Yuruki's POV
Walking inside the pipes, graphing and mapping out a rough layout in case I ever got lost, I moved forward, turned left, then right, keeping in mind where the center of the city was, etched deep into the back of my head.
The pipes were covered with dust, rusted metal, and old poles supporting their structure. I had planned to travel through this area because it had been inactive for a long time—abandoned and silent.
I kept walking on the same path, one that felt like it was leading somewhere...
Suddenly, I heard the sound of water pouring through the pipes. Sweat covered my forehead.
She ran, panic rising in her chest, trying to find a way out.
"Oh man!... Why is it starting now? Ugh, this part should've been destroyed by now...!"
Frantically looking for holes or exits in the walls, I gathered any material I could find. If I died here over something this stupid—
Huffing, I began making a makeshift enclosed box. A blue, luminescent light began to fill the ground as water surged with ever-growing pressure.
"Damn it..." I muttered, quickly crawling into the box, sealing in as much air as possible. Debris slammed into it, rotating the box as I struggled to keep it balanced.
Her voice echoed faintly underwater, a quiet, muffled whisper in the chaos."All right... I've got a few minutes to come up with a plan..."
Her head burned, overheating as her mind scrambled for ideas—anything to survive this. She clenched her teeth, trying to calm herself and conserve every bit of air she had. Tangled debris drifted through the water around her as she scanned for a way out...
Suddenly, something struck her waist—a rusted pole from the swirling debris. Pain shot through her as blood began to spill. She screamed, pushing through the agony, eyes darting for an anchor, a lifeline—anything.
Then she saw it.
A metal shaft, connected to the pipe above. Gritting her teeth, she tied herself to it with rope, positioning herself as best she could while the box remained beneath her, swaying violently.
Shielding herself from the rushing debris as much as possible, she endured.
After several long minutes, the water finally calmed.
Swimming up, she gasped for air, inhaling deeply as if it were the first breath she'd ever taken.
"Ugh... I feel like I'm gonna die..." she muttered.
Realization struck—she was no longer inside the pipe. Instead, she floated in a vast, liminal space—endless and gray. The water was only a few meters deep now. Climbing onto floating objects and rubber wraps, she tied them together with elongated scraps, stirring the waters with a long metal pipe to push herself forward.
Minutes passed.
Then, in the distance, she saw it: a small flicker of firelight.
Someone was sitting down, hunched over, gazing at the underground river. A wave of nostalgia and sudden happiness washed over her.
It was Adam.
Adam's POV
I sat on the ground—tired, disheveled.
My mind wandered as Berto, my cat, lay beside me, curling up closer to the warmth of the fire. I stared at the broken lighter, split in half, with only enough fuel for a small flame. I placed the remaining piece on the fire and lit it up again.
I really was in a predicament.
Then I noticed something.
A figure was waving at me from a distance. It was still dark, hard to see clearly. I stood cautiously, guarded.So... there's still people around here...
My eyes widened.
It was someone I had met a long time ago.
She smiled widely, cheeks flushed red. Her white-yellow strands of hair peeked out from beneath a worn researcher's suit. It was tarnished, stained with mud and ash, and she had tied a band over her head to keep her hair out of her face.
She jumped off her makeshift raft and ran toward me. Before I could say anything, she embraced me—arms tight, trembling.
I stiffened, flustered, my face burning red. She quickly backed away, just as red, brushing her hair behind her ear.
"I'm so dirty..." she said, a little embarrassed.
She smiled anyway."You were always dirty the moment I met you."
I couldn't help it. I smiled too—genuinely. Happy. I hadn't expected to ever see her again.
She looked at me seriously, then her gaze shifted. Her expression changed.
There was blood on her back—her shirt ripped, the wound still bleeding.
She winced in pain... but still smiled.
"Hey, Adam... your stomach," she said, reaching out as if to examine me.
She touched the side of my back, but the wound there had already closed.
It was strange—almost unnatural—how my body just sealed itself, as if it knew how to shut off the bleeding.
But that wasn't the point right now.
I frowned.
"The only thing that's worrying me... is that you're still bleeding." I sighed, noticing how drenched and pale she looked.
"I guess we're both injured, huh?" she chuckled weakly.
After some time, we wrapped her waist in a bandage.
She sat down beside the campfire, eyes soft.
"You didn't tell me you had a cat with you. Did you find this guy on the road?" she asked, rubbing her face against Berto's fur. "There should be automatons out there... you did listen to my advice, right? Not to go straight into the city outright?"
She giggled. "She's so fat... I really wanted to meet you again. So, I analyzed where you'd go based on the trucks... from that settlement called Stradth."
I glanced at her.
She looked thinner than I remembered—tired. Worn down.
She must have walked a long way.
But why?
How did she even get here?
"Haha... I just found him in Rixton," I replied.
"I see... so that was a long time ago," she whispered, half to herself.
Why would she go through all this just to meet me?
Was that really it?
Just to see me again?
I was confused.
The world was dangerous, and wandering alone was a death sentence for most...
But for now, none of that mattered.
We sat in silence around the campfire, letting the warmth seep into our bones, resting—if only for a while.
As she suddenly started a music recorder in her hands, a soft melody began to play. She hummed to herself, the sound drifting gently through the air. My eyes widened.
Was that Omaki? Or Yume Nokko… or maybe lofi? It had that same wistful, relaxing dreamlike vibe to it.
"Did you get it from somewhere?" I asked, curious.
She shook her head, her face turning slightly red. "No… I created this on my own," she said, a bit embarrassed, her fist on the ground. "Well… is it good?"
The tune sparked a faint sense of nostalgia deep within me—a flicker of childhood, of dreamy and liminal soundscapes. I remembered being a kid again… pirated music content playing in the background, lying on my bed while losing hours to games.
"Yes," I murmured, the corners of my mouth lifting slightly. "It's good…"