It's so cold here…
In these bottomless darks — no walls, no roof, no ground.
Everything is cold, dark, silent…
I'm alone.
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In this place, no scent reaches me — not even a sensation. When I search and find nothing, when I try to scream without a voice, ready to tear apart my nonexistent vocal cords in search of the throat I do not have. No matter how much I try to grasp the darkness, without feeling joints or the tingling of my fingertips — even with the will, the courage to move, to explode into being — I can't. I don't exist here.
Nothing matters in this endless void, without laws, without life. Every attempt is futile, motionless. Nothing has meaning… everything is already lost.
Ah, right — why am I here?
Why am I still here?
Helpless as I am, unable to do anything but replay the same thoughts, creating hopes only to turn them into curses, panicking, breathing without realizing it. Was I imprisoned here to pay for a sin I've long forgotten — in these shadows where even time is nothing? Where the only right left to me in eternity is thought itself?
Was this my fate then? To be lost in the labyrinth of doubt, without understanding, without knowing. Did the purpose of my existence echo through this strange place without space or matter, where I spent my time chasing shadows through the black veil? Or was there something left unfinished that my mind refused to find…
So many questions.
But never any answers.
Silence. Or almost.
…
In truth, I would've lost my sanity long ago if not for that sound. Maybe it was nothing — insignificant — but to me, it was my only hope.In the midst of my endless questioning, my self-doubt, these impossible cycles where I longed to vanish, it became my guide. Each time, it pulled me back from ruin, away from madness, through its rhythm. A fleeting but saving sensation.
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To feel that beating heart.
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To hear it, to be surprised again and again by its strength — that warmth pulsing deep within, defining existence itself. It was always as if someone was knocking on the door of my prison, offering me comfort…
Like a drop of water in the desert of despair.
That's why, even if I were to die here, even if I were to fade away — as long as it beat, I wanted to believe in that Elsewhere. Even if everything was false, even if my only defense was repetition, I hoped that a final heartbeat would break the silence and grant me the blessing of the Outside.Yes — for that, for that ember — I had to endure.
I had to keep thinking.
Keep facing doubt, and defy it.
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And yet… even then, a few questions remained.
Still unanswered.
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What was—
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How had I lasted this long?
How had I kept my sanity — my self — after all this time?
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How did I even have it?
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Why don't I feel tired, or hungry?
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Why do I think I hear something far away?
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...Why is it that—
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「 Opening 」
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...Why is it that—
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"wk… up…"
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What was that? A dull crack — faint, distant — I thought I was falling.
A voice, maybe?
What was it saying — was it a sign?
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"wk… up…"
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Then came a deafening buzz, louder than before. My ears screamed, my entire being trembled — cracking, splintering.
My mind tore from my [XXXXX] — I saw myself shatter for a moment. The silence—no. Something was coming. Something scratching.
That was it.
It was—
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"BAAAAAAAM!!!"
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A massive blow struck my skull in the relentless dark, and in that instant — I finally understood the words of the strange voice.
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"WAKE UUUUUUP, FOR CRYING OUT LOUUUD!!!"
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The shout hit me like a storm. My eyes snapped open on instinct, as if that reflex had never left me, and the brilliance outside blinded me — overwhelming, divine — tearing a cry from me like a newborn.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Our screams echoed against each other. I tried to calm my racing pulse, to make sense of what was happening — but sensations flooded me, one after another, more vivid than anything I could've imagined.It was as if my body, tangled in night, had finally been freed — granted the right to exist again beneath the tide of daylight.
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Then the first words burst out of me, triggered by a sudden pain at the top of my head.
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"ARE YOU INSANE?! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"
"Ah? Funny thing to hear from a guy who screams like a lunatic."
"Wha—"
My outrage froze the moment my eyes focused on him. His cold stare met mine — breath like ice, scentless — and behind him… a scene so strange it made my heartbeat settle. I rubbed my eyes, half-convinced I was dreaming.
It took several tries before I accepted it — that this was real. Nothing warped. Nothing false.
And yet…
It all felt natural, as if none of it had ever been gone.
Yes…
I could feel the world again. The grass beneath my knees. My pulse racing, fingers cracking one by one.I could feel the wind brushing through my hair, the chill raising my skin… and above all — my heart, still beating, still alive, close enough to touch.
" I—I…"
"Yeah?"
I was sure — he was the one who pulled me out of that place. It was stupid; there was no one else, but his presence…
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☗
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As he looked at me, puzzled, I mirrored his confusion. The idea I had of humans… this one shattered it. His face, his short hair, those eyes — frozen, colorless — his whole presence radiated cold. Too pale, too gray, too still. And yet, beneath that lifeless shell, pulsed the same energy I carried.It was as if he lived without needing to feel the warmth of his own heart.
Maybe I had exaggerated my captivity. After all… it had felt so long, only to end so abruptly.
Had I… [XXXXX]
As seconds passed, dissonance grew louder. My body moved on instinct, yet my eyes saw the world as if for the first time. I couldn't tell if I knew this place. Certainty slipped away in waves of confusion — until my gaze returned to him.
At first, neither of us spoke. We just stared, the silence stretching thin, until finally, he broke it — awkwardly.
He pulled something from his pocket.
"Here. Take this. And do me a favor — wipe those tears."
He handed me a piece of ochre cloth, watching me with suspicion.
"Tears…?" I touched my cheek — damp, as if a river had flowed without me noticing.
"Yeah, sorry!" he said, raising his hand at eye level.
"Huh?"
"Maybe I hit you too hard?" he said, stifling a laugh.
"Y-you—"
"Yeah?"
"YOU CORPSE-FACED MANIAC!!!"
He looked mildly disappointed, then clapped sarcastically.
"Bravo, bravo! Nice way to thank the guy who just saved you from a sleep deeper than fairy-tale death. Really classy." He sighed. "You're a real piece of work. A zoo escapee with style."
"Huh?"
"It's a story, genius. Never mind."
"Uh…?"
His overconfidence was irritating — to say the least.
"With that tacky hair and the way you just popped out of nowhere, I'd say we're definitely not on the same wavelength."
"That's exactly what I was about to say!"
"Oh yeah? Hm." He smirked, his gray eyes glinting with some strange sigil — wisdom and mischief intertwined.
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۞
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"Wait—what do you mean tacky hair?!"
"You're forgetting appeared out of thin air."
"You little—"
"Relax! I'm joking. Easy there."
"…"
"Yeah, definitely a lost one. Not just lost — a total headcase." He mused aloud. "It's like you just… arrived on Earth for the first time."
"Uh… well…"
"Doesn't matter. Honestly, I don't care. Let's just say I've never had the chance to talk to one of your kind before. So I don't really know if your reactions are normal or not. All I know is, one moment I was harvesting in this chamber, and the next — bam! You were leaning against that rock. Just like that. Not exactly common, you see."
"Rrr…"
He had to be mocking me. The way he said it — so casually, so simply — it was maddening.
And honestly, how was I supposed to process all that? It was too much, too fast, my heart barely keeping up.
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"Hey! Where are you going? What are you doing?"
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Without answering, half-blinded, instinct took over.
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My face.