The Sky Vault was quieter than Haruto expected.
Not silent.
Never silent.
Though it was the crisp of dusk so that much is to be expected.
But..
The wind was always present.
The bells were always singing.
People were always moving across the stone bridges.
Yet compared to the cities he'd visited, the place felt peaceful.
As though the mountain itself had decided noise wasn't welcome here.
Haruto spent two days searching.
Not frantically.
Not desperately.
Carefully.
Patiently.
He spoke with record keepers.
Mapmakers.
Travelers.
Pilgrims.
Anyone willing to talk.
Sometimes the answers led somewhere.
Most didn't.
Yet one thing became clear.
A young librarian had passed through the Sky Vault.
Recently.
Very recently.
The descriptions matched.
The timing matched.
The habits matched.
Every new conversation added another thread to the same picture.
By the evening of the second day, Haruto found himself standing on one of the highest observation bridges.
Clouds drifted below.
The sunset painted the mountains gold.
Belial sat on the railing nearby.
Unusually quiet.
The little creature had noticed it too.
The trail wasn't cold anymore.
The gap wasn't years.
Or months.
Or even weeks.
The gap was shrinking.
Fast.
And that reality felt strangely terrifying.
Not because Haruto feared finding Sakura.
Because he no longer knew what finding her would feel like.
For years, she had been a destination.
A hope.
A promise.
The person waiting at the end of every road.
But now?
Now she was becoming real again.
Not a memory.
Not a dream.
Real.
The thought made his chest tighten.
Belial glanced at him.
"You've been weird."
Haruto laughed.
"That's rich coming from you."
"I'm serious."
The creature's tail flicked.
"You're nervous."
Haruto opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Because denying it felt pointless.
"...yeah."
The wind moved through the bells.
Far below, tiny lanterns began appearing throughout the Sky Vault.
One by one.
Like stars being lit.
Haruto leaned against the railing.
Then quietly spoke.
"What if she changed?"
Belial didn't answer immediately.
"What if I changed?"
Still no answer.
Haruto looked toward the horizon.
The words had been sitting inside him for months.
Years, maybe.
Waiting.
"What if we're not the same people anymore?"
There it was.
The real fear.
Not finding her.
Finding her and discovering that time had taken something important.
That the years apart had created a distance no road could cross.
The thought hurt more than any pain.
More than any curse.
More than death itself.
Belial stared at him for a long moment.
Then sighed dramatically.
"Humans."
Haruto rolled his eyes.
"Very helpful."
"No, listen."
The creature hopped onto the railing in front of him.
The golden slit eyes unusually serious.
"When you first met Sakura, did you know everything about her?"
Haruto blinked.
"No."
"Did she know everything about you?"
"No."
Belial pointed triumphantly.
"Exactly."
Haruto frowned.
"I don't see your point."
"You fell in love with a stranger."
Silence.
The bells continued ringing softly.
The creature tried to fold his arms...or hooves.
"You learned who she was."
"You grew together."
"You changed together."
His tail swayed gently.
"If she's changed..."
Belial shrugged.
"...then learn her again."
Haruto froze.
The words struck deeper than expected.
Simple.
Ridiculously simple.
Yet somehow exactly what he needed to hear.
Learn her again.
Not because the old Sakura was gone.
But because people changed.
That was normal.
That was life.
Haruto had changed too.
And if they truly loved each other—
then perhaps neither needed to be the person they once were.
Perhaps they only needed to be themselves.
The realization settled quietly inside him.
Like a knot slowly loosening.
The sky darkened further.
The first stars appeared overhead.
For a while neither spoke.
Then footsteps echoed across the bridge.
A woman approached.
One of the Sky Vault's record keepers.
Haruto recognized her immediately.
She had been helping him search records all afternoon.
The woman spotted him and smiled.
"Good."
Haruto blinked.
"Good?"
"I was looking for you."
Something in her voice made him straighten.
Belial noticed too.
The woman approached.
Holding a small notebook.
Worn.
Ordinary.
The sort of notebook travelers carried.
"I found something."
Haruto's heartbeat quickened.
The record keeper opened the notebook.
Then flipped through several pages.
"A week ago."
The words immediately caught his attention.
A week.
Not months.
Three weeks.
The woman continued.
"A librarian stayed here briefly."
The world seemed to narrow.
The mountains.
The sky.
The wind.
Everything faded.
Only the words remained.
The record keeper smiled softly.
"You were right."
She turned the notebook around.
A guest signature.
Simple handwriting.
Neat handwriting.
Painfully familiar handwriting.
Haruto stared.
And stared.
And stared.
Because for the first time since arriving in Asterra—
for the first time in years—
he wasn't looking at a description.
Or a rumor.
Or a possibility.
He was looking at something Sakura had touched.
Something Sakura had written.
Proof.
Real proof.
His fingers trembled.
Just slightly.
The signature itself wasn't important.
Not to anyone else.
But to him—
it felt like hearing her voice after years of silence.
A thousand memories flooded forward.
The library.
The wedding.
The apartment.
The lazy weekends.
The shared meals.
The laughter.
The arguments.
The countless ordinary moments that had once felt endless.
For years, he had feared forgetting them.
Now, looking at those familiar strokes of ink.
he realized something.
He hadn't forgotten a single one.
Not one.
A strange sting filled his eyes.
Haruto immediately looked away.
The record keeper pretended not to notice.
Belial pretended not to notice.
Both failed.
Spectacularly.
The woman closed the notebook gently.
Then smiled.
"There's something else."
Haruto swallowed.
"What?"
The record keeper looked toward the eastern mountains.
Toward a road disappearing into the distance.
Then she said the words he'd dreamed of hearing for years.
"You're following her."
A pause.
A small smile.
"And I suppose she is still looking for you."
Silence.
Then realization.
Haruto's eyes widened.
Belial's eyes widened.
The record keeper laughed softly.
Because suddenly—
for the first time—
they weren't crossing a continent.
They weren't circling each other.
They weren't missing each other by months.
Or years.
They were walking toward each other.
Right now.
At this very moment.
One road.
Two travelers.
And somewhere beyond the mountains—
without knowing it—
Sakura was getting closer too.