Arou refused to accept reality.
He stood in the middle of the destruction, his trembling hand gripping a pen—the very pen that once belonged to The Creator.
"If this world is broken…"
"Then I'll reset it."
He wrote a single word.
RESET.
But—
nothing changed.
The sky remained cracked.
The earth remained lifeless.
The pen did not obey his will.
Arou finally realized it.
It wasn't because his power was insufficient—
it was because his role had changed.
Ever since the pen had fallen into his hands,
Arou was no longer part of the story.
He was the one writing it.
And at that moment—
the Earth changed.
White light swept across everything.
The sounds of the world folded into silence.
Arou rewrote it.
He wrote with trembling hands, tears falling onto the pages of reality.
UNIVERSE: REWRITE.
This time—
it worked.
---
Arou opened his eyes.
The sky was blue.
The air was warm.
The Earth… was alive again.
He gasped before slowly getting back on his feet.
"Airi?"
"Nora?"
There was no answer.
Arou ran.
He found his house.
It was intact.
He rushed inside.
And there—
stood Lin.
Mei.
Emi.
They turned toward him in surprise.
"Arou…?" Lin's voice trembled.
"You're… alive?"
Arou froze.
"Where is Airi?"
"Where is Nora?"
Silence.
Mei exchanged glances with Emi.
"Arou…" Lin lowered her head.
"We… don't know them."
Those words—
pierced deeper than any sword could have.
"What… do you mean…?"
Mei slowly shook her head.
"From the beginning… there were only the three of us."
The world seemed to stop.
Arou took a step backward.
No.
That couldn't be true.
And then the truth struck him.
Arou was no longer human.
He was the creator of the narrative.
And Airi… Nora…
They had never been born into the real world.
They were parts of Arou's dream—
stories that had lived as long as Arou remained human.
When Arou ascended into the role of Creator,
everything that depended on his dreams…
was erased.
They weren't dead.
They weren't gone.
They had simply never existed.
There was no way back.
Arou fell to his knees.
"So… because I chose to become the Creator…"
"I erased them…?"
His fingers dug into the ground.
Tears fell.
One after another.
"Why…?"
"Why did the price I had to pay… have to be them…?"
His sobs broke through the silence.
Lin approached and hugged him—
but Arou couldn't feel her warmth.
Because what he had lost
wasn't simply a friend—
but two souls who could only exist as long as he continued to dream.
And now—
Arou could no longer dream.
He was a writer.
Not a dreamer.
His cries echoed throughout the world he had saved—
a world that had won,
while its creator had lost everything.
---
Arou stood in the void.
There was no sky.
No ground.
Only a white space—
a place where a world could be born.
The pen in his hand trembled.
"If I can't bring them back…"
"Then at least… I can create a new place for them."
He wrote.
DREAM SPACE: CREATE.
The space pulsed.
Layers of reality unfolded.
A new world began to form.
A sky as gentle as twilight.
Warm wind.
Grass swaying softly.
Perfect.
Too perfect.
Arou stepped forward—
and stopped.
His feet touched nothing.
He couldn't enter.
He could only watch.
Like looking at a painting through glass.
Arou tried again.
One step.
Two steps.
Still the same.
Then he realized.
That world recognized its creator.
And because of that—
it rejected his presence.
"No…" Arou whispered.
He clenched his fist.
"If I created this world…"
"Then the people inside it will never be able to see me."
Not because he was hiding.
But because he existed outside their system of existence.
He wasn't a creature.
Not a soul.
Not a legend.
He was a function.
Something his own creations could never become aware of.
Arou sat down in the void.
His hands covered his face.
"So this is…"
"What it feels like to be God…?"
There was no embrace.
No voice.
In the old world—
Lin, Mei, and Emi lived.
They smiled.
They walked to school.
They laughed.
Never knowing…
that someone was watching over them from beyond everything.
And in the new world—
creatures would eventually live, dream, and love.
Never knowing
who had written their first breath into existence.
Arou let out a small, empty laugh.
Broken.
Hollow.
"If I descend… I'll destroy the world."
"If I remain above it… I'll be alone."
His tears fell—
yet even those tears had nowhere to fall.
He finally understood the cruelest truth:
A creator was never given the right to be present.
Only the responsibility to make sure the story continued.
Arou hugged himself.
Sad.
Frustrated.
Empty.
"Airi…"
"Nora…"
He continued to whisper their names—
even though he knew…
there was no world
that would allow them to return.
And within that emptiness,
the pen in his hand began writing on its own—
not an order.
Not a command.
But a question:
"DO YOU STILL WANT TO WRITE?"
Arou remained silent for a long time.
A very long time.
---
From the emptiness where Arou stood,
a girl slowly appeared.
Her face was gentle.
Her smile was warm, like a light that never blinded the eyes.
"Hi, Arou."
Arou turned around in surprise.
"Who… are you?"
The girl smiled softly.
"Have you forgotten me?"
"Forgotten?" Arou shook his head. "Have we met before?"
"We have," she answered quietly.
"But not here."
Arou stared at her for a while.
There was something unfamiliar about her—
yet strangely familiar at the same time.
"I don't know you."
The girl let out a soft chuckle.
"And yet, you used to say my name quite often."
"Really?" Arou asked.
"Yeah. Almost all the time," Angelica replied.
Arou was silent for a moment before asking,
"Then… what's your name?"
The girl looked at him and smiled meaningfully.
"Angelica… Shina."
Suddenly—
the empty space transformed.
The white void was replaced by a field of flowers stretching as far as the eye could see.
Arou flinched.
"Huh…? So you're Angelica?"
"Yes," she answered gently.
"I'm sorry… because of me, you ended up alone."
"And because of me… you ended up here."
Without realizing it, tears fell from Arou's eyes.
"What actually happened…?"
"And why are you apologizing to me?"
Angelica looked at him sadly.
"In the real world… we were best friends."
"And when I died… you lost the only place where you could lean on someone."
"So you ran… here."
Arou broke down.
He sobbed uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry…"
"I'm sorry… I don't even remember you."
Angelica embraced Arou tightly.
"It's okay… don't cry."
"You're strong, Arou."
She gently wiped away his tears and smiled.
"Go back to your life… Arou."
At that moment, behind them,
one by one, the beings created by Arou began to appear.
Airi.
Nora.
Hikari.
Rei.
Shion.
Nova.
Priscilla.
Shi.
Akari.
Lumina.
Feeth.
Even the creatures born from darkness:
Slenderman, Xthalax, Vendico, Wendigo, Leviathan, Scarlet, Zhael, Samurai-X, Omega-X, Doctor Plague, Venom, Setsuna, Sabertooth, Satan, Lucifer—
and Zata.
They all smiled warmly.
Arou turned around in shock.
"You guys…?"
Airi stepped forward.
"Arou… go back to where you belong."
"Because this… isn't your place."
"But I'll be alone there," Arou replied quietly.
"Even my only best friend is gone."
He glanced at Angelica.
Zata stepped forward and looked at him calmly.
"Arou, you are the best human we've ever known."
"But—"
Zata gently interrupted him.
"I know you're alone."
"But you shouldn't run away from reality."
"You have to keep moving forward… without hesitation."
Tears fell from Arou's eyes, but this time, they were calmer.
All of them spoke together:
"You are our hero."
"And… goodbye, Arou."
The light slowly faded.
One by one, they disappeared.
Only Arou and Angelica remained.
Angelica took Arou's hand and led him forward—
out of the narrative.
They walked side by side.
Arou looked at Angelica.
"From now on…"
"I'll face the world… without you."
The two of them spoke together:
"From now on… this is a little story about us."
—