🌧️ Timeline Shift Initiated: World Line 44
Kentarō woke up choking on rainwater.
His head throbbed.
The sound of thunder cracked across a distant sky, and neon lights blinked through a haze of smoke. He was lying in the middle of a deserted city street. This wasn't World Line 137.
"No... Not again."
He sat up.
It was cold, damp, and… empty.
No Sarah.
🕰️ Unknown Time – Echo City (WL-44)
As he wandered through the city, signs of decay were everywhere—abandoned cars, flickering billboards, and a strange feeling in the air, like time itself had stalled.
People walked past him. Blank-faced. Emotionless.
NPCs.
"Another dead loop?" Kentarō whispered."Or worse... a forgotten one."
He spotted a blurry reflection of himself in a cracked glass pane.
But his face was different.
Older. Tired. Wounded.
His hands trembled. A scar ran across his knuckles. He didn't recognize this version of himself.
"What happened in this world?"
🌪️ A Sudden Flash – Alleyway Entrance
A noise.
He turned the corner and froze.
Sarah.
But she didn't look like his Sarah.
Shorter hair.
No memory crystal necklace.
A gun strapped to her leg.
Her eyes—cold, unreadable.
She raised a blade when she saw him.
"Who are you?" she snapped.
Kentarō backed up. "It's me. Kentarō. From World Line 137. We—"
She charged.
He barely dodged the first strike.
"I don't know you," she growled, pressing the blade against his throat. "You're one of them, aren't you? A glitch? A leftover from the Collapse."
Kentarō's voice cracked. "Sarah, I swear… We've been through this. We were on the Ferris wheel. The breach. The cafeteria loop. Please… tell me some part of you remembers."
Her hands trembled—but only for a second.
Then she yanked the blade back and disappeared into the shadows.
🧩 Later That Night – Kentarō's Apartment (WL-44)
He found a place to rest—his supposed "home" in this world.
Everything was dusted with echoes of someone who used to live here: photos burned at the edges, notes pinned to walls, and one broken clock, stuck at 11:59.
That's when he found it.
A note, scribbled in Sarah's handwriting:
"If I forget him…Don't let me fall in love again.I can't watch him die one more time."
Kentarō's hands clenched the paper.
💫 The Memory Crystal Reactivates
The memory crystal he kept flickered to life again—showing a single flash:
World Line 44.A hospital room.Sarah crying."Don't leave me, Kentarō."His hand falling limp.
He gasped.
He had died in this timeline.
And she had watched.
That's why she didn't remember him now.
Because she made a deal with Chronos…To forget.
💔 Final Scene – Rooftop Confrontation
Kentarō climbed the same rooftop they used to watch stars on in other timelines. Sarah was there again—sitting alone, staring at a red moon.
"I shouldn't be here," he said.
She didn't move. "You shouldn't."
"But I am."
Silence.
Then Sarah said, quietly:
"In this world… you died in my arms. You told me to let go. So I did. I paid the price to forget your voice."
Kentarō stepped closer. "Then why am I here now?"
She turned, tears falling silently.
"Because some love… doesn't erase. Even across timelines."
He reached for her hand.
This time, she didn't pull away.
She leaned forward.
And kissed him.
It wasn't fiery.It wasn't desperate.
It was soft.
Painful.
Final.
A kiss of two hearts that remember… even if the mind refuses.
🕛 Then, the clock struck 12:00.
The sky glitched.
A white light swallowed everything.