The day began in Yumehara… but not like in the real world.
The sky was tinged with colors that had no clear name, an orange that unfolded into a deep violet, and, in the corners of the horizon, an almost liquid glow of whitish blue. Clouds hovered like motionless veils, and between the traditional buildings and floating platforms, winged creatures cut through the air as if following routes traced by magic.
The sound of the city was a distant whisper. Vendors were already waking up, sounds of running water came from ornamental fountains, and a constant breeze spread a soft perfume, plum blossom mixed with ancient incense.
Reika blinked slowly.
She was lying on her side, wrapped in a raw cotton sheet, her hair spread across the pillow. It was still early; the sun barely shone through the paper blinds of the room.
She stretched, letting out a soft moan between her lips, and looked at her own body, arms marked by tension, leg muscles still aching. Her gaze lingered on her collarbone, where the touch of Kagura's mask had left a faint mark, like an old burn.
It didn't hurt. But… it throbbed.
"Good morning, sweetie~" Kagura's voice surged like a burst of energy in a still half-asleep body. "Did you sleep like a princess or drool on your pillow like a drunken lumberjack?"
Reika chuckled softly.
"Neither… I guess I just slept like someone whose world had been turned upside down."
She stood up. Her feet touched the cold wooden floor, and her body responded with a slight pain in her hip.
She put on a light coat over her pajamas, a loose and comfortable set, slightly crumpled, and left the room. The hallway was silent. No sign of Takumi or Renjiro.
She went to the communal kitchen. The space was simple, yet beautiful: black stone countertops, dark wood cabinets with bronze hardware, and a small round window through which the orange morning light streamed in.
"Of course, those two are still snoring…" he murmured, with a wry smile.
She opened the pantry and examined the available ingredients: greenish eggs (which looked like chicken eggs, but weren't), a type of white rice with a sweet aroma, leaves of a translucent plant called sukashi, and round, shiny fruits, like apples made of glass.
She began to work.
Reika cracked the eggs into a dark ceramic bowl, stirring skillfully, mixing in a pinch of gray salt and a local aromatic herb. Beside her, she heated a shallow frying pan, where the oil glistened as if it had golden particles.
Meanwhile, she washed the rice and left it cooking with a sukashi leaf, which exuded a fresh aroma, like mild mint. She sliced the fruit into thin strips, piled them on a plate with a drizzle of dark honey, and let the steam from the ingredients warm the air.
Everything fell silent, except for the sizzle of the frying pan and the boiling water. And for a while, Reika felt… normal. As if she were at home. As if the world wasn't collapsing.
Kagura spoke again, now in a calmer tone.
"You know, cooking is an art. It's beautiful to see you do something like this… with love. For them. For yourself."
Reika smiled to herself as she flipped the eggs into a perfect fold.
"I don't know if it's love. Maybe I'm just trying to pretend that all this is a normal life."
"It's in illusions that refuges are built… But it's also in kitchens that the best wars are waged."
"You're so dramatic in the morning…"
"And you're beautiful when you pretend you're not trying to keep everyone together."
Reika didn't answer.
She simply placed the plates on the low kitchen table, three carefully arranged sets. Then she leaned against the counter, arms crossed, and stood there, staring at the hallway door… waiting for them to wake up.
Tamashi Zetsumetsu Dormitory, Renjiro's Room
The soft morning light filtered through the thin paper partitions, dancing on the floor as if time flowed more slowly there.
Renjiro blinked, waking with a heavy sigh.
His mind still buzzed with echoes of Nyxalith, her voice, her words, the comforting emptiness she left even after the silence.
"...Are you there?" he whispered, turning his head towards where the mask rested, in a corner of the room, turned towards him as if it had been watching him forever.
Nothing. No answer.
He rubbed his face, grumbled softly, and dragged himself out of bed with the gait of someone who had carried sleepless nights. He put on a dark, loose sweater and backwards socks.
The smell...
It stopped.
"Food?"
From the other room, the sound of someone tripping against a piece of furniture broke the silence.
Tamashi Zetsumetsu Dormitory, Takumi's Room
"Damn it… who was the son of a bitch who put this chair here?" Takumi muttered, still with one eye closed and his hair sticking up in all directions.
He was wearing boxers and a crumpled t-shirt with a faded kanji. He stretched, scratching his stomach with a zombie-like expression.
The smell hit him like a pleasant punch.
"This smells like something made with care… or something made by someone with too much free time."
He opened the door and came face to face with Renjiro, both walking slowly like newly awakened zombies from another world.
"Look who it is. Our masked savior. Did you sleep?"
"More or less."
"Dreams?"
"I don't even want to know."
The two advanced together, and barely made it through the kitchen door…
"Good morning, racing mackerel." Reika said without even looking at them, with a spoon in her hand and an improvised apron tied around her waist.
She stood beside the counter, arms crossed, hair tied in a messy bun.
"You took so long the rice almost turned back into seeds."
Takumi looked at the table.
Three perfectly served dishes.
"You woke up early just to make breakfast for us?"
"No, I woke up early because I have a minimum of functional responsibility. You two are like silly chickens after getting a bucket of cold water thrown on them."
Renjiro sat down, scratching the back of his neck, and carefully placed his mask on the table, as if it were an animal waiting to react.
Takumi did the same, leaving Tenax between the cutlery and the teacup.
Reika, with a dramatic sigh, finally sat up, placing Kagura beside the plate with a slight metallic click.
For a few seconds, the atmosphere was calm.
And then…
"Good morning."
Tenax's voice broke the silence with an almost sacred serenity, as if he had woken up before everyone else and already done yoga.
Renjiro straightened up. Takumi even blinked.
"Did you sleep well?" Tenax continued, polite, courteous, almost ironic in contrast to the disheveled appearance of the two boys.
Reika rolled her eyes.
"Speak more quietly. We're still waking up."
"Sorry, young Reika. Rest is precious, but the new day also deserves reverence."
Takumi looked at his mask, unable to suppress a smile.
"Your idea of 'good morning' is different from mine. Mine has more grunts and less reverence."
"I didn't expect anything else." said Tenax.
Kagura was next to speak (metaphorically), with a fake yawn.
"For the love of drama, stop philosophizing before tea. The only sacred thing here is what Reika did with the eggs. Ugh. Woman, marry me."
Reika threw a napkin at her face (mask).
"You already live in my head, don't stretch it."
Renjiro, quiet, stared at his mask with a heavy expression. Nyxalith didn't speak.
But he felt her presence. Always there. Always waiting.
And, for a moment, while everyone laughed at Takumi's random joke about swords and chickens, Renjiro let himself be carried away by the feeling, strangely grateful.
They were together. Still whole. And for now… that was enough.
Breakfast was already halfway done. The dishes, once carefully served, began to show the marks of those who had woken up hungry. The morning light filtered through the translucent paper of the windows, creating soft shadows on the walls.
The masks rested on the table, as if they were part of this new daily life, like members of the table with their own presence.
It was then that Tenax spoke, with the same serenity as always.
"If you'll allow me… I'd like to get to know you better. Your pasts. The roots that brought you to this moment. Not everything is random, even when it seems so."
Silence fell like a damp towel. Reika looked at Takumi. He slowly put down his chopsticks, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
"Well… I can start."
He inhaled.
"Renjiro, Reika, and I have been friends since we were little. We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools. Basically, we were those three kids who were always together getting into trouble, skipping math tests, and stealing ice cream from the supermarket."
Reika gave a nostalgic smile.
"You were always the worst at running away. You had legs like a cement mixer."
"At least you ran. You had a supernatural talent for manipulating old ladies."
She shrugged with a smug little smile. Tenax waited with an almost ritualistic posture.
"Continuing…" Takumi said.
"My life has always been… normal. Hardworking parents. My younger sister and I used to fight over the TV remote. Nothing out of the ordinary. I always felt kind of… invisible, sometimes. But Renjiro and Reika were there. Always."
He paused, glancing sideways at Renjiro.
"By the way, I think the three of us ended up creating our own kind of family. Even if it's dysfunctional."
Reika took a deep breath. Then she spoke.
"My story isn't very pretty." Her voice hardened slightly. "My parents… didn't get along. They were always fighting. The house was like a constant battlefield. There wasn't a single dinner without shouting."
Renjiro fell silent. Takumi lowered his gaze.
"When the noise was too much, I would hide under the bed with my dog. Yukki. A black Shiba with eyes more human than my parents." She smiled, but her eyes welled up with tears. "He would stay by my side, rest his nose on my stomach, and stay there until I fell asleep. As if to say, 'It's okay, I'm here.' He was the only thing that kept me from… collapsing."
Silence. Deep. Heavy.
Tenax, in a respectful tone:
"He sounded like a guardian. Even without a mask."
Reika nodded, unable to speak back.
Tenax then turned to Renjiro.
"And you, Arata Renjiro? What brought you here?"
His name hung in the air like a muffled rumble.
Renjiro's head was down, his eyes fixed on the almost empty plate. He didn't answer.
Takumi immediately looked at Enkidu and shook his head firmly.
"No. Don't ask that. Seriously. It's not a good idea."
Reika agreed, crossing her arms.
"There are things you don't just pull out like that… especially with him."
Renjiro clenched his fists in his lap, his breathing slow but trembling.
Kagura, who had been quiet until then, murmured:
"Oops… it seems we touched an open wound."
Nyxalith, in a low but careful tone:
"There are memories so deep that not even time can dilute them. He speaks… when he has to speak."
Tenax lowered his head (metaphorically), in respect.
"I understand. The past… must be revealed, not ripped away."
Renjiro finally spoke, in an almost inaudible tone:
"Let's just… move on. For now."
They all silently agreed. The conversation died there, but the tension remained, like a rope stretched to its limit, ready to snap.
But for the first time, all three saw each other… for real.
And that, too, was a beginning.
Renjiro leaned against the wall, still with a bit of rice on his shirt. He took a deep breath, scratching the back of his neck as if trying to muster the courage to ask the obvious.
"So… we really have to go to that… Tower of Voices… as soon as we're ready?"
Takumi grimaced slightly.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but the names of the places here always seem like the beginning of a ridiculously intense side quest."
Reika pushed the plates aside and crossed her arms thoughtfully.
"Before that… why don't we take a walk around Yumehara? Go out and see what the hell that place is? We might figure out a little more about what's going on, without someone yelling at us from a bright, imposing tower."
Renjiro hesitated, but ended up nodding.
"Yeah… good idea. I think I need some air."
Takumi snapped his fingers and stood up.
"Let's add some style then. The last thing I want is to look like an interdimensional tourist."
The three went to their rooms, each now having carefully folded new clothes in their closets. As if someone, or something, knew exactly the style and size of each one.
Takumi went out first.
He was wearing black cargo pants, reinforced at the knees with thick fabric and visible seams, as if made for someone who could both run and fall off a cliff. He wore dark gray boots, sturdy but lightweight. Over that, he wore a long-sleeved petrol blue shirt with geometric patterns on the sleeves and an almost tribal symbol on the back, a kind of stylized lion in a continuous line. It would add a dark brown fabric sash tied at the hip, just to give it that "intentionally sloppy" touch.
Takumi ran a hand through his hair and winked.
"I don't think I even look like a survivor of a dimensional collapse. A miracle."
Renjiro came out soon after.
His outfit was understated, yet full of detail if one paid attention.
Dark slim-fit trousers, with hems folded slightly above the ankle and subtle metallic clasps. A light gray-gray coat with a high collar and a side zipper that gave it an asymmetrical air, as if it were something between a uniform and urban fashion. Underneath, a simple black shirt, fitted enough to show off his physique without exaggerating. On his feet, black sneakers with dark red details, thick soles, and laces intertwined in an X shape.
Renjiro seemed calm, but his tense posture betrayed what was going on inside his head.
Takumi looked and nodded.
"Minimalist, but with attitude. I like it."
When Reika left the room, the hallway seemed to become a little quieter.
She wore a folded skirt in a dark wine shade, which swayed gently with each step. The skirt was short, but not too short, the right length to convey confidence.
She wore dark gray knee-high socks with a discreet black stripe at the top. She wore black loafers with thick, shiny soles.
On top, she wore an oversized cream sweater with a V-neck wide enough to subtly reveal one shoulder and the black strap of a tank top. She also wore a thin black scarf casually wrapped around her neck, which made the perfect contrast with the sweater's tone.
Her hair was loose, with a few strands falling over her eyes, enough to give her that effortlessly mysterious air.
Takumi's eyes widened slightly.
"Wow. You're ready to shatter hearts and realities[1]."
Reika shook her head with a small smile.
"It's just clothes. But… good to know I can still make an impact."
Renjiro looked away slightly, rubbing his ear, but said nothing.
The three stopped in front of the dormitory door.
Reika adjusted her scarf and murmured,
"Let's find out what this city is before we're thrown into another bizarre ritual, shall we?"
Takumi opened the door.
"Interdimensional adventures... part two."
Renjiro took a deep breath.
"Yumehara... show me what you are."
And the three of them left, ready to explore the living city.
[1] Quite the corny line if you ask me.