I stared at him as if he were a ghost-like appearance. Instantly, my knees grew weak, and my heart began pounding painfully against my ribcage. His dark eyes didn’t rest on me for even a second. Completely unperturbed, he walked past me, pressed the button for the 5th floor, and leaned against the wall of the elevator while pulling out a book.

Without much thought, I turned back around and positioned myself on the opposite side of the elevator, my gaze fixed firmly on him. He looked just as annoyingly good as I remembered, the only difference being that he now wore more casual clothing, appropriate for a hospital stay. His eyes were focused on the pages of his book, but since we weren’t alone, I didn’t dare speak to him directly.

At the 3rd floor, a few people exited, and I was relieved that no one else got on. As we continued ascending, Chishiya and I were the only ones left in the elevator. For the first time, he lifted his head and looked directly at me.

"Should I leave you a passport photo?" he asked.

At that moment, I realized I must not have been very subtle about staring at him. And his words confirmed my fear: he didn’t remember me. My cheeks burned with shame.

"You… don’t remember me, do you?" I asked anyway, full of hope that something might click if he looked at me long enough.

He blinked and furrowed his brow slightly.

"Should I know who you are?"

I bit down hard on my lip until I tasted blood. Hearing those words hurt more than I’d imagined.

The elevator reached the 5th floor, and the doors opened. Chishiya abruptly shut his book.

"Sorry, but you must be confusing me," he said, pushing off the wall and leaving me standing there, frozen.

Panicking, I grabbed my crutches and hobbled after him.

"Chishiya, wait!" I called out desperately.

Abruptly, he stopped and turned to face me slowly.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. I stumbled over my words.

"Well, uh… it’s a bit complicated to explain, but we’ve met before." Chishiya raised an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly as if considering. "Don't I look familiar to you?" I asked, looking at him expectantly.

Judging by his expression, he probably thought I’d lost my mind.

"No. And I can’t imagine how or where I would’ve met you."

He turned to leave again, and I limped after him.

"Chishiya! I can explain everything. You just have to listen to me for a moment."

Once more, he turned around, this time visibly annoyed.

"Listen, I don’t know you. I’m sure of it. So stop stalking me!" he said coldly.

He left me standing in the middle of the hallway. The painful tugging in my chest was almost unbearable, but I knew it was pointless to keep chasing after him. Our reunion couldn’t have gone worse. For now, there was nothing more I could do. Chishiya had made his stance abundantly clear. If Niragi told him I’d been waiting outside his room earlier, it would only make things worse.

Melancholy filled me as I watched him walk away until he was out of sight, leaving behind an emptiness in my heart. This bitter pain in my chest was unlike any heartbreak I’d ever experienced. It felt as though I were nothing more than an invisible phantom in his life—an illusion, unreal and unworthy of being remembered.

It hurt. It hurt so much. I wanted to scream, cry, and lash out, but I was paralyzed, unable to move. A nurse passing by asked if I was okay, but I couldn’t make out a single word she said. Completely detached, I turned around and walked back to the elevator as if in a trance.

Later, I couldn’t even remember how I made it back to my room. Once there, I collapsed onto the bed and pulled the blanket over my head. Only then did I cry.

"Izumi, what’s wrong? Where have you been?" Usagi’s voice was filled with concern, but I didn’t respond. Instead, I broke into loud sobs. Talking was impossible for me right now. But I heard her move closer and sit on the edge of my bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I sniffled.

"Okay, but if you change your mind… I am still here for tonight. But by tomorrow I’ll be discharged from the hospital."

I closed my eyes in resignation as tears streamed down my face again. The news that Usagi would be leaving me too didn’t help. I felt like the loneliest person in the world. Everyone I cared about was abandoning me. But what hurt the most was that Chishiya didn’t even remember who I was. All the memories we shared, all the things we’d been through together—it was all gone in an instant. What was the point of me remembering everything if I was the only one? No one would believe me.

"Have you remembered everything?" Usagi asked gently. "Is that why you’re so upset?"

"Mhm," I mumbled.

"Maybe the therapist was right when she said the events were too painful for us to bear, and that’s why we forgot them."

I abruptly threw the blanket off me.

"My memories aren’t the problem, Usagi," I replied bitterly. "The problem is that this boy and I are apparently the only ones who remember everything."

"What exactly do you mean by everything? Are you talking about what happened before the meteor strike?"

I shook my head.

"Forget it. It’s unimportant," I muttered glumly.

"Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?" Usagi’s tone grew more frustrated.

"Because everyone will think I’m crazy. It’s bad enough that Chishiya does. I’d hoped he would remember me the moment he saw me."

At the thought, another uncontrollable sob escaped me.

"Chishiya? So you were with him earlier? Is he a patient here too?"

I nodded silently.

"So, you remember him, but he doesn’t remember you?"

I nodded again.

"I see. And… you have feelings for him, don’t you?" she asked cautiously.

Ashamed, I covered my face with my hands and let out a desperate whimper.

She sighed.

"That must really hurt. But maybe his memories aren’t gone forever—just buried deep in his subconscious. Maybe they just need the right trigger to come back. After all, it took time for your memories to return. You just can’t give up, Tsuki."

It was the first time since Borderland that Usagi had called me by my first name. But it was her encouraging words that calmed my tears the most. They reminded me of something Chishiya once said to me when I was close to giving up. He’d said he admired my unwavering determination and never-ending optimism.

"You’re… right," I said slowly. "I shouldn’t… give up so easily."

Usagi smiled.

"Exactly. Maybe there’s still a chance he’ll remember you. You just have to keep trying."

"Thank you, Usagi… or Yuzuha?" I asked hesitantly.

"Call me whatever you like. And even though I’m leaving tomorrow, feel free to contact me anytime. You have my number."

I nodded, grateful for her kind offer. Maybe we would become close friends in the future—or perhaps we already were. Things in the real world seemed so different from Borderland.

Noticing that I wanted to be alone, Usagi stood up and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom.

Though I still felt awful, her words gave me a sliver of hope.

I turned around and stared at my phone, which was lying on the nightstand next to me. Hesitantly, I reached for it and opened the photo I’d taken the day before during the support group meeting. It was a picture where the handwritten phone numbers of all the participants were listed, including Niragi’s. I saved his number in my contacts and then nervously opened a new chat. I shook my head in disbelief. I must really be desperate if I was considering asking him for help. On the other hand, I had to admit to myself that he was my only chance to get Chishiya to listen to me.

𝙷𝚒 𝙽𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒!
𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝙸𝚣𝚞𝚖𝚒 𝚃𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚒 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙. 𝚆𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚛. 𝙸’𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝙸𝚝’𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚖 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚘𝚞𝚝. 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎, 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚢𝚊, 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚖, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝. 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚝? 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕!

I read through the text several times before hitting send. Since this was the first time we’d texted and I likely wasn’t in his contacts, I couldn’t tell if he’d read the message or if he was online. I also had no way of knowing how he’d react to my message. Still, I was determined to persuade him, no matter what. This was my only chance to speak to Chishiya again.

To my surprise, my phone vibrated just a few minutes later. I opened the message hastily:

𝙾𝚑, 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚖𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚎. 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎?

I groaned, annoyed. Of course, this wasn’t going to be easy. Why couldn’t Chishiya have been paired with someone more cooperative?

𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚍.

His response came within seconds:

𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎... 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎.

𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝙽𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒! 𝙸’𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐! 𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕... 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐...

𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

My hands visibly trembled as I read those words. Had Chishiya really said that, or was Niragi just messing with me?

𝙲𝚊𝚗’𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚒𝚖? 𝙸’𝚖 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞!!!

𝙷𝚖𝚖, 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔... 𝙽𝚘.

Frustrated, I threw my phone onto the mattress and screamed into my pillow.

"Arrrghh… that jerk!" I was so furious I nearly called him to yell at him personally.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated again. It was another message from Niragi. I opened it and read:

𝚃𝚘𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚠, 𝚊𝚝 𝟷𝟷 𝚊.𝚖., 𝚌𝚊𝚏é 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚔.
-𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚢𝚊

I stared at the message in disbelief, almost ready to cry from joy. My fingers trembled uncontrollably as I typed my response. I was sure Chishiya had written this himself.

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑, 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚢𝚊!
𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚝.
-𝚃𝚜𝚞𝚔𝚒

I wanted to write so much more. I wanted to tell him how much he meant to me and how deeply I missed him. But I knew it would be pointless as long as he didn’t remember me.

𝚂𝚘, 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚊 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞? 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠.

𝙾𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚎, 𝙽𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒. 𝙸’𝚖 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

Unbelievable that I would ever write something like that, but at this moment, it was the truth.

𝚆𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚊 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗? 👅

I grimaced in disgust and shivered briefly.

𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚗, 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔… 𝙽𝙾!

There was no reply for a while after that. But surely he couldn’t have seriously expected me to agree to such a ridiculous offer. I sighed when my phone vibrated again.

𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚓𝚘𝚋?

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝’𝚜 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞???

𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚎?

𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸’𝚍 𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚠.

𝚂𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚊 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚎. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I was tempted to type, Oh, trust me, I do, but I left it at that. The only thing that mattered to me at that moment was that Chishiya had agreed to meet with me.

That night, I slept far better than the one before, though I was still incredibly nervous about the meeting. In my mind, I tried to rehearse what I might say to him, hoping it would sound plausible. But realistically, there was no easy way to explain Borderland—it sounded more like a plot from a dystopian Netflix series than anything remotely real. Still, I had to trust that something might trigger his memories. Giving up was no longer an option.

I watched Usagi as she packed her few belongings after breakfast. I had to admit, her discharge from the hospital made me a little sad. Hopefully, I’d be released soon, too. But first, I needed to get through the conversation with Chishiya. This might be my only chance to explain everything to him.

“Alright, I’m heading out,” Usagi said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder.

I stood up from my bed and walked over to her.

“Okay. Safe travels home.”

She smiled warmly.

“Thanks, Tsuki. Keep at it, and let me know how things go.”

I nodded and smiled back as she turned to leave.

“I will. Bye.”

With a final wave, she was gone. I glanced briefly at the now-empty bed and wondered if someone new might arrive soon.

I looked at the clock. It was just past 10:00. Feeling jittery, I headed to the bathroom to put on some light makeup. The day before, I’d asked my mom to bring me some, and of course, she immediately assumed I’d met someone at the hospital. She wasn’t entirely wrong, though—it just wasn’t how she thought. With shaky hands, I freed my hair from its messy bun and used some styling mousse to tame my curls. Then, I pinned back the top half, leaving the rest loose. This time, I was satisfied with how I looked when I glanced in the mirror. I looked nice but not overly done, avoiding the impression that I had ulterior motives for our meeting.

I put on the best outfit I had with me and, as a final touch, packed my wallet, a deck of cards, and a pack of cookies into my bag. Leaving the room, I felt my heart racing as if I were about to go on a romantic date. But I knew this wasn’t anything close to a date—it was a recapture mission.

As I entered the premises, I looked up at the sky. The weather was much gloomier than in the past few days, but at least it wasn’t raining. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was only 10:39 a.m., but I had decided to arrive before him for several reasons. At the self-service café, I joined the line at the counter and ordered two coffees, one of them black. I remembered that Chishiya occasionally drank one when we lived together in the apartment. It was astonishing how many small details were slowly coming back to me—things I had thought were gone forever until recently.

With the coffee cups in hand, I walked toward a table somewhat removed from the others. I wanted to avoid anyone overhearing our conversation, if possible. Sitting down on one of the chairs, I unpacked the cookies and placed them on the table as well. The deck of cards, however, stayed in my bag for now. My fingers drummed nervously on the table. Inside and out, I was a bundle of nerves.

I glanced around the area briefly, but Chishiya was nowhere in sight. To distract myself, I looked at my phone and aimlessly scrolled through it. I was so worked up that I couldn’t form a single coherent thought. Then, a terrible thought crossed my mind—what if this was just a cruel prank by Niragi and he was going to show up any moment to mock me for my naivety?

Lost in my thoughts, I absentmindedly reached for my coffee cup and took a sip. Suddenly, a shadow fell across the table, and I looked up in surprise. Chishiya was standing right next to me. Startled by his sudden appearance, I choked on the hot drink and broke into a coughing fit.

“I didn’t know my presence would shock you so much,” he said, completely unfazed.

“Sorry…” I managed to sputter through teary eyes, trying to regain my composure.

Chishiya sat down in the chair across from me, crossed his legs, and leaned back with his hands in his jacket pockets. His mannerisms were still so familiar to me that I couldn’t help but smile.

“I still don’t entirely know why I’m here, but I’m listening.”

I let out a nervous giggle, hardly daring to meet his gaze. His cool demeanor could be quite intimidating to those who didn’t know him well. But I did know him. And I knew he could be completely different.

“I brought you coffee. Black. Just how you like it.”

Chishiya’s eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous edge to them.

I bit my tongue. I probably shouldn’t have said that.

“Don’t act like you know me.”

Embarrassed, I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and lowered my gaze.

“Sorry. Forget I said anything.”

“Just get to the point and stop wasting my time.”

His harsh words felt like a stab to my heart.

“Do you have something better to do? I mean, we’re in a hospital after all,” I joked lightly, trying to mask my pain. Chishiya didn’t laugh; he simply stared at me with his emotionless expression.

“Alright, alright. I’ll tell you everything. But... I have to warn you—it might sound a little absurd.”

“You don’t say,” he replied, completely unimpressed.

“First, I want to thank you again for coming at all. I know yesterday must have seemed strange to you. But let me make one thing clear: I’m not a stalker or anything.”

He gave a faintly mocking smile.

“Oh really? That’s a relief.”

The irony in his voice was impossible to miss. He didn’t believe me. Then again, every stalker would claim not to be one.

“Well, that didn’t sound convincing,” I admitted. “I’ll start from the beginning. You know by now that I’m here, just like you, because of what happened in Shibuya, right?”

“That’s a fair assumption.”

“Yes, and I’m guessing you also had a cardiac arrest during that time, didn’t you?”

Chishiya raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Let me guess—this is another fact you think you know about me.” I sighed a little. “Yes, I had a cardiac arrest,” he continued. “But so did about half the survivors. What are you trying to say?”

“That’s true. I was resuscitated as well. Do you happen to remember anything from the time when you were... dead?” I asked hesitantly.

This time, Chishiya frowned.

“You’re asking if I remember being dead?”

“I mean, did you have something like... a near-death experience? Did you see or feel anything?”

“Please don’t tell me you’re some undercover journalist working on a crazy ghost-hunting documentary.”

I rolled my eyes.

“No, I’m not a journalist. And this isn’t about ghosts—it’s about something I remembered when I was dead.”

“And now you’re going to tell me that you saw me during this so-called near-death experience and that’s why you’re obsessed with me now, right?” he asked with an amused undertone.

I took a deep breath.

“It’s not that simple. We were together in another place. A sort of limbo. It wasn’t just the two of us, though. There were others—people who were in Shibuya during the catastrophe. Like Niragi, for example.”

“Oh, so Niragi too. And what exactly did we do there?”

“Wait a second.” I reached for my bag and pulled out the deck of cards. I opened the lid, took out the Jack of Hearts, and slid it across the table to Chishiya. He leaned forward slightly, glanced briefly at the card, and then looked at me as though I were completely insane.

“Is this some cryptic message I’m supposed to decode?”

“What does this card remind you of?” I asked, watching him expectantly.

“You mean, aside from the obvious fact that it’s a playing card?”

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. How could he not remember anything?

“We were in that world to play life-and-death games. The reward for each game won was one of these cards. The players who made it to the final game were able to return to our world afterward. You and I participated in one of these games together. The game of the Jack of Hearts.”

I gestured to the card in front of him and watched him intently.

Chishiya remained silent for a while. Then he calmly picked up the coffee and took a sip. His expression was unreadable.

“Have you ever considered writing a novel? You’ve got quite an imagination—it could be a bestseller.”

I let out a heavy sigh and dropped my forehead onto the table in defeat.

“I’m. Not. Crazy.”

“No, but maybe you inhaled a bit too much smoke. Smoke inhalation can cause hallucinations and confusion. I don’t blame you.”

I growled in frustration and glared at him defiantly.

“I’m perfectly recovered. And besides—if I’m lying, how did I know your name?” I asked, challenging him.

“Probably because you’re a stalker?”

“Alright, I know more about you than just your name.”

“That doesn’t make it any less creepy.”

“I know things about you that no one else does—because you told me yourself, Chishiya.”

“Like what?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I know your parents are doctors and that you don’t have a good relationship with them. I also know you studied medicine to see if the loss of a human life would affect you.”

Chishiya stared at me, his expression betraying a flicker of surprise. But then his demeanor shifted, and he looked almost angry.

“How do you know that? I’ve never told anyone that.”

“Exactly. Because I’m telling the truth. You just don’t remember. I didn’t either—until a few days ago. But now, the memories are coming back piece by piece.”

Unexpectedly, Chishiya stood up.

“I think I’ve heard enough. Maybe you should consider seeing a therapist.”

He rummaged through his jacket pocket and placed a 500-yen coin on the table. “For the coffee,” he said simply.

Panicked, I jumped up from my chair.

“Chishiya! Please, don’t go!” I pleaded. “And you don’t have to pay for the coffee.”

“I don’t like owing anyone anything.”

With that, he turned and walked away. This time, I didn’t even try to stop him. Instead, I sank back into my chair, utterly defeated. I buried my face in my arms and cried softly into my sleeve.

I had lost him.

Forever.