The shrine was dead.
No prayers, no incense, no footprints—just the cold hush of old gods long forgotten. The stone torii gate loomed over Ren as he stepped through, branches clawing at his sleeves like fingers trying to hold him back.
He could feel the presence before he saw her.
Mio Kisaragi stood at the edge of the shrine platform, her white yukata fluttering in the windless air. The same pale eyes. The same ribbon in her hair—like the photo, like the dream.
She was exactly as he'd never remembered.
"You came alone," she said without turning.
"You asked me to."
"I didn't ask," Mio said, still facing the shrine. "I warned you. There's a difference."
Ren stepped closer. "You left me a note. You knew I'd follow it."
A soft sigh. "Of course. That's what you always do."
That made him pause. "You mean... we've met before?"
She turned now. Her gaze pinned him where he stood.
"You've met me in every loop, Ren Ichiro. And in every single one, you forgot."
He felt it then—a pressure behind his eyes, as if something massive were knocking on the inside of his skull, trying to force its way out.
"You remember all the loops?" he asked, breath catching.
"I remember more than that," Mio said, stepping down from the platform. "I remember when the loops started."
System Tsuki: Catastrophic anomaly detected.
Protocol override denied. Observation failing.
Do not engage with Subject: Mio Kisaragi.
Ren pushed the voice aside. "Who are you?"
Mio looked up at the moon. "I was the first."
Silence.
"The first person caught in Tsuki's loop. Years ago. Maybe longer. The system doesn't reset time—it resets people. It makes us forget. Rewinds us until we break."
She walked toward him, barefoot on the gravel.
"You died. You came back. You asked the same questions. Then you forgot. Over and over. And then you dragged herinto it."
"Yuki?"
Mio nodded. "She wasn't supposed to be part of this. You brought her in because you needed someone to trust you. Someone who wouldn't question your story. In some loops… you lied to her."
Ren shook his head. "Not this time."
Mio studied him. "No. This time, you're different. This time, you're closer than ever."
"To what?"
"To remembering who you really are."
The shrine bell tolled once. Loud, empty.
The moon turned red above them.
Ren doubled over. Pain exploded through his chest. Not physical—memorial. Flashes of other lives, other loops, flooded his mind.
—Yuki, crying as she held the blade.
—Mio, warning him as the world burned behind her.
—His own reflection in a mirror, cracking with static, whispering: "You did this to yourself."
Then silence.
He looked up, gasping.
Mio was standing close now. Too close.
"I can help you break the loop," she said.
"How?"
"You have to let go of the lie that keeps it alive."
Ren stared at her.
"What lie?"
She tilted her head. "That you're the victim."
Tsuki is no longer observing.
System Tsuki has entered passive recovery mode.
You are beyond the loop.
Ren's knees gave out. He hit the ground hard, hands digging into the earth. His head was spinning.
All this time… he thought he was being hunted.
But what if he was the hunter?
He looked up at Mio again, her eyes shimmering like liquid moonlight.
"Tell me everything," he said, voice hoarse. "No more riddles. No more warnings."
Mio knelt in front of him.
"I will," she whispered. "But after this… you'll never be the same."
Far away, in the courtyard where the petals had fallen…
Yuki looked up at the red moon and felt something inside her unravel.
Not memory.
Reality.