The rain hammered against the roof of the car.
Dante sat in the driver's seat. The engine was off. The keys were in his hand, but he did not turn them. His head throbbed. It was a dull, rhythmic pain behind his eyes. Like a heartbeat located in his brain.
He had used Kairo for three hours straight. Tracing Edward's signal. Decrypting the server logs. Following the digital ghost through the firewall. It was successful. He had the location.
But the bill had come due.
Dante closed his eyes. He leaned his head back against the rest. The leather was cold. He reached for a memory. It was a specific one. Sophie had described it to him two weeks ago.
*A summer afternoon. The riverbank behind the school. We skipped stones. You laughed. You actually laughed.*
He tried to see it. He tried to summon the image of the water. The sound of the stones hitting the surface. The feeling of the sun on his neck. He reached into the dark of his mind.
There was nothing. Not a fog. Not a blur. A hole. A clean, smooth void where a memory should have been.
He knew the facts. He knew it happened. Sophie had told him. He could recite the details she gave him. But he could not feel it. He could not see it. It was gone.
Dante opened his eyes. He looked at his hands on the steering wheel.
(Dante): "Show me."
Silence.
(Dante): "Kairo."
The voice answered. It was dry. Like paper rubbing against paper.
(Kairo): "I cannot show you what is not there."
(Dante): "Which one was it."
(Kairo): "It does not matter."
(Dante): "It matters to me."
(Kairo): "Emotional attachment is irrelevant. Data was exchanged. Energy was spent. The cost was paid."
Dante tightened his grip on the wheel. The leather creaked.
(Dante): "Did you choose it."
(Kairo): "I do not choose."
(Dante): "Then who does."
(Kairo): "The mechanism chooses. Based on value. Based on load."
(Dante): "You took the laugh."
(Kairo): "I took a memory. The content is secondary."
Dante felt a coldness spread through his chest. It was not physical. It was the absence of warmth.
(Dante): "You take the things that keep me human."
(Kairo): "I take the things that weigh the most. Heavy memories require more energy to store. They are efficient fuel."
(Dante): "They are not fuel. They are me."
(Kairo): "You are the vessel. We are the content. When the vessel is full, something must spill."
Dante opened the car door. He stepped out into the rain. He did not put up his hood. He let the water soak his hair. His face. His coat. He needed to feel something. Anything.
The rain was cold. But he barely felt it. Mūn's influence was active. The sensation was dampened. He walked to the edge of the parking lot. He looked out at the city. Jōkan slept under the gray clouds.
Somewhere in that city, Sophie was sleeping. She believed he remembered. She believed he was whole. He was not.
(Dante): "Will it stop."
(Kairo): "No."
(Dante): "Will I forget her name."
(Kairo): "Eventually. If the usage continues."
(Dante): "Then I will stop using you."
(Kairo): "You cannot. Edward will not stop. Ogata will not stop. You need us to survive."
(Dante): "Survival is not the goal."
(Kairo): "It is the only goal that matters. Dead men do not remember."
Dante turned back to the car. He wiped the water from his eyes. He walked around the vehicle. He opened the passenger door. He sat inside again. He closed the door. The silence returned.
He looked at the empty seat beside him. For a moment, he thought he saw something. A shadow. It sat in the passenger seat. It had no face. It had no form. It was just an absence of light.
Mūn.
The demon did not speak. It did not move. It simply sat there. Its presence was heavy. It felt like grief given shape. Dante looked at it.
(Dante): "Say something."
Mūn did not answer.
(Dante): "Are you sorry."
Mūn tilted its head. A slight shift in the darkness.
(Mūn): "…"
(Dante): "Tell me."
(Mūn): "Words do not bring it back."
The voice was soft. Like wind through dry leaves.
(Dante): "I know."
(Mūn): "Then why ask."
(Dante): "Because I need to know if you see what I lose."
Mūn shifted. The shadow grew slightly darker.
(Mūn): "I see everything. I see the gap. I see the edge where the memory was cut."
(Dante): "Does it hurt you."
(Mūn): "I do not feel pain. I feel absence."
(Dante): "Is that the same."
(Mūn): "Yes."
Dante looked away. He looked at the dashboard. The clock blinked. 03:14 AM.
He started the engine. The car hummed to life. He put it in gear. He needed to go back to the safehouse. He needed to see Sophie. He needed to pretend he remembered the laugh.
(Kairo): "Lying to her is inefficient."
(Dante): "It is necessary."
(Kairo): "It will fail. Eventually."
(Dante): "Not today."
Dante drove out of the parking lot. The tires crushed the wet gravel. He merged onto the main road. The streetlights passed over the car. Flash. Dark. Flash. Dark. Each flash felt like a frame of film burning away.
He thought about the riverbank. He tried to imagine the water. He could only see the void.
(Mūn): "She will remember for you."
(Dante): "That is not enough."
(Mūn): "It is all you have."
Dante did not answer. He pressed the accelerator. The car sped up. The city blurred around him. He was losing himself. Piece by piece. Memory by memory. But he was still driving. He was still moving toward her. Even if he forgot why. Even if he forgot who.
He would drive until the road ended. Until the memory was gone. Until the cost was paid in full.
The rain continued to fall. It washed over the car. It washed over the city. It could not wash away the void inside his head.
Dante turned the corner. The safehouse came into view. A single light was on in the window. Sophie was waiting.
Dante parked the car. He killed the engine. He sat in the dark for a moment. He took a breath. He prepared his face. He prepared his lie.
He opened the door. He stepped out into the night.
Author Note: Special Message to My Amazing Readers,
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