That morning, Arou woke with an uneasy feeling lingering deep in his chest. Sunlight slipped through the gaps in the curtains, yet his thoughts remained trapped in the words Zata had spoken the night before.
Marriage… a happy life… one child…
Arou sat at the edge of his bed and slowly rubbed his face. "Impossible…" he muttered under his breath.
After getting ready, he stepped out of his room. His parents were already awake in the living room.
"Arou, are you going out?" his mother asked.
He paused for a moment before nodding lightly. "Yeah. I want to go somewhere for a bit."
His father gave a short nod in return. "Don't stay out too long."
"Alright."
Arou left the house and walked through the quiet morning streets. Without realizing it, his feet carried him toward the small park he often visited. The morning air was cool, and the sound of rustling leaves quietly filled the silence around him.
Not long after, Airi appeared from the opposite direction. When she noticed Arou standing there motionlessly, she tilted her head in confusion.
"Arou? What are you doing here so early?"
Arou turned toward her, slightly startled. "Airi… I need to talk to you."
The seriousness in his voice immediately made her expression stiffen.
"What's wrong? You look serious."
Arou took a slow breath. "This morning… someone appeared in my room."
Airi frowned. "Someone?"
"Yeah," Arou replied quietly. "His name is Zata."
Airi stared blankly at him. "Huh? Zata? Who's that?"
Arou fell silent for a moment, carefully choosing his words. "He said that all of this… is part of a game."
Airi immediately looked at him in disbelief. "A game? What are you talking about, Arou?"
Her voice was filled with confusion, but Arou only gave a faint smile.
"Sorry… I know this sounds sudden. You don't know anything yet."
Airi crossed her arms lightly. "You've been saying strange things since earlier. First some mysterious person appears, and now you're talking about games."
Arou nodded slowly. "I understand why you're confused."
He lowered his gaze for a brief moment before continuing.
"He gave me a spoiler."
"A spoiler?" Airi asked cautiously.
Arou hesitated. "He said… I'm going to live happily."
Airi blinked. "A happy life?"
"With you."
Silence immediately settled between them.
Airi froze completely. "…Huh?"
Her cheeks slowly turned red. "With… me?"
Arou gave a small nod. "He said… I'm going to marry you."
Airi instantly covered her face in embarrassment. "That doesn't make any sense! You're joking, right?!"
"I was shocked too," Arou replied quickly. "I didn't even get the chance to say anything."
Airi lowered her hands slightly but kept her face turned away. "That person is seriously weird…"
Arou hesitated once more before speaking again.
"He also said… we'll have one child."
Airi's face turned completely red.
"What?!"
She lowered her head, her voice becoming almost inaudible. "T-That's going way too far…"
"I know," Arou answered quietly.
For a while, neither of them spoke. The morning air felt awkward, yet strangely warm at the same time.
Eventually, Airi sighed softly. "I don't know who this Zata person is. And I don't understand what kind of game you're talking about."
She slowly turned toward him. "But… don't say things like that with such a serious face."
Arou smiled awkwardly. "Sorry."
Airi looked away, trying to calm herself. "My heart almost stopped…"
The following days passed in unsettling peace. Nothing remarkable happened. No disturbances. No signs that anything was wrong.
Every morning, the sky was perfectly clear. Clouds drifted lazily across the horizon, as though time itself had slowed down. The streets were always spotless—almost unnaturally so.
Arou spent most of his mornings walking around town with Airi. Their conversations were simple, often interrupted by comfortable silence.
Yet the peacefulness gradually began to feel unnatural.
A park bench that used to be cracked was suddenly whole again. A broken streetlamp now shone brightly without any sign of repair.
"Airi," Arou said quietly one afternoon, "do you remember this bench being broken?"
Airi glanced at it for only a second. "No. It's always looked like this."
Her answer deepened the unease inside him.
That evening, Arou stood alone outside his house, staring at the familiar street that somehow no longer felt familiar at all. Everything around him felt… adjusted.
Night arrived without any change in weather. The sky remained flawless, the stars arranged too perfectly above the world below.
Inside his room, Arou sat silently at the edge of his bed. The silence pressing against him felt unbearably heavy.
"So this is the happiness you meant…" he whispered bitterly.
He glanced toward the corner of the room.
No one was there.
And yet, he could feel it.
Something was watching him.
Zata's words echoed once more inside his head.
In the Fourth Game, you will live happily.
Arou clenched his fists tightly.
"If this is really a game… then what am I supposed to sacrifice?"
A cool breeze drifted through the open window, carrying only silence with it.
The world remained peaceful.
Too peaceful.
The next morning, Arou stood in front of his mirror, staring at his reflection. His face looked normal—not pale, not exhausted—but there was an unfamiliar pressure tightening around his chest.
I'm certain something has changed, he thought.
When he stepped outside, his eyes immediately landed on the wooden fence in front of the house.
A small mark he had carved into it the night before—a thin diagonal scratch meant to prove that his memories were real.
But now, the fence was flawless.
Not a single trace remained.
Arou stared at it in silence before slowly touching the wood with trembling fingers.
"That's impossible…" he whispered.
Later, he met Airi at the park. As usual, she greeted him with a calm smile.
"Arou, you look pale. Are you okay?"
He swallowed hard. "Airi… last night, I carved a mark into the fence outside my house."
Airi tilted her head slightly. "A mark?"
"Yeah. A small scratch. I know I made it."
Airi slowly shook her head. "I've never seen a mark like that."
Her answer was calm and natural.
And somehow, that frightened him even more.
They sat together on a bench nearby. Arou narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at it.
"We sat here three days ago," he said quietly. "You dropped your drink bottle here."
Airi blinked in confusion before replying softly, "This is our first time sitting here."
Arou immediately turned toward her. "That's not true."
His voice came out sharper than intended.
Airi flinched slightly. "Arou…"
He pressed a hand against his forehead. "You seriously don't remember?"
Airi shook her head, worry visible in her eyes. "I think… you're just tired."
Those words hit him harder than he expected.
Tired.
As though everything he remembered was simply a mistake created by his own exhausted mind.
After parting ways with Airi, Arou wandered the streets alone. Every corner of the city felt increasingly unfamiliar.
At one point, he stopped and wrote a sentence across his palm with a pen.
I remember.
A few steps later, he looked down at his hand again.
The words were fading.
Not erased.
It was as though the ink had never touched his skin in the first place.
Arou's breath caught in his throat.
"So… even this isn't allowed," he whispered.
Pain throbbed inside his head.
Every time he tried to remember certain things—Slenderman, Zata, erased memories—his chest tightened painfully, as though some invisible force was trying to stop him.
Yet whenever he abandoned those thoughts, the world instantly became gentle again.
Bright skies.
Cool wind.
Nothing wrong at all.
So this is the happiness that was promised, Arou thought bitterly.
Happiness without truth.
That night, Arou sat alone in the darkness of his room without turning on the lights.
"If I keep remembering…" he whispered quietly, "then I'll be erased… not my memories."
In the corner of the room, the air trembled faintly.
Not a visible presence, but the unmistakable feeling that something was watching him.
Yet Zata never appeared.
It was as though the world itself wanted to see how long Arou could continue resisting.