Akira's POV
The dark stopped feeling like normal sleep and turned into something else. There was no ground under my feet and no sky above me. Just a flat grey space that stretched forever without edges or distance. My hands looked like mine but cleaner, as if the recent injuries had been wiped clean.
I understood I was in limbo. A place with no dimensions. The knowledge settled in without any explanation. I was not alone.
He stood a short distance away. Same face, same build, same eyes. The original Akira, the one whose body I had been living in. He watched me with a cold, patient look.
"You took longer than I expected," he said. His voice matched mine but felt older. "I felt the masked men put you down. I felt the rib crack and you crawl to that shed. You still held on."
