"Akira—!" Kaen's voice cut through the stillness, but he didn't stop.
His fingers curled around the glass.
A sharp crack of pain lanced through his hand as the jagged edges tore through skin. Blood spilled instantly, vivid against the cold tiles, but he didn't even flinch.
He gathered them one piece, then another. Clutching the shards as if they were the last remnants of something sacred.
"Stop it—what are you doing?!" Kaen dropped to her knees beside him, trying to pry the fragments from his grasp, her voice trembling now.
He didn't answer.
His bleeding hands shook, but his gaze never left the smallest shard—the one that held her reflection, warped but still there.
"I can still see you," he whispered, as if speaking to the piece itself. "Even in pieces… I still see you."
Kaen froze, her breath catching as she whispered his name. "Akira…"
But he didn't look at her. Instead, his grip on the shattered glass tightened, blood spilling freely between his fingers. "I broke everything," he murmured, voice cracking. "And even now… I'm still trying to hold on."
Kaen stared at him kneeling before shattered glass, trembling, blood dripping from his hands as he clung to broken reflections. And suddenly, all the anger vanished. Only sorrow remained.
She knelt beside him, reaching out with quiet care, and placed her hand gently over his. "Let go," she whispered. "Please, Akira… let it go."
But he shook his head, his eyes locked on the reflection that flickered in the shards.
She exhaled, her voice barely above a breath, but every word etched with truth. "If you keep holding on, it'll only cut deeper. Some wounds won't stop bleeding unless you let go. Broken pieces can't be mended by force… sometimes, the only way to heal is to stop trying to hold what's already shattered."
Akira's breath hitched. He whispered voice hoarse, raw, "If I let go… what if I lose the last pieces of the past? What if this is all I have left of it?"
Kaen's eyes widened, the light catching the tremble in her lashes.
"I know I'm not supposed to touch things that break. I know I ruin them…" His voice dropped, cracking. "But even if these pieces cut me—they still feel more real than anything I've held in years."
He looked down at his bloodied hand, glass digging deeper into his palm. A faint, broken smile ghosted his lips. "Maybe I deserve to bleed if that's the price to remember. I don't care if it hurts… because every time it does, it brings me closer to what I lost."
"The more it hurts, the tighter I hold on." Without warning, he pressed the shard deeper into his palm. Blood welled up quickly, spilling from the fresh wound.
Kaen's pupils dilated. She moved in a blur—swift, She didn't think, didn't hesitate.
Smack—
The sound rang out sharp and unforgiving across the rooftop.
She slapped him hard across the face, eyes blazing with fierce, trembling emotion fury, grief, desperation all tangled together.
"You idiot!" she choked out, voice shaking. "You think pain is the only way to remember?! You think bleeding is the only way to prove you loved something?!"
But he didn't flinch.
Blood trickled down his cheek where her ring had grazed his skin, yet his gaze remained steady. Slowly, he let the shard slip from his fingers, dropping it to the rooftop floor.
His hand hovered over the wound, fingers trembling as he focused, whispering soft words of healing, the skin slowly knitting back together. Then, unexpectedly, he said, "Maybe I'm not trying to remember… maybe I'm just afraid there's nothing left if I let go." He laughed softly, bitterly. "Because if the pain fades… what if everything else fades with it?"
Kaen didn't say a word.
She simply stepped forward and pulled him into a fierce embrace, arms wrapping around his trembling frame. His bloodied hand tensed between them, but she didn't flinch.
Her voice broke against his shoulder, soft but filled with ache. "Just what have you done to yourself?" Her fingers moved up, ruffling his hair with a touch that was both scolding and protective. "No matter how many times I told you to let it go… you never listened." She pulled back just enough to look into his face. "You know what you want isn't possible. You'll only hurt more people." Her eyes searched his. "You can't go against the balance."
Akira said nothing, but his fingers curled tightly around hers, the silent grip saying everything as the weight of her words sank in.
Kaen gave a faint, broken smile. "I realized it… long before you. I'm your sister, after all." Her voice trembled, but her gaze held his firmly. "I knew it was you… all along."
"You were cursed to remember, and she… to forget. And still, you chose to stay close. Again and again. Always becoming what she needed—even when it shattered you."
"Jiejie…" His voice cracked like glass under weight.
Kaen looked at him for a long, Then, softly, almost wistfully, she said, "I knew… that somewhere along the way, it stopped being just about protecting her." Her words hung in the air like mist over still water.
Her hand brushed his bloodied knuckles gently. "But feelings don't stay buried, Akira… especially not when they were never supposed to exist in the first place."
He lowered his head, something unspoken flickering across his face. But Kaen only exhaled, the sound brittle and bittersweet."That's why you stayed gone for two years, isn't it? You were trying to bury something you never meant to feel." She glanced at him, then looked away. "You didn't come back because you knew… that protecting her wasn't the hardest part anymore... it was—"
"It was loving her."
Akira's voice cut through the night, hoarse and unsteady Kaen stilled, the stars reflected in her eyes as she tilted her face upward.
"That's what scares me the most," she murmured. "The moment I realized that's what had changed." Her voice trembled, softer now. "But when you didn't come back… when you stopped appearing in different names, different faces… I thought maybe you'd finally accepted it too. That some boundaries weren't meant to be crossed."
She looked back at him, and this time her eyes held the weight of years. "But then you came back. And the moment she was near you again…" Kaen's voice faltered, "That fear returned. Stronger. Louder. Like it never left… because I knew you hadn't let go. Not really. Not even for a moment."
Akira's jaw tensed, but he said nothing. The silence stretched between them fragile, sharp.
Kaen leaned closer, her voice dropping. "You kept telling yourself it was duty. That you were just protecting her. But I saw the truth long before you did." She paused, then added quietly, "You were no longer watching over her… you were staying for her."
Akira's breath caught. He turned away, but she wasn't done. "You think the curse is the only thing that'll burn you? No. It's this. This feeling you tried to hide. This love you never meant to have." Her voice cracked. "Because she may forget you over and over again—but you won't. And one day, that's going to tear you apart."