The years that followed passed like the most beautiful dream Earth had ever known.
Time seemed to fly as the two of them went through college together.
The genius named Ryuu founded his own tech startup.
Thanks to his relentless hard work, the company achieved tremendous success in a remarkably short amount of time.
Because of Ryuu, Charlotte no longer needed to wear her porcelain mask just to please other people.
And because of Charlotte, Ryuu managed to turn their fate around, making sure she would never again have to work herself to exhaustion, let alone be chased down by debt.
They married young in a very simple ceremony, attended only by the sacred vows they exchanged inside a quiet little chapel.
Their married life was filled with countless small moments of happiness.
Every morning, Ryuu, who often stayed up late typing away at his code, was always awakened by the delicious aroma drifting from the kitchen.
Whenever he stumbled out of the bedroom with barely a functioning brain, he would find Charlotte with her black hair hastily tied up, busy frying eggs while humming softly to herself.
Whenever Charlotte turned around and greeted him with the most genuine, carefree smile, Ryuu would walk over, wrap his arms around his wife’s waist from behind, and rest his head against her warm shoulder.
The dreams Charlotte once talked about while sitting on that park bench had slowly become reality, one by one, because of Ryuu.
That night, on their second wedding anniversary, the city seemed unusually peaceful.
After enjoying a romantic dinner at a restaurant, they decided to walk along the sidewalks of the city center, illuminated by beautifully arranged streetlights.
The slightly chilly night air made Charlotte snuggle closer, wrapping both hands around her husband’s arm.
“Ryuu…” Charlotte called softly.
“Hmm?” Ryuu turned toward her, his eyes filled with warmth.
“Our house is all settled now, and your company is doing well…” Charlotte gently bit her lower lip, her cheeks glowing red beneath the dim city lights.
“When do you think… we can have cute little children of our own? I can’t wait to read bedtime stories to them.”
Ryuu froze for a moment.
Then, a rare little laugh escaped his lips.
He stopped walking, turned to face Charlotte, and playfully pinched both of his wife’s cheeks.
“Whenever you’re ready, Charlotte. I’ll always be right here beside you,” Ryuu replied sincerely.
He leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead.
Charlotte closed her eyes and smiled with pure happiness, feeling as though the entire world that night had been created just for the two of them.
Unfortunately, this broken world wasn’t finished playing its cruel joke on them.
SCREEEEEECH!!
The shriek of tires losing control violently shattered the peaceful night from behind them.
A large SUV came speeding recklessly toward them, swerving up onto the sidewalk and heading straight for where they stood.
In less than a second, Ryuu’s instincts moved faster than his thoughts.
He didn’t try to save himself.
Instead, Ryuu yanked Charlotte into his arms, spun them around, and turned his own back toward the incoming vehicle, using his body as a living shield to protect the woman he loved more than anything.
CRAAASH!!
The collision was unavoidable.
The force of the impact sent both of them flying several meters before they finally collapsed helplessly onto the cold, grimy asphalt of the city road.
Fresh blood slowly spread beneath their bodies.
With their remaining consciousness fading rapidly, their trembling hands moved weakly across the asphalt, searching through the darkness that was beginning to consume them.
Until, at last, their fingers found each other again.
They intertwined their hands and held on as tightly as they could, refusing to let even death tear them apart.
In the final moments before their vision faded completely, something strange happened.
A faint light suddenly appeared within both of their eyes, forming a symmetrical, star-shaped pupil that glowed beautifully against the darkness.
“Ryuu… if there’s another life after this… find me again, okay…?”
Charlotte’s voice came out in broken whispers, barely more than breath.
Ryuu forced a faint smile despite the blood at the corner of his lips.
With every last bit of strength he had left, he squeezed Charlotte’s fingers.
“I’ll definitely… find you, Charlotte. Wherever it is… I’ll come.”
Their hearts stopped beating at the exact same moment.
Their hands remained tightly locked together, frozen upon the cold asphalt.
Their world on Earth had finally come to an end.
.
.
.
Suddenly, the cold asphalt beneath Ryuu’s body was replaced by the warmth of damp earth.
The metallic scent of blood and the pollution of the city vanished without a trace, replaced by the fresh scent of morning dew and the sharp fragrance of pine trees.
Ryuu’s eyelids slowly twitched before finally opening completely.
His consciousness was forcibly dragged back from the darkness of death.
The first thing he saw was not the gloomy night sky of the city.
Instead, his eyes met an endless canopy of deep green, formed by enormous ancient trees that towered into the heavens and blocked out the strangely bright sunlight above.
“Where… am I…?”
Ryuu’s voice caught in his throat.
It sounded much deeper than before, colder, and strangely resonant within the majestic silence of the forest.
Panic suddenly slammed into his chest as his final memories came rushing back.
The fatal accident.
The impact of the car.
And…
his wife.
“Charlotte?!”
Ryuu quickly turned his body to the side.
The anxiety that had been choking him immediately began to fade when his eyes landed on the figure of a girl lying in the damp grass beside him.
Charlotte was still there.
Even though her appearance had changed completely.
The girl remained fast asleep, her eyes tightly closed and her breathing calm and steady, as though she had yet to realize that their fate had shifted into an entirely new world.