The night was still — unnervingly so.Even the rain that had fallen endlessly for days seemed to hold its breath.
Toshio sat on his bed, his eyes fixed on the golden pendant glowing faintly in his hand. The hum it gave off wasn't just sound; it was a pulse — a living heartbeat that seemed to answer his own.
He could feel Airi through it. Her fear, her sorrow, her longing — all swirling into one shared rhythm.
And in that rhythm was something else.A call.A pull toward the world of dreams.
Earlier that evening, he had gone to her house. She'd been pale, exhausted, her voice trembling when she whispered:
"He's calling me again, Toshio. I can feel him watching."
"Ren?"
She nodded. "In my dreams. He said the cycle is almost complete."
Toshio clenched his fists. "Then we'll end it before he does."
He didn't know how, but the determination in his voice left no room for doubt.
Airi had taken his hand then, her touch warm and fragile. "There's a way," she said softly. "We can meet him where it all began — in the Dreamscape. But if we go there together, we'll be breaking the boundary between the living and the remembered. We might not wake up."
He smiled faintly. "Then we'll just have to hold on tighter, won't we?"
Now, as the clock struck midnight, Toshio felt the world blur around him. The edges of his room dissolved like smoke, and he was falling — weightless — into darkness.
When he opened his eyes, he stood in a vast field of silver grass under two moons.The air shimmered with light. The same field from his dreams.
But this time, he wasn't alone.
Airi stood across from him, dressed not in her school uniform but in flowing robes of white and gold — the attire of the Keeper she once was.Her hair glowed faintly, her eyes luminous as starlight.
"Toshio," she breathed, her voice soft and echoing. "You came."
He stepped forward. "I told you — I'm not letting you face this alone."
Their fingers brushed, and the world around them pulsed like a living heart. The Dreamscape had accepted them both.
But with that acceptance came a whisper, cold and ancient.
"You've defied fate again, little souls."
The air thickened, and from the shadows emerged a figure cloaked in black — eyes silver as the moons above.
Ren.
He looked exactly as Toshio remembered from the visions — tall, regal, beautiful, and broken. His expression carried centuries of sorrow twisted into resentment.
"Rai," he said, his voice quiet but cutting through the air like glass. "Even now, you refuse to die."
Toshio's jaw tightened. "My name is Toshio now. Whatever happened back then, I won't let it destroy us again."
Ren's lips curved into a cold smile. "You think changing names changes fate? You were always the same — reckless, self-righteous, blind to what she truly is."
He turned his gaze toward Airi. "Tell him, Elara. Tell him what you did."
Airi flinched. "Ren, please—"
"Tell him how you bound my soul to the curse. How you tied our fates together so you could save him."
Toshio froze. "What?"
Airi's eyes filled with tears. "I didn't mean to— I just wanted to stop you both from dying! The Source demanded a sacrifice, and I couldn't choose between you!"
Ren's voice cracked, the fury in it turning to anguish. "So you chose both — and damned us all instead."
The sky rumbled. Lightning danced across the twin moons. The ground beneath them began to splinter into shards of light and shadow.
Toshio stepped forward, shielding Airi behind him. "Then break it now! End it with me. Leave her out of it."
Ren's expression softened for the briefest moment — then hardened again. "You still don't understand. I can't break it. The curse isn't mine anymore."
He spread his hand. The world around them shifted — the silver field turning into a burning citadel. The same one from their dreams.
And there, chained in the center of it all, was another figure — Elara, glowing faintly, eyes closed, her body fading like mist.
Airi gasped. "That's… me."
Ren's voice dropped to a whisper. "She's been trapped here ever since. Every time you're reborn, she burns again. You both do."
Toshio's chest ached. "Then what happens if we free her?"
Ren looked up, his expression haunted. "Then one of you must take her place."
Silence.Only the crackle of fire and the faint hum of the Dreamscape filled the void.
Airi turned to Toshio, tears streaming down her face. "If I stay, you'll live. You can end this cycle."
He grabbed her shoulders, his eyes fierce. "Don't you dare. I didn't fight my way through lifetimes just to lose you again!"
Ren's gaze softened as he watched them. For the first time, something in his eyes seemed to break — not anger, not jealousy, but regret.
"You were always like him," he said quietly. "Even now, after everything, you still choose love."
The fire grew brighter. The citadel trembled. The dream began to collapse.
Ren took a slow breath. "Then take her. Go. Before the curse seals again."
Toshio hesitated. "What about you?"
Ren smiled faintly — the first genuine smile in a thousand years. "I was the one who started this. Let me be the one who ends it."
He raised his hand, summoning a crimson barrier that surrounded them. The pendant around Toshio's neck pulsed wildly.
"Go!" Ren shouted. "And don't look back."
Light consumed everything.The sound of shattering glass echoed across the Dreamscape as the citadel crumbled into stardust.
Toshio reached for Airi, pulling her into his arms as the world dissolved around them.
For a moment, he thought he heard Ren's voice one last time.
"Maybe in the next life, I'll be free too."
Then — silence.
Toshio awoke in his bed, gasping for air.Airi lay beside him, unconscious but breathing.
The pendant between them had split cleanly in two — one half gold, one half crimson — both faintly glowing.
He reached out, brushing her hair from her face. "We made it back," he whispered.
But even as relief washed through him, a shadow flickered across the room — faint and fleeting, like an echo.
Ren's voice lingered in the air.
"The curse may be broken… but fate is never kind to those who defy it."
The window burst open, and the wind carried the scent of ash and lilies once more.
Toshio looked at Airi's peaceful face and clenched his fist around the pendant fragment.
Whatever awaited them next — he would face it.Together.