More than 20 years ago—

No, it's been over 30 years now.

A novel I read when I was young.

A story about a boy who meets a girl, goes through countless experiences, and grows up.

In truth, I didn't exist in that story.

That's only natural. I wasn't a character in the novel.

Not everyone living in a fictional world appears in the story, right? When writing a romantic comedy, there's no need to cover civil wars on the opposite side of the globe, and when writing a thriller, there's no need to tell the story of a couple in Europe.

In a world where yokai live, many people fall victim to them. Even in this country, there must have been many incidents that Yuka couldn't prevent. It's impossible to show everything.

So, my story should have ended there too.

Without proper attention, just as a victim outside the main narrative.

I wonder if there was a way to resolve things without getting involved. I had power. There was a god watching over me. Couldn't I have managed on my own?

If I hadn't dragged my friends into this.

If I hadn't wanted to become close to anyone.

If only I could have hated my mother. If I had been someone who was only hated in this world.

People would have gladly given up on me, and the world might have continued functioning normally.

Kotone, Kotone.

The voice calling my name keeps getting closer.

I covered my ears tightly.

I mustn't listen. I mustn't listen.

Everything I've managed to accomplish will be in vain. It's obvious I'll return to that final state.

Because Nirras never helps people for free. She'll definitely play a cruel trick. A trick that to her is nothing more than a prank.

Human lives are no different from pranks to her. To Nirras, we're worth less than an ant crawling before her eyes.

So I need to stay here.

Until everyone in the world disappears, until everything I knew disappears, until only Nirras and I remain.

If I can just endure—

"Kotone!"

But that voice startles me.

A voice I've never heard before.

No, it's not an unfamiliar voice.

It's just that I've never heard Mom sound so angry. I've seen her anxious when I got hurt, and I've heard her call out with a worried expression, but...

"Kotone!"

Her voice breaks.

I never thought Mom could make such a sound—

Creak, creak.

The darkness creaks. As if something supporting this space is being crushed under weight.

Crack.

The sound of something breaking.

The sound of something splashing into water,

And scratching sounds—

"...Ah."

I see a dazzling light.

It might not have actually been that bright. But even that faint light seemed blindingly bright in the pitch-black darkness where no light had been visible—

Hands reach out from everywhere. Toward me.

And those hands roughly pull at my body.

From darkness, into light.

I screamed and resisted. I shook off hands, thrashed my legs, and kicked wildly.

But strangely, people endured my actions stoically. They could have grown to hate me.

Because they all came to help me, right? They came to deny the world I had chosen, right? Couldn't they hate me for that? They could just leave me here. Nirras would be satisfied with that.

They could just live out their remaining lives happily. Fill the empty memories with new ones, and just think that they once knew a friend long ago—

"You, idiot!"

Slap.

Someone grabbed my flailing hand. Gripping it tightly with both hands as if never intending to let go. So tight that blood barely circulated.

Surprised by that sensation, my eyes flew open.

The face closest to me was Yuka's. Yuka and Koko.

Koko looked relatively fine. She was smudged with black here and there as if she had fallen into some puddle of dark water, but thankfully—

But Yuka was in much worse shape.

Her face was covered with scrapes and cuts. As if she had fallen and rolled around on her way here. And like Koko, her face was randomly smeared with dark stains.

Her eyes shone.

Among all the expressions I'd seen on Yuka's face, this was the angriest, yet simultaneously the most relieved.

"Yuka."

I had said such harsh things to Yuka.

Pushing away the crying Yuka—

But Yuka firmly pulled my hand.

And other hands overlapped on top of ours. Yuka and Koko, and Mom too.

Mom's appearance—somehow she looked similar to me. A much younger face than the Mom I knew.

Blood was flowing from various places on her face. One of her arms was even bent at an odd angle, and her body was tattered all over.

Mom was also glaring at me with an extremely angry expression. Tears streamed from her eyes, mixing with the blood on her face.

And again, hands upon hands. Harumi, Yuu, and Mako grabbed me. With both my arms restrained, I was forcibly dragged out from the empty nightmare.

"I... I..."

"We'll talk after we get out," Mom said sternly.

An angry voice like one speaking to a child who had skipped school without permission.

Everyone was glaring at me in fury.

Even Souta and Shii.

"Ah, ah..."

Like a child who had run away from home, hidden somewhere quiet, and finally been caught, I could only make such sounds.

The outside was a mess.

The world was tangled haphazardly everywhere. The nightmare was truly on the verge of collapse. Was it because I had too many nightmares?

Had I been thinking that even my friends were all just nightmares?

"..."

The children slightly made way.

I faced my mother, who looked almost the same age as me. Though injured all over, Mom didn't look tired at all.

"Kotone."

"M-Mom."

Somehow, I felt like I had gone back to the past just like Mom.

Mom was tall even at that age. Or perhaps that's just how I perceived her. Because even at that young age, she used to embrace me, who was much younger than her—

"...Were you planning to give up everything? To disappear from everyone else?"

Mom approached.

I hunched my shoulders and lowered my head.

"I, I..."

I was really being scolded.

In a state where I didn't understand anything.

No, I could understand a little. I knew how that world had progressed. Mom had caused the flesh masses to go berserk. Those flesh masses were parts of Koko and me, and through the remaining fragments of "me," Mom was able to enter this place.

The flesh masses couldn't kill Mom.

Because they were also part of me. Because they accepted what I thought.

I couldn't completely disappear from that world either.

"...It will all end."

I whispered softly.

The world I lived in, the world I shared with my friends, will all end. Because of the nightmares I released into the world. Mom's body will return to its collapsing state, and Yuka, the children, everyone will return to where they originally belonged.

I could tell. That Nirras was very displeased.

"So..."

"So, you want us to go back?" Mom interrupted.

I looked up at her words.

Mom took a step toward me.

I stepped back.

"Are you saying we should trade Kotone for the world?"

My heart raced wildly. Sweat broke out on my back. Goosebumps rose.

Mom was so close, why?

But suddenly.

I saw Mom's blood dripping red, turning black when it touched the ground.

"...Mom?"

With each step Mom took, cracks formed on the floor. As if this entire nightmare couldn't bear her existence.

All the children here had entered as my nightmares, but they had all overcome those nightmares.

But that didn't mean they could destroy my nightmare—

"Ah."

I realized belatedly.

Mom hadn't overcome the nightmare. Because for Mom, this moment would be the worst nightmare.

What could be more nightmarish than hearing your daughter cry out that she wants to die?

When the child you raised by dedicating your entire life says she wants to die to save the world. If that's not a nightmare, then what is?

She was bearing it. With that body.

Even my mother within my nightmare. Even her younger self within Mom's nightmare.

She never gave up on me at all.

"...Why?"

I wanted to back away.

But my trembling legs refused to retreat. Refused to run away.

The reason was simple.

I wanted to throw myself into Mom's arms right now.

Like myself from those days when I knew nothing, like myself from those days when I thought I was just newly born without knowing what kind of world this was, I wanted to be held in Mom's arms and laugh and cry.

As if knowing this, Mom took another step toward me. The floor cracked again.

"Because I'm your mother."

Because the weight of life that Mom carried was heavy enough to destroy this entire nightmare.

I could see the broken traces on her shoulders. There must have been an invisible enormous burden on them.

"...Mom..."

"I will never give up, no matter what happens. Kotone. If you have worries, let's talk about them together."

Beneath Mom's feet, the cracked floor had become transparent like glass at some point. As if this world had always been that way. As if even the collapsing world before our eyes was just something imaginary.

What lay beneath Mom's feet were memories.

On the floor that looked like cracked ice, the spaces between the cracks were replaying our memories like individual scenes.

The memories and joyful times that had been buried beneath the nightmare.

Even knowing what kind of world it was. Even knowing there were people watching and trying to use me. Even knowing that secret societies were moving, trying to sacrifice the entire world to place everything under their feet.

We lived our daily lives.

As if we had to.

Meeting friends at school, laughing and chatting about TV programs we watched yesterday, spending time in the club room, buying delicious food with friends on the way home, and singing at karaoke.

Going on school trips, wearing cheerleader uniforms and cheering enthusiastically despite looking embarrassed. Having Christmas parties—

Come to think of it, it was fun.

That's why I wanted to protect it.

The brief happiness between continuing nightmares.

No—

That's not it.

The brief nightmares between continuing daily life. Trials between joyful memories. That's why we could overcome them.

"Let's postpone everything," Mom said.

"Let's postpone everything, put it all aside, and talk slowly after everything is over. First, let's finish what we haven't completed."

"B-But if we do that..."

"It's okay."

Mom said.

"Kotone, you've tried hard. This time, we'll try hard."

At Mom's words, my throat felt blocked and I couldn't respond.

"I, I, I..."

"I'm sorry."

There was nothing to be sorry for.

I just...

My thoughts weren't working properly.

Mom moved her foot again. The ice beneath our feet cracked more, creating more areas, bringing up more memories. From special memories like trips to faint and trivial everyday stories.

They were all my memories.

The world became increasingly precarious.

Mom opened her arms.

And embraced me.

Finally, I cried.

Sobbing loudly, like a child.

While holding Mom tightly.

What did I do right? All I did was make mistakes.

But Mom patted my back as if everything was fine. Without any basis, I felt like everything would be alright. Because that's how it always was when I was in Mom's arms.

In this world.

In my previous life.

It had always been that way.

No matter how old I got, it had always been that way.

Children gathered around me. Memories divided and divided again, becoming too numerous to count. More arms embraced me, and I felt warmth—

"Ready to go back?" Souta asked somewhat brightly.

In his hand was a red sword that looked just like the one I had held.

That sword was touching the floor that was about to break beneath us.

I nodded.

Souta applied force with his hand.

The floor broke, and we fell down.

Down, down.

To the world that wasn't a dream.

As I fell, someone held me tightly.

I thought it was Mom.