In a small apartment, far from the noise of the city, where nothing resided but silence—even that creeping through the whispers of the wind slipping in through the narrow cracks in the windows—Isai was deep in sleep. The room cked light, as if avoiding the day's brightness; only a few scattered rays managed to filter through old, worn curtains—aged as time itself. The walls, draped in the lines of age, breathed a heavy silence that echoed through every corner, as though they preserved secrets yet to be revealed.

  At that moment, everything around him was in a strange slumber, as if the world had decided to stop spinning for his sake, and the universe itself had chosen to leave him where he was, drifting in that solitude, in a state of perpetual stillness. The earth around him, and the sky above, seemed afraid to disturb him, remaining alert for whatever might come after that moment in which time seemed to have lost consciousness. In that room, where nothing moved but the wind whispering soft sounds, Isai was basking in his stillness, as though life itself had chosen to leave him be—at least for now.

  The room lived in utter silence, almost entirely dark, if not for a few threads of light sneaking through those old curtains, as if refusing to yield to time. The walls bore the marks of past eras—every crack and every crease on their surface telling an old story, a tale long forgotten by the city, but still remembered by this room. It was this room—alone—that bore witness to those moments long gone, while time tried its best to ignore them.

  In that heavy atmosphere, Isai sat on the edge of his bed, trying to make sense of his surroundings. His daily life passed as usual—nothing new, nothing that caught his attention. A typical teenager’s life, as everyone thought. But deep inside, he knew all too well that he wasn’t like other teenagers. There was a void in his heart, one that grew wider with every passing day. He was alone. Yes, alone—not merely from a ck of people, but because the loneliness he lived wasn’t about isotion from others; it was deeper. It was the absence of family, the absence of warmth, the absence of those little touches that make a person feel they have a pce in this world. He had lost his parents in a mysterious accident—an accident that had turned him into nothing more than a shadow drifting through life, with no purpose but to endure.

  Isai woke on the morning of December tenth to a sudden sound. His mobile phone, which had slipped from his hand, had shattered on the floor. Its small parts scattered across every corner—just like his life, which had become a broken piece beyond repair. He stared at the broken phone, something catching his eye. A moment—just a moment—and he remained seated at the edge of his bed in deep silence. He slowly reached out his hand to try to turn the phone on, but it was no use—it was completely shattered, as though his very being had been broken, with no hope left of fixing it.

  “Perfect…” he whispered to himself, his words falling softly, scattering in the air, “As if my life needed more complication.”

  He sighed in boredom, his dark red eyes glowing faintly with a sting fatigue, as though all the world’s ashes had gathered within them. He felt an unexpinable exhaustion, as if his body no longer had the strength to carry his soul. He rubbed his eyes instinctively, and felt his fingers slide through his silky bck hair. It was as though every movement across his hair was an attempt to recover something—something lost he couldn’t quite define. His fingers slowly passed through the strands, as if trying to touch a part of his lost self

  He stared out the window, where the streets met the foggy sky. Nothing caught his attention. Everything was hazy, as if the city had disappeared into a thick mist enveloping it. Life outside continued as usual, while he was lost in his scattered thoughts, in a long silence, where nothing seemed worthy of attention—except the fact that a new day had begun.

  He finally stood up, as if gravity itself was resisting him. There was something heavy in his body, as though the earth itself was pulling his feet downward. He walked slowly toward the bathroom, closed the door behind him, and left the room—leaving it empty, as it had always been. The room was the only pce he owned, but now it had become hollow, just as he felt deep inside.

  He spent a few moments washing his face with cold water. The water touched his skin as if trying to wake him from a strange state that had taken hold of him—a numbness he couldn’t trace the origin of. When he came out of the bathroom, he gnced quickly at the mirror, and his eyes were not pleased with what they saw. He threw a quick look at himself, then hastily changed out of his pajamas into some comfortable clothes. He had grown used to these moments, used to this calm, this deep silence that had become an inseparable part of him—a part of his day, a part of his life that moved in endless, empty circles.

  Isai, who had decided to go out to buy a new phone after life lost a bit of its bance in that small apartment, was walking along the crowded sidewalk, his light steps aimless. At first, his steps were natural, as if life was continuing its course around him as usual, but he soon began to feel something strange creeping into his chest—an uncomfortable sensation, a weight he could not see but could feel pressing on him. With every step he took, the road seemed to grow longer and more unsettling.

  The air was saturated with a strange heat, filled with shadows that defied expnation. The heat crept into his body, clung to him like a part of a burden he was trying to shed.

  "Why do I feel so heavy?" Isai wondered to himself as his feet dragged him forward without awareness. "Is this what they call hopelessness? Has it crept into me without me noticing?"

  As he kept walking, the eyes of passersby met—touching briefly in those fleeting moments—as if they shared the same worry, the same unease. But none of them dared to voice what was in their hearts. The conversations among the crowd grew fainter, as if everyone feared to speak the truth. Everything around them felt mysterious, and everything they saw cked life.

  The shops along the street, as usual, were full of bright goods and the voices of street vendors, but strangely, Isai felt no pull toward them. Everything seemed devoid of meaning, as if the things around him no longer told their familiar stories.

  "What’s going on?" he whispered to himself as he walked past the shops. "I feel like I’m in a pce that isn’t mine… in a time that doesn’t belong to me."

  As he passed by one of the stores, the faces he saw—reflections of their lights scattered across the window gss—felt as though something was missing. The faces were vacant, their eyes reflecting clouds, as if they were surrounded by something invisible pressing on their chests. No one dared to look at him for long, but those fleeting gnces were enough to stir unease within him.

  "What is this day hiding?" Isai said quietly to himself, trying to catch his breath among the crowd. "Are we all living in the same chaos? Is this feeling that’s consuming me just a reflection of what everyone else is going through? Or am I the only one feeling this way?"

  The atmosphere was thick with a blend of inaudible conversations and whispers barely understood. Everything inside him screamed, while he, with his intangible feeling, struggled against that inner noise.

  Then suddenly, a thunderous sound sliced through the silence of the street like a falling bde. A massive explosion shook the ground beneath his feet, as if the heart of the city itself had trembled. The sound filled the sky with force—a resonance that struck the ears violently—as if the entire city had been set abze. Everything froze for a moment, and time colpsed into a single instant—the one that followed the sound. It was a sound that seemed to carry all the world's intensity, as if decring something unimaginable.

  The people around him froze in pce, their faces distorted with shock, as though everything had turned to stone around them.

  “What… what is that?” Isai whispered to himself, standing still as the ground trembled beneath him. In that moment, everything around him seemed distant and unreal. His heart retreated as he felt its beats accelerating unnaturally.

  Then, as his eyes turned toward a horizon igniting within the fog, he quickly spun around and saw a massive cloud of smoke rising from a nearby district, as if the city itself had set fire to its own heart. The smoke was thick, wrapping the pce like a bck storm, sweeping over everything in its path. The city itself seemed to groan from its wounds, as if shocked by the explosion that had pierced it.

  "This can't be real," Isai murmured as he struggled to breathe in the heavy air. His feelings were torn between fear and worry—something was chasing him from within. He couldn't stop his heart from racing.

  And in that moment, a strange instinct pushed him to run. It wasn't a time for thinking or hesitation—he just bolted forward, without fully understanding why. Something deep within him was driving him toward the explosion, toward the chaos engulfing everything. Was it curiosity? Or was it something deeper—something he couldn’t expin?

  “What’s happening here? Why do I feel like I’m running toward something I can’t escape from?” Isai whispered to himself as he kept running. The streets of the city grew hazier, as if life itself was receding, leaving behind a void filled with mist. Each step he took felt like a heavy dream, where everything around him seemed strange and disconnected from reality. The air was dense, as if the city itself was watching from afar, waiting for the moment when everything would colpse.

  By the time Isai arrived at the scene, it was already too te. Dawn had passed in a fsh, and the city had turned upside down. Chaos had swept through every corner of the area. Blood stained the sidewalks, and destruction consumed every space. Thick bck smoke formed a curtain over the streets, and the crumbling buildings cast long shadows over the horrific scene.

  Screams filled the air—rising and vanishing between the colpsing structures. People ran in all directions, their eyes filled with fear and sorrow, screaming and searching for their loved ones trapped under the debris. The cries echoed across the horizon, but terror was stronger than everything else.

  “Where am I? Is this really the world I live in?” Isai felt something strange tightening in his chest—a mix of terror and worry flooding his heart. He didn’t know if he should cry or run. His entire life, all those fleeting moments, fshed before him like scattered threads in the wind. *Could everything really have changed?* he asked himself, standing amidst the destruction. *Could this be what was waiting for me?*

  At that moment, Isai felt as though the city itself was colpsing, as if everything around him had started to decay. He was at the heart of the storm, surrounded by loss, and every passing moment only added weight to his being—drowning him in a sense of helplessness he couldn’t escape.

  As Isai ran through the rubble, his eyes darted between the debris in a desperate attempt to find anyone still alive. The atmosphere was charged with chaos, and the air stained with thick smoke that made breathing harder. It felt as though the entire city had withered under the weight of time and space. Screams of fear echoed through the corners of the streets, nearly tearing through the tense silence.

  He suddenly stopped in front of a pile of debris, where a clear struggle between life and death had taken pce. The bodies y sprawled on the ground—some half-exposed, others buried beneath scattered ruins. He approached cautiously, his heart pounding harder with each step. Every time his eyes nded on a new corpse—or met the gaze of someone who was barely alive—a fresh wave of shock hit him. Some of those eyes stared back at him with a look no words could describe.

  "What happened here?" Isai muttered in a trembling voice as he looked around in panic. He wondered if he had arrived too te. But his heart was beating wildly in his chest, and the sound itself seemed to rise from the depths of the earth, warning him of something.

  He approached an elderly man pinned beneath a massive piece of concrete. The man's eyes shimmered with confusion, and his blood was dripping slowly onto the ground. Isai tried to help him—but stopped abruptly. The eyes staring back at him were completely empty.

  The truth hit him. His body trembled from the pain inside.

  That look... was a storm.

  It shattered him.

  Here’s the transtion of the text into English, maintaining the original tone and details:

  He said in a trembling voice, stepping back a step, "No, no... he... was alive just a moment ago. But what happened after that was even more bitter." He approached a young woman whose face was covered by some debris, his heart pounding faster as he carefully removed the rubble from her. Her eyes were open, but lifeless, and everything in her body was still, as if she were sleeping in eternal stillness. "No, no... no..." Isai whispered softly, his fingers trembling, blood dripping from the tips of his hands holding the concrete. "Is this... real?" Every part of his body was shaking in panic. His emotions cshed violently between compassion and fear. How could this be possible? Where was the life? Where were those souls that used to fill the streets with hope? The pce was now soaked with only fear, and all hope had ended with the deafening sound of the explosion. Isai whispered to himself in weak murmurs, trying to breathe normally in this suffocating atmosphere. "What if I wasn’t here? What if I... were the one in their pce now?" He moved with heavy steps, his senses disoriented, feelings of helplessness filling his heart. His hands were shaking violently, and the closer he got to another person, the stronger the pain in his chest. And each victim seemed to ask something from him that was impossible to fulfill. "What can I do?" he whispered in a broken voice. "All this devastation, all this destruction... am I just a witness to this chaos?" Then, while standing in the middle of this scene, he felt something strange filling the air. It was as if the ghosts surrounding him were watching every move, waiting for a moment empty of hope to explode into it. His courage was gradually breaking down with every passing moment, and the whole world seemed to be crumbling beneath his feet. In the heart of the destruction that the city was sinking into, amidst the scattered debris and the rising fmes pying in the sky like hellish tongues, Isai was running through the chaos. Everything around him breathed panic, and every time he looked at the terrified faces, he saw fear sweeping over them as if it were a force no one could escape. But amidst this endless range of confusion and madness, something caught his attention sharply. The man with white hair was standing in the middle of the fmes, surrounded by darkness and fire as if he were part of that hell itself. His bck coat fluttered in the air like the wings of a demon, and his white hair danced in the fmes. Nothing could stop him, nothing could affect him. He stood like a rock in the middle of the sea, his eyes watching the girl who was in his grip. The girl with short red hair, desperately trying to avoid his grip. She tried to escape, her resistance growing every time she tried to break free, and each of her attempts crashed against the walls of the invisible power surrounding her. Her eyes were burning with anger and despair, but there was something else in her eyes... something very deep, like tears that had not been shed yet, as if she carried a lost hope, a hope in her ability to survive. The man with white hair spoke in a calm voice, but his words were as poisonous as knives: "You won’t escape from me, will you?" The girl breathed heavily, her body trembling under the iron grip. But she responded, her attempt to speak weak and filled with confusion and blood falling from her deep wounds: "I... wasn’t the one who did it..." she whispered painfully, as if the words themselves were hurting her, as though they were almost tearing her from within. Isai stood at a distance, his eyes fixed on what was happening before him, frozen in pce. He couldn’t move a finger, as if gravity itself had pyed with him, making him stay where he was, watching only this nightmare unfold before him. In his heart, something was growing, a strange feeling, a sense that something bigger than this struggle was happening before him, he felt it in the air, questioning it through the silence between his fingers.

  The fmes devoured the sky, and every time those fshes scattered, the girl in his grip struggled, clinging to hope that was slowly slipping away from her hands. Her strength was wearing thin, and every time she tried to escape, his grip tightened on her.

  A moment of heavy silence passed, as though time itself had stopped in that decisive moment. Their eyes met in a space of nothingness, and every part of the scene seemed to scream. But no one could hear the sound. Isai was at the heart of that moment, unable to move, paralyzed in front of the truth that was unfolding before him.

  Then, suddenly, the man moved slowly, loosening his grip on the girl, and she fell from the sky like a broken piece of wood. The impact with the ground was like a storm, and the sound Isai heard from that blow was deafening, as if everything in the world had shattered. The girl y on the ground, her body broken and motionless, and life had completely left her. The sight was heart-wrenching, but Isai felt something inside him screaming.

  "Is she... is she dead?" Isai whispered, his voice confused, and the tears that were about to fall from his eyes he couldn't hold back. But he didn't shed them.

  But suddenly, the girl began to move. It was slow at first, as if her body had decided to repair itself piece by piece. Her shattered head slowly returned to its natural state. Her features were renewed beneath the scars. The sight was almost miraculous, and Isai watched in astonishment he couldn’t expin. It was as if life itself was smiling at him despite all this darkness.

  The man with white hair spoke with a tone mixed with mockery as he observed this remarkable regeneration: "Wow... she really has it."

  Isai couldn't believe what was happening before him. His mind refused to accept what he was seeing. But he felt something strange pulling him, something he couldn’t define, as if part of him was beginning to change. Perhaps he, too, was part of this story, part of this struggle that seemed like it would never end.

  The fmes devouring the horizon set the sky abze, while the pce where this destruction had gathered stood still in a moment that seemed timeless, amidst the rubble of buildings and the shattered memories. Isai stood in the heart of the storm. That moment, where he was between life and death, between fear and astonishment, his mind was incapable of fully grasping it.

  As the fmes danced like evil ghosts, at the heart of this chaos, the man with white hair turned toward Isai, his gaze gleaming like electrically charged gss. His deep blue eyes resembled a stormy sea, but there was something strange in those eyes that made you feel this man was not of this world. He was gazing at Isai with an expression that couldn’t be expined, as if he were seeing beyond the veil that separated humans from the unknown.

  The man spoke in a calm voice, but his words were heavy, filled with mystery: "You... the boy who managed to cross my barriers. Impressive."

  Those words were like a shock, falling into Isai’s heart like waves of astonishment, as if they had descended upon his mind from another world. A barrier? What barrier was he talking about? His mind screamed, trying to comprehend what he had said, but everything was wrapped in a cloud of increasing mystery.

  Isai felt something within him, a strange feeling that pulled his heart toward the man. He realized that what he was saying wasn’t just empty words, but a truth. And as his thoughts raced, he took another step forward, a step into the unknown, toward the answer that was swirling in his mind like a never-ending storm.

  But before he could move further, the man with white hair suddenly turned completely toward him, his calm blue eyes resembling a glimpse of the calm sky on a clear day, as if his eyes held within them the endless horizon, gleaming as if he had discovered something unexpected. He looked at him deeply, and when he spoke, his words filled the air as if they carried something of the world’s secrets:"You... are a strange boy. Maybe there's something special about you... or maybe you're just another chaos in this world."

  Those words were heard as if they were part of a bigger puzzle. Isai felt as though he was drowning in an ocean of endless questions. And every time he tried to figure out what to know, his eyes kept shifting between the red-haired girl, who was still on the ground, their gazes meeting for a few seconds, filled with questions, before turning into different tears. The girl was still in her difficult position, trying to lift her body, burdened with pain.

  With difficulty, the girl rose and sat, her eyes still fixed on the pain her body felt. Her trembling hands slowly lifted her renewed head, as if she were trying to comprehend what had just happened. As she felt the sharp pain, her hoarse voice struggled to emerge:

  "My head... it hurts. What happened?"

  Her words were broken, the pain cutting her words before they could even escape, but there was something else in her eyes, something from the confusion that was hard to expin. The pain still in her body was not the most affecting thing on her; there was something bigger than that. Questions were invading her mind, building a wall of doubts inside her that she couldn't escape.

  At that moment, Isai stood still, his heart beating rapidly, and an odd feeling washed over him. He felt as if time had frozen around him. The city, which lived in chaos at its edges, suddenly quieted, and the whole world seemed to fall silent, leaving him alone in this obsession. He breathed heavily, his eyes capturing the scene unfolding before him as if it were part of a dream he couldn't escape from.

  The words intertwined in his mind, each moment resembling the other, yet leaving behind marks that couldn't be erased. Every movement, every breath, indicated that something bigger was about to happen. The girl, whose veins flowed with power that Isai's mind couldn't grasp, was also feeling confused, as if waking up from something she didn't know, something she hadn't understood yet.

  The girl spoke again, trying to piece together the scattered threads of memory: "I wasn't... What’s happening here? Who are you? What happened?"

  Her voice, filled with questions, pointed to that gap between what she knew and what she was facing now. It was clear that the shock was taking everything from her, all her senses, and all her awareness.

  Isai didn't know what to say. Words were not enough to expin what he felt. There was this pressure in his chest, an uncomfortable feeling, as if the entire universe was watching that moment. There was only one truth he knew now: nothing would ever be the same.

  As the fires bzed on the horizon, and the turbulence continued to fill the air with fury, Isai stood dumbfounded before the man with white hair, who seemed to have the ability to extract answers from the chaos of this destroyed world. But the words spoken by the man were not just passing words; they were stronger than that, piercing his heart like knives.

  "What do you mean by barrier?" Isai asked in a shaky voice, as if what the man had said had broken something inside him. Questions raced in his mind, mingling with the fear of the unknown, and he was unable to comprehend what was happening around him.

  The man with white hair smiled a strange smile, one that seemed not of this world. His blue eyes, which carried a mysterious glow, reflected the light that bzed around them. He spoke in a calm voice, as if telling an ancient tale: "Don’t worry... Since my arrival here, I created a barrier of energy that prevents anyone from seeing me, or even sensing my presence." He then suddenly opened his eyes towards Isai and continued, pointing at the girl standing next to him: "But you, and this mischievous girl, managed to break through it easily... And that means one thing..."

  The man stopped his sentence dramatically, then smiled widely, as if he was waiting for a moment he had long anticipated. He raised his hands enthusiastically, and the light that reflected off of him illuminated the surroundings, making him appear like a being from another world. Then, with excitement in his voice, as if his words were pouring from his heart with passion, he said:

  "You both possess etheric energy just like mine. By the way, what should I call you?"

  In that moment, everything around Isai seemed to fade, the fmes, the people, everything was in a state of stillness. The question the man with white hair asked was too powerful for them to comprehend at that moment. The only word that caused a whirlwind of confusion in his mind was "wild energy." He could not deny that feeling which had been accompanying him for a long time, that strange sensation creeping into his core, but to be part of this unknown world himself—it was more than mere doubt.

  The girl with the red hair stood next to Isai, her eyes still full of confusion, staring at the man as though trying to solve a riddle with no answer. Isai, who was trying to find himself amidst this storm of thoughts, felt a tense stillness that paralyzed his movements. His gaze moved between the girl and the man, as if they represented something he could not fully understand.

  Then, in an eerie silence, it was Yuki who moved first, despite the pain still coursing through her body. She stood up slowly, taking a small step toward the man, then stood upright as though the words she was about to speak required all of her strength. Finally, she said, in a calm voice but ced with extreme caution:

  "My name is Arai Yuki."

  But before Yuki could finish her sentence, Isai broke the silence that had settled around them. His mouth was dry, his hands trembling from the emptiness that filled his heart, but his desire to answer was greater than anything else.

  "And I am Ozoraki Isai," the words rushed from his lips, as though he were trying to rid himself of the immense pressure pressing on his chest. His breath was tight, his mind filled with conflicting thoughts, but he knew there was no other way, and that answering that question was the real beginning of what would come next.

  That meeting, with those words, with those energies beginning to scatter around them, felt like the beginning of the end. When the man with the white hair said their names, his eyes shone with admiration, as if he had discovered something new, something that would change everything.

  "Arai Yuki and Ozoraki Isai..." he said in a soft voice, as though writing their names in an ancient book, one that could never be erased.

  There was a moment of silence, but it was heavy, filled with questions that had no answers yet. Isai stood there, feeling something strange passing through his body, something deep and invisible connecting him to the girl standing beside him, and to this man who had become, for him, part of the riddle he could no longer escape from.

  "You truly are special, but the question now," said the man, lifting his head toward the sky, as if seeing something far off in the horizon. "What will you do with this power?"

  Shinsaki Saki lifted his head again, as if recalling something important, then gnced briefly at Yuki and Isai, smiled widely, but it was a strange smile, as if it contained something he hadn't yet revealed. He said, looking at them:

  "I forgot to introduce myself. I’m Shinsaki Saki... it’s a pleasure to meet you, children."

  His words caught the attention of both Isai and Yuki simultaneously, and the confusion in their eyes turned to deep astonishment. Yuki involuntarily raised an eyebrow, then asked with a questioning voice, as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard:

  "Children? How old are you exactly?"

  Shinsaki ughed lightly, a fleeting ugh, as if the question seemed odd to him, as if talking about his age had become irrelevant. He replied in a calm voice, but his tone was full of sarcasm.

  "I may look young, but in reality, I’m thirty years old."

  Those words were like a lightning strike that hit Isai's heart. He bit his lower lip, and astonishment surged in his eyes. His surprise was clearly visible on his face, as if the earth had trembled beneath his feet. He spoke hesitantly, his voice filled with question and confusion, as if trying to process what he had just heard:

  "Thirty? Are you joking?"

  Shinsaki smiled confidently, but behind that smile was something else, something mischievous. Then, with a calm tone but surrounded by a hint of coldness, he said:

  "I'm not joking. The etheric energy slows down aging. It seems like you’re new to this world, aren't you?"

  Those words were a wake-up call for Isai, and everything began to intertwine in his mind in an illogical way. A strange feeling swept through him, and the words themselves felt like chains binding him to something greater than what was moving, but he couldn't respond. All he felt was a wave of questions racing in his mind, trying to connect the pieces of the puzzle that was starting to unfold before him.

  But Yuki wasn't going to let things slide easily. Her eyes were still fixed on him, her gaze carrying a constant caution. But finally, she spoke in a more serious voice while looking at Shinsaki, as if she wanted to extract a clear answer from him.

  "And why did you try to kill me?"

  Shinsaki slowly turned around, as if the question was no more than a detail in his long story. He moved toward them step by step, as if he were in no hurry. The atmosphere around him was charged with a mix of mystery and indifference. He said, with a tone full of confidence, while smiling a strange smile on his face, which almost seemed provocative:

  "I was just testing your courage. Pure curiosity."

  Shinsaki's words carried a heavy sarcasm, as if his life was just a game, while he stood there, indifferent to the pain Yuuki was feeling. Her eyes were burning with anger, her voice, once filled with astonishment, was now turning into intense fury. She was about to strike, every part of her body wanting to lunge at him, but Isai was quicker in his reaction.

  "Arai-san, no!" Isai decred quickly, extending his hand to grab hers before she could lunge forward. His hands were tense, his eyes filled with concern as he tried to restrain her anger in that moment.

  But Shinsaki ughed, his faint ugh growing louder, as if he were enjoying every second of this escating tension. "Oh, is that a threat?" he said, watching with joy as Isai tried to calm Yuuki. Then he added, in an even more mocking tone, ughing louder.

  "This is funny. Are you really this young?"

  Yuki’s eyes were on the verge of overflowing with rage, and her stomach churned from the intensity of her emotions. But she stopped for a moment, a sudden wave of caution washing over her when she saw just how much Shinsaki was enjoying the situation. She didn’t know what he was trying to do to them, but one thing she was certain of: this man was not ordinary, and everything he said carried a mystery that could not be ignored.

  Yuki gradually calmed down, her breathing slowly returning to normal after those intense moments she had lived. She felt that there was something deeper than anger nesting in her heart, but she chose to set it aside for now. Isai, despite his calm expression, felt worry creeping into his heart. Still, he reassured her with words he didn’t quite know why he said—but he knew he had to keep her calm in that moment.

  “We’ll get our revenge at the right time, Arai-san,” he whispered gently, as if those words were the key to easing her tension. His eyes were deep, as if searching for something distant behind her words, as if they were decring war on everything Shinsaki represented.

  Then he turned to Shinsaki with eyes full of both worry and caution. His mind was buzzing with questions he couldn’t fully digest. He made up his mind and decided to confront him. He spoke in a low but sharp voice:

  “Shinsaki-san… what do you mean by ethereal energy?”

  Shinsaki raised his eyebrows slightly. The question had been expected, but there was something in his expression that hinted at displeasure with Isai’s urgent tone. It was a calcuting look, as if he were assessing him at that very moment. Then, in a sudden motion, he extended his arms wide before them, as though he were about to reveal a great secret. His hands floated in the air as if he were on the verge of inaugurating a historic moment, and he said in a deep, secretive voice:

  “And that’s why I’m here… to take you both to another world.”

  A heavy silence fell. Time seemed to pass slowly—as if it had frozen, listening to what he had just said. Shinsaki’s words hung in the air, having a strange effect on both Isai and Yuki. Isai stood there, his eyes shifting across Shinsaki’s face as if searching for an expnation to make sense of that sudden statement. Yuki, on the other hand, struggled to keep her mouth closed—her astonishment pounding within her heart, her eyes watching him as if trying to read what y behind those disturbing words.

  But as if to relieve them from that tension, Shinsaki let out a light chuckle—a carefree ugh, tinged with amusement. His ughter carried no concern; it was simply an extension of the whimsical attitude he lived by. Then he said, waving his hands in the air as though brushing off the drama he’d just created:

  “Just kidding,” he added, continuing in a voice full of amusement, “Are you really that upset?”

  But the idea didn’t leave Isai or Yuki that easily. Silence cut through the air between them once again—but this time, it carried something different. Something tense, something repressed. Isai was trying to comprehend what had just happened. Every part of his mind was working to solve the riddle Shinsaki had just dropped in two short sentences. His heart pounded fiercely, as if this moment would be burned into his memory forever. As for Yuki, she took a loud breath, as if regaining her ability to breathe after those tense moments. But her eyes remained locked on Kurosaki—she couldn’t take the matter lightly, and every cell in her body refused to believe it.

  “You’re strange,” Yuki finally said, looking at him with a confused expression. Her tone was full of hesitation, as if trying to process everything that had just happened.

  “Strange?” Shinsaki ughed again, but this time his ughter held more emotion—less mockery, more mencholy, as though it came from deep within, as though he were remembering a distant moment lost in time.

  Then Isai turned toward Shinsaki as well, watching the reactions unfold. Shinsaki’s hand remained extended before them, as if offering them an opportunity that could not be refused—or an invitation that must be answered. His hands hung in the air, an expression of something profound… something fateful… something that perhaps surpassed everything else.

  The moment Isai and Yuki stood before Shinsaki was a pivotal one. The air around them was thick with something heavy, and time itself seemed to have stopped, charging the moment with the unknown. Shinsaki’s words echoed in the space around them, flowing gracefully into their ears, as if each letter was sinking deep into their hearts: “But believe me… You’ll find the answer to your question if you come with me.”

  His words were like strange music, carrying a mysterious tone that stirred curiosity and sowed doubt. Isai stood stunned, staring at Shinsaki’s outstretched hands, his eyes shifting between his face and the air that had grown denser around them. Those extended hands were like an invitation into the unknown — a call to a world he did not know, a world that might change everything.

  Yet despite it all, something inside Isai — something strange and confusing — pushed him to peer into the depths of this man who radiated a strange confidence, a confidence so overwhelming it seemed to consume the space around him. He knew this moment wasn’t just a test of strength or courage — it was a moment that would define his fate. His heart pounded at an unusual pace, its rhythm matching the stillness of his feet that refused to move forward.

  As for Yuki, her expression revealed deep hesitation. Her eyes watched Shinsaki with caution, following every move, every word that came from him. But she also felt something else... something that hinted at a challenge. Part of her wanted to rebel, to fight back against this man who filled the air with unsettling stares — yet another part of her whispered that she couldn’t remain a passive observer in this scene. She was used to a life full of action and constant challenges, but this moment was different — it was unexpected.

  She spoke in a trembling voice, as if gathering her strength: “What guarantees this isn’t a trap?”

  Shinsaki let out a deep ugh — one that carried a hint of mockery, yet also held a kind of harsh wisdom earned through time. He looked at Yuki, his eyes gleaming as if the ughter itself carried a kind of magic. “A trap?” he said, raising an eyebrow, then added in a tone that was almost warm: “No one guarantees anything in this world. What did you think? That life would remain the same forever? That you’ll stay safe where you are?”

  His voice drifted gently through the air, carrying with it a tone of irresistible intrigue, as if he were saying: “You’ve missed out on so much. And if you stay here, you’ll remain stuck in an endless loop.”

  Yuki responded in a quieter voice, though her words carried a bitter sarcasm: “I think life will stay the same for me… as long as I deal with people like you.”

  Suddenly, Isai’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he turned to Yuki, adding a brief moment of light amid the heavy fog of mystery. “Looks like Arai-san is getting a little too serious. But that’s fine — Shinsaki might have to fix that impression,” he said with a pyful smile.

  Shinsaki ughed again, but this time his ugh was a mix of mockery and admiration, as if their remarks had become a source of entertainment in the middle of this tense moment. *“You two talk as if you’re in a dream. Life isn’t always like it is in stories, kids.”

  As these words filled the air, Isai stood at a crossroads in both his mind and heart. His gaze shifted between the outstretched hand before him and Yuki’s hesitant eyes. Should he take that step forward? Or stay rooted in pce, surrounded by uncertainty and doubt? Questions crashed inside his head like towering waves.

  Shinsaki extended his hand further, as if confirming that the moment of decision had arrived—and there was no turning back. His eyes sparkled, those eyes that Isai could never fully understand. Something deep was pulling them toward this dark, unknown path.

  “If you want to find the answer, come with me,” Shinsaki said calmly, his voice a quiet summons Isai couldn't ignore.

  Isai felt something strange as his hand slowly began to move—as though his mind was repying the moment over and over before accepting this pivotal instant. The world spun around him, yet everything felt frozen: the air, the ground, even the light filtering through the clouds... It was all drenched in something invisible, deep, and full of mystery.

  And when his hand finally met Shinsaki’s, a peculiar sensation surged through his fingers. The entire world seemed to stop breathing. The moment had become a crossing—a step into something beyond the possible.

  He gripped Shinsaki’s hand with certainty, as if his soul had finally settled on a decision. Something about it whispered of both an ending and a beginning.

  Then, with a deep smile he had been trying to hide all along, Isai said, “I’ll go. Definitely.”

  His words echoed in the air, as if they touched the sky and the very ground beneath them. A strange sense of relief spread through his heart—as though this moment had unlocked doors he never even knew existed. He was discovering something new within himself— The longing for adventure. The yearning to dive into the unknown.

  Yuki, who had been observing intently, sighed softly, trying to hide the doubts drifting far across her mind. Her life had been uneventful, devoid of surprises or grand dreams. But now... Something was shifting. Something unfamiliar. Something that perhaps… was worth the risk.

  “My life is boring… So, I guess I’ll go too,” she said, pcing her hand on Shinsaki’s other hand with confidence.

  In that moment, the decision was made.

  Shinsaki let out a quiet ugh—the kind that always seemed to carry a secret he never wanted the world to know, but couldn’t quite contain anymore. His ughter came from somewhere deep, and there was a hint of amusement in his voice— as if he were watching everything unfold with sleepy eyes, seeing in their silence a full possibility that they hadn’t yet grasped.

  “Excellent... this is going to be fun,” he said slowly, his words warming the coldness of the moment.

  He smiled a smile ced with cruelty— a smile no one else could quite comprehend.

  But buried in that cruelty… there was something else. He knew, no matter how simple it looked, this moment was the beginning of an entirely different journey.

  As for Isai— He stood there, his eyes fixed on Shinsaki’s hand, as if an unavoidable decision was making its way to him.

  He looked like he was drowning in a sea of cshing thoughts. He wanted to step into the unknown. And yet, his heart was brimming with unease.

  This choice wasn’t about logic. It was about the silent voices echoing from deep within.

  *“Should I go? Should I stay in this safe pce?”* His eyes met Shinsaki’s, as if searching for an answer. But the answer wasn’t there. Not in Shinsaki’s words. Not in Yuki’s eyes. Not even in himself.

  The moment… had reached its peak.

  Then Yuki spoke. Her words were hesitant, ced with threads of worry—but also that unexpected yearning creeping in. Her heart was pounding, and her mind was crowded with questions. Yet, it seemed the routine she had been battling all her life had suddenly imposed itself, and she needed to escape it—if only for a moment.

  "What if this is all just a trick?" Yuki said with a sarcastic tone, as if trying to hide an unclear fear.

  Shinsaki answered with a wide grin, one that carried a hint of foolishness: "If it were a trick, I would’ve made you pay in advance. But I don't think I'm *that* serious about it."

  Yuki replied in a lighthearted tone, trying to inject some fun into the moment: "Ah, so you're not about to crush our dreams? Good then..."

  Isai chuckled—a short, barely noticeable ugh that reflected a mix of caution and the urge to flee. He said quietly, with a nervous smile: "Because life hasn't exactly been fun so far, right? Maybe this will be an exciting change."

  Shinsaki ughed again, but this time it was filled with wisdom, as if he knew what was coming. "A change? This is only the beginning. There’s still so much for you to discover—so much to learn."

  His words floated around them, each carrying a promise of mystery. Yet Isai felt something else—something he couldn’t ignore. He imagined this moment might truly be a crossroads—not just for them, but for something far greater than fleeting moments.

  "Are you sure we’ll come out of this safe?" Isai asked, trying to show readiness despite the uncertainty on his face. He knew this might be the beginning of something beyond his abilities—something he wasn’t sure he was prepared for.

  Shinsaki gave a light smile, as if he had been expecting the question all along: "Life isn’t always safe. But can you really live without knowing what could happen?"

  That was the moment Isai let go of his reservations. He decided to take a step forward. He knew this choice might change everything, might lead him to a whole new world. But something deep inside him whispered that something greater awaited—something different.

  As for Yuki, she stood there, breathing deeply. The life she had chosen was full of repetition—merciless routine—and this change was the only hope she had been waiting for. She spoke, trying to mask her hesitation:

  *"I don’t really know what I want anymore... but I’ll go."*

  Her words, even if not spoken with bold courage, carried a hidden desire to escape everything familiar. Her heart was trembling, but she understood that this moment might be her one chance to change her life entirely. She was ready for the adventure.

  And in that moment, everything was shifting. The ground beneath them no longer felt steady. The sky, reflecting the scattered rays of sunlight, seemed to be capturing every second—as if it were bidding them farewell. Their feet were moving, and the only sound they could hear was the rhythm of their hearts—racing, syncing with their steps, with the decision they had made.

  There they stood—at the edge of the unknown—held by Shinsaki’s guiding hand, being led step by step into a world entirely different.

  "It’s time to go," Shinsaki said, wearing a mysterious smile, before gently pushing them forward—leaving them no other choice.

  And with those words, a new beginning had begun. A beginning for everything… The beginning of another end.

  I know that the chapter is very long, but I wanted all of this to happen in the first chapter so that I could complete the sequel in the other chapters, and this chapter is like the first episode????