Kairo was on the floor, gasping for air.
The masked man stood before him, extending a hand.
"You can't resist. Only I can help you break the cycle, Kairos."
Kairo was having a panic attack.
He couldn't understand.
Why him?
Why had misfortune followed him ever since his father disappeared?
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
He looked at the man and brushed his hand aside, pulling himself up using the sink.
"Answer me. Who are you? What do you want from me?"
The man withdrew his hand and, under those mask slits, seemed to regard him with a hint of respect.
He stroked his chin and continued.
"You've got guts. I didn't think you'd have this much resilience."
"Believe me..." Kairo took a step forward. His eyes changed.
He was no longer the anxious boy—he was the fighter who only revealed himself on the tatami.
"...If someone pushes me too far, they'd better stay away."
A faint silver glow surrounded his body.
His amber eyes lit up for a moment, a subtle light encircling him, though he didn't seem to notice.
And as quickly as it came, it vanished.
"Oh! Now this is interesting," the masked figure said, taking a step back.
"So they still exist?" he muttered to himself.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Kairo snapped.
"Oh, nothing. Just that I'll have to change plans."
He stepped into the shadows as his cloak began to crumble.
"See you soon, Kairos." Slowly, he began to vanish.
Kairo reached out to stop him, but the man raised his hand.
A soft violet light shot out and threw Kairo against the wall.
"This is just a small taste of my power. Burn it into your memory—
I don't waste my Remembrance on just anyone."
Kairo writhed in pain.
His darkest thoughts surged forward, and it felt like his skull was going to split open.
"Enjoy my little goodbye gift," the man said before disappearing in an instant.
Kairo collapsed, powerless.
It felt like he'd been hit by a train.
He looked at his hands, his body, wondering:
"What the hell is happening in Tokyo?"
He still hadn't realized that the faint light had just saved him.
He stood up, trembling, and staggered out of the bathroom with even more questions.
One above all:
What the hell is a Remembrance?
---
The rest of the school day passed like a hazy dream.
Kairo didn't say a word.
Teachers' voices sounded like white noise, and classmates' faces glitched like an old screen.
Every now and then, he'd touch his burning forehead.
But there were no more distortions.
Just a suspicious silence.
At the entrance, Aenna, Lyra, and Riven waited for him.
"Hey, wanna hit the park?" Riven suggested, tossing his practice boken into the air.
"A little kendo match. Just to loosen up. What do you say, Kairos?"
Kairo stiffened.
That name… it sounded too close. Too familiar. Too true.
"No, I'll pass. I just need to go home."
He smiled faintly—but it was more of a twitch than a smile.
"You okay?" Aenna asked cautiously.
"Yeah. See you tomorrow."
And he left.
As they watched him go, Lyra nudged Riven.
"Did he just turn down your challenge?!" she said, surprised.
"Yeah… never seen him like that," Riven muttered, gripping his boken unconsciously.
"This is the first time he's ever said no."
Aenna clutched her pendant and whispered:
"Kairo… what's happening to you?"
---
When Kairo got home, the apartment was empty.
His mom wasn't back yet.
The clock read 6:45 PM.
He dropped his backpack, took off his jacket, and sent a message.
Yuto, his younger brother, wasn't home either…
Odd. Very odd.
> Kairo: Yuto, where are you? Mom's not home.
A few minutes later, a reply arrived.
> Yuto: With friends. I'm fine. Don't big-bro me, okay?
Kairo sighed. No energy to reply.
He collapsed onto the couch and pulled the book from his bag.
That cursed book.
"What were you hiding, Dad?" he whispered.
He opened it.
---
> "Remembrances are fragments. Traces of higher wills, lost gods, or ancient souls. They can manifest as powers, memories… or reincarnations."
"A fairy tale. Nothing more," he muttered aloud.
But even he didn't believe that.
He flipped further.
> "The Saito Corporation has recovered dozens of artifacts containing Remembrances or their influence. Some cursed. Others… alive."
"Alive? In what way?" he wondered, reading deeper.
Minutes turned into hours.
One page showed strange, ancient symbols.
Beneath them, a blacked-out paragraph—except for a few visible words:
> "…House Rochester… last seen entering Site 13… no return… failed experiment… 'Azrael'…"
Kairo's eyes widened.
"Azrael… again."
A sudden stab hit his head. Harder this time.
The book slipped from his hands.
The room distorted.
Colors collapsed. Light shifted.
Suddenly… he wasn't home.
He was at a table. The sunset filtered through a window.
Café Yuro.
A steaming cup of coffee in front of him.
Laughter. Friends. Memories.
Or… was it a memory?
Everything vanished.
A single heartbeat.
The room was back to normal.
His tablet, lit on its own, flashed a message:
> [Memory Drift: 10%]
Kairo stared at it.
The percentage had… decreased.
But why?
"What the hell is this Memory Drift thing…?"
He kept reading.
Eventually, he found a damaged page.
> "The Book of Genesis… is nothing but an archetype. A story our ancestors tried to tell through the C…"
The rest was ruined. Censored.
"C? What's that supposed to mean…?"
He closed the book and opened his terminal.
He typed: "Rochester."
A list of articles appeared.
A family of researchers—mother, father, and a daughter.
Then one headline caught his attention.
An accident.
A failed expedition in Istanbul, ancient Constantinople.
He zoomed in on a photo.
A patch on one of the guards' shoulders: SCS.
He searched further.
SCS – Saito Corporation Security.
"Saito Corporation… what else are you hiding?"
He kept reading.
The two missing people?
James and Alexya Rochester.
" Dad… what the hell were you mixed up in?"
---
Meanwhile…
Yuki Aenna was asleep in her room, bathed in moonlight.
Her phone lit up on its own.
The screen flickered.
> [Subject: Yuki Aenna – Memory Drift 12% – Curse of Oblivion in progress]
She twitched in her sleep.
A dream.
She stood in a white field.
Soft. Hazy.
A figure approached from the distance.
The mask.
Aenna backed away.
"Who are you?!"
No answer.
Just a raised finger. A signal.
Then everything vanished.
She woke up, tears in her eyes.
She touched her face.
Something was missing.
She searched her mind for her father's face…
But couldn't find it.
"Dad…"
Her memory was crumbling.
And she didn't even realize it.
---
The next day.
Sunlight seeped through the blinds.
Kairo sat at the kitchen table.
His mother, Sayuri, sipped her coffee.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked casually.
Sayuri was gentle, even more so since Kenji disappeared.
Petite but full of fire when needed—amber eyes and a radiant smile.
Kairo nodded.
A lie.
Yuto entered, backpack slung, chewing gum in his mouth.
Baggy hoodie, trendy pants, Western sneakers—
a rebellious spirit in 168 cm of teenage defiance.
"Yo, big bro."
Short, normal exchange.
Too normal.
"I'm not going to school today," Kairo said.
"Problem?"
"Just need to breathe."
He grabbed his boken.
Sayuri stood at the doorway, worried.
"Kairo… is everything okay? You usually go to the dojo when you need to blow off steam."
He hesitated.
What could he tell her?
The glitches?
The masked man?
No.
He just smiled. "I'm fine, Mom. Just need some fresh air."
She nodded, unconvinced.
"Did you fight with Aen? Or Riven? Please don't say Lyra…"
"No, nothing like that."
He kissed her on the cheek and headed out.
---
The dojo was silent. Sacred.
No holograms.
No biometric bracelets.
Just tatami.
Wind.
And the bare cherry blossom tree.
Kairo bowed. Drew his boken.
Began moving.
Each strike.
Each step.
Meditation in motion.
He was a natural.
Precise. Swift. Calm.
He had created a technique of his own at 15:
The Dance of the Cherry Blossom.
It allowed him to enter a flow state.
To fight on instinct.
To silence the world.
And that made him dangerous.
Then—
A single petal floated down… landing on his boken.
Odd. It wasn't sakura season.
"You're not supposed to be here," Kairo murmured.
He reached out and touched it.
And a voice—sweet, yet terrifying—whispered in his ear:
> "Kairo… be careful. Your friends… are in danger."