"The past is not something you leave behind. It follows. It lingers. And if you're not careful—it will find you."
The road stretched endlessly ahead.
A sky painted in deep shades of blue and black, the moon half-hidden behind drifting clouds. The trees grew denser here, their branches twisting together, forming a hollow tunnel of shadow and silence.
The air was thick—too thick.
Rei felt it before he saw it.
A shift.
A presence.
A weight settling against his shoulders.
It wasn't a monster. Not this time.
It was something worse.
A memory.
A whisper in the wind.
A voice that shouldn't be here.
"Rei."
He froze.
The world around him slowed.
Ren, who had been walking a few steps ahead, noticed immediately.
She turned, her hand instinctively resting near the hilt of her sword.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
Rei didn't answer.
Because suddenly—he wasn't there anymore.
It was raining.
Not here.
Not in the present.
But in his mind.
He stood in a ruined alleyway, surrounded by stone and fire, the scent of damp earth mixing with the sharp, metallic sting of blood.
A girl sat on the ground in front of him.
Small. Thin. Too young to be in a place like this.
Her dark hair clung to her face, soaked from the rain. Her hands—small, delicate—were pressed against a wound in her side, fingers trembling as they fought to keep her own blood inside her body.
She was looking at him.
Eyes wide, desperate, afraid.
Not afraid of dying.
Afraid that he would leave her.
"Rei…" her voice was weak, barely above a whisper. "You said you wouldn't leave me behind."
Rei's breath caught.
He remembered this.
This night. This exact moment.
He had been younger then. Still an Exorcist.
Still someone who believed in something.
And Aya—Aya had been a child caught in the crossfire of a war she never asked to be part of.
He had found her in the aftermath of a battle.
A village razed to the ground. Bodies left to rot. No survivors.
No one except her.
He had no reason to take her with him.
No reason to protect her.
She had no Oath, no Sin, no power.
Just a fragile body and a will too strong for the world to break.
But still—he had carried her.
Through the ruins. Through the fire. Through the battlefield that had once been her home.
Because in that moment, he hadn't been an Exorcist.
Hadn't been a warrior.
He had just been a man who couldn't leave a dying girl behind.
"Stay with me," she had whispered that night. "Just a little longer."
And he had promised.
Promised that she wouldn't have to be alone.
Promised that she wouldn't have to die in the dirt like everyone else.
A promise he had broken.
"Rei."
The voice pulled him back.
Not from the memory.
From the air itself.
Because it wasn't just a memory.
She was here.
His breath came slow, controlled—but his fingers curled tightly into fists.
He knew better than to turn around.
Knew better than to acknowledge it.
Because ghosts only held power if you let them.
But still—
"Rei."
Soft. Close. Right behind him.
He turned.
And there she was.
Aya.
Standing just a few feet away.
Not the way she had looked when she died.
Not broken. Not bloody.
Alive. Whole.
The way she had been when she was still at his side.
Still looking at him like he was supposed to protect her.
Like he hadn't already failed.
His throat tightened.
This wasn't real.
It couldn't be real.
But she was standing there.
And somehow, that was worse than any nightmare.
"Rei?"
Ren's voice cut through the silence.
The weight in his chest shifted.
He blinked.
The world snapped back into focus.
The forest. The road. The moonlight filtering through the trees.
No rain.
No blood.
No Aya.
Ren was watching him carefully, her hand still resting near her sword—not drawn, but ready.
She hadn't seen anything.
Hadn't felt anything.
Which meant—this was only for him.
Rei exhaled.
Slow. Controlled. Steady.
"...It's nothing," he muttered.
Ren didn't believe him.
But she didn't push.
She just nodded, adjusting the strap of her sword before turning back toward the road.
"Then let's keep moving."
Rei nodded once.
Didn't look back.
Couldn't look back.
Because if he did—
He might see her again.
And this time, she might not disappear.
Because the past wasn't done with him yet.
Not by a long shot.