When the one you remember… forgets you."
---
I — Aren Kael — had just escaped the Spiral Furnace.
Eira walked beside me, but the Spiral zone was still echoing.
It felt like everything had stopped.
And then—
A Spiral signal snapped through the air.
Tomo blinked in a panic.
---
Tomo (frantic):
> "BRO!!! Memory breach detected — not yours.
It's Aika's.
Her Spiral chain… is breaking…"
---
I ran — straight toward the Spiral hill.
At its peak stood a Spiral shrine…
And at its center — stood Aika.
White robes. Still. Calm.
But her eyes… held a hollow kind of peace.
---
I walked closer.
Took her hand gently…
And said:
"Aika… I'm here."
She looked at me.
Smiled — just a little.
And said:
> "Who… are you?"
---
The world blinked out for a second.
---
Tomo (shocked):
> "Bro… she deleted you.
She made a Spiral trade — to erase her deepest pain.
And that pain… was you."
---
[FLASHBACK: Spiral Glitch]
Aika kneels inside the Spiral shrine.
She whispers:
> "I want to let go of what hurts me the most…"
Spiral offered her a silent contract:
> "Choose the flame you can live without."
She wrote, trembling—
> "Aren."
---
[Back to Present]
I couldn't move.
She stood in front of me… and I was just a stranger now.
---
Suddenly — a Spiral flame cracked across the sky.
YUI appeared.
Clad in full Chain Spiral armor — cold, calm… burning with purpose.
---
Yui (serious):
> "I serve the Chain Spiral contract."
"And I am the guardian of Aika's memories."
"She surrendered a part of herself to Spiral —"
"Your name. Your memories. Your pain."
---
Me:
> "I want to be remembered again."
Yui:
> "Then you must enter the memory zone —
where you never existed."
---
Suddenly, Aika's body was pulled into a Spiral flare —
And a glowing chain portal emerged.
Yui (chanting):
> "Chain Unlock: Forbidden Echo Dive."
I tightened my Spiral Rod.
Didn't think.
I jumped — headfirst — into the chain gate.
---
[SCENE SHIFT — Inside Aika's Forgotten World]
It was… perfect.
Peaceful.
Aika was smiling.
Laughing.
But I wasn't part of this world.
Standing beside her…
Was a Spiral user I'd never seen before.
CERO.
Her Spiral protector in this version.
---
Me (thinking):
> "I was never part of her memories…"
"So can I still fight for her…?"
---
Final Scene:
Cero turned to me.
His voice cold. Dismissive.
> "In this Spiral… Aika is mine.
And you… are nothing but an unwanted flame."
---
I raised my Spiral Rod —
My flame shaking — but burning.
> "Then let me burn."
"Because even if she's forgotten me…"
"I will never forget her."
---
TO BE CONTINUED…