The fire had dimmed to little more than smoldering embers, casting faint glows against the cool night. Masanori and Rin had long since drifted into sleep, their steady breathing the only sound accompanying the rustling of the wind.

  I wasn’t sure when sleep finally took me, but when it did, I wasn’t in the forest anymore.

  I was back in Tokyo.

  I knew it was Tokyo—not the illusion of another city, not a vague representation of a memory—but the real thing, crisp and vivid in my mind.

  The neon lights flickered against wet pavement. I heard the distant chime of a train arriving, the murmur of te-night crowds, the hum of vending machines glowing in the dark.

  And I was standing in the middle of a crosswalk, surrounded by the impossible nostalgia of a world I had long since left behind.

  "Strange, isn’t it?"

  A voice ced with honey and intrigue whispered just behind me.

  I turned sharply.

  And there she was.

  Not Akari.

  Not the frightened traveler who had tched onto us so carefully, so skillfully.

  But the real her.

  Asakura Mayume

  She stood beneath a glowing streetmp, her long violet robe draped elegantly over her frame, the fabric subtly shifting, its shade of deep indigo and midnight constantly shifting between shadow and reality.

  Her lips were curved in a knowing smirk, her deep violet eyes half-lidded, gleaming with amusement.

  "You dream of this pce often, don’t you?"

  My chest tightened.

  This wasn’t just a dream.

  She was inside my mind.

  "What are you doing here?" I demanded, my voice steadier than I felt.

  Mayume took a slow step forward, the soft click of her sandals against the pavement unnerving in how real it sounded.

  "You’re an interesting one, Jin," she murmured, ignoring my question entirely. "I’ve met many humans in my time, but none quite like you."

  I clenched my jaw. "Get out."

  She let out a soft ugh, tilting her head.

  "Now, now," she cooed. "No need to be hostile. I’m only here to… observe."

  And then, with a single flick of her fingers, the world shifted.

  A Glimpse Into the Past

  The sky distorted, the city blurring, warping—and suddenly, I wasn’t standing in the crosswalk anymore.

  I was inside a school hallway, the scent of dust and faint traces of cleaning chemicals lingering in the air.

  I knew this pce.

  This was where I had spent years of my life, where Reika and I had first met.

  And standing just ahead of me—

  Was her.

  Reika.

  Not the Demon Queen, not the towering colossus that could bend the world with her hands—

  But Reika from before.

  Her medium-length bck hair was tied zily back, her uniform slightly disheveled, as if she hadn’t bothered fixing it after gym css. She stood near a window, staring out over the school grounds, her expression as unreadable as ever.

  "She was always like this, wasn’t she?"

  Mayume’s voice was smooth, curious, as she slowly circled me, her long robes gliding against the floor.

  "Always so distant. Always staring into a world no one else could see."

  I turned sharply. "Don’t touch this memory."

  She merely smiled, unfazed.

  "Why does it bother you?" she asked softly, watching as the scene pyed out.

  I didn’t answer.

  Because I knew what was coming.

  Reika turned, her sharp amethyst eyes locking onto mine, her lips curling into that small, rare smirk she used when she was amused by something I had said.

  "You’re staring again," she had told me that day, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  "I was just making sure you weren’t plotting anything," I had shot back.

  She had ughed—not the hollow, detached chuckle she gave her enemies now, but a real, genuine ugh.

  And just like that, the memory began to dissolve, melting into smoke—

  Mayume had seen enough.

  The Truth of Tokyo

  The world shifted again.

  This time, it wasn’t a memory.

  It was a concept.

  The idea of Tokyo, stretching endlessly, its streets woven into the fabric of my very being—and now, Mayume stood among them, walking through my thoughts as if they were a grand library for her to peruse at leisure.

  "A fragile world," she murmured, running her fingers over the surface of a vending machine, watching as its buttons flickered under her touch.

  "A world where power doesn’t dictate survival. Where gods don’t rule. Where demons don’t exist."

  Her fingers glided over the smooth steel of a train station railing, watching as the commuters moved like clockwork, completely unaware of her presence.

  "This world is fascinating," she continued, almost to herself.

  I gritted my teeth. "You don’t belong here."

  She chuckled softly. "No, I don’t."

  Her gaze flickered upward, watching as the Tokyo skyline stretched infinitely, neon signs blinking in an endless loop of human ambition.

  "And yet…" She exhaled, turning toward me, her violet eyes gleaming with something unreadable. "Wouldn’t it be amusing if I did?"

  My chest tightened.

  "What?"

  Mayume’s lips curved, slow and deliberate.

  "This world has no gods, no monsters, no demons ruling from the shadows. It is orderly, structured… fragile."

  She took a step forward, her robes shifting like mist around her frame.

  "Imagine what would happen if someone like me… stepped into it."

  My heart hammered against my ribs.

  *"You—" I swallowed. "You can’t."

  "Oh, but I could."

  She tilted her head, amusement flickering behind her violet gaze.

  "And wouldn’t it be beautiful?"

  The city warped around us, skyscrapers twisting, dissolving into shadows of themselves, like a dream being rewritten.

  "A world so blissfully unaware… ripe for the taking."

  I clenched my fists.

  "You don’t understand this pce," I muttered. "It’s not like this world. You wouldn’t—"

  "Wouldn’t what?" she interrupted smoothly. "Wouldn’t be able to control it?"

  She ughed, the sound rich and velvety, ced with something almost intoxicating.

  "Jin, I don’t need to break a world like this."

  Her fingers glided along the edge of a streetlight, watching as the gss flickered under her touch.

  "I could simply… step inside. And no one would even know I was there."

  I felt a chill run through me.

  Because she was right.

  In a world where power was unseen, where wars were fought with influence, information, control rather than strength—someone like Mayume wouldn’t need to conquer Tokyo the way demons invaded human cities.

  She could bend it from the inside out.

  She could rule it without anyone even realizing they were being ruled.

  "And you," she continued, her gaze locking onto mine, "are the key to that world, aren’t you?"

  I stepped back instinctively, but the air around me felt heavier, suffocating, like the very dream was pressing against me.

  "Tell me, Jin," she whispered, her voice brushing against my thoughts like silk.

  "How does one step through the door of a world untouched by gods?"

  I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to resist the unnatural pull of her voice.

  "It doesn’t matter," I snapped. "You’ll never set foot there."

  Mayume merely smiled, the kind of smile that said she had already won something I didn’t know I had lost.

  "We’ll see."

  And then, with a flick of her fingers—

  The city shattered into darkness.

  And I woke up gasping for air.