🏙️ World Line 137 – A New City, A New Sky
The world smelled different here. The air was colder, the buildings taller, and the people moved like shadows, unaware of what they carried from previous lives.
Kentarō and Sarah found shelter in an empty rooftop shack behind a convenience store. No one asked questions—because here, everyone looked like they were forgetting something.
Kentarō sat on the roof, looking up at the night sky.
But something was off.
The stars blinked.
Then rewound.
Then repeated.
🌠 8:12 PM – The Sky Glitches
Sarah stepped beside him, staring into the heavens with narrowed eyes.
"It's starting," she whispered.
The stars rearranged into odd shapes. Brief flashes of light shot across the clouds in spirals. Time was bleeding through. Glimpses of lost world lines flickered above their heads like celestial warnings.
A train crash.A school fire.Reika in tears.Kentarō's death.Sarah screaming.Mira watching.
Kentarō clutched his head. "Why do I remember dying?"
Sarah looked at him—her face pale. "The boundary here is unstable. This world... it's remembering everything. Even the people inside it."
🧍 Meanwhile – Somewhere Else in the City
Reika Minazuki stood frozen in a bookstore, a poetry book slipping from her hands.
She clutched her chest.
A flood of images tore through her.
A kiss on a rainy day.Sarah pushing her aside during an explosion.Kentarō calling her name... as he faded away."I'm sorry, Reika… I always loved her."
She gasped.
Then she whispered, trembling:"Why… do I remember… loving someone who doesn't exist here?"
🔁 Back on the Rooftop – 8:23 PM
Sarah collapsed. Her eyes flickered gold for a second."Too many echoes," she murmured. "This world is broken at the seams. We can't stay long."
Kentarō helped her sit up. "So what do we do?"
She placed a small pocketwatch in his hand. Its second hand was spinning backwards.
"We anchor. We find someone who remembers like us. Or this timeline collapses."
He looked at her. "You mean Reika."
Sarah hesitated, then nodded.
"She's becoming... a second fixed point."
Kentarō paused.
"If two people remember… what happens?"
Sarah's voice was barely a whisper.
"Then one of them has to choose to forget."
💫 Later That Night – Abandoned Train Station
Kentarō found Reika sitting alone under a flickering streetlamp.
She turned slowly, her eyes wide.
"I remember," she whispered. "I remember you dying. Over and over."
He sat beside her.
"I remember choosing you," she added. "In a world that doesn't exist. Is that possible?"
Kentarō nodded slowly. "Yes."
Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Then why does it hurt so much now?"
He didn't answer.
From the shadows, Sarah watched. Her fingers trembled.
Behind her, a faint click echoed.
The ticking had returned.
🕰️ Ending Scene – The Watcher Awakens
High above the timeline plane, inside the Chronos Chamber, a massive device powered by broken memory fragments began to glow.
Professor Hoshikawa stepped forward, watching the unstable world line below.
"They've crossed the threshold," he murmured.
Kurogami Renzō emerged from the mist behind him, blade unsheathed.
"You want me to eliminate her?" the assassin asked.
"No," Hoshikawa replied. "It's too late for that."
He looked into the flickering glass.
"They're approaching World Line 1365625. The only one where they both live. And worse…"
He turned slowly.
"Others are starting to remember."
❖ ~Ayan
🌌 Volume 1 Completed.