"What's worse than forgetting? Believing you never loved at all."
Scene 1: Somewhere That Isn't Real
May 8, 2011 – ??? AM
The World of Shards
Ruby stood alone on a fragment of sky, suspended in endless black. Her feet were bare, the surface beneath her unnervingly smooth, cold—like polished glass.
She looked down.
Her uniform was torn, frayed at the edges as if something had tried to erase her from existence. In her hands, she clutched a photograph—a snapshot of family. Ai. Aqua. And a third child with golden hair.
Someone she didn't know.
Yet the ache in her chest told her otherwise.
"Who is this…?" she whispered.
"Why do I feel like I miss him?"
The silence around her wasn't empty—it breathed, moved. A shard of mirrored light floated up before her. It reflected a memory—her smiling with Aqua, laughing over a cake. Another followed—her at an idol show, waving to an unseen crowd.
Then another.
One she couldn't remember.
She was in someone's arms. Souta's.
Both of them crying.
The photo slipped from her trembling fingers.
"Who… am I missing?"
Scene 2: Shibuya District – Fractured Tokyo
Same Moment
Aqua ran.
His breath came sharp, fast, cutting through the distorted streets of a city that didn't feel right. The skyline was familiar, yet wrong—the signs bore names he didn't recognize, the neon lights flickered in reverse, as if rewinding time.
But worse—
"There's no Ruby. No Ai. No Kana. No Souta."
Every memory he reached for blurred into static. His phone wouldn't unlock, his reflection in the dark windows didn't move when he did.
Then—
A mirror hovered in the air beside him. It cracked, splitting open like a fractured egg—
And something spilled out.
A boy.
Crying.
"Aqua-kun…!"
Happy.
His fur was damp with tears, paws trembling as he clung to Aqua.
"You remember me!"
Aqua gripped him tighter than he meant to.
"Where is everyone?!"
Happy's breathing hitched.
"Split. The mirror did it. Even Souta—he's…" He swallowed, shaking his head.
"…he's in the center. Where even gods don't follow."
Aqua looked up at the distorted sky.
"Then I'll follow anyway."
Scene 3: The Heart of the Mirror – Infinite Loop
Location Unknown
Souta drifted.
Weightless. Silent. The concept of time didn't exist here—not broken, not distorted. It had never been at all.
And in this place, he wasn't anything. Not a brother. Not a boy. Not a god.
He was just—
Tired.
"If I undo the curse… I undo myself."
Then—
A voice. Soft, uncertain.
"Please don't go."
Souta's eyes opened.
Ai stood before him—not quite real, not yet formed. She was young, small, clutching a stuffed star in her trembling hands.
A memory, trying to reshape itself.
"Mama?" he whispered.
She tilted her head, smiling gently.
"Why are you sad, Souta-kun?"
His throat tightened.
"Because I hurt everything I wanted to protect."
Her tiny hands squeezed the star.
"Then do what you always do."
Her voice was so quiet, so kind.
"Try again."
Scene 4: The Worlds Collide
6:00 AM – All Fragments
Across the fractured dimensions, something stirred.
A heartbeat.
A melody—one they hadn't heard in years, yet knew by heart.
Ruby fell to her knees, gripping her chest.
"That song…"
Aqua's breath shuddered.
"Mama used to hum it."
"No." His voice dropped to a whisper.
"He did."
One by one, their voices rose.
A broken lullaby, pieced together from memory.
As they sang—
The world trembled.
Final Scene: The Core of Everything
Souta stood on solid glass, the epicenter of all reflections.
Above him, the Mirror Self—the Entity—twisted, seething.
"You'll forget them again, boy. You'll forget yourself. Over and over—until you become me."
Souta exhaled.
Slowly.
Gently.
And then—he smiled.
"Then I'll remember again."
"As many times as it takes."
He raised his hand.
The song—their song—spilled into the void like light.
"I am not you."
His fingers clenched—
And he shattered the curse that had never been born.
Just before the explosion of light—
Souta heard something.
A whisper.
But not from the Mirror.
From inside himself.
"You think that was the only one?"
A new crack splintered across the sky.
This one…
Didn't come from him.
It came from something else.
A voice so vast, so ancient, that even the gods recoiled—
"WHO DEFIES THE ORDER OF FORGOTTEN GODS?"