*Huff* *Huff!* "I finally… made it to the shrine! My feet were close to giving out on me, but I still have a promise to fulfill!" After running up the stairs, I looked forward to see an old building in front of me. It wasn't as detailed as I thought it would be, but no matter! I have no more time to waste! Time to find Haru!

"Huh? A guest?" Hearing a female voice on my right, I looked to see a girl that wore a shrine maiden's outfit and was on her way down to me. This one... Yup! She's a cutie! The outfit, the pink colored and pony tailed hair… it's all cute!

"Excuse me! Do you know the whereabouts of a guy named Haru?!" After walking down to me, her eyes widened in horror. What?! I'm not ugly! I'm as beautiful as they-

" Are you okay?! You're-"

"There's no need to worry about me, Cutie! I have someone to meet and someplace to be! Now, tell me if you know about a guy named Haru!" I figured that she would notice the obvious. It's not everyday she would meet someone like this, huh?

"Y-yes, I do know Haru, but before I answer anything, you need to get treated! You're-" I raised up my right palm to stop her from talking.

"So he's been here, correct! Alright, tell me where he went!"

"H-huh? Wait, this is no time to be worrying about him right now! You should-"

"Location. Now!" As much as I didn't want to yell at her, I had no choice but to do so to hurry this up. He could already be in danger, so I can't risk leaving him alone! Especially with that detective…

"I… He's down the path that I came from." As I heard her beginning to mumble something that was close to "why isn't anyone listening to me?", I patted her head and followed the path she came from.

"Thanks a bunch! Don't worry, I'll bring them back before you know it!" My body knew that it was time for rest and a huge nap right now, but I can't do that right now. I made a promise, and I'm already failing it by leaving that detective with him! Her interactions with him is making him more crazier and making him do stupid things!

Well, at least he can't die.

"Don't you worry, Haru! Takanashi Kiara is on her way to SAVE YOUUUUUUU!"

Again.

I felt like I had been running for minutes that were close to an hour. The caves felt all the same and never different when turning to any corner. Everything felt the same and I was starting to go insane after finding the same area that water dripped above me when I first started.

'It was never your fault.' I clenched my head for the third time. Everything that I was hearing in here isn't real, so I can't listen to them!

The shivers that I had felt in my spine had caused me to run inside the cave and never stop. Unfortunately, I have to deal with being lost and with these fake words that are being imprinted in my head.

'You have to run, Haru! You'll be fine with-' No, I don't need to hear this anymore. I don't. I never wanted to hear it. That was never supposed to happen, so why did I have to suffer from this?

I looked around, seeing a familiar cave spike that led me to the exit of the cave. The problem is that it would just lead me to the exit in which I found Ina-chan. This wasn't right; why did it keep leading me to this exit? Why isn't this cave letting me leave?!

"You already know that answer, Haru-kun," I heard her voice, looked around, and found nothing. Where was she talking from?! "Poor Haru-kun, have you forgotten that I can communicate with you through your brain? Ah! I should've told you that after running in for a bit. But don't worry, you'll soon forget about me, that event, and everything else. After that, we can start the introductions over again."

I… can't take her words lightly. I need to find a way out of this cave before I lose myself!

I ran forward and away from the cave spike that I had seen, hoping to see a different path than the usual. Finding the same fork that I had seen for the third time, I took the left and was greeted with another fork. This… wasn't like this before! Could… it be…?

'I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that you were the only survivor. If we had managed to keep our subject contained, then-' I don't want to hear this! I don't care about it! I don't care about it! I just want to leave!

"Where are you, Haru-kun? You're only making this harder for yourself if you keep going deeper into the caves and getting lost. Why not just accept a peaceful life here? You have no more violence to deal with, no more people to deal with, and… I haven't thought about the rest, but hey, no more people!"

My legs were starting to give out on me. As much as awake I was, I don't have the stamina to keep going. I can't fall down. I can't let her find me. I can't let her find me.

I tripped on something and found myself scraping against the cold and hard rocky floor. Whatever I tripped on had caused a bunch of small pebbles to fall down behind me, causing an echo to surface through the entire cave.

"I heard that, Haru-kun. I'm on my way to see you." I felt my legs cramp and twitch from the sudden shock. I don't care how hurt my body is… I want to leave! Getting back up, I walked forward with pain in my left leg.

'Why not go with her?' Even hearing my younger sister's voice, I continued to walk forward.

'You have no need to rely on your memories, Haru-kun. From this girl, I can feel the loneliness in heart as well. Everybody is lonely, Haru-kun. Even I am. As a simple memory, I was given the life to exist upon your head and can only voice things you didn't want to hear.' They were fake.

'I was given life because of you, Haru-kun. You felt the need to cling to me for so long, that I had lived inside as a piece of your subconscious. We've been living together ever since I've actually been gone. We grew and became stronger than our past self. Can you even remember what I look like? I don't have a body, shape, or even a form. I can't move, Haru-kun.' She didn't sound so little anymore. She sounded like a teen.

'She can ease your pain and make you forget everything that happened to me. To us. She'll make you happy.' I found myself at a dead end with nowhere to go. But it wasn't a normal dead end. There was a huge part of the cave that was missing, only showing a huge pit in the ground.

'Let go of us, Haru-kun, and go to her. You became strong in your end, so it's finally time to end this neverending story of pain.' My body had unconsciously raised its hand to the ceiling of the cave, as if I was trying to grasp onto something that wasn't even there.

'Go to her, Haru-kun. You need to know that everybody has a key to someone's heart. Even with this girl, a heart and mind that's been clouded by a book. I'm sure you can help her too, right? I mean… you used to love helping others when you were little, right? It's best that you don't forget who you used to be.' If I was there to see her, I could guess that she was smiling with her usual stupid grin.

"Don't leave me here…" My body started to move forward, almost seemingly falling into the pit.

'Go to her, Haru-kun. To Kiara-chan. That's the first step to becoming happy.' I felt the multiple strings in my head snap, causing a widespread of pain to enhance within my head. Before my body went past the ledge, it had came to a sudden stop. I felt someone's hand over my chest, not wanting to fall down there.

"Oopsie. Can't have you falling into one of my experiments, can we?" It was… I don't remember. Their voice was faint, but I can hear the softness of her voice. It sounded a bit relaxing, honestly.

"Let's get you back where you need to be." Being picked up in her arms, I felt a bit calmer. My head wasn't hurting that much, and I could… feel a little peace. Who was she again? She looks human, but… something about that halo over her head seemed otherwise. Was she an angel that came to save me from death?

But… I'm immortal, aren't I? My eyes had been slowly closing and opening. Without any alarm, I didn't know where I was. I was inside of a cave and… for what reason?

"Don't worry, Haru-kun, your thoughts and worries will soon be gone after I wipe those unwanted memories you have. Everything is going to be-" Something bright had appeared to our left.

"Hands off Haru!" Feeling myself being elevated, I had been lifted to safety. That woman… Kiara-chan. She's… here. Was she here to save me? From what exactly again? Looking at her, my eyes widened when I saw that she was missing her left arm.

"Well, there goes my plan of having no violence. Stay right here, Haru-kun. Takodachi, please and do keep him company." She smiled down at me before setting a small creature on my chest that began to nuzzle deeply on me. For some reason, I felt a bit more calmer than usual.

"What are you planning to do with Haru?!" I heard Kiara-chan scream out. Why was she even here with those injuries? She can't possibly hope to fight with them, right?

"Takanashi Kiara, right? I was expecting you for a while when you first entered the cave. Sad to say, you have quite some sad stories to share, don't you?" Before she converse some more, Kiara-chan had swung her sword diagonally, causing an aftermath of fire to be sent towards her.

Simply stopping the fire with her right hand, the girl smugly smiled. Before she could say anything, she looked to her right to see Kiara-chan there; simply and almost having the chance of slicing the girl into two.

If the girl hadn't disappeared so suddenly.

"This is a surprise. I thought you'll be the type for talking, Kiara-chan. With how much you talked with Calli-" She didn't have the chance to say anything, only for Kiara-chan to attack her when she found her.

"Answer me! What were you planning to do with, Haru!" Kiara-chan looked desperate and tired.

"I don't need to answer you. You should just know that Haru-kun is going to be in safe hands with me." She dodged another attempt at being cut by Kiara-chan. Why was she acting so desperate for? Why did she even come here?

"And you expect me to trust your words?!" Kiara readied her sword, only for her to come to a sudden stop. The sound of flesh being pierced was all I could hear. Looking at her stomach, the left side of it had been pierced, causing her to kneel down.

"Kiara-chan!" I wanted to move, but I was exhausted. My legs had soon given out on me.

"Kurk!" She managed to hold some blood in her mouth, but some had managed to burst through her lips.

"That was a warning shot. If you don't leave to be treated now, then, I'm afraid you'll be greeting death once again. But, you should be accustomed to that already, right?" Hearing a chuckle from Kiara-chan, she placed her remaining hand on the wound for fire to spur into it. After moving her hand, the wound was still damaged a bit, but not fatal.

"Kiara-chan…" I managed to call out in fear. Turning to me, she attempted to wink her eye, only for it to not fully close on her.

"Don't worry, Haru, this'll be done before you know it." Standing back up, she readied her sword.

"Don't be stupid! You're already tired enough, so run! Just forget about me already!" Even when I screamed and yelled, she still manages to smile. What even goes through that empty head of hers?!

"And leave you behind? I promised by word to make sure you live a happy life, Haru," The white sides of her sword had detracted from the blade entirely, causing a burst of blue flames to come bursting out of the sides. "And I'm going to give up on that promise to you!" She launched herself at the girl, only for her attacks to be rendered useless as she continued to dodge them.

"Such a friendship the two of you have," She dodges a vertical swing and backs up a bit. "But it seems more one-sided than anything. You, Kiara-chan, are only hurting yourself by only having these one-sided feelings onto others. Just like me, just like Haru-kun… you're lonely. In fact, the most lonely out of the two of us." She continued to mock Kiara-chan, but she only smiled in return.

"What can I say? I've been living most of my life wandering the world most of the time, that I haven't decided on who to settle with. And throughout my immortality, I had lost a lot of people that I considered friends, even if it was one-sided. But I still continued forward because I had to! I fought in battles that rendered me useless, but I still managed to get what I want! My own victory in my own way! Because it was something that I could control!" With a warcry, she swung her sword to create a cross of some sort with blue flames and sent them at her.

"Well, you're about to find out how useless you really are in this battle, Kiara-chan." As if the cave walls themselves were alive themselves, they stretched themselves to protect her from the flames. "Don't you see how futile this battle is?"

"Compared to my other flames, I could tell that these are going to hurt you since you relied on something else to tank them. I still have the advantage!" Running to her with the same blue flames, I could hear the girl sigh.

"You must be clouded enough to not realize that you were already in a trap." Before Kiara-chan could do anything, the walls around her had turned into spikes and pierced through her body. The flames in her sword had evaporated, and she could only stand there...

"Kiara…" My eyes were starting to give out on holding the dam. Seeing this… Seeing something so similar…

Walking up to Kiara-chan, the girl had dispersed the spikes off of Kiara-chan's body and took her sword. I couldn't see Kiara-chan's face, but she wasn't moving anymore…

"Such an attempt was made, Kiara-chan. Maybe, next time, try to remember that brute force won't always help you," Stabbing the sword into Kiara-chan's stomach, she smiled. "Because all of that built up energy is going to get you burned out." As she said this, Kiara-chan's body was sent far away from her.

"Kiara!" I had somehow managed to use whatever energy I had left in my body to get up and run to her. The takodachi might've fallen, but it didn't matter to me. I ran past the girl without anything else in mind but Kiara's safety.

At her side, the amount of holes in her body would've caused me to puke if I didn't muster the strength to hold it in.

"Ha...ru?" I heard her manage to let out.

"Yeah, it's me, I'm here!" I grabbed her hand and clenched it.

"Aww… I… wanted to show you a cool trick, but… I couldn't do it. Wait… hold on…" As she wanted me to wait, I saw a burst of flames come out of her left shoulder. After the flames had died out, there was a brand new arm there. "Ta…da….!" I could only smile a bit before tears blinded my vision.

"Aww… you… don't need to cry for me, Haru. You're… going to make… me cry too." She manages to put her left hand over mine.

"Of course I want to cry! You didn't need to come all this way to even save me! You could've gone on with your life without me, and you still could've been satisfied! And in the end, someone else had to end dying for me again!" I could see a tear coming out of her left eye.

"You know… she's right. You could've been safer with her around, but… I didn't want to let you go, you know. I didn't want another person that I considered a friend to be taken away from me again. Well, you might've seen me as a friend. Such a greedy gal I am, huh?" I couldn't say anything as I felt her hand giving out a bit.

"Maybe… it's because of how lonely I am, that I can't let go of these one-sided feelings. I still… manage to annoy so many people. But… you want to know something, Haru? This… was the first time that I had died for someone. From… all the… times so many others died for me… I think this feels nice. It feels real nice dying for someone you wanted to protect." Letting go of her hand, I grabbed the hilt of her sword and took it out of her stomach.

I stared at the blade a bit.

I turned the blade to face my body.

And pierced my stomach.

"Haru-kun!" I heard the girl cry out to me, but I didn't care. Laying myself down next to Kiara-chan, I looked at the woman.

"Ha...ru? Why… did you do that?" Her eyes were shocked, but I smiled. This might be my first needed smile to someone else.

"Because… I'm tired… of someone dying for me. I thought… it was time for me to do what I should've done a long time ago. Call it… a payback if you… will." I felt Kiara-chan's right arm land on my hair and pet it gently.

"Stupid… You need to... value your life some more." She smiled, but only gently.

"I'm… using my life… as I see fit. You're… supposed to scold me… some more, right?" She let out a sort of laugh.

It was faint.

"Well… maybe… later." I soon felt her left hand give out as her eyes were now devoid of the same energetic eyes I had once seen.

Another person had died for me.

I looked up to see the girl looking down at me. With tears in her eyes and a worried look, she cries out my name. That's right.

Well, if I could hear properly.

"Ina. Maybe… you should… understand that… you can't force… friendship." It was like my mouth was moving on its own. I don't remember who she was, but my mouth had spoken the words.

Ah… this warmth feels a little familiar.

Maybe, in my next life, I could be a little more nicer to those around me.

I should better learn to cherish the things around me until they're gone forever.