It felt like the world itself had twisted just to witness this moment.
Two subjects carved from the same darkness stood across from each other.
Once bound by brutal design, they were now separated by years, blood, and memory.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.
Shirou.
They were products of the White Room's cruelest generation. They were not students, or warriors, or even people in the conventional sense.
They were sharpened to be perfect. They were edges that had once cut side by side until one grew too precise, too silent, and too unstoppable.
Back in the White Room's Fourth Generation, they had stood alone at the end.
Everyone else had broken or disappeared. But even that was not enough. Shirou had been the last to fall behind.
He had not collapsed under pressure or lost to weakness. He had simply left, unable to overtake the boy beside him.
Ayanokouji had not stopped him. He had not said a word.
But those parting words lingered.
"I want to be free. I want to have friends. Isn't it normal for you to feel this way?"
Even now, they echoed in Ayanokouji's mind like distant thunder. They were words spoken with a softness he had not understood then. They were words that planted something in him. It was something dangerous.
Now, in the rotted belly of a world shaped by nightmares, those same two subjects faced each other again.
Their eyes locked. This was not in recognition, but in calculation. There was not a flicker of relief or a twitch of warmth.
They had spent their lives studying body language, patterns of breath, and micro-reactions. And now, they used those skills against each other like they had been trained to do.
Ayanokouji could not recall Shirou's name.
Something, perhaps the SPELL or the nightmare itself, had pruned that from his memory. He remembered the shape of him. He remembered the stance and the eyes. But he did not remember the name.
***
"Long time no see."
I spoke those words while keeping the girl anchored in my grip. I felt the other man step back, his movement showing he knew he could not reach me in time.
I only had to keep this leverage until we could talk. But a new problem stood before me.
He was pointing a finger gun toward me. What could a gesture like that mean in this place? Was it a real threat? Normally, I would have dismissed it as a joke, but after seeing the girl leave no tracks on the ground, I was on edge.
What if the rules of this world made the gesture lethal?
Fortunately, my body stayed calm. It showed no signs of the panic that might slow me down. It seemed this body had finally begun to trust me in these situations.
Slowly, I began to move the girl, dragging her into the line of sight between my chest and his fingers.
"Do you really think I won't shoot just because you are using her as a shield?"
I stopped moving. I let her go just enough to begin standing up.
"Stand down."
I ignored the command and continued to rise. If I stayed down and he truly intended to fire, I would not be able to move fast enough.
He watched me with a small, knowing smile. His eyes were full of color. I saw the life and emotion he had found after leaving the White Room. It was enough to make me doubt which of us had truly survived our past.
"__ and __ get out of here—"
I did not let him finish. If I let him control the situation, he would begin to suspect something was wrong with me.
He might even question if I was truly the person he remembered. Behind me, I felt the other person closing in to take the girl. I had to take control.
"They stay here. I do not want to be left alone with you when you are already using a memory."
This was a gamble. It was not like me. I had decided to call the power behind his gesture a memory without much thought.
It was the only way to show him I was real and that I understood how this nightmare worked. It was his turn to respond.
"I am pretty sure you could dodge this just fine."
His tone was careless. It told me he was in his original body, moving through this nightmare as if it were a simple walk.
He signaled for the others to stay where they were.
"Impressive. You still haven't said my name, yet you were very quick to call out this memory."
The moment of truth had arrived. It was natural to say a name after a long time, but I had stayed silent.
"I cannot recall your name. It is as if it has been removed from my mind."
Even as I spoke, I tried to see the man behind me. His presence felt like pure hatred. But my body stayed locked in place, refusing to turn away from the threat in front.
"Tell me what Aspect you got then."
An Aspect? I could not remember anything like that in this nightmare. An aspect is usually a part of something, so it should be a part of me. But what part?
I waited for a feeling to tell me the answer, but my mind stayed empty. I had no information to make up a lie.
But what if the word was a trap? What if he was using it to see if I would lie? I kept my eyes on his fingers.
"I have no idea what you are talking about. There is only a strange voice in my head calling me an Aspirant. It welcomed me to the nightmare and told me to prepare for my first trial. There was a title five syllables long after the word nightmare, but it is censored for me."
I hated admitting it. I had shown him I knew nothing, but I could not risk a lie. I also did not know what the other could do. If one of them could tell when I was lying, I was walking into a trap.
The man went quiet for a few seconds. Then, the warmth in his eyes vanished, replaced by a cold look.
"Do you like carrots, or do you dislike them?"
The question was a ghost from years ago. These were the exact words Yuki had asked me in the White Room. I had ignored her then.
Now, I answered with the words he had used that day.
"I don't like them either."
He stayed silent, waiting for me to go first. This was how we would prove we were real.
"You were always aggressive. You took the lead in every fight. Except for our third match. That time, we both waited for the other to move first."
I was searching my mind for his name, remembering every fight in the White Room. I could remember the rhythm of our battles, but the name was gone.
"At that time, my record was 127 wins and 17 losses. I had a 64-match winning streak."
"While you had 135 wins and 9 losses," he replied. "Our score was 1-1, and you only beat me once more after that in judo."
"Got a moment?"
I did not wait for an answer. I was acting exactly as I did back then.
"It has been many years since I beat you in judo, hasn't it?"
"That's right."
I took a quick look at the girl. She had put dirt on her bleeding head and was holding the knee I had broken. She should have been terrified, but she was watching us with an intense look.
"Boxing, karate, jeet kune do—it is all the same. Even if I win at first, once the momentum shifts, I can't do anything anymore. You really are incredible."
When he had first said those words, I thought it was a trick. Looking back, I realizee nkw it was the moment he had started to become human.
"There is one thing I want to say to you."
"What?"
"I decided to leave this facility."
"The only ones who leave this place are those who drop out."
For a few minutes, we were back in the White Room. The ruined village was gone, replaced by the sterile cage that taught us how to win.
"I was convinced when Yuki dropped out. Watching her, I was even jealous."
"I see."
"I thought you were like me. I thought you would want to see the outside world one day."
"Sorry, but I never thought like that."
"I will go on ahead. Let's meet again someday, Kiyotaka."
The proof was finished. We were both real. Our voices had grown colder as we remembered the past. This is where it should have ended, but I still could not find his name.
"Goodbye."
I saw him lower his hand.
"Goodbye, Kiyotaka."
I reached out to shake his hand. In that moment, his hand shot up again. He made the finger gun once more and "fired" right at me.
"Click."
...
..
.
I just stood there, staring at him.
I had been fooled. He saw that I was suspicious of the girl and used my own caution to play a trick on me.
It made me wonder if the third person could even tell if I was lying.
He signaled for the others to leave. Before they went, I knelt down by the girl.
"I apologize for what I did."
I put her knee back in place with a quick move. She looked surprised but stood up and started walking.
She showed no pain. It was another strange thing about her. I looked for the third man, but he was already gone.
I turned back to the man in front of me and we finally shook hands. We did not say another word.
We just turned and started walking deeper into the village to talk.
***
Even after everything, after reliving memories only the two of us could ever share, we still stood on opposite sides of a fragile, unspoken question. Are you really you?
We moved through the ruined village over the thick moss, yet none of our footsteps made a sound.
"Kiyotaka, did you find any of the symbols? The ones that translate themselves directly into your thoughts?"
Even now, I could not detect a trace of worry in his voice. It was as if he did not view this world as a threat, but as a minor inconvenience.
I wondered if I would be moving with that same confidence if I were in my original body.
"I did. I could not read the script, but the meaning was forced into my mind. It said, 'One last stride into the afterlife.'"
He began touching the cracked walls, checking the stone for something I couldn't see.
"I found others. 'Struggle' and 'The end is near.' It is not exactly subtle, is it? We are clearly being funneled toward something. I am just hoping the finish line has the answers we need."
So that was it. Even he was operating on guesswork. All his confidence was built on hope. I thought about the words we had found.
One last stride into the afterlife. Struggle. The end is near.
"The pattern is obvious," I said. "You must have realized the secret behind-"
He cut me off, raising a hand to silence me.
"Let's not spoil the surprise. Where is the fun in knowing the ending before the climax?"
I stopped walking. What did he mean by "fun"? What was entertaining about this graveyard, and who were we keeping the secret for? I had even more questions now.
He clearly possessed a level of information that I lacked.
He stepped inside a broken house, and I followed. He began checking the corners of the ruin.
"So... how did you end up in this nightmare?"
The houses were made of dirt, with deep cracks running through the walls like veins.
"I was at school. I lost consciousness and woke up her-"
He began to cough violently, the sound echoing sharply. He didn't let me finish. He stopped and looked directly into my eyes, his own widening in a rare moment of genuine surprise.
Then, that expression slowly melted into a real smile.
"I am glad, Kiyotaka. I truly am."
He likely had a thousand questions, but this was not the time. I felt the same. I wanted to ask what his life had been like since he left. I wanted to know if he had found the friends he searched for.
I wanted to speak all the words we were denied inside the White Room. But the world wouldn't allow it yet.
I nodded.
"What are the others capable of? I need to know their abilities."
The question was not born of curiosity. It was a requirement for survival. He started to answer, but as he spoke.
The names and the terms were erased from my hearing. It was like listening to a record skip over the most important notes.
I tried to read his lips, but the movements were a blur, as if the concepts themselves were being blocked by a higher power.
"I didn't catch any of that."
He tilted his head, looking puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
"I couldn't hear the names. Or the powers. It is as if the nightmare is censoring you."
He went silent, considering this.
"Then you will have to learn the hard way. It is better if they show you themselves anyway. They aren't exactly prone to trusting strangers, especially after your introduction."
He was right. My first impression had been a violent one.
"What about the man who hates me? Do I know him?"
This time, his smile faded into sorrow. He let out a heavy, tired sigh.
"You did a terrible thing to him, Kiyotaka. You broke his life. I would suggest staying out of his reach for now. Give him room to breathe. Just stay aware that you are the villain in his story. He has every right to lash out."
I remained silent. It was a frustrating answer. I have left many broken lives in my wake at the White Room. Most of them were just statistics of the facility, but his tone suggested this was personal. Who was that third man?
This was a major complication. If he was waiting for a chance to strike, he was a liability to the group. I would have to decide whether to fix the relationship or neutralize the threat before he moved against me.
"Actually, I knew you were going to be the sixth aspirant."
Sixth? I had only seen three others. Then I remembered the girl's crying. The pieces began to click into place.
"The girl-" Again, the name was lost to the silence. "She wasn't alone when I found her. She was with her friend, Luna, and her sister, Luzi. They were a team. _ and Luna were best friends but Luzi barely knew of _, Just like me and _, I know you closely But _ has only heard of you."
...
I didn't like what me being able to hear the two names implied.
"Luna and Luzi died right before we reached this village. They missed a jump during the climb, and the Vowalkers were waiting at the bottom."
I went quiet. The shadows in the room seemed to stretch and darken. My breathing hitched, a physical reaction my mind couldn't suppress.
Even this body understood where this was going... Hesitantly, I pulled up the very first message I had received.
[Aspirant. Welcome to the Nightmare ???ll. Prepare for your first trial.]
Fate truly hated me.
*******
Chapter 5 Fated Reunion (2) has been Rewritten.
If you come across anything in this first nightmare that was already explained here or is inconsistent to the explanation provided here then that chapter has not been rewritten yet.
If you read something that Ayanokouji wasn't supposed to know yet, It is probably third person pov.
Alr, Peace.