The silence Yoko Sakurajima left behind was heavier than any sound. Kaito remained seated, staring at his untouched coffee cup. The distant hum of the espresso machine seemed too loud.
He didn't look at Mai. He didn't need to. He could feel her. Her shock was a physical presence in the room.
"Kaito..."
Fia's voice was trembling, stripped of all its irritating cheer. She materialized in the empty chair across from him, looking pale and semi-solid.
"Kaito, this is... this is the worst," she whispered, her eyes wide with horror. "Her mother's 'reality'... it was stronger. Her denial wasn't just emotional; it was an act of paradoxical power."
"How," Kaito murmured into his cup, "troublesome."
"No, you don't understand!" Fia insisted, her voice rising in panic. "The 'Paradox' won! Her existence is now... untethered. She doesn't have a 'reality' to return to anymore. The '80% Resolved' wasn't her healing; it was her being erased!"
Kaito looked up.
Mai was running toward him. She was in a panic.
She stopped abruptly at his table, slamming both hands on its surface. The teapot and Kaito's cup jumped, but they made no sound.
Her violet eyes, once cool and confident, were now wild with terror.
"Kaito," she gasped, her voice a trembling whisper.
He just stared at her, his usual bored expression.
Her panic escalated at his calm. "Kaito, look at me!" she demanded, her voice cracking.
"I am looking," he said flatly.
"You..." she swallowed. "Can you see me? Can you still see me?"
"Yes," Kaito said. "You're right in front of me. You're making a scene."
A sob of relief escaped her, but it was immediately followed by more panic. "Can you... hear me? Are you hearing my voice?"
"Yes," Kaito repeated, irritation starting to color his apathy. "It's loud. And high-pitched. It's giving me a headache."
"Who... am I?" she asked, the final, most terrified question of all. "Tell me. Please. Tell me who I am."
Kaito looked at her face, which was inches from his. He could see the café lights reflected in her eyes.
He sighed. The greatest effort of all.
"Sakurajima Mai," he said, his voice clear and emotionless in the quiet café. "Actress. Class 3-1 student. Troublesome woman who dragged me to Kamakura, made me her shopping assistant, and is now wrinkling my hoodie."
The relief was so absolute, so overwhelming, that Mai's legs gave out.
She collapsed. All the terror, all the denial, all the strength she had used to face her mother evaporated, leaving her with nothing. She fell forward.
Kaito reacted on pure logistical instinct. If she fell, she'd hit her head on the table. That would mean an ambulance. That would mean explanations. More effort.
He shot to his feet, knocking his chair over, and caught her. He pulled her against him, his arms wrapping around her as she crumpled. She was heavy. And she was sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder.
He just stood there, in the middle of the upscale café, holding an invisible, crying girl, feeling profoundly annoyed.
"Kaito..." Fia whispered, sounding stunned. "Her... her affinity..."
[AFFINITY (MAI SAKURAJIMA): +100 (Total Dependence)] [RELATIONSHIP STATUS UPDATED: ANCHOR OF EXISTENCE]
"She's not anchored to her 'world' anymore, Kaito," Fia explained, her voice full of awe. "She's anchored to... you."
Mai gripped him tighter. "She didn't see me," she sobbed into his hoodie. "She... she said she doesn't have a daughter. Kaito, I don't... I don't have a mother."
"I know," Kaito said, awkwardly patting her back. "I heard."
He looked around. The barista was staring at him. A customer was staring at him. They saw a kid in a wrinkled hoodie suddenly stand up, knock over his chair, and now stand there, hugging the air and patting a ghost.
"How troublesome," Kaito muttered.
He grabbed his bag with one hand, keeping his other arm firmly around Mai, who was still shaking. He righted her. "Right. Enough crying. Let's go."
"Go...?" she asked, her voice thick, her face still buried in his shoulder. "Go where? I don't... I don't have anywhere to go."
Kaito sighed. The logic was unavoidable. The logistical nightmare had just become permanent.
"We're going home," he said. "To my apartment. You can't be alone anymore. The System says you're my responsibility now."
"Your beanbag chair," she whispered, sounding like a lost child.
"You get the bed," Kaito said, resigned. "I get the beanbag. Forced cohabitation is back. And this time," he glanced at Fia, "it looks like it's permanent."
He guided her out of the café, ignoring the confused stares of the other patrons. Mai Sakurajima, the famous actress, had been erased from the world.
And Kaito, the apathetic, was the only person left who knew she existed.
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