So, I've made a decision. It sure as hell wasn't easy but it had to be done. I can't continue this project any more. The spark that got this whole thing going, which burned brightest in late 2016 and early-to-mid 2017, is pretty much gone. To put it bluntly, I've moved on from this, and I just can't imagine myself returning to it. In case I do continue this one day, I won't spoil what I had planned. But, yeah, this story is, for the forseeable future, over. I'm very, very sorry, both to anyone who still reads this, and to my past self, who had such big dreams of actually getting this done. Maybe one day I will, but I wouldn't place bets on it. In the meantime, here's my half-written chapter on what happens next.

Final shoutouts go to setokayba2n and Shisui the body flicker.

(Tom's POV, 17:20, September 11)

The ball of light is starting to fade. I'm tempted to think it was a nuclear detonation, vast yet high enough in the atmosphere to do little besides trash every electronic device in this room. But if that were true, then why did it seem to light up the city below for so long, or with such luminosity? And why detonate them all the way up there? If they wanted to EMP Tokyo, than it makes sense. But if it's to get at us I can't think of any reason they'd prefer an EMP over simply flattening the city. Maybe to prevent Kira from going beserk again?

'What do you think, Dimina? …Dimina?'

Oh, oh wow, that caught me off-guard. I don't think I've seen such an expression of shock and horror on her before.

'Dimina? Is something else wrong?'

'I was outside the building when whatever just happened, happened. But, all of a sudden, a moment after the light appeared… listen, I need to talk to Rugo.'

'What? What happened?'

Without so much as a hint of an explanation she darts over to my laptop, flips it open, and calls for Rugo. I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing my laptop wasn't hit my the EMP wave, or at least hasn't been rendered completely unusable by it.

'…Fuck! He's probably asleep! I need to know if it happened to him too. Listen, my eyes… my Shinigami eyes seem to have shut off. No names, no numbers, nothing. Not for you, not for anyone outside… it's like whatever was feeding data into them has been completely deactivated.'

How does that make sense? The only way something like that could happen is if…

…

…Oh god.

'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'

'We're fucked. We are so, so fucked. Any clue how the Shinigami realm is going to respond?'

'Well it'll be more than just a strongly-worded condemnation, that's for sure.'

'Y'know, I remember Chris once said that you shouldn't trust the government of a country whose national cuisines lead to cardiac arrest. But I doubt even he could've predicted this.'

'Are you so sure it was the Americans, Tom?'

'It's a good guess.'

(M's POV, 04:23, September 11)

'See, Luci? I told you it'd work. There was no need for you to throw such a tantrum about it.'

I can see he's far from impressed.

'It's way too soon to know that. You know what they say, if your attack is going well, it means you've walked into an ambush.'

'I don't think that rule applies here.'

'Well, something similar-ish might.'

'Similar-ish?'

'Oh for the love of… my point is, until we know otherwise, I'm quite confident in my assumption that you fucked up.'

'I HAVE NOT FUCKED UP!'

I end the call and head back to bed. Soft-minded weakling. My powers have doubled since the last time we met, and yet he still treats me like-

'I'm a re-'

And now he's calling my phone?

*Beep*

'I JUST TOLD YOU I HAVE NOT-'

'M?'

'Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else. What's up?'

'Ma'am, I'm sorry to say this but… take a look at the gravitational anomaly data we're starting to collect right now.'

I rush back out of bed to look at the new data filling the screen.

'What? But that's impossible, we hit the wormhole with enough firepower to flatten a continent! Nothing on the other side could've survived!'

'Or so we thought. With all due respect, you fucked up.'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'It looks like this place, this realm, is looking for a fight.'

'I didn't do this to fight them! I did it to violently kill them!'

'Oh god, this is the problem with your generation! You expect everything to go exactly the way you want, and when that doesn't happen you throw a damn tantrum! You kids have it too easy these days. I remember a time when boats were made of wood, and men were made of steel…'

'That's not a great metaphor.'

'No metaphor, the cyborgs destroyed our navy in minutes. But that's beside the point.'