mission was uneventful,' he said, as if recounting a walk. 'We found an old camp, untouched for weeks. It made me think of you. Remember when you wanted to set one up by the lake?'
Nothing. Just a blink.
Yui sighed.
'You're still here, Aiko. That's all I need for now.' He leaned forward. 'But if one day... you feel like you can't do this anymore... at least tell me. Promise me you'll let me know.'
Aiko blinked, as if she wanted to respond.
But she didn't.
She just looked down. And that was the entire conversation.
The news was no less grim outside the game.
Day 36 since the lockdown of Aether's Realm.
Thousands of players were still trapped.
And the real world was beginning to collapse along with them.
'The number rises: 117 suicides among close family members.'
'Governments are calling on the developers, but there is no response.'
'A digital cult is emerging around an unknown player. They call him "Shiranai."'
On an international news channel:
'The emotional pressure on family members is devastating,' said a specialist. 'We have mothers who haven't eaten in weeks. Fathers who sleep next to the screens. And younger siblings who think their family has been "consumed by the game."'
In a Japanese café, two girls in school uniforms were arguing sadly:
—My cousin is in there. He said that if things don't get better... he's going to try it. He said it himself: "Better to die than live trapped without hope."
'Don't say that... There are still people fighting!'
'What if they're like that guy? That one... "The Silent One". No one even knows his name! But all the forums say he's a demon disguised as a gamer.'
'Or a protector. It depends who you listen to.'
'I wish he really existed. I wish he would come and get my cousin out!'
On fan forums, an image of the battle at Caiya Tower already had over 5 million views.
A single name: Shiranai.
No avatar. No stats. Just a silhouette from behind and a monster reduced to rubble.
'He didn't say anything. He just hit him.'
'It was like seeing punishment walking in human form.'
That afternoon, after leaving Aiko, Yui headed to the infirmary.
There, as always, was Ayame, the kingdom's healer. Tall, elegant, and with a beauty that stood out even in her medical gown.
Seeing her arrive, she greeted her in her usual sarcastic tone:
'Yui? Well, if the strategist lady comes twice in one day... could it be that you've finally accepted that you need my potions?'
Yui didn't smile. She just shook her head.
Ayame knew instantly that this was not a visit like the others.
'It's about Aiko, isn't it?'
Yui nodded.
'She's still not eating well. She sleeps fitfully. And... this morning...' She swallowed hard. 'This morning she didn't want me to open the windows. She said that if too much light came in... they would see her.'
Ayame stopped what she was doing.
'Yui...'
'I'm scared,' the other woman confessed. 'I'm scared that one day I'll walk in and... she won't be there anymore.'
Ayame, for the first time in a long time, didn't joke.
Her voice was low. Calm. Serious.
'Do you think... she's close to giving up?'
'I don't know. But she's not the same anymore. And if she keeps this up... she might think she doesn't deserve to live.'
The silence grew heavy. Ayame narrowed her eyes.
'It's okay. Leave her to me. I've been there before.'
'There?'
'Where she is now,' she replied simply, her gaze softening. 'Where the pain is so strong... that even breathing hurts. Where every heartbeat is a guilt, not a sign of life.'
Yui nodded, even though her throat was tight.
Ayame stood up.
"I've lost people too, Yui. Not many people know that. But it allows me to do what I do. Sometimes... wounds aren't healed with potions. They're healed with presence.
The room was in darkness, even though outside the sky was beginning to lighten. Dawn had not yet touched the walls of Rayushen Castle, but birds were already singing timidly among the branches.
Aiko did not hear them.
She remained seated on the bed, wrapped in blankets that had long since ceased to provide warmth. Her back was straight, her eyes lost on an invisible point in front of her. She didn't move. She didn't blink. Her breathing was light, barely perceptible, as if with each inhalation she was afraid of coming back to life.
Tears rolled down her expressionless cheeks. They were not sobs. They were not cries. Just drops escaping from a broken heart. She was there, and at the same time, somewhere else. On another day. In another room. In the tower.
'I saw everything. I didn't scream. I didn't move,' she murmured.
Outside the room, Yui held the tray with the morning tea. She hadn't dared to enter. She had heard everything. And this time, she didn't open the door. She stood there silently, her forehead resting against the wood.
And even though her heart was breaking inside, she knew that this time... maybe this crying wasn't like the others.
Maybe it was the beginning.
When Ayame arrived, she didn't ask any questions. She just did what she did best: feel without intruding.
She entered the room without a sound. She sat down next to Aiko, who was still motionless, her eyes still clouded. And she watched her.
Not to assess her as a patient. Not as a healer. But as someone who had lost someone. As someone who knew what it was like to drag the remains of a broken soul. 'There are things that are not said out loud,' Ayame whispered, still not looking at her. 'Things that are kept hidden. Because a part of us believes that we don't deserve to be heard. Because if someone hears us... then it becomes real.'
Aiko blinked.
'What...?' she murmured, barely audible.
'You lost people, Aiko. But not only that. You lost the idea that you were enough to protect them. And that hurts more than any wound.'
Aiko clutched the blankets to her chest.
Her fingers trembled. Her body, which had been on autopilot for days, shivered. Not from the cold. But because the truth was beginning to emerge from within her, like a thorn that had been buried for too long. 'I didn't deserve it,' she said in a whisper. 'I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have come out alive.'
Ayame didn't react immediately. She just listened to her.
'I was the one who suggested going into the tower. I was the one who said we were ready. I... I dragged you all in. I promised you we'd be fine. That it didn't matter what was inside, that we'd get out together. And then...!' Her voice broke. 'I stood there! I couldn't save you! I didn't move a finger while they were killing you one by one!'
The tears were now pouring down her face, falling uncontrollably, soaking her clothes, her fists, the bed. Aiko curled up, as if physical pain were crushing her.
'I heard them screaming. I saw them! Kaito, trapped in the boss's claws! Naoki... without an arm...! Rina trying to protect me! And I didn't... I didn't do anything!'
Ayame silently took her hand. She didn't interrupt her. She didn't try to calm her down yet. She let her break down.
'And what did I do?'
Aiko looked up, drenched in tears. 'I survived. I survived! When they died! I didn't even have the courage to face the boss! I stayed on the ground! Lying there! Waiting for him to come for me!' Her breathing became agitated. The words came out like knives, as if each sentence tore a piece of her soul away.
'And then... he appeared. That man.
Ayame looked up. It was no longer just an outburst. It was the root.
'I don't know his name. He didn't say a word. He didn't look at me. He just... hit that thing as if each fist carried the rage I couldn't express. It wasn't a fight. It was a sentence.
Aiko brought her hands to her face.
'He didn't do it for me. Or for my friends. He did it because that creature... deserved to suffer.'
Ayame hugged her tightly. Her arms wrapped around Aiko as if trying to hold all the broken pieces of her body together. And it was then, when Aiko couldn't take it anymore, that she clung to her like a little girl.
'I don't want to forget them. But I can't live with this!' she cried, her voice torn. 'Every time I close my eyes, I see them! And they hate me...! They hate me for being alive!'
Ayame pulled away a little and looked her straight in the eyes.
'No. They don't hate you. They trusted you. And if you had died, then they would have died completely.
Aiko looked at her, trembling. Ayame's words, harsh and true, hurt her. But they also anchored her.
'I too... have lost,' Ayame added with a sad smile. 'And I have survived more times than I would like.
But I will never forget one thing: you don't owe your life to the dead. You owe your strength to those who are still here.
Ayame moved closer and rested her forehead against Aiko's.
'Cry as much as you need to. But don't let your pain be the grave of your will. Because if you do, then they will have died for nothing.'
Outside the room, Yui stood by the door, her hands pressed against her chest. She had heard everything.
And for the first time, when she heard that cry... she didn't cry with her.
She smiled.
Because that cry, for the first time, sounded like the truth. Like relief. Like breaking free... not like giving up.
Aiko was crying. But she was also alive.
And in a forest far from the castle, under the silence of the evening, someone else knew it too.
A lone figure threw his fists against the trees, as if the bark could be broken by the force of a will that accepted no limits. Not for glory. Not for revenge. Just because in a world that could break at any moment...
It was better to be ready for the next cry.
The cry of someone who did not yet know they needed to be heard.
Kazuo continued to train.
Without witnesses.
Without glory.
Without a name.
And somewhere in the kingdom, a young woman who had previously been unable to sleep... finally rested, clinging to the memory of the one who, without knowing it, had given her back her breath.