The Search For What Was Missing
267 Words
Airi and Ren searched for missing pages.
Every archive contained gaps.
Every family had records that ended at the same year.
Five hundred years ago.
Kaede's handwriting appeared repeatedly in the margins.
She had been searching too.
One note read:
THE FOURTH WAS NEVER KILLED.
Another said:
SHE WAS ERASED.
Airi's hands trembled.
Ren found one final message.
ASK KAEDE.
But Kaede was gone.
The mystery deepened.
Who was the Fourth?
Why erase her?
What had she opened?
And who had she wanted to bring back?
That night, Airi dreamed of the ancient city again.
The Fourth stood before her.
Airi could not see her face.
But she heard her whisper:
“I only wanted one person back.”
Airi woke with a single word in her mind.
“Door.”
The Four Families finally met.
Takamori.
Kurogawa.
Shirakawa.
Amemiya.
Their representatives sat around a long table beneath an ancient crest.
Airi stood behind Akari.
Ren stood with the Kurogawa representative.
The families admitted that their ancestors had made a secret agreement.
They had hidden parts of the ancient story to prevent panic.
But there was more.
A betrayal had occurred.
Someone had altered the record.
Someone had erased the Fourth.
Airi looked at Akari.
“Did our family know?”
Akari answered honestly.
“Yes.”
Airi's heart sank.
“How long?”
“Generations.”
The room became silent.
Then the doors slammed shut.
A voice echoed through the hall.
“You have protected the wrong story.”
The moon symbol appeared across the floor.
Four lines.
One broken.
A fifth shadow appeared between them.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD