Chapter 9

Nagatha reached through a dark space. Space seemed to twist and contort around the giant hand. From the darkness, countless shining lights could be seen from afar. Suddenly, the hand plucked one of them, and raced over to a different direction.

Makoto opened his eyes. He could see memories all around him, flashing in a chaotic and noisy storm of reminiscence. For a long while, he sat there.

Things seemed to be peaceful, but then a creak sounded. He turned around to an opening. After walking through, a vast world unfolded.

Stretches of green foliage populated the area. The sky was bright, but there was no sun. There were countless trees, but not a single chirp could be heard.

"You are in my domain"

Makoto turned around in response to the voice. A horned humanoid with a light blue face smiled deviously at him.

Makoto stood there, not apprehending the figure.

"Your life is gone, but your soul remains. In this place, only you exist."

The man spoke words, but Makoto failed to hear them.

The man stopped talking. He looked with concern at the boy.

A pure white cloth covered him. Messy hair draped unblinking eyes. The boy held sort of a youthful innocence, and his eyes as clear and calm as springwater.

"I can help you remember your past self, but do you really want that?"

The boy finally reacted. Hands rose and a hoarse voice switched to resolute one in a second,

"tell me who I am."

"Very well then."

With a flash, Makoto was thrust into a falling whorl of events. Countless lives flashed before his eyes, and a needle-like pain pierced an unfathomably deep part of him he didn't know was there.

Makoto writhed in screamless agony. This seems to last countless eternities. Then he was back in his room.

"That's right—this place... I remember now."

He walked over to the window. His face shifted to a proud look, a mischievous look, a bashful look, a vicious look, a cold and uncaring look.

Influence from millenia embedded themselves in his memory. At the center of it all, he was himself.

"From now on, I follow my heart, my one true path, to remain true to myself."