---
Yuki sat alone in his room, the silence pressing against his ears like a thick fog. The moonlight filtering through the window painted pale streaks across the wooden floor. His body ached from the void training, but it wasn't the pain that kept him awake.
It was the emptiness.
Ren had said the void was a reflection of himself—of the chaos inside. But tonight, it wasn't chaos he felt.
It was absence.
Aiko was gone. Just… gone. She hadn't returned after their last talk. No messages. No aura. No trace.
He looked toward the window, half-expecting to see her pop in like she usually did, teasing him about his lack of spiritual awareness.
But instead, a knock.
Soft. Barely audible.
Yuki stood cautiously and slid the window open.
The wind didn't move.
A girl stood on the edge of the frame, balanced as if gravity itself had forgotten her.
That same eerie calm. Long hair drifting like ink in water. Eyes like starlight buried under centuries of silence.
Her.
"I had a feeling you'd still be awake," she whispered.
Yuki narrowed his eyes. "You… again."
Her gaze didn't waver. "You're thinking about her."
Yuki's throat tightened. "She hasn't come back. I can't feel her presence. It's like she's vanished."
"She has," the girl said simply. "But not by choice."
He stepped back, heart pounding. "What do you mean?"
"She's in a place that doesn't exist on maps. A spiritual void. A tear between realms. A black silence." Her voice lowered. "She's trapped."
Yuki clenched his fists. "Then help me get her back."
Her eyes softened, just a little. "You're not ready. The void you trained in? That was only a shadow. Where she is now… is deeper."
Yuki stepped closer, defiant. "Then train me."
The girl tilted her head. "You'd trust me?"
Yuki didn't blink. "I don't have a choice."
A moment of silence stretched between them.
Then, she nodded.
"Meet me tomorrow. Before dawn. Alone."
With that, she stepped backward and vanished into the night, leaving only silence behind.
---
Somewhere Else…
Aiko floated in an endless sea of black.
No sound. No warmth. No time.
Her thoughts came in fragments, like echoes bouncing through a hollow cave.
Yuki…
She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. But she wasn't afraid.
She was… waiting.
And something was watching her.
---
Back in Yuki's Room
Yuki stared at the stars, his chest tight.
He didn't know who that girl really was. He didn't know where Aiko was.
But he knew one thing:
He would find her.
No matter what waited in the void.
---
End of Chapter 16
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