The silence that followed Makoto's sacrifice was suffocating. His friends stood motionless, their faces etched with disbelief and horror. The portal had closed behind him in a flash of light, leaving nothing but the eerie stillness of the clearing. A sense of numbness settled over them, each of them too shocked to move, too stunned to speak.
Riku was the first to break the silence. His voice was hoarse, filled with desperation. "Makoto!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the empty space. "What did you do? Why would you—"
But before he could finish, Daichi stepped forward, his face pale with shock. "This doesn't make sense. Why would he do that? Why would he choose to sacrifice himself?"
Tenma's hands were shaking as he clenched his fists. "We were supposed to make a decision together. We could have figured something out. He didn't have to—"
Ichiro, ever the calm one, looked at the now-vanished portal, his eyes hollow with grief. "He chose this. But why? Why him?"
Each of them had their own questions, their own doubts, but they all shared the same raw pain. Makoto, their closest friend, had thrown himself into the unknown to save them, to protect them, without even giving them a chance to stop him. He had been the one who always seemed to cause trouble, always stumbling into difficult situations, but he had never once hesitated when it came to helping his friends.
"I should have stopped him," Riku muttered under his breath, clenching his fists in frustration. "He didn't have to do this."
But deep down, they all knew the truth. Makoto had made the decision for them, for all of them. He had taken it upon himself to protect them from the unknown force that had demanded a sacrifice. And in doing so, he had proven the depths of his selflessness.
"Makoto..." Daichi whispered, his voice breaking. "Why did you think you had to be the one?"
"We should have stopped him," Tenma repeated, his voice full of regret. "We should have made the sacrifice together, not left it to him."
They argued among themselves, their grief spilling over into frustration. They couldn't understand why Makoto had chosen to bear the burden alone. Why did he believe he was the one who deserved to be sacrificed? Why hadn't he fought for his own life?
But amidst the anger and confusion, a deep realization began to sink in. Makoto had acted out of love and selflessness. He had always considered his friends his family, and in that moment, when the portal demanded a sacrifice, he had made the ultimate choice to protect them. He had nothing left in the world except for them. They were his family, his everything.
"I think... he did it because he loves us," Ichiro said quietly, his eyes distant as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.
The words hit them like a thunderclap. Riku stopped pacing, his expression softening with the weight of Ichiro's words. They had all known it in their hearts, but hearing it out loud made the reality of the situation even harder to bear.
Makoto hadn't had a family to return to, no one except for them. And so, in his mind, he had made the ultimate sacrifice, taking the burden upon himself so that his friends could live without the shadow of the portal hanging over them. He had chosen them, just as they had always chosen him. He had loved them so deeply that his own life had meant nothing in comparison.
"Damn it, Makoto…" Riku's voice cracked as he collapsed to his knees, his tears falling freely now. "You always did this. Always putting us first, never thinking of yourself. You didn't have to do it."
The others joined him, each of them overcome with the grief of the loss. Tenma, usually so composed, wiped his face, his usual anger replaced by sorrow. Daichi stood a little further away, trying to hold himself together, but even he could not hide the pain in his eyes.
They had all shared so many memories together—laughing through the hardest times, supporting one another in their most difficult moments. And now, they were left with nothing but the aching emptiness of knowing that one of them was gone.
"Why did he have to be the one to go?" Tenma muttered bitterly, his hands trembling at his sides. "He always said he would do anything to make us happy, but why couldn't we protect him, too?"
Daichi shook his head, his voice tight with emotion. "He never wanted to be a burden. He never wanted to make us feel like we had to protect him. He always thought of us before himself."
Riku, who had been the closest to Makoto, stood up slowly, wiping his eyes. "We can't let his sacrifice be in vain. We can't just stand here and mourn him. We have to honor his memory by being strong, for him."
Ichiro stepped forward, his calm demeanor unwavering even in the face of such loss. "Riku's right. Makoto wouldn't want us to fall apart. He would want us to keep moving forward, to live the life he didn't get the chance to."
The weight of the decision was clear now—Makoto had made his choice, and there was no going back. His friends, in their pain, had to accept the truth. Makoto had sacrificed himself to protect them. He had chosen to be the shield, the one to bear the pain, because he loved them more than anything else.
The group stood together in the clearing, the loss of their friend hanging heavily in the air. But even through the grief, there was a shared understanding among them. They would not let Makoto's sacrifice be forgotten. They would live for him, honor him by staying true to the bond they had all shared.
As they made their way back down the mountain, each of them silently promised themselves that they would carry the memory of Makoto with them. They would remember his selflessness, his unwavering loyalty, and his love for them. And they would keep fighting—for him, for themselves, and for the bond that had brought them together.