Chapter 76: Fractured Light
The silence in the Bloom Realm was deafening. No more cries, no more pulse. Just flickers of fading light, floating like dandelion seeds through the fractured sky. Riku stood alone at the heart of what used to be the Bloom Core—now a crater of spiraling ruins and drifting petals, each petal a remnant of a soul that had once reached for something beyond human grasp.
Riku's chest rose and fell slowly, every breath heavier than the last. His jacket was torn, soaked in blood and Bloom residue that shimmered faintly like stardust. The pendant around his neck—his brother's final gift—was cracked, humming low, but still alive. Still glowing. Just like him.
"Airi... Himari... Kazuo..."
He whispered their names like prayers, the only ones he had left.
He fell to his knees.
The memories came in flashes—
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*A younger Riku watching his brother Ryo training in a rainstorm. That smile of pride when Riku mimicked his stance. The way Ryo's hand ruffled his hair, saying, "You're getting stronger, little brother. Maybe strong enough to carry it all."
Airi's laughter under the sakura tree, hiding a book behind her back as Riku tried to snatch it from her. The way her eyes sparkled. "If you want it, make me smile first."
Kazuo's reckless dive into the river to save a falling pendant—Riku's pendant—and laughing after almost drowning. "We're stupid together, huh? That's friendship."
Himari. Her silent glances. Her letters. Her presence.
Always distant, always near.*
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He covered his face with his hands. The pressure was mounting again. The Bloom wanted something more. Even now.
"I'm tired..." he whispered. "I don't want to fight anymore."
And then, a voice.
"So don't. Just listen."
Riku snapped his head up. It wasn't real, couldn't be. But there she was—Airi. Or a fragment of her.
She stood barefoot on the petals, translucent, glowing faintly like a Bloom spirit. Her voice had that same playful lilt, and her eyes—they weren't broken.
"Airi... You're—"
"Dead? Maybe. Maybe not. This is the in-between. The Bloom keeps what it likes. And you loved me enough to keep me here."
He stood, shaky, reaching out. His fingers passed through hers.
"You always wanted to protect everyone. That was your wish, right? To hold all our pain so we could smile?"
He nodded.
She took a step closer.
"But who protects you, Riku? Who do you cry to?"
He broke then. Tears. Unstoppable. He dropped again, curling into himself, whispering names into the petals.
She knelt beside him, hand passing through his back like warmth from a fading sun.
"The world doesn't need a hero, Riku. It needs you. Broken, tired, human. Because even broken things can shine."
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Perspective Shift: Himari
The sky outside the Bloom Realm rippled.
Himari stood at the cliffside, watching the energy fracture like stained glass. Her hand clenched the letter Riku had left for her. She had read it a thousand times.
"If I don't come back... live. Not for me. For you. Find your own sky."
But she wouldn't accept that.
Kazuo limped toward her, his arm in a sling, bruised and burned from the last assault.
"You feel it too, don't you?" he asked.
She nodded.
"He's still in there. But he's fading."
Kazuo lowered himself beside her, eyes heavy.
"We lost too many already. If we go back, we might not return."
Himari unfolded the pendant from her coat. The other half of Riku's.
"We never left. Not really."
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Perspective Shift: Riku
The Bloom's core shifted. Light condensed. A figure appeared—neither Airi nor Himari. It was... Ryo.
"You're at the end, little brother. One last door. Open it, or turn back."
Riku stared.
"You died... You gave up your Bloom so I could live."
Ryo smiled.
"Wrong. I gave it up so you could choose. You think it was fate? No. You were born with the freedom to become more than me."
The pendant around Riku's neck flared bright. The core responded. The fragments of lost spirits swirled into the light.
"What happens if I open it?"
"Everything changes. And nothing. The Bloom resets. But it needs a soul. A heart. Yours."
Riku looked down at his hands. Shaking.
He looked back at Airi, then to Ryo, then to the thousands of flickering lights around him.
"If I give myself to it... do they come back?"
Ryo shook his head. "No. But their echoes remain. In the world. In you. That's how legacy works."
Riku clenched his fists.
"Then... I'll do it. But not to reset. I'll rebuild it. Bloom was born from sorrow. I'll make it from hope."
The core opened.
He stepped in.
And everything exploded in white.
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Perspective Shift: Kazuo & Himari
A wave of energy surged from the Bloom. Kazuo shielded Himari.
When the light faded, the crater was gone.
In its place, a field of white lilies.
At the center, a stone. On it, Riku's pendant.
Himari walked forward, touching it. Tears fell, silent.
Kazuo knelt.
"He did it, didn't he?"
She nodded.
"He became the Bloom King."
And the petals began to fall.
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