The village looked nothing like the world Kazuki remembered from his first life.
It was smaller. Quieter. More fragile.
Wooden houses leaned together like drunks too tired to stand alone.Farm fields swayed gently under the dying sun. Lanterns flickered on doorsteps. Smoke drifted in thin ribbons from kitchen roofs.
It smelled like dinner and sweat and dirt.
For most people, that might have been comfort.
For Kazuki, it smelled like distance. Like something he wasn't meant to touch.
He sat on a broken fence overlooking the fields, hood drawn low, ribs aching. The bruise on his jaw had darkened to a deep purple. Every breath burned just a little.
Better than most nights.
Down the road, villagers went about their lives, giving him looks that were not unwelcome, just wary. Curious. He was a stranger — tall, silent, rough around the edges, eyes older than they should be.
Some avoided him. Others whispered. All kept their distance.
Fine by him.
He wasn't here for anyone.
He wasn't here for anything.
Footsteps approached softly behind him.
Lira.
She held a small cloth-wrapped bundle in both hands.
"I, um… brought something," she said.
Kazuki didn't answer, didn't turn. She sat beside him anyway, careful not to sit too close.
She opened the bundle.
Dried berries. A scrap of bread. A few roasted nuts.
"My mother always said food helps when the world feels heavy," she said with a shy smile.
Kazuki eventually reached out and took a piece. He didn't eat it immediately. He wasn't hungry.
But he appreciated the gesture more than he'd ever admit.
Lira glanced at him again.
"You look… sad."
Kazuki kept his eyes on the fields.
"I'm not."
"You don't have to lie," she whispered.
He exhaled slowly.
"I'm not lying."
Lira looked at him a moment longer, then dropped her gaze.
"My mother gets worse at night," she said quietly. "Breathing trouble. Pain. I'm doing my best but—"
Her voice broke.
Kazuki watched her hands tremble. They looked so small. So young.
His daughter's hands had been small, too.
The ache hit him instantly. A sharp, twisting pain beneath his ribs. He forced it down, grinding his teeth.
"Do you have medicine?" he asked.
Lira nodded weakly. "Enough for maybe a week."
Kazuki reached into his cloak and set a few silver coins on her lap.
Her eyes widened.
"T-this is too much—"
"Use it for medicine," he said flatly.
"But I can't—"
He stood.
"You need it," he said simply, already turning away.
He didn't owe her anything. He didn't want to owe anyone anything.
But leaving a girl that age to carry the world alone…
He'd lived that nightmare already.
He wouldn't watch it happen again.
The village eventually settled, candles dimming in windows. Chickens shuffled in their coops. Dogs curled beneath porches. The kind of calm that only exists before something terrible.
Kazuki walked the edge of the road, hands shoved into his pockets, listening to the soft hum of crickets.
Then he heard it.
Boots.
Not drunken stumbling.Not wandering farmers.
Heavy.Sharp.Confident.
A dozen steps.
Voices followed — deep, vulgar, humorless.
"We're gonna crack that little bastard's skull tonight."
"Break his f**king teeth. See how he talks then."
"Lira's little pet is gonna learn his place."
Kazuki slowed, turning toward the sound.The collectors were coming back.
Far more than three this time.
Men — actual grown men — built like laborers, scars across their knuckles, muscles under cheap leather. These weren't spoiled boys looking for a fight.
These were predators.
Led by the man Kazuki had humiliated earlier, arm wrapped tight in filthy cloth, face bruised and swollen. His eyes burned with rage and humiliation.
He spat when he saw Kazuki.
"There he is. The stray mutt."
Kazuki said nothing.
The group spread out around him, forming a crescent in the dim street. Some carried pipes. Others carried shovels. One had a chain wrapped around his fist.
Kazuki counted eleven.
The leader stepped forward, grinning.
"You think you can embarrass me in front of my boys? You think this is your f**king playground?"
Kazuki kept his voice calm.
"Leave the girl out of this."
One man laughed. Another cracked his neck.
"The girl? Relax. We ain't touching her. Not tonight."
The leader smirked.
"Tonight is about you."
Kazuki didn't move.
A pipe swung.
It hit him in the ribs.
He didn't block it.
Another blow smashed into his back.He didn't dodge that either.
A boot slammed into his side, knocking him down into the dirt. Another stomp crushed his shoulder against the ground.
Kazuki's breath left his lungs in a shudder.
He felt nothing.Not fear.Not anger.
Only exhaustion.
He let them hit him.
Let them swing.Let them shout.Let them spit and curse and laugh while pain blossomed across his body.
A part of him — a quiet, dark part — wondered if this was easier.
If letting go was finally allowed.
Blow after blow crashed into him.His vision blurred.Blood filled his mouth.The ground felt cold beneath his cheek.
Then—
A scream tore through the night.
High.Breaking.Terrified.
"Stop! Stop hurting him!"
Lira.
Kazuki's eye cracked open.
She ran toward them.Two men grabbed her and shoved her down.Her knees hit the dirt hard.She cried out, clutching her wrist.
"Someone help! Please!"
Kazuki's heartbeat stuttered.
Not because of the pain.Because of the memory.
His daughter had screamed like that.
He reached toward Lira weakly.His fingers barely twitched.
"Stop…" he whispered.
No one heard him.
"No one's helping you, girl," a thug barked. "Stay down."
Kazuki blinked slowly.
The world pressed inward.
He felt himself slipping somewhere else.Somewhere not here.Somewhere he had been before.
He didn't fight it.
He let go.
And the world fell away.
Kazuki did not go unconscious.He went somewhere colder.Quieter.Somewhere he never truly escaped.
A pale meadow.A soft horizon.Two figures waiting for him.
Aiko.His daughter.
They watched him with gentle warmth, not urging, not calling, simply existing in the peace he'd longed for.
Kazuki stepped toward them.
Closer.Closer.
The pain abandoned him.The grief quieted.His lungs relaxed.
Finally…finally…he could rest.
He reached out—
A faint voice cracked through the veil.
"Help…"
Small.Weak.Struggling.
Lira.
Kazuki's hand faltered.
Aiko stepped closer, her fingers brushing his hand lightly.
Her voice was soft.
"This world needs you now. They need you now."
Kazuki's breath trembled.
A single tear escaped.
He stepped back.
The meadow dimmed.
The warmth faded.
And he fell back into the darkness of the real world, breath searing, body broken, rage coiling beneath his skin like a living thing.