After Lin left the shop,Thir remained motionless behind the counter for a long time.
The rain had stopped,yet the cold lingered in the air—as if something unseen refused to leave.
He picked up an empty coffee cup.
His hand froze midair.
He knew he didn't drink sweet coffee.Knew he preferred it bitter.Knew that too much milk felt wrong.
And yet—
he had no memory of who had taught him these things.
These fragments should not existin the mind of someone with no past.
Thir closed his eyes.
A scene surfaced on its own.
—Morning sunlight—Laughter—Someone leaning casually against a kitchen counter
"Drink it before it gets cold."
The voice… belonged to a man.
Thir's eyes snapped open.His heart pounded without reason.
He had never dreamed of a man.Had never dreamed of anyone at all.
But that memory—
felt too real.
The next day,
Lin returned.
This time, she didn't smile when she entered the shop.
"I got lost," she said as soon as she sat down."I knew this place was here… but I walked in circles three times."
Thir looked at her.
New fractures had appeared—like cracks spreading slowly across glass, unstoppable.
"Do you remember my name?" he asked quietly.
Lin frowned, concentrating.
"…Thir… right?"She said it like a question, not certainty.
He nodded. Offered a faint smile.
Inside him, something shattered into fine pieces.
"I'm scared," Lin continued, her voice trembling."I feel like I'm disappearing.Like the person standing here… isn't the same person anymore."
Thir reached for her wrist.
He didn't use his power.He simply held it.
"You're still here," he said slowly."I can see you."
Lin looked at him.
Her gaze softened—like someone who had finally been allowed to breathe.
"…Have you ever been afraid of being abandoned?" she asked.
The question should not have been meant for him.
But Thir's heart answered before his mind.
"Yes."
Lin smiled.
The same smile from his dream the night before.
"Then… you understand."
He did.
Even though he didn't know what he understood.
That night,
The girl in gray appeared again.
She stood behind the shop, beneath dim light.
"You're starting to remember," she said, as if speaking to the air.
Thir didn't ask what he was remembering.
He already knew.
"I once loved someone," he said slowly,admitting it to himself for the first time.
The girl nodded."And he was more afraid of your answer than of disappearing."
"Who was he?"
She smiled.
This time—sadly.
"Someone who chose to erase himself,so he wouldn't have to hear the words 'I don't love you.'"
Pain struck Thir's chest sharply—as if his name had been called without sound.
"Is Lin connected to this?" he asked.
The girl didn't answer directly.
"Every time she forgets," she said,"you will remember more."
"And if I remember everything?"
She looked at him for a long moment.
Then spoke the words that made the world feel unbearably heavy.
"You will have to choosewho disappears instead."
The next morning,
Lin didn't come.
Thir waited all day.
Near closing time, the wooden door finally opened.
Lin stood there.
Her expression was empty.
"I'm sorry," she said politely, like a first-time customer."What does this place… do?"
Thir's heart dropped.
He looked at her—the woman who once looked at him as if he were her entire world—
and now did not know him at all.
"…This shop," he said slowly, his voice barely steady,"repairs memories."
Lin nodded, smiling courteously.
"Then please help me," she said."I feel like I'm forgetting someone…even though I don't remember ever knowing him."
And for the first time,
Thir understood—
some people are erasednot from memory,
but from permission.