Shu propped himself up as best he could. The fire axe hung loosely at his side, swaying with his movements.
Shu's gaze moved back and forth across the suitcases in the hall, trying his best to remember what was inside each one, where the medicine he needed was.
Suddenly, Shu stopped and looked at a small white suitcase. He staggered over, took a deep breath, and swung his arm, sending a spray of blood into the air.
"Crack!" The suitcase opened. Shu knelt down again and rummaged through it.
"Ah…" Nothing. Shu calmed himself. "Wrong guess…"
He stood up and walked toward another one, swinging the axe again, opening another suitcase.
"…Wrong again…" Shu lowered his gaze and stood up. But this time, he stumbled and fell to his knees.
He quietly looked at his trembling legs and clicked his tongue, unsure what he was annoyed at.
Using the fire axe as support, Shu forced himself to stand up straight, then turned and looked out the window.
Through the glass, Shu saw the platform. He slowly moved his gaze, quickly finding the platform he had seen countless times in his dreams.
And the ticket gate he'd never reached in his dreams.
A buzzing started in his head. Shu shook his head, but that only made the dizziness worse, as if countless mosquitoes were buzzing in his ears.
Shu swung his hand irritably, trying to get rid of those mosquitoes, but a flash of red light suddenly flew past his ear. Then, he felt his hand become empty.
Shu turned his head numbly and saw the fire axe flying through the air.
Shu blinked, his body swaying, as if he was about to fall.
He turned his head back and saw Mei and Bronya, whom he had settled down, but they were blurry. Shu couldn't help but squint.
His vision gradually cleared, but Shu could no longer tell the difference between reality and a dream.
He saw…
[She lay there, the stain of blood marring the pristine white. He reached out, the only way he could, tearing at himself to touch her cold hand…]
Shu slowly reached out, across the vast distance, trying to touch the "person" in his vision.
The distance started closing, but Shu suddenly turned toward the ticket gate that he had never crossed in his dreams.
Staring at it, Shu took a step, walking toward it. Slow, stumbling steps, but with an unexplainable resolve.
What was behind it? What would happen after crossing it?
Shu didn't think about it, nor did he care.
Shu just wanted to be like in his previous dreams - to cross it.
Closer and closer... The buzzing in his ears had vanished, his peripheral vision was removed, there was only one goal in his heart...
Almost… Almost…
…
With the last step, Shu crossed the ticket gate, once again... and also for the first time, he stood on the platform.
The train was still parked on the platform… Undamaged, like a sleeping dragon, quietly lying there. Shu was like an adventurer who, after going through countless hardships, had finally reached the place where the dragon slept. At his last breath, he finally saw that beautiful dragon.
Oh dragon... wake up... Open your eyes, and look at this world... Please? I'm waiting for you to roar... I'm waiting for you... to soar through the sky again…
I…
"BOOM—!!"
A sudden explosion sounded, as if it were the end of the world. Shu could feel the tremors beneath his feet. He could also feel the danger from behind.
Shu slowly turned and looked up. The same giant white demon was standing there, looking down at him.
Shu looked back at it, his heart like still water, not a single ripple, not a single thought.
But when Shu moved his gaze to the rubble around it, a sharp pain pierced through his heart, and his eyes widened.
He opened his mouth, wanting to shout those two names, but he could only make a weak, helpless whimper.
He couldn't speak a single word.
The last of his anger surfaced. With all of his remaining strength, he glared at it, and then, across that height difference of more than ten meters, he saw the damaged head of the Honkai Beast.
It was as if someone had violently destroyed it. Shu could even see a crystal-clear, cube-shaped, pinkish-purple object.
And on it, there was a small piece… of orange and white cloth stained with blood.
Mei would have recognized it… Now, Shu also recognized it…
That lively girl, the girl he couldn't control, the girl he'd been entrusted with, the girl he'd wanted to rely on…
"Ah..." Shu didn't know whether the tears or the sadness came first. He could only stare helplessly at the Honkai beast.
He wanted to run… But he didn't want to run.
He wanted to rush forward... But he was too tired to move.
He wanted to think of a solution... But he couldn't think of anything.
He still couldn't cross the ticket gate…
He didn't resist. He just watched as the Honkai beast raised its massive forelimbs, just like what had happened here earlier.
Shu raised his hand, reaching for the piece of cloth on the Honkai beast's head. He wanted to grab it, to stop it from swaying, and to wipe the blood off of it.
Until his vision was blocked, until an unstoppable force pressed down from above.
Until he was completely crushed.
[He still hadn't crossed the ticket gate. He hadn't seen what was behind it either…]
[But what could there be?
…
Shu guessed… that it was the train they were going to ride… Like a dragon, it would roar loudly, and then bring him… and them… to a new…
…
That's right…
I think… I found the solution…
If I were to do it again…
I wouldn't make any more wrong choices!]
...
"!!!"
Shu's eyes snapped open. He didn't jump up or make any sudden movements. Like he had been terribly frightened, he just leaned against the corner.
Dim light, a small space. Everything was so familiar.
And not just that… Not just that…
Shu turned his head, looking at the orange and white jacket that was over him, and then at the two people curled up on the sports pad.
You're still here… That's good…