The fists did not stop.
They descended from everywhere above, below, behind. crushing streets, pulverizing buildings, smashing bodies like toys hurled against concrete.
This wasn't combat.
It was slaughter.
Ren was the first to fall.
A blow struck him square in the chest, launching him through a storefront. Steel shutters screamed as they collapsed inward, swallowing him whole.
"REN—!!" Akira shouted.
No answer came back.
Another fist formed midair,
—BOOM!!
Ayla twisted away at the last second. The street where her head had been exploded, shockwaves ripping her off her feet and sending her skidding across the asphalt. Blood streaked from her shoulder as she rolled to a stop.
The Misoke twins crossed their arms.
The impact hit like artillery.
Concrete shattered beneath their heels as they were driven backward, bodies vanishing into a cloud of debris and rubble.
Akira reacted on instinct.
The urumi snapped upward, steel ribbons screaming as they intercepted a descending strike.
For half a second, it worked.
Then the remaining force punched through.
Pain detonated through his ribs as he was hurled into a wall. Stone cracked. Breath tore from his lungs. He slid down, vision blurring, the taste of iron flooding his mouth.
We can't see it.
We can't track it.
We're being played.
"Kaito—!" Akira turned.
Too late.
A fist formed inches from Kaito's face.
He barely registered it.
The blow crushed him into the street. Asphalt fractured like glass beneath his body as his scanner flew from his grip, spinning uselessly before shattering in a burst of sparks.
Sound vanished.
Light dimmed.
And Kaito fell.
Darkness.
A shopping mall in Kisaragi City.
Bright lights. Crowded walkways. Voices overlapping in harmless noise.
Kaito stood in front of a small convenience stall, staring at a shelf of discounted items.
A heating pad.
Pain relief patches.
"…She'll need this," he murmured.
His mother's legs hadn't worked for years.
Cold nights were the worst.
He picked up a blanket, hesitated—then smiled faintly.
She'll scold me for wasting money.
But she'll still use it.
His phone vibrated.
Once.
Then again.
Then it wouldn't stop.
Conversations around him faltered. The massive digital screen above the central atrium flickered—then every display in the mall changed at once.
—BREAKING NEWS—
NIGHTMARE ENTITY CONFIRMED
LOCATION: KURAYAMA CITY, SECTOR A
EVACUATION FAILURE REPORTED
Kaito froze.
Kurayama City.
His city.
His bag slipped from his fingers, hitting the floor with a dull thud.
"No… no—"
He ran.
The train ride shattered into fragments.
He ran the moment he arrived—past police barricades, past burning streets, past people crying into their phones.
Smoke choked the air.
Buildings screamed as they collapsed.
Too slow.
Always too slow.
He reached his house.
Or what remained of it.
The roof was gone.
The walls were gone.
Kaito staggered forward.
"Mom…?"
His voice barely carried.
No answer.
Then—
From beneath the rubble—
A hand.
Thin.
Motionless.
Twisted at an impossible angle.
His mother's hand.
Kaito dropped to his knees.
"I was just—"
"I was buying something for you…"
He couldn't scream.
Couldn't stand.
Couldn't breathe.
The world burned.
And inside that burning—
Something hardened.
A vow carved deep into his chest.
If I had stayed.
If I had been faster.
If I had been stronger.
I won't let this happen again.
I won't be too slow.
I won't be useless.
"GET UP."
The voice struck like lightning.
Reality snapped back into place.
Kaito gasped, choking as pain flooded his body all at once. Blood filled his mouth. The ruined city reformed around him—the laughter, the destruction, the Nightmare still playing its game.
Every instinct begged him to stay down.
He didn't.
The air warped.
Another fist began to form.
Descending.
Straight toward him.
"NO—!!"
Ren's voice rang out.
The fist struck.
Kaito was hurled backward, ribs screaming, vision bursting white—
—but he was smiling.
Because now—
He understood.
Kaito staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth.
"…You're not Ren."
"If that was really Ren," he said steadily, "he wouldn't have just shouted."
The smile twitched.
"He would've jumped," Kaito continued. "He would've taken the hit."
Silence fell.
Then—
A slow clap echoed through the street.
The Ren standing nearby tilted his head.
"Oh~?" the clown sang. "So you noticed~?"
Its grin stretched too wide. Too wrong.
Akira's instincts screamed.
Ayla shifted.
The Misoke twins leaned forward.
Kaito laughed softly.
"…I only had a twenty percent chance," he admitted. "Ren hesitating didn't prove anything."
The clown's grin stiffened.
"He could've been hurt. Too far away. Too slow."
Kaito met its eyes.
"But the moment you smiled—"
His gaze hardened.
"—You answered the question for me."
Kaito tilted his head.
"Wow."
"You really are a clown."
The body twisted.
Skin split.
Joints bent backward with wet, grinding sounds as limbs collapsed inward. Bones tore through flesh. The grin stretched nearly in half as laughter warped into something jagged and feral.
"HAHAHAHA!!
You humans are hilarious!"
"Now," Akira said quietly, stepping forward,
"we fight."
They moved.
All at once.
The hammer fell like judgment.
Silver daggers carved arcs through the air.
The urumi snapped forward, steel ribbons screaming as they struck true.
The Misoke twins seized the opening.
One grabbed the AM chain.
The other hurled it skyward.
CLANG—CLANG—CLANG!!
The chain wrapped tight, locking limbs, crushing joints. The Nightmare thrashed, laughter collapsing into shrill, furious screams as its body was forced still.
From the shattered storefront—
"Ugh… damn it…"
The real Ren staggered out, coughing dust and blood, blinking in confusion.
"…Why does everything hurt?"
Silence fell.
The Nightmare went still.
Kaito dropped to one knee, breathing hard.
Ren looked at him.
"…Hey. You okay, man?"
Kaito laughed weakly.
"…Yeah."
He closed his eyes.
"…You're loud. Don't ever stop being stupid."
High above, unseen—
Akirawa watched.
"…Heh."
For the first time—
He didn't look bored.