Here is **Chapter 8** of the light novel *Peace Was Never Mine*.
This
The sky was still red when they found him.
---
Ren Ayato lay crumpled on the rooftop tiles, blood soaked through his shirt. The stain had begun to dry in the corners, cracking against the fabric. His face was pale. His hand still outstretched, as if he had tried to reach for something at the last second.
He hadn't cried.
Not this time.
---
Yuu Kaede was the first to reach him.
He had run up all thirty steps, two at a time, screaming Ren's name until his voice cracked. He shoved open the rooftop door with so much force the handle dented.
"REN—!"
He froze.
Serika stood a few paces back, knife still in her hand.
His eyes locked on hers. For a moment, the world held its breath.
Then he screamed.
---
Students came running.
Teachers.
And eventually—
**The police.**
---
Yuu had barely noticed the small **pen-shaped recorder** Ren had slipped into his hand earlier that day. It was clipped to his blazer pocket, inconspicuous and light.
But it had **recorded everything**.
Serika's footsteps.
Ren's voice.
> "I just came to be the one who's in the way."
Her reply.
> "You shouldn't be here."
And then the sound of the blade.
---
The trial that followed wasn't long.
The tape was enough. The recordings. The letter in Ren's locker.
Serika Mizuno didn't struggle when they cuffed her.
She didn't cry.
She only muttered one thing as she passed Yuu in the hall, handcuffed and pale:
> "The story is broken now. Let's see how far it falls."
---
**Ren was cleared.**
**Posthumously.**
The papers ran headlines with phrases like *"Tragic Hero,"* *"Final Sacrifice,"* and *"Innocent All Along."*
None of them felt true.
Not to Yuu.
Because the person they honored was already gone.
---
A week later, the students of Hikari High gathered in the **field** behind the school.
The same one where Yuu had died in some loops.
Where Ren had wept in others.
Where blame had been planted and watered like seeds.
Now, they planted flowers.
Soft white petals, circling the base of a lone tree.
Yuu left something else there too:
Ren's shoes.
Tied neatly.
Facing the horizon.
---
Yuu visited every day after school.
He'd sit by the tree and talk.
Some days he cried.
Some days he laughed.
But always, he ended the same way:
> "Thank you."
---
The loop had broken.
Or so it seemed.
---
But somewhere…
In some corner of that sky…
A voice whispered:
> "Again."
---
Ren's eyes opened.
---
**April 2.**
---
He was standing in the plain outside his house.
The sky the same.
The grass the same.
The stone he'd once carved into: blank again.
And in the distance—
Yuu waved.
> "You good, man?"
---
Ren dropped to his knees.
Tears rolled silently down his face.
---
The world was starting over.
The story wasn't done.
---
> *Peace was never mine.*
> *Try again.*
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