Chapter 24
The Girl Who Was Forgotten.
Aira couldn't move.
The voice behind the seventh door had sounded exactly like her.
Not her voice now.
Her voice as a child.
“Don't forget me.”
Ren stood beside her.
“Aira?”
She didn't answer.
She was remembering.
Not the station.
Not the train.
Not Yuto.
Something much older.
She remembered sitting alone beneath the old tree beside the river.
She remembered being angry.
She remembered crying.
And she remembered saying something she had completely forgotten.
“I wish nobody could ever leave me.”
Aira opened her eyes.
The mysterious man was watching her.
“You remember.”
She looked at him.
“That was my wish.”
He nodded.
“The first memory.”
Ren frowned.
“But Aira was only a child.”
“Exactly.”
The man looked toward the seventh door.
“Your family thought the wish had been harmless.”
Aira shook her head.
“But it wasn't.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
The man took a slow breath.
“The wish created a place where nobody could truly leave.”
Aira stared at him.
“The station.”
“The station.”
She looked at Ren.
“So every disappearance…”
“Was a consequence of your wish.”
Aira's eyes filled with tears.
“But I didn't mean for any of this to happen.”
“I know.”
The man's voice softened.
“You were a child who was afraid of losing the people you loved.”
Aira looked down.
“That doesn't make it okay.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“But it doesn't make you responsible for every choice people made afterward.”
Aira remained silent.
Her sister had spent years trying to repair the damage.
Yuto had sacrificed himself.
Haru had disappeared.
The Keeper had protected the forgotten.
And Ren had carried a promise he couldn't even remember.
All because of one frightened child's wish.
Ren reached for her hand.
“You were a child.”
Aira looked at him.
“You don't hate me?”
He looked genuinely confused.
“For what?”
“For this.”
“You didn't know.”
“But I started it.”
“No.”
Ren squeezed her hand.
“You started a story. Other people made choices inside it.”
Aira looked at him.
“You always know what to say.”
“Not always.”
He smiled.
“I'm just trying not to make you cry.”
She laughed softly through her tears.
Then the mysterious man stepped closer.
“There is one way to end it.”
Aira looked at him.
“How?”
“You must change the original wish.”
“What does that mean?”
“You have to return to the place where you made it.”
“The river.”
“Yes.”
“What do I do there?”
“You have to say what you truly want now.”
Aira looked at Ren.
“And if I change it?”
“The station will lose its purpose.”
“And the forgotten?”
“They will finally be free.”
Aira's heart tightened.
“What about the Keeper?”
The man looked toward the dark corridor.
“She will be free too.”
“And you?”
He smiled sadly.
“I've been waiting a long time for this.”
Aira understood.
“You want your daughter back.”
“No.”
He looked toward the seventh door.
“I want her to be free.”
For the first time, Aira saw no anger in his eyes.
Only regret.
They left the station together.
Outside, the sky was turning orange.
Aira and Ren walked toward the river.
Neither spoke for a while.
Then Aira stopped.
“Ren.”
He turned.
“What?”
“If I change my wish…”
He waited.
“What if I lose everything?”
“You won't.”
“How do you know?”
“I don't.”
Aira smiled sadly.
“At least you're honest.”
Ren stepped closer.
“But I know one thing.”
“What?”
“If the choice is between keeping everyone trapped because I'm afraid to lose them…”
He took her hand.
“…and letting them go because I love them…”
Aira looked into his eyes.
“I'll choose to let them go.”
Aira's eyes filled with tears.
They continued toward the river.
The old tree appeared ahead.
The same place where everything had begun.
Aira stood beneath it.
The wind moved gently through the branches.
She closed her eyes.
She could see herself as a little girl.
Small.
Afraid.
Holding Yuto's hand.
Afraid that one day he would disappear.
She remembered the wish.
Then she opened her eyes.
“I don't want to keep anyone from leaving.”
The river became completely still.
“I don't want to control who stays.”
The air grew colder.
“I don't want to live in fear of losing people.”
Ren stood beside her.
Aira took a breath.
“If someone has to leave…”
Her voice trembled.
“I want to remember them with love.”
The ground beneath them began to glow.
The crescent symbol appeared in the water.
Then the river reflected something impossible.
The station.
The train.
The Keeper.
Yuto.
Haru.
Her sister.
All of them standing together.
Aira whispered the final words.
“I choose to let them go.”
The reflection shattered.
Far away, beneath the old station, the seventh door opened.
And this time, nothing came through.
Instead, something finally left.