Twenty minutes had passed since the innkeeper had left the room. Kaito, with great effort, sat up at the foot of the bed. His body was still numb, and his cast-covered arm tingled. His head was throbbing painfully, but he still managed to get to his feet.
"My whole body hurts..."
He moved slowly around the room, his steps unsteady. He reached the door and opened it cautiously.
(The old man isn't here... Where did he go?)
He descended the stairs, holding onto the railing, and arrived in the lounge. The room was dim: the curtains were closed, and the only light came from a faint lamp on the table. There, with an open bottle of whiskey in front of him, sat Mr. Hauromi. The glass in his hand already filled, trembled between his fingers.
Kaito approached.
"Don't you think drinking that whole bottle by yourself will do you harm?"
The bartender didn't turn around.
"Maybe… but right now, I need it."
A silence fell between them. After a few moments, Hauromi sighed and spoke again:
"Listen, kid, you want some advice from an old man? Leave this place and forget everything that happened."
Kaito didn't answer immediately. He sat down at the table, right in front of him.
"Where are my blades?" he asked in a serious tone.
Hauromi glanced at him, then took a sip and replied in a weary voice:
"They're still near the warehouse. Why?"
Kaito stood up slowly.
"I'm going out for a bit."
The bartender stared at him, incredulous.
"Are you out of your mind? You can barely stand! You can find blades anywhere."
Kaito stopped at the inn's doorway and, without fully turning, slightly tilted his head.
"Those blades... they're the only link to my past. They're irreplaceable."
He said nothing more. He opened the door and walked out.
Hauromi remained still, his eyes lost in the void. Then he sighed and poured himself another glass of whiskey.
"Kaito… what the hell happened to you?"
Kaito retraced the path he had taken with Yume to the destroyed warehouse. The pain in his body hadn't subsided, but he didn't care.
Once he arrived, he paused for a moment, letting his mind replay the fight with Shirogane. His eyes fell on the large crater that had opened in the ground during the impact.
He approached.
Inside it, he saw his blades.
With trembling hands, he knelt and picked them up. The metal reflected his face.
"There they are... I'm glad."
It was in that moment that a memory resurfaced in his mind.
He saw a young man, just over twenty, with long gray hair, wearing a kimono, and with deep red eyes.
"Kaito, stop it. Don't you get it? You can't keep acting like this."
Kaito smiled, thinking back to that fragment of the past.
(What would he do... in this moment?)
His gaze turned melancholic. Another image formed in his mind. Yume.
He clenched his fingers tightly around the blades, then turned and began walking back toward the inn.
Hauromi was still sitting at the table. The bottle was now empty. He was gripping the glass in his hand, eyes fixed on nothing.
"Yume... I can't do anything for her... Damn it, damn it, DAMN IIIIIT!!"
With a sudden gesture, he threw the glass against the counter. It shattered into a thousand pieces, scattering across the floor. The bartender was breathing heavily, fists clenched. Memories of the days spent with the girl he now thought of as a daughter filled his mind.
"Old man."
Hauromi turned sharply and saw Kaito standing at the door.
The boy was watching him.
"Kaito..." Hauromi murmured, noticing a different expression in his eyes.
Kaito approached with a determined stride.
"You told me to forget everything and leave, didn't you?" he asked, voice steady.
The bartender said nothing.
"But I won't."
Kaito stopped just a few steps away and looked him in the eye.
"Before Shirogane and Yume left, he said he would depart for Shinkase in two days."
Hauromi's eyes widened.
"That means he's still in town. The only fast way out of here is by train."
The bartender immediately understood what Kaito was suggesting.
"You want to go after Yume? Are you insane? Look at yourself! How do you expect to pull it off in your condition?"
Kaito didn't lower his gaze.
"Don't worry. I've already fought him—I know what I'm up against. And if I manage to find Yume on the train and she heals me... I could fight again at full strength."
Hauromi lowered his head. Tears began to fall silently down his cheeks. When he spoke, his voice was broken, nearly unrecognizable.
"Kaito... I know it's selfish of me to ask this..." he hesitated a moment, then clenched his fists.
"But please... save Yume!"
Kaito didn't reply. But he didn't need to.
Hauromi saw the look in his eyes and knew he would do it.
The boy gripped his blades tightly.
The battle wasn't over yet.
TWO DAYS LATER
In a crumbling old house on the outskirts of town, with broken windows, holes in the walls, and mold everywhere, there was Shirogane.
"Yume, wake up."
The boy was sitting on a worn-out armchair, the stuffing poking through. In front of him, a small table and an unused fireplace. To his right, a couch where Yume was lying.
She instantly sat up at his words.
"Shirogane, is it time?" she asked, going from lying down to sitting.
"Yes, the train will arrive shortly, so let's not waste time."
Shirogane stood from the chair. Yume did the same, and the two of them left the doorless shack.
They remained silent the entire way to the station.
"All right, here we are..." Shirogane said. Then he turned to her.
"If you try to run this time, I'll kill you."
Yume looked at him.
"I know."
She boarded the train, while Shirogane handed the tickets to the conductor.
The train was an old model, divided into various nearly identical cabins. There were about twelve tables, each with two benches. This layout repeated across eleven more cabins.
"Let's sit here."
Shirogane took a seat. Yume followed.
"Shirogane... what do you want to do in Shinkase?"
He looked out the window.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?... Tsk... Shinkase is a cutting-edge city, but it also has a dark side..."
The girl understood instantly.
"You mean human trafficking..."
Shirogane smiled.
"You guessed it."
The train had been moving for three minutes when, all of a sudden, the siren started blaring nonstop.
"What's happening?"
Shirogane looked out the window. Yume did too.
Then she saw him.
There, on the tracks, holding two blades.
Kaito had arrived.