Chapter 2: The Sky That Shouldn’t Exist
324 Words
Kaito barely had time to process what he was seeing. Stars. Real ones. He had only read about them in ancient texts, dismissed as myths by the government. The sky was supposed to be an endless shroud of artificial clouds, regulating temperature and blocking whatever lay beyond.
But for that brief moment, the darkness cracked open, revealing a cosmos he never knew existed.
Then, just as quickly, the clouds stitched themselves back together. The wind that had brushed his skin vanished, and the neon glow of the city once again ruled the night.
He turned back to the girl.
“What the hell was that?”
She held out a gloved hand. “Come with me, Kaito.”
He took a step back, still gripping the package. “You know my name?”
“I know a lot about you,” she said calmly. “And I know you felt it—the real world, beyond this fake sky. I can show you more.”
Kaito’s instincts screamed at him to leave. His job was done. Get paid, go home. That was the rule.
But rules had never made him feel alive.
He looked at the girl’s outstretched hand, then at the city looming behind him. A world of cold metal and artificial lights.
Then he made his choice.
He grabbed her hand.
Lumi smiled. “Good choice.”
She turned and pressed something on her wrist—a faint, holographic interface flickered to life. The ground beneath them trembled as a hidden hatch in the train station’s floor slid open, revealing a dimly lit tunnel. A staircase descended into the darkness.
Kaito hesitated. “Where does this lead?”
“To the real sky,” Lumi whispered.
And with that, she stepped inside.
Kaito took one last glance at the city behind him—the only world he had ever known. Then, with a deep breath, he followed her down into the unknown.
- Writer
