The city twisted.
Up became sideways. Down lost meaning. Neon lights tore into broken lines as gravity seized me and ripped the world apart.
I was falling.
Down and down.
Rain smashed into my face, cold and merciless, forcing its way into my mouth, my eyes, my lungs. Wind howled past my ears, tearing breath from my chest like it didn't belong to me anymore.
This is it.
The thought arrived with terrifying clarity.
I'm going to die.
The dark between buildings stretched endlessly below me.
My body moved.
Not because I decided to— but because it already had.
Arms tucked in. Chin lowered. Muscles tightened in patterns I didn't remember choosing.
I realized, with distant, sick clarity, that my body was preparing for impact before my mind accepted that it was coming.
I didn't do that.
The thought arrived late— chasing motions that had already finished.
I was watching myself survive something I hadn't agreed to yet.
The rain blurred everything into streaks of white and gray—
And for half a heartbeat—
the rain stopped.
Not slowed. Stopped.
Droplets hung in the air around me. One bead of rain rested against my eyelash— not falling, not touching, just waiting.
Suspended like shattered glass.
Neon light fractured through each frozen drop. Wind vanished. Sound collapsed into nothing.
The city existed without motion.
And in that impossible stillness, I understood—
I was already falling through a moment that didn't belong to the world anymore.
Then time slammed back into place.
And memories broke through.
A blue pool. Chlorine. My fingers touching the wall.
Jacklin laughing on the roller coaster, hair flying everywhere.
Arata's back as he stood at the doorway, arms crossed, pretending not to worry.
Renya sitting on the floor, pushing a toy dinosaur across the tiles. "Look, Kaien! It's fast!"
Mei's quiet smile from the kitchen, hands still damp as she passed him a cup of tea.
Mom's voice from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready—wash your hands!"
The flashes came without order, ripped apart by wind and speed.
Not like this, I thought. Not now.
Then—
Impact.
Not concrete.
Something hard. Elastic. Loud.
My body slammed down violently, pain detonating through my ribs and spine as metal groaned beneath me. I rolled instinctively, arms curling in, muscles tightening the same way they always did before cutting into water.
Air tore out of my lungs.
I skidded, barely catching the edge before gravity tried to drag me away again.
A horn blared.
The world lurched.
Through ringing ears and blinding pain, understanding struck—
I was on the roof of a moving truck.
The driver yelled something incoherent, panic raw in his voice. The truck swerved, then braked hard. Tires screamed against rain-slick asphalt, the sudden deceleration snapping my body forward hard enough that stars burst across my vision.
I didn't think.
The moment the speed dropped enough, I rolled.
I hit the road shoulder-first.
Pain exploded.
Immediate. Absolute.
My vision went white as I slid across wet asphalt and slammed to a stop near the curb. Rain soaked into my clothes instantly, cold biting deep into my skin. My chest heaved uncontrollably as I fought for air that wouldn't come properly.
I lay there.
Waiting.
For the snap of bone. For the crushing collapse of lungs. For the scream that never came.
Something was wrong.
Not the pain— I expected that.
The absence of worse.
My ribs burned, but they weren't collapsing. My spine screamed, but nothing felt broken. I'd hit metal at speed. I'd hit asphalt.
I knew bodies. I knew impact.
This wasn't survivable.
Cars screeched to a halt. Horns blared, sharp and angry.
"Hey! Are you crazy?!" someone shouted from a window above.
A phone light flickered nearby.
Someone was filming.
My fingers twitched when I told them to.
They moved.
My legs shook violently as I forced myself upright— but they held.
I didn't feel strong.
I felt… spared.
I'm alive.
The realization hit harder than the fall.
Nausea rolled through my gut as I staggered back. The city wobbled, rain streaking across my vision. My right hand was clenched tight around something cold.
Metal.
I looked down.
The sword.
The impossible blade from my room.
Rain struck it and hissed instantly, vapor curling upward as faint blue-violet veins pulsed beneath the surface, steady and calm— like it hadn't just fallen through the sky with me.
"What…?" I whispered, my throat raw.
The truck driver leaned halfway out of his cab, face pale. "Are you insane?! You trying to die?!"
I didn't answer.
Sirens wailed somewhere far away—police, maybe an ambulance—but they weren't close. Not yet.
Instinct finally took over.
I staggered off the road, ducking between parked cars as the truck roared away, its driver still shouting into the rain. Horns continued behind me, the city erupting around a disaster it would forget by morning.
Every nerve felt wrong.
Not damaged— misaligned.
Like my body hadn't caught up to what had happened.
The sword hummed faintly in my grip. Not louder. Not brighter.
Just… there.
My phone vibrated.
Once.
I flinched.
Missed Call — Mom (Aiko)
My stomach dropped.
It vibrated again.
I answered with shaking hands.
"Mom?" My voice cracked. "Mom—are you okay?"
Her sobbing broke through the line immediately.
"Kaien… thank God…" Her breath hitched violently. "Are you hurt? Please tell me you're okay."
"I—I'm alive," I said, forcing the words out. "What's going on?"
Noise bled through the call—footsteps, doors opening and closing, the distant rhythmic beep of hospital equipment that made my skin crawl.
"Your brother…" she tried. "Arata… Mei…"
Her voice collapsed into wet, shuddering gasps.
My chest tightened painfully.
"…Renya?" I whispered. "Tell me Renya's okay."
Silence.
One heartbeat. Two.
She drew in a sharp breath.
Then—
"Renya's alive," she cried. "Just him… just us. Kaien—please come to Shinsei General Hospital. Right now."
No details. No explanation. No why.
My knees nearly gave out anyway.
I hadn't realized how tightly I'd been holding myself together until something cracked loose inside me. A broken sound escaped my throat—half sob, half laugh.
I pressed my free hand against the cold metal of a parked car, rain slick beneath my palm.
"Mom," I said hoarsely, "what happened?"
Her answer didn't come.
Not because she refused.
Because she couldn't.
"I—I don't know," she sobbed. "Please—just come. Please."
The call ended.
Rain poured harder.
I looked around at the soaked street, the watching faces, the sword in my hand.
Rain washed over my face, hiding the tears. Sirens grew louder somewhere, but still not close enough to matter.
The city kept moving.
People shouted. Cars crawled past. Someone upstairs closed their window.
I stood there shaking, sword heavy in my hand, breath burning in my lungs.
At last, my thoughts aligned.
The masked killers in my apartment. The hidden arsenal I'd never known about. The timing—too precise to be random.
And now this.
No explanation. Only survivors.
Just him… just us.
My chest tightened painfully.
She hadn't said there was an attack. She hadn't said anyone was killed.
But she hadn't said they were safe either.
And that silence told me everything.
This wasn't coincidence. This wasn't bad luck.
Whatever had come for me— had reached for my family too.
A slow, cold understanding settled in.
Not panic. Not rage.
Clarity.
If this was random, I'd be dead.
If it was targeted—
then this wasn't over.
Clean. Controlled.
A purge.
And somehow— I had fallen through it and lived.
✦End of Chapter 5 — The Fall ✦