That morning, Arou left the house as usual.
His steps stopped for a moment in front of the gate. He looked up at the sky.
Thousands of eyes were still there…
but they were different.
One by one, the eyes in the sky began to disappear.
They did not explode.
They did not collapse.
They simply faded, like shadows being slowly pulled away.
Arou held his breath.
The eyes on the eastern side disappeared first.
Then the ones in the center.
Then the rest.
A few seconds later,
the sky was empty again.
Blue.
Calm.
Normal.
Arou stood there for quite some time, making sure. Nothing remained.
"So… is it over?" he muttered softly.
Footsteps could be heard from the side.
"Arou."
He turned around. Mei stood a few steps away, carrying her school bag as usual.
"You've been outside for a while," Mei said. "I thought you hadn't left yet."
Arou looked back at the sky, then at Mei.
"Yeah. I just got out."
Mei followed his gaze.
"The sky is clear."
Arou nodded.
"Clear."
There were no eyes.
No pressure.
Mei smiled faintly.
"Come on. We might be late."
Arou walked beside her. His steps felt lighter than they had in the previous days.
Inside him, there was no voice.
No whisper.
But Arou knew—
this was not the end.
It was only a sign that the judgment had been completed.
And that reward…
was getting closer.
The day passed peacefully.
There were no whispers in Arou's head.
There was no lingering pressure.
The sky remained empty.
In class, Arou sat at his desk and followed the lessons until they ended.
His hand moved as he took notes, his thoughts no longer wandering as far as they usually did.
Mei glanced at him several times.
"You look lighter," she said during the break.
"Maybe because I slept better," Arou replied.
Mei did not argue.
"That's good, then."
After school, Arou went straight home. The house was quiet, as usual. There was no sound other than his own footsteps.
He sat in the living room, staring at the empty wall. Waiting for something that never came.
There was no voice.
No sign.
Night came.
Arou lay in bed. He stared at the ceiling, trying to feel whether anything remained.
Nothing.
For the first time in a long while,
the world gave him no reaction at all.
And precisely because of that,
Arou felt—
something was being prepared.
That night, Arou woke up for no clear reason.
The clock on the wall showed that it was past midnight. The house was silent, with nothing but the faint ticking of the clock.
Arou sat on the edge of his bed.
He felt… something was different.
Not pressure.
Not a voice.
But rather, the feeling that something had left, yet still left a trace behind.
He stood up and walked toward the window. The curtain was slightly open. The sky outside was dark and calm.
There were no eyes.
No signs of anything.
Yet as Arou stared longer, he felt as though the sky was… too orderly.
Like a stage that had been cleaned after a performance, but whose lights had not yet been turned off.
Arou sighed.
"If it really is over,"
he muttered softly, "at least give me a sign."
There was no answer.
He returned to bed. This time, he fell asleep faster than usual.
The following days passed.
School.
Going home.
Nothing strange happened. There were no voices in his head. Mei still walked with him from time to time, talking about trivial things that were not particularly important.
"You hardly daydream anymore," Mei said one day.
"Maybe I'm just tired of daydreaming," Arou replied.
Mei smiled faintly.
But behind that routine, Arou knew—
this silence was not freedom.
It was a pause.
And pauses like this…
never lasted long.
That morning, Arou went to school as usual. Nothing strange happened. There was no voice, no sign from Zata. Everything felt normal—too normal.
After school, Arou and Mei did not go home immediately. They went to a park and sat on a bench overlooking the pathway. The afternoon atmosphere was peaceful, with only a gentle breeze and the sound of rustling leaves.
They talked casually about trivial things, things that were not particularly important, until suddenly—
Two hands covered Arou's eyes from behind, the gesture light and playful.
"Guess who?" the person said.
Arou fell silent.
"Uhh…"
Mei turned around, slightly surprised. "Arou, is she your friend?"
"How would I know?" Arou replied. "My eyes are covered."
Mei chuckled. "Ah, right. Then just guess."
Arou thought for a moment.
"Hmm… maybe a security guard?"
"Huh?" The person laughed softly. "Why do you think I'm a security guard?"
The hands were removed.
Arou stood up and turned around. His eyes widened.
"Eh… Akari?"
Akari smiled faintly. "I thought you had already forgotten about me."
Mei looked at the two of them. "Who is she?"
Arou still looked shocked.
"She was my classmate… who disappeared. The desk you're sitting at used to belong to her."
"Really?" Mei looked uncertain.
Arou swallowed.
"Am I dreaming?"
"No," Akari answered calmly. "You're awake. And now I'm truly real."
"Real?" Mei repeated softly.
Arou nodded slowly.
"She's… someone I created in my dreams."
Mei fell silent.
"If that's the case," she asked, "how can she appear in the real world?"
"I don't know either," Arou answered honestly.
Before the atmosphere could truly settle down, suddenly—
Two hands covered Arou's eyes from behind again.
"Who is it this time?" Arou asked, sounding half resigned.
"Take a guess," another voice said.
Mei smiled faintly.
"Wow, apparently you have a lot of friends, Arou."
"Who is she, anyway?" Arou asked.
Akari and Mei both fell silent.
"Hey," Arou began to grow uneasy.
"Just answer first," the person said.
Arou sighed.
"Uh… maybe a parking attendant?"
"You're hopeless," the person laughed. "You really are terrible at guessing."
The hands were removed.
Arou turned around.
"Eh… Airi…"
His voice trembled. Tears immediately fell before he could stop them.
"You're crying?" Mei asked in surprise.
Without saying anything, Arou immediately hugged Airi.
"Hey, why are you suddenly doing that?" Airi asked, confused.
"I missed you so much," Arou said softly.
Mei stared at them with a face full of questions.
"Why is Arou hugging her?"
Akari turned toward Mei and answered simply,
"Because… in Arou's dream, Airi was his wife."
The park fell silent once again.
But this time,
the silence felt different.
Mei slowly took a breath. She did not panic, scream, or step back. She simply observed them one by one, trying to piece together what she was seeing with the logic she had.
"So…" Mei finally spoke, her tone cautious.
"These people… really disappeared before?"
Arou slowly nodded.
"Yes. They came from my dreams. Or… from a world I created myself."
Mei was silent for a moment.
"If that's the case," she said softly, "then what's happening now isn't a hallucination. Because I can see them too."
Airi looked at Mei calmly.
"I'm Airi. Nice to meet you."
Mei nodded awkwardly but remained polite.
"Mei."
Before the atmosphere became too quiet, someone approached from the direction of the park. She had long hair and a calm expression.
"Arou."
Arou turned around.
"Lumina…"
Lumina stopped near them, making sure that Arou was truly standing in front of her before giving a small smile. Not long after, Shi and Priscilla appeared from different directions, as if their appearances had already been arranged perfectly.
Before the atmosphere could become calm again, someone else appeared—this time from the opposite direction.
"So this is your real world," Shi said while looking around.
Arou closed his eyes for a moment.
"Shi too…"
Priscilla appeared afterward, followed by Nora, who walked casually as if she already knew the park.
"Hmph. The real world isn't as strange as your story," Nora muttered as she appeared, folding her arms.
Arou turned toward her and laughed softly.
"Hehe… it's a dream. So of course it's strange, right?"
Mei swallowed.
"There are… quite a lot of them."
Nora snorted but did not argue.
Then another girl appeared—around the same age as Arou. Her face resembled Hikari's, but she looked more mature. Without hesitation, the girl immediately approached.
"Father."
Mei instinctively turned toward Arou.
"…Father?"
Arou let out a long sigh.
"Yeah. In my world back then, she used to call me that."
Hikari smiled faintly.
"It's difficult to get rid of the habit."
Mei remained silent for quite a while. Then she said honestly and calmly,
"I don't completely understand. But as long as you're all real, can speak, and are standing here… I have no reason to deny it."
Arou looked at Mei, slightly surprised.
"I only have one request," Mei continued.
"If things become even stranger than this later… please explain everything to me slowly."
Arou smiled faintly.
"I promise."
Above them, there were no longer any eyes watching.
For the first time in a long while, the world felt…
whole again.