Eri had always felt like an outsider, even among her own family. She lived in a small village nestled between mountains, where life was simple and unremarkable. The village children played in the fields, laughing without a care in the world, but Eri had always been different. She wasn't like the others—her mind wandered far beyond the boundaries of her surroundings, her thoughts filled with things she could never quite understand.
Eri didn't have strange dreams or visions, but like Shu, there was an inexplicable emptiness inside her, something missing that no one could explain. It wasn't sadness; rather, it was as if her heart was searching for something—someone—she had never met, yet somehow felt connected to.
Her parents, loving and kind, never pressured her to be like the other children. They were farmers, like everyone else in the village, and they valued hard work and community. Eri did her share of the work, helping with the crops, but she was never satisfied. The repetitive tasks that brought her parents comfort only made her restless. She often caught herself staring into the distance, wondering what lay beyond the hills and mountains that encircled her world.
"You're lost in your head again," her mother would say with a gentle smile, catching her standing still while others worked.
Eri would laugh softly and shake her head, but inside, she knew her mother was right. Something inside her felt lost, as if she was waiting for a part of herself to be found.
---
One evening, as the sky turned a deep shade of purple and the stars began to appear, Eri sat alone on the edge of the village, looking out toward the distant mountains. The wind whispered through the trees, a sound that had always felt oddly familiar to her, as though it carried the echoes of a forgotten past.
A gentle breeze lifted a lock of her red-tinted hair, and she closed her eyes, letting the sound of the wind calm her restless mind. But tonight, the feeling of peace didn't come. Instead, a strange sense of longing washed over her, as though the wind itself was trying to tell her something.
Her heart ached, though she didn't know why. It was an old ache, one that had always been there, hidden beneath the surface. As she sat there, Eri couldn't shake the feeling that something—or someone—was missing from her life, someone she had never met but somehow needed to find.
---
The next day, Eri wandered through the village as usual, helping with the daily chores. But her thoughts were far away, lost in the feeling from the night before. She couldn't explain it, but it was as if the wind had called to her, pulling her toward something—or someone—important.
"Eri, are you listening?" her father called, snapping her out of her thoughts. He was handing her a basket of vegetables to take to the market.
"Sorry, Father," Eri mumbled, taking the basket. "I was just thinking."
Her father smiled, though his eyes showed concern. "You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you? You're always off in your own world."
Eri shrugged. "I guess so. It just feels like there's more out there than this."
Her father chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with curiosity, but don't let it take you too far from home. We have a good life here."
Eri nodded, though her heart wasn't in it. She loved her family, but the village felt too small for her, as if her spirit belonged somewhere else—somewhere she had yet to find.
---
Later that day, while walking through the forest path on the outskirts of the village, Eri encountered the village elder, an old woman named Granny Naru. Granny Naru was known for her wisdom and often told stories of the world before. Her tales were full of battles and lost civilizations, stories that most of the villagers treated as myth.
"Eri, child," Granny Naru called out as Eri approached. "You look like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders."
Eri smiled politely. "I'm just thinking, Granny. It's nothing."
Granny Naru's eyes gleamed as she studied Eri. "Ah, but it's never nothing with you. You're a wanderer at heart, I can tell. Always looking for something beyond this village."
Eri hesitated, then nodded. "It's strange. I feel like there's something I'm supposed to do, or someone I'm supposed to meet, but I don't know who or why."
The old woman's smile deepened, as though she understood more than she was letting on. "There are some things that are written in the stars, child. Destinies that cross lifetimes, even if we don't understand them."
Eri frowned. "What do you mean?"
Granny Naru leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "The wind carries the stories of the past, of lives that were lived before this one. Sometimes, if you listen closely, you can hear the echoes of those who came before us. Souls don't forget, even if our minds do."
Eri felt a chill run down her spine. She had always felt that there was more to her restlessness than she could explain, but she had never thought of it as something connected to the past.
"Do you think…" Eri hesitated, her heart racing. "Do you think I'm remembering something from another life?"
Granny Naru smiled mysteriously. "Perhaps. Or perhaps your soul is just waiting for someone it's known before, someone it's bound to find again."
Eri's heart skipped a beat. She didn't have dreams or visions, but something about Granny Naru's words struck a chord deep inside her.
"How will I know if that person is out there?" Eri asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Granny Naru's gaze softened. "You'll know, child. When the time is right, you'll feel it, like the pull of the wind. But don't rush it. Some souls take lifetimes to find each other again."
---
That night, as Eri lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, Granny Naru's words played over in her mind. The idea that her restlessness, her sense of longing, could be tied to a past life felt overwhelming, yet strangely comforting. It explained why she had always felt out of place, as though her life was waiting for something—or someone—to complete it.
She closed her eyes, letting the quiet of the night wash over her. She didn't have dreams that revealed hidden truths, but as she drifted off to sleep, the wind outside her window whispered softly, carrying with it the echoes of something long forgotten.
---
Far away, in a different village, Shu lay awake, staring at the same stars. He, too, felt the pull of the wind, though he couldn't explain it. Both of them, unaware of the other, were bound by a fate that had been written long ago.
The world around them was quiet, but the universe itself was stirring, moving pieces into place for a reunion that was still far in the future. Eri and Shu, two souls that had once been Hiro and Zero Two, were destined to find each other again—but not yet. Their paths would remain separate for now, their connection nothing more than a faint whisper in the wind.
And so, the days passed, with Eri and Shu both feeling the same pull, the same inexplicable yearning, but never knowing why.
To be continued...
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Authors Note:Thank you for reading this chapter.
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