Names are fragile things.
They vanish first,long before faces,long before love,long before the heart admits what it refuses to lose.
The name Kinlingered in Thir's mind throughout the day.
Not as an image.Not as a complete memory.
But as a sensation—
Like a name once spoken so oftenit had shaped itself into his breath.Like a name whispered in the darkwithout thinking.
He said it aloud once, softly,before opening the shop.
"Kin…"
The sound alonemade his chest tremble.
As if he were calling someonewho had once stood impossibly close.
Lin arrived in the afternoon.
Today, she looked lighter.Brighter.
Her polite smile returned.Her greeting carried no hesitation.
But Thir saw it.
The fractures on the walls of her memoryhad deepened.Lengthened.And now, they were beginning to connect.
"You seem to be in a good mood today," he said.
Lin laughed quietly.
"It's strange," she replied."I feel… relieved.Like I've finally let something go—even though I don't know what it was."
The word let gosent cold through Thir's fingers.
"Do you regret it?" he asked.
Lin tilted her head, thinking.
"No," she said honestly."Because it feels likewhatever I released…was never meant to belong to me."
His heart tightened painfully.
That day, Thir chose to use his power again.
Even though he wasn't surehe should.
The moment his hand touched her temple,the sound of glass shattering rang out—
louder, sharper,different from every time before.
The gray room opened.
But this time—
There was another room.
Deeper.Darker.
A heavy door stood there,its surface marked clearly with a name.
Kin
Thir froze.
His heartbeat thundered painfully in his ears.
Before he could reach for the door,a voice spoke behind him.
"If you open that door,"said the girl in gray,"you'll remember everything."
"And Lin?" Thir asked.
The girl was silent for a moment.
Then she answered quietly.
"She won't have anything left to remember."
Thir closed his eyes.His hands clenched.
"That isn't fair."
The girl smiled — gently, sadly.
"Love was never fair to begin with."
He stepped back.
Chose to mend only the smallest fractures.To repair what was necessary.
Not the truth.
When Thir opened his eyes,Lin was watching him.
"You look sad," she said softly,her voice lowering without her noticing."Like someone who's about to lose someone important."
Thir smiled.
A smile he had never used on a client.
"If you disappeared," he asked slowly,"what would you want me to remember about you?"
Lin stiffened.
As if the question reached somewhere deep inside her.
She thought for a long time.
Then she answered.
"Just one thing is enough," she said."If one day you call someone's nameand feel warmth in your chest—you don't need to know whose name it is."
She smiled.
"That would be enough."
Thir almost couldn't breathe.
That night, the girl appeared again.
"You're hesitating now," she said.
Thir didn't deny it.
"I don't want anyone else to disappear."
The girl studied him.
Then she asked the final question of the night.
"And what if the one who disappears…chooses it?"
The world fell silent.
Thir understood instantly.
Who had chosen.And why.
Before closing the shop,Thir wrote something in his notebook.
He didn't know why he felt compelled to write it.
If one day I forget you,let my heart remember in my place.
He didn't know who it was for.
But the name Kinblurred beneath falling tears.
Some names vanishso that the people they lovedon't have to choose.
But forgetting someonedoes not meanthe heart has agreed.