"...So am I dead already?"
The black haired Quân asked. As he spoke, he pulled a cigarette pack from his trousers pocket, deftly extracting one before striking a flame to light it and inhaling deeply.
"In a sense, yes, and also no."
The silver haired Quân spoke, finding it somewhat difficult to explain.
"...So is that a yes?"
The black haired Quân rubbed his eyes, his breathing gradually slowing down as he stepped into the falling rain alone.
Normally, to him, a scene like this would look exceptionally cool, straight out of a movie, but right now, Quân no longer cared how others perceived him.
He only wished to return to his home, the house he remembered existing.
"It is completely useless."
The silver haired one spoke, pointing into the far distance.
"Even if you manage to find her, you will only be meeting an NPC."
Quân froze in his tracks, staring blankly before letting out a weary sigh.
A look of reluctant boredom filled his eyes; Quân's lips quivered, yet no words came out.
...
"So I am going to die?"
Quân could not help recalling the deaths of every single person, of those madmen, of those whose names he never even knew, and of Corin.
He raised his hands to his face, crouching down before laying flat on the road, no longer caring what the world thought of him.
Quân knew he was going to die, or perhaps he was already dying. That sensation... was indescribable.
It felt as though a part of him was slowly slipping away, gradually, exhaustingly, yet gently.
And yet...
"At least tell me what on earth is happening, will you?"
Quân was thoroughly confused. He understood neither what was transpiring nor what was approaching, let alone why...
Meanwhile, the silver haired Quân merely closed his eyes, letting out a quiet sigh.
The black haired Quân clawed at his own hair, gritting his teeth as he curled into a ball in the middle of the street, clutching his ears tight.
"...You know what? Truth be told, right from the very beginning, there was never anyone here besides you and her."
A cold, brutal truth was doused directly over Quân, causing him to slowly loosen his hands from his ears. Yet he soon resumed clawing at his hair, which had long blended into the pitch black night.
"Gag!"
A retching sound echoed, and Quân began vomiting, spilling nothing but pale yellow bile.
It quickly dissolved into the rainfall, washing away in seconds.
Quân lifted his head, the light fading from his eyes as deep dark circles gradually spread around his sockets.
BOOM!
The reality surrounding them began to fracture and split, resembling a body of water rippling and surging from the riverbed below.
The night sky burst with continuous roaring rumbles, dense lightning bolts repeatedly blanketing the dark expanse.
It felt as though it possessed its own consciousness, actively clawing away at the night.
CRACKLE...
Reality was torn wide open, revealing a pale yellow sky merging into a backdrop of blue.
It felt akin to gazing at the sky right after a long, torrential rainstorm.
Quân looked up at the sky, only for another thunderous roar to resonate all around.
The night sky that seemed to have been destroyed began to stretch outward once again.
It enveloped everything in sight, forming a bizarre curtain.
"Do you... despise them?"
CRACKLE...
"Or did you consider everyone a mere plaything to begin with?"
"URGH!"
Quân dry heaved, tears welling up in his eyes as the ground beneath split apart.
"Are you not going to look up?"
The silver haired Quân stepped forward, grabbing Quân by his hair and pulling his head straight up, forcing those two eyes to witness a sight he would likely never forget.
"..."
The black haired Quân rubbed his eyes, tears streaming continuously despite his hollow, ghost like expression.
Before him stood a wall woven from pitch black night, lacking even a single ray of light.
It formed a window like opening, revealing deep inside a yellow sky with a small moon suspended in the center.
Upon that moon, a black rope had swiftly bound itself tightly around it.
CRACKLE...
"Every time I kill you, I have to perform this exact process, so I want an apology from you..."
His words were swallowed by the pouring rain, leaving no one to hear them.
Then Quân drew a black handgun from his inner coat pocket.
He tossed it onto the ground, leaving the other to decide his own destiny.
...
"Am I dead?"
Quân stood in the middle of a train car, where others were stepping out one by one.
Right there, he caught sight of a silhouette.
A silhouette intimately familiar to him.
What a pity that the person was no longer who he used to be.
"RON IRUS!"
Keep on living.
Because that is the sole thing that allows you to witness everyone living and dying.
Quân walked toward Ron, muttering something repeatedly inside his mind.
It was both what he wished to say to Ron and what he had once heard before.
'There is only one way for you to survive, and you are the only one.'