Chapter 60 — The Girl He Never Got to Love
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9:27 AM | The Fading Altar
The altar had quieted.
Hana and Amariel were resting peacefully, their souls untouched.
Yuuto held Aika in his arms, still trembling from the ritual.
Her warmth was real. Her kiss had soul.
But something else still pulsed.
> A third heartbeat.
The third girl.
The unnamed girl.
Still lying motionless on the altar—
Eyes closed.
Skin flawless.
Womb softly glowing with a light not of this world.
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Who Was She?
Yuuto stepped closer.
Her face was eerily familiar.
Like a dream you never remember when you wake—
but it haunts you anyway.
Her body was perfect. But not constructed.
Remembered.
> Aika sat up beside him.
"Yuuto… she looks like someone you once knew."
Yuuto whispered, stunned:
> "But I've never met her…"
Then a *rune blinked into existence above her chest. A name. A memory.
Etched not in words—but in feeling.
> "YUME."
(夢) — Dream.
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The Forgotten Thread
The Architect's echo returned, faint and cruel:
> "Ah… you found her.
The girl you dreamed of before Aika.
The love your heart formed but never touched.
The desire so deep, even you forgot her."
Yuuto backed away, heart pounding.
> "This can't be real."
> "Oh, but she is," the echo whispered.
"And her soul has only one desire: You."
The glowing from her womb intensified.
And then—she opened her eyes.
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Yume Awakens
Her gaze locked with Yuuto's.
And the air stopped.
> "Yuuto…" she whispered, voice like a melody you cry to without knowing why.
"You forgot me."
Aika flinched.
> "She's… a fragment," Aika said, stunned.
"Not a curse. Not a woman.
She's everything you suppressed."
Yume stood up.
Completely bare. Completely calm.
> "You chose Aika over me once," she said.
"But I'm not angry. I was born from your deepest hunger.
And now I'm here to ask you—will you choose me now?"
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The Impossible Choice
Yuuto stood frozen between two women:
Aika: the cursed girl he saved.
Yume: the girl he dreamed of, the lover he built in silence.
Aika gripped his hand.
> "I have a soul now. But I won't stop you.
If you want her… I'll walk away."
And Yume…
smiled, tears glowing like starlight.
> "Choose me, and I'll never leave your dreams again."
"We'll build our own tower."
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