Renji emerged from the ruins of the House of Forgotten Futures into a corridor of sky—an endless spiral bridge made of shifting glass panels, each one reflecting a different moment in time.
Below him: all the lives he'd walked away from.
Above him: a single crimson eye blinked open in the heavens.
It wasn't a sun.
It was watching.
The Spiral itself.
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The Eye That Sees All
As Renji stepped forward, the Spiral Eye in the sky widened.
His surroundings rippled and warped. Time buckled. The reflections beneath his feet sped up—scenes from his past playing out faster and faster:
Emiko laughing under the tree before her death.
Aoi breaking down after discovering the first time loop.
Renji himself curled up on the hospital roof after his first death.
> "You think facing your memories makes you strong," the Spiral Eye spoke—its voice both deep and childlike.
"But you've only seen your pain. Now see theirs."
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Through Another's Eyes
The bridge cracked—and Renji fell.
Not into air… but into someone else's memory.
He opened his eyes to see Kuro, younger, clutching his Spiral pendant in a dark tunnel. Alone. Crying. Calling for help that never came.
Renji screamed, "Kuro!"
But Kuro couldn't hear him.
He was reliving Kuro's loneliness. His despair. The Spiral had shown him only his own suffering—but now, it showed the weight others had carried… because of him.
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The Weight of Shared Guilt
He next fell into Emiko's final loop—when she realized she wouldn't survive. She clutched a letter meant for Renji, her face calm but broken.
"Please remember me the way I laughed," she whispered to no one.
Renji sobbed, unable to move, unable to reach her.
The Spiral was forcing him to carry their truths now.
And the Spiral Blade—silent until now—began to vibrate violently.
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The Blade Evolves
When Renji landed again on the bridge, gasping and trembling, a new mark flared on the blade: a fourth line glowing not white—but gold.
It had changed.
Not just a weapon. Now, it was a key.
He could hear Emiko's voice in the wind: "You're not just meant to destroy. You're meant to heal what we couldn't."
The Spiral Eye blinked again, slower this time.
It was starting to see him not as prey—but as a threat.
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Toward the Heart
Ahead, the bridge narrowed.
At its end: a cathedral-like structure spiraling endlessly upward and inward—the Core of the Mirror Spiral.
He wasn't done yet.
But now… the Spiral feared him.
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End of Chapter 56
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To Be Continue