Haruto sat behind the wheel, the hum of the engine soft beneath him as the car cruised down the empty road.
Ayaka sat beside him, animatedly recounting their childhood memories. Stories he had asked her to share in hopes of unlocking something long buried.
Some memories came back with vivid clarity. Others felt like empty echoes, slipping through his fingers no matter how hard he tried to grasp them.
But his mind kept drifting back to Ren's memory. Back to that boy.
Jin.
'Why him?' Haruto thought, fingers tightening around the steering wheel. 'Why was he the first person I thought of when I saw that boy?'
It wasn't a fact, just a gut feeling, something about the way that boy moved, his posture, his cold, unflinching presence. It didn't feel like Haruto at all.
It felt like... Jin.
But if that was Jin, then why didn't I recognize his face?
He tried to recall his friend from the temple, the friend who never left its grounds.
