Chapter 7
THE FORGOTTEN.
Aira and Ren left the underground station without saying a word.
The city above them looked exactly the same as it always had.
People hurried along the sidewalks. Cars passed through the intersections. A couple stood outside a restaurant, laughing together.
Everything was normal.
Except that Aira could feel something inside her beginning to disappear.
She looked at her wrist.
Three white lines remained.
“Ren.”
“I know.”
“You're thinking about it too.”
He nodded.
“If only one of us has to disappear…”
“Don't.”
Aira looked at him.
“Don't finish that sentence.”
“But we need to talk about it.”
“No.”
“Aira”
“I don't want to hear it.”
She walked faster.
Ren followed.
After a few steps, he caught up with her.
“You can't avoid it forever.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you angry?”
Aira stopped.
She looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“Because I'm scared.”
Ren said nothing.
“I've already lost my sister once,” she whispered. “I don't want to lose you too.”
His expression softened.
Aira looked away.
“I know we've only known each other for a few days. I know this sounds crazy, but…”
She wiped her eyes.
“I don't want these days to end.”
Ren stepped closer.
“Neither do I.”
Aira looked at him.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Ren gently took her hand.
“You don't have to face this alone.”
Aira squeezed his fingers.
“I know.”
They returned to the library and spread everything they had discovered across a table.
Photographs.
The letter from Aira's sister.
The key.
The strange messages.
Nothing seemed to connect.
Then Ren noticed something.
“Wait.”
He picked up one of the old photographs.
“Look at the background.”
Aira leaned closer.
Behind her sister was a wall covered in drawings.
Seven circles.
Each one contained a symbol.
Aira recognized the final symbol immediately.
“It was on the train.”
Ren nodded.
“And on the door underground.”
They searched through the photographs again.
The same symbols appeared everywhere.
But one symbol appeared much more often than the others.
A small crescent moon.
Aira stared at it.
“My sister used to draw this.”
Ren looked at her.
“When?”
“When I was little.”
“Did she ever tell you why?”
Aira shook her head.
“She said it was a reminder.”
“A reminder of what?”
“I don't remember.”
She closed her eyes.
Then suddenly, a memory returned.
Her sister was sitting beside her on the floor.
Aira was holding a crayon.
Her sister was drawing the crescent moon.
Aira remembered asking her what it meant.
Her sister had smiled.
“It means someone is waiting.”
Aira opened her eyes.
“Someone is waiting.”
Ren looked at her.
“Your sister?”
“I think so.”
They searched the library archives for information about the old station.
After several hours, they found a newspaper article describing the accident three years earlier.
But there was something neither of them had noticed before.
The article listed the people who had been rescued.
Aira's name was there.
Ren's name was there.
But there was no record of Aira's sister.
Aira stared at the page.
“That means…”
“She wasn't counted among the missing,” Ren said.
Aira looked at him.
“Then she wasn't officially reported as missing.”
“Exactly.”
They looked at each other.
Someone had deliberately erased her from the records.
Aira suddenly remembered the woman in the photograph.
The Keeper.
“She did it.”
Ren nodded.
“But why?”
Before Aira could answer, her phone rang.
Hana.
Aira answered immediately.
“Hello?”
There was silence.
“Hana?”
A faint voice finally answered.
“Aira?”
“Yes.”
“I'm sorry. Who is this?”
Aira's heart sank.
“It's me.”
“I'm sorry.”
Hana sounded confused.
“I think you have the wrong number.”
The call ended.
Aira stared at the phone.
Ren took her hand.
“She forgot you.”
Aira nodded.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“It's happening faster.”
He didn't try to comfort her with empty words.
He simply stayed beside her.
Then Aira noticed something.
Ren's phone was ringing too.
He answered.
“Hello?”
His expression slowly changed.
Aira watched him.
“What happened?”
Ren lowered the phone.
“My father.”
“What about him?”
“He doesn't remember me.”
Aira's heart broke for him.
Ren looked down.
“He asked who I was.”
Aira moved closer.
“You still remember him.”
“I remember everything.”
“Then that's what matters.”
He looked at her.
“What if tomorrow I don't remember you?”
“You will.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I'll make you remember.”
Ren smiled weakly.
“You sound very confident.”
“I am.”
Aira took his hand.
“I'll tell you everything again.”
He looked at their joined hands.
“And if you forget me?”
“Then you can tell me.”
Aira smiled through her tears.
“We'll keep finding each other.”
For the first time that day, Ren smiled for real.
Later that evening, they returned to the old station.
Aira carried her camera.
Ren carried the wooden box.
They stood together beneath the station lights.
Nothing happened.
No mysterious train.
No strange voice.
No Keeper.
Aira began to wonder if they had made a mistake.
Then her camera clicked.
She looked down.
A new photograph appeared.
It showed the two of them standing on the platform.
But behind them was Aira's sister.
This time, her face was clear.
She was crying.
Aira turned the photograph over.
There was a message.
Tomorrow, come alone.
Aira's heart dropped.
Ren read it.
“No.”
Aira looked at him.
“What?”
“You're not going.”
“But it says”
“I don't care what it says.”
He took the photograph from her.
“The Keeper wants you separated from me.”
Aira looked at the station tracks.
“What if my sister is really there?”
“Then we'll find another way to reach her.”
Aira was silent.
She knew he was right.
They had been trying to solve the mystery by following every clue.
But maybe the clues were leading them exactly where the Keeper wanted.
Ren looked at her.
“We don't follow her rules anymore.”
Aira nodded.
“Then whose rules do we follow?”
Ren smiled faintly.
“Ours.”
Aira smiled back.
Then she looked at her wrist.
Two white lines remained.
She felt a chill.
They had lost another day.
And tomorrow, there would be only one line left.