Riokhta's eyes closed, and the world around him plunged into darkness. But instead of emptiness, he found himself in a place that he had long forgotten, but which always remained in his memory. He returned to his high school, which he attended in the eighth grade. Sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the corridors where he had once been just a boy with dreams, not the man he had become.
He saw himself — young, naive, with a backpack on his shoulders. And there she was, Aika. She was laughing, her voice was like music, and her eyes shone with kindness. They walked down the hallway together, talking about some trivial things, but then it meant everything to him. He remembered how his heart beat faster when she smiled at him, how he dreamed of becoming someone important to her.
But something went wrong. He watched as his youthful infatuation turned into an obsession. He noticed that he became jealous and angry when she spent time with others. He began to believe that she belonged only to him, that no one else had the right to be near her. He could see that his thoughts were getting darker and his actions were getting more desperate.
Ryota was watching himself from the sidelines, and it hurt him. He saw how his love, which could have been something wonderful, turned into poison, corrupting not only him, but everyone around him. He saw how he pushed Aika away, how she began to be afraid of him, how her smile faded whenever he was around.
And now he was standing there, in that corridor where everything had once been simpler, and he realized what he had lost. He had lost not only Aika, but also himself. He became someone he would have hated if he had met. His obsession destroyed all the good things in his life.
Ryota closed his eyes, and the scene changed. Now he saw himself at the moment when he first picked up a katana. He thought it would make him stronger, that it would help him protect what he loves. But instead, the sword became a symbol of his destruction. He saw how his actions hurt others, how he became more and more ruthless, more and more insane.
And now he was lying on the ground, bleeding profusely, and he realized that everything he had done was a mistake. He wanted to be a hero to Aika, but he became a monster. He wanted her to be happy, but he only brought her pain.
"Why is that?" He whispered, addressing the boy he once was. "Why did I let this happen?"
But there was no response. Just silence and pain. Ryota realized that he couldn't turn back time, couldn't fix what he had done. All that's left is regret.
When his eyes closed for what he thought was the last time, he saw Aika. She was the way he remembered her at the beginning, smiling, her joy capable of lighting up the world. And in that moment, he realized that she had never belonged to him. She was free, and he had to let her go. But he couldn't. And that was his curse.
But Ryota didn't die.
The paramedics worked feverishly, their voices harsh and insistent. "We have a pulse! He's alive, but barely."
Riokhta's eyes opened, and the world turned into a blur of light and shadows. Pain shot through his body, but it was nothing compared to the severity of what he had just witnessed—what he had just relived. His mind was filled with regret, guilt, and a strange, fragile clarity.
He survived, but he was no longer the same.
Weeks passed. Ryota was lying in a hospital bed, his body was recovering, but his soul was broken. He replayed over and over in his head the memories of his past, the scenes from his youth, the choices he had made, the pain he had caused. He thought of Aika, of the fear in her eyes, of how she stood between her and Yumi, defiant even in the face of his madness.
When Inspector Nakamura visited him, Ryota was a man of few words. He just stared at the ceiling, and his voice sounded hollow when he finally broke the silence. "I... I didn't want to be that kind of person."
Nakamura sighed, a mixture of pity and determination reflected on his face. "You have a chance to change, Ryota. But you have to use it."
To change. That word echoed in Ryota's head. Could he really have changed? Will he be able to fix what he has done? He didn't know. But for the first time in many years, he wanted to try.