Unchanging
For a moment, I thought I'd come home.
The familiar view gave me a fleeting sense of peace.
...I shouldn't have come back here.
It must have been the turmoil inside me.
I almost laughed at how accustomed I'd grown to even that.
It was all because of this dream.
A marriage license...
Why did I bring this with me?
Had I already begun to waver even then...? Had I?
The ember fed on memories until it became a flame, and began to consume the worthless paper.
Useless. Unnecessary. Meaningless. No value, no hope left in it at all.
...And when it had burned to ash, leaving nothing behind...
...What?
Were you following me?
How did you know when, no, if I'd even show up here?
Well... I didn't.
I figured I'd wait and see.
...
...You really do act without thinking.
We sat at opposite ends of a bench.
The light from the streetlamp formed a wall between us.
You're not going to ask... what I burned?
Everyone has their secrets.
I thought you, of all people, would want to know.
...I do want to know.
But this time, I'll stifle my curiosity.
...I see.
If this was nothing more than a dream, the man beside me would vanish with it.
Perhaps all the feelings I'd found here would vanish too.
...That was why I could speak. Just as I wasn't truly myself, he also wasn't truly himself.
...Captain.
If, one day, you learned the truth... the truth that nothing exists in the future...
What would you choose to do?
...That's a hard one.
...Even if that fate was already sealed?
...
I've crossed countless stretches of time.
So much has changed. So much is gone.
Things I loved, things I cherished, things I believed in...
Nothing was spared. Every timeline ended in a starless, black night.
...But there was one thing.
Just one thing that never changed.
And it's still true now.
...You must have been lonely.
...
That's why I wanted to know...
How you really feel.
Why you keep pushing me away. Why you insist on being alone.
I couldn't answer a single question I saw in his eyes.
I simply couldn't bear to let him close, to be with him again, only to relive what came after.
If I failed to save him, the future would repeat itself once more.
...Because I don't want to experience loss again.
Because I don't want to feel... that pain again.
He looked up at the night sky, then rose from the bench.
He pulled something out and showed it to me.
...
Why are you showing me this?
Two pamphlets showed a dazzling fireworks display, with the festival's name and date printed above it.
For a long while, I couldn't take my eyes off the warmth he'd placed in my hands.
The New Year's Festival... with me?
...Why?
Well, why not?
Is because I want to not a good enough reason?
I looked at his smile.
A brilliant star. A light I could never reach.
...He had always been this way.
Will you come with me?
...
...Do as you please.