The blue awning of the family restaurant came into view, swaying gently in the morning breeze. It looked exactly as it always had—cozy, inviting, and smelling of toasted rice and home-cooked broth. Koko stopped at the entrance, her chest heaving, her hands trembling for the first time that morning, though not from any injury.
She pushed the door open. The bell chimed with a cheerful ting.
Inside, Yui’s parents were busy preparing for the lunch rush. Her father was wiping down the counter, humming a tune, while her mother was arranging fresh napkins at the booths. They looked happy. They looked peaceful. They looked... lighter.
"Oh! Welcome!" Yui’s mother chirped, looking up with a warm smile. "We aren't quite open for service yet, but we can get a tea started for you if you'd like to wait?"
Koko didn't move. She scanned the room, looking for the girl who usually sat in the corner booth with her homework spread out, or the one who would burst from the kitchen with a tray of misordered food.
"Where is she?" Koko asked, her voice cracking. "Is she okay? Is she in the back?"
The mother blinked, her smile faltering into a look of polite confusion. "I’m sorry, dear? Who are you looking for?"
"Yui!" Koko stepped forward, her voice rising in desperation. "Your daughter! Yui! Is she resting? Is her side okay? She was hurt so badly—"
The father stopped humming. He walked over to his wife, placing a protective arm around her shoulder. They shared a look—the kind of look strangers give to someone who might be having a breakdown.
"I think you have the wrong place, miss," the father said gently. "It’s just the two of us here. We don't have a daughter."
The silence that followed was louder than the Void King’s scream. Koko felt the floor tilt beneath her. She looked at the wall where a framed drawing of a bluebird used to hang—a drawing Yui had made in primary school. It was gone. In its place was a generic landscape painting.
"No..." Koko whispered, backed away. "That’s impossible. You... you love her. She’s everything to you."
"We’ve lived here twenty years, just the two of us," the mother said, her voice filled with genuine pity. "Are you alright? Do you need us to call someone for you?"
Koko didn't answer. She turned and stumbled back out into the street, the chime of the door bell sounding like a mocking laugh. She collapsed onto a nearby park bench, the same bench where they had all sat together after their first victory against a Shadow-Beast.
She looked at her perfect, healed hands. She realized now that they weren't a gift. They were a bribe. Yui had traded her existence to the universe to buy back their futures. She had deleted herself from the melody so the rest of the song could play on.
Koko sat in the sunlight, surrounded by people who didn't know a hero had lived among them, and finally, the President broke. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed for the girl that the world had forgotten.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkFKaUjsWy
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