---

Darkness.

That was the first thing. Not the gentle darkness of sleep, but a suffocating kind—thick, pressing, endless. It felt like I was sinking in tar, swallowed whole by a silence too deep to be real.

Then—something cracked.

A sound like glass splintering underwater. A sliver of light pierced the black, cutting across my vision, and I sucked in a sharp breath as if I hadn't drawn air in centuries. My chest heaved, my fingers clawed at nothing.

I'm alive?

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

Above me stretched a ceiling that wasn't a ceiling at all. It looked like space—vast, infinite—yet closer, more intimate. Galaxies swirled above me as though painted by a mad artist: patches of crimson nebulae, golden rivers of starlight, and islands of worlds spinning lazily, drifting like lanterns in a cosmic sea. Each world looked… real. Living. I could almost hear voices if I listened too closely, whispers from cities I'd never visited, forests I'd never touched.

It was beautiful. Terrifyingly beautiful.

"Where the hell… am I?" I muttered aloud, the sound of my own voice a relief after the silence.

Memory slammed into me. The clone. His laughter. The last thing I remembered was screaming—my voice but not mine—as the world crumbled away.

And then nothing. Until now.

I sat up violently, hands racing over my body. My chest. My arms. My face. It was me. No foreign weight pulling at my thoughts. No strings being tugged by another presence. Just me—Ren.

My hands trembled as they pressed against my ribs. "I'm back… I'm in control again…"

Relief burned hot in my throat, but paranoia slithered in right after. If I was in control, where was he? The clone wasn't gone. I could feel it—like a phantom itch under the skin. A shadow that might rise again if I so much as blinked the wrong way.

I forced myself to breathe, in and out, steady.

That's when I heard it—sounds. Strange, muffled noises filtering from beyond the curtain of starlight draping the far end of the chamber. They weren't hostile—no, they were soft, almost homely. Laughter. Footsteps.

My feet hit the ground, cold stone beneath my soles. The room around me was carved from something older than time, veins of glowing script crawling along the walls, pulsing with mana I could taste on my tongue. This was no ordinary place. A chamber made for magic itself.

I swallowed hard and moved forward. The curtain parted under my hand with a ripple, like water disturbed.

And suddenly, the cosmos was gone.

I stood in the mansion yard.

At first, my mind rejected it outright. The grass, the stones, the familiar stretch of garden walls—it was too normal. Too painfully ordinary after that otherworldly abyss. I blinked hard, and the vision held.

Then I saw her.

Not the Rin I remembered, timidly tugging a hoodie over her ears, shrinking from her own reflection. No. This Rin stood radiant, a fox-girl unafraid, her green eyes gleaming with pride. Her tail swayed behind her as if it had always belonged. When her gaze landed on me, she froze.

"Ren…?"

Her voice cracked like glass—and then she ran.

Before I could even process it, she collided into me, arms wrapping tight around my chest. I staggered back a step, nearly losing my balance, her warmth pressing against me like an anchor. Her ears twitched against my neck, her whole body trembling.

"I knew you'd come back," she whispered, voice muffled into my shirt. "I knew it…"

I didn't even realize I was hugging her back until my hands clenched the fabric of her hoodie. For a second, I couldn't speak. My throat was too thick, my chest too raw. I buried my face in her hair and just breathed her in.

Then—movement.

"Rin? What's—"

Two more figures emerged from the main house: Mei and Akane.

Mei froze first, her usual smirk caught halfway on her lips, disbelief written across her face. Then her eyes widened. "No way…"

Akane's gym-toned frame went rigid, her fists clenching before softening at her sides. Her voice dropped low. "…It's really him."

I barely managed a breath before Mei barreled forward, her daggers forgotten for once. "Ren!"

She slammed into me from the side, arms looping my neck, nearly choking me as Rin clung to my front. "You bastard! Do you know how long we—" Her voice cracked, and she bit it off, burying her face against my shoulder.

Akane approached slower, more controlled, but her eyes glistened. She stopped just in front of me, exhaling shakily. "Welcome back, idiot."

That broke me.

I laughed. Not loud, not bold—just a soft, broken sound that felt like shards being swept out of my chest. My arms tightened around them both, Rin's tail wrapping like a tether around my arm, Mei's weight dragging at my shoulder. For the first time since that nightmare began, I felt real. Grounded.

"…I'm back," I murmured. "I'm actually back."

They didn't let go for a long moment. None of us did.

Finally, Rin pulled back, wiping her eyes, her cheeks flushed. Mei loosened her grip but refused to step away entirely. Akane just folded her arms, watching me as though if she blinked I'd vanish again.

I opened my mouth, the question spilling out before I could stop it. "What happened? Where… where was I?"

The three exchanged glances. Something heavy, unsaid, passed between them. Rin bit her lip. Mei looked away. Akane sighed.

"Later," Akane said firmly. "Not now."

Mei jabbed a finger at me, her smirk returning but shaky. "Yeah. You need rest first. You look like crap."

"I just woke up under a cosmic ceiling of floating worlds," I muttered. "Rest isn't exactly my priority—"

But Rin tugged at my sleeve, her eyes pleading. "Please, Ren. Just… come inside. Let us take care of you this time."

Her voice broke me more than any explanation could.

I swallowed my protests, let out a shaky laugh, and nodded. "Fine. You win."

Mei grinned, triumphant. "We always do."

Akane raised an eyebrow but said nothing, simply jerking her head toward the main house. Together, they guided me inside.

As we crossed the threshold, I felt the mansion breathe around me—warmth seeping into my bones, voices echoing faintly from deeper halls. It wasn't just walls and stone. It was home. And it welcomed me back.

But even as I let them lead me, even as exhaustion finally weighed down my steps, I couldn't silence the thought gnawing at me.

The clone had worn my skin, lived with them, lied to them. He'd manipulated everything I cared about.

And though they had won—though I was here again—

I knew it wasn't over.

Because shadows don't die that easily.

---

The moment I stepped into the mansion, the smell hit me first—warm spices, baked bread, the faint sweetness of something fruity simmering. My stomach gave an embarrassingly loud growl, one the girls absolutely didn't miss. Mei smirked like a cat. Akane shook her head with a little huff of amusement. Rin tugged my sleeve as though trying to shield me from their teasing.

But it wasn't just the smell.

It was the sound. The soft bubbling of pots. The faint clink of glass. And the quiet hum of… magic.

I slowed as we neared the kitchen, and then I saw her.

Sora.

Her back was to me, but the entire room was alive because of her. Magic swirled like an unseen orchestra, lifting, twirling, flowing. A knife chopped with mechanical precision on the counter. Dishes scrubbed themselves in the sink. Pots stirred without hands, and herbs plucked themselves from the shelves to land neatly in bowls. It wasn't chaotic—not at all. It was serene, elegant, like a living dance.

And at its center stood Sora, her silver hair glinting under the light, her delicate hands moving in calm arcs as if guiding the flow of a symphony only she could hear. She wasn't the shy girl who hid behind her bangs anymore. She was… radiant.

I froze in the doorway, my heart hammering.

"Sora," I breathed before I even realized it.

Her ears twitched.

Everything stopped.

The knife clattered, the spoons fell, dishes shattered against the floor, pots hissed angrily on the stove. The magic dissipated like mist torn apart by the wind.

She turned.

For a second, she just stared—wide-eyed, trembling, her lips parted but soundless. Her hands curled into fists at her chest, shaking as though she didn't trust her own body. Then, with a cry that ripped itself out of her throat, she disappeared.

No footsteps. No running. Just—vanished.

And reappeared right in front of me.

"REN!"

Her scream echoed through the whole mansion, raw and broken, before she flung herself into my arms.

I staggered back under the force of it, arms instinctively wrapping around her slender frame. She was shaking so hard I thought she might fall apart in my arms. Her tears dampened my shirt within seconds.

My voice caught in my throat. "Sora… How… how did you—"

Her face burrowed deeper against my chest, her voice muffled but desperate. "We have so much to catch you up on!"

I blinked, still reeling. She had teleported. Just now. Effortlessly. This wasn't the same timid girl who'd flinched when her magic sparked out of control. This was someone else—someone who had grown in my absence.

My hands tightened around her as I whispered, "I missed you."

She just sobbed harder.

Before I could say more, a voice floated from deeper in the room. Calm, patient, slightly annoyed.

"Could you all not shout? Some of us are trying to—"

The words cut off.

Elira sat suspended above the floor, legs folded neatly, her hair glowing faintly with that otherworldly sheen only elves had. Her eyes had been closed, her hands resting delicately on her knees as she meditated, mana swirling faintly around her like a soft wind.

But her eyes opened mid-complaint.

And when she saw me, her mouth froze halfway open.

Her concentration shattered.

The mana vanished.

And the regal elf princess, the serene, graceful figure that had never once lost her poise—suddenly wobbled like a startled child and fell out of the air.

Flat on her side.

"…Ow."

Mei burst out laughing. Akane snorted into her fist. Rin giggled nervously against my arm.

But Elira didn't care. She scrambled upright with surprising speed, her face redder than I'd ever seen, and before I could even process it, she launched herself forward.

"REN!"

She collided into me, nearly knocking Sora aside in the process, her arms wrapping tight around my neck. Her usually regal tone cracked completely. "You—You're—You're back—"

I stumbled under the weight of both girls clinging to me, their warmth pressing on both sides, my heart twisting painfully. Elira buried her face against me, her hair brushing my cheek, her body trembling as fiercely as Sora's had.

I was frozen. Stunned. My arms were full of them both, Sora clutching desperately at my chest, Elira refusing to let go of my neck. The two most graceful, composed girls I knew were… clinging to me like I was the only thing keeping them alive.

My voice cracked. "Elira… Sora… I'm sorry. I—I'm really back this time."

The words felt heavier than I'd expected.

Because deep down, a shadow whispered in me still.

The clone wasn't gone.

And if I wasn't careful, this fragile warmth could shatter again.

---

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