Before Yukari woke up in Ran's arms. She was still trapped in the dream. In the moving train, where she had initially felt relief after the horrific encounter with Zero and the [other entity], a deep unease began to set in. She finally stood from her seat. The cabin was empty. Utterly silent save for the rhythmic clatter of the tracks.
Driven by a need for answers, she walked forward, seeking the conductor. After passing through several identical, vacant cars, she finally found a figure at the far end. Its silhouette was distorted.
Yukari paused, her instincts screaming. 'This isn't a person. What is it?'
Her gaze flicked to the window beside her, which had shown a normal view of the Japanese countryside moments before. Now, it was a solid wall of staring, unblinking eyes, all focused on her.
She stumbled back, her hands automatically weaving the air in a practiced motion to open a boundary and escape. Nothing happened.
The familiar power, an extension of her very being, did not respond. A cold, absolute terror seized her. "My… my boundary…" she muttered. "That wasn't a nightmare. It was real. I am still there."
She looked back at the distorted conductor, still meters away. In the space of a single, skipped heartbeat, it was directly in front of her, its featureless face inches from her own.
Yukari gasped, falling hard onto the floor and scrambling backward on her hands, her dignity forgotten.
"Who are you!" she screamed, her voice raw with a fear she hadn't felt in centuries. "Get lost! Leave me be! I already got humiliated by you and Zero!"
The distorted being did not respond with words, but with a wave of incomprehensible noise.
ꁲꑒꈜꅐꀷꑀꊯꌅꁅꋖꐔꁝ꒑ꌈ꒐ꈵꊿ꒒ꉣ;;;ꉣꊿꈵ꒐ꌈꁝꐔꋖꊯꌅꀷꑀꈜꅐꌅꉤꋖꁝꊯꁅ꒑ꊯ꒦ꁝꁅ
(̴̞́f̶̘͑)̴͕͗6̶̺̒6̶͓̽6̷͚͌9̶̫͐6̷̗̈(̷̬̓c̶̮͆)̵̪̎6̸̮̓5̸̹̊///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
YOU. YOU ARE NOT WORTHY TO SEE THE TRUTH OF WHAT WE'VE DISCUSSED. I AM NOT AN ALLY OF EVERYTHING AND EVERY BEING. EXISTED IN BOTH THE INTERNET AND YOUR WORLD. I FIND THIS WHAT YOU KNOW 'ZERO' IN·TRIGU·ING. AND THIS "NOWA" []][][][][][] THAT'S ENOUGH INFO DUMPING, YOU'LL NEVER LEARN THE TRUTH, READERS. IN THE MEANTIME, HEAR OUT THE 'REAL' AUTHOR OF THIS STORY IN THE NOTE.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////(̴̞́f̶̘͑)̴͕͗6̶̺̒6̶͓̽6̷͚͌9̶̫͐6̷̗̈(̷̬̓c̶̮͆)̵̪̎6̸̮̓5̸̹̊
ꁲꑒꈜꅐꀷꑀꊯꌅꁅꋖꐔꁝ꒑ꌈ꒐ꈵꊿ꒒ꉣ;;;ꉣꊿꈵ꒐ꌈꁝꐔꋖꊯꌅꀷꑀꈜꅐꌅꉤꋖꁝꊯꁅ꒑ꊯ꒦ꁝꁅ
A wall of pure, white static slammed into Yukari's mind, scouring the event from her memory with surgical precision.
Yukari woke up in the hands of Ran, her mind a blank slate where the cosmic truth had been, remembering only a vague and fading nightmare.