The city hummed with life.
Morning sunlight splashed across the cracked sidewalks, where vendors opened their stalls and old songs drifted from open windows. It was a normal day — the kind Raka used to pass by without thinking.
But today, every sound felt different.
More real.
More alive.
---
Raka tucked his hands into his hoodie pockets, kicking a stray pebble as he walked toward the small coffee shop at the corner of the block. His heart was still heavy, but lighter somehow — like someone had finally unlocked the chain he'd been dragging for years.
He pulled open the creaky door.
The scent of roasted beans and cheap vanilla syrup hit him immediately.
At a corner table, waving like an idiot, was Iqiww.
"Brooo!" Iqiww called out, grinning wide.
Raka couldn't help but laugh. Some things, he thought, would never change.
---
They sat down across from each other, steam rising from two mismatched mugs.
For a moment, they just sat there, quietly sipping, the weight of everything they'd been through hanging in the air between them.
Then Iqiww spoke.
"Feels weird, ya," he said, swirling his coffee absentmindedly. "Like we woke up... but left part of ourselves behind."
Raka nodded.
"I keep hearing the background music in my head," Raka admitted. "The old lobby theme... looping."
They laughed softly — a shared wound only they could understand.
---
"You think we made the right choice?" Raka asked after a moment.
Iqiww leaned back, looking up at the faded ceiling.
"Yeah," he said. "It hurt.
But keeping something alive just because we're afraid to let go?
That's not love.
That's selfish."
He looked at Raka seriously.
"We honored it. We gave it an ending."
---
Outside, the world moved on — people laughing, cars honking, life carrying itself forward without waiting for anyone to catch up.
And for the first time, Raka didn't feel left behind.
He felt... ready.
---
They talked for hours.
About old matches. About crazy glitches. About stupid jokes from guild chats years ago.
Each memory they shared felt lighter, less painful — like they were finally free to enjoy them without the burden of what was lost.
But as the afternoon sun dipped lower, casting golden rays across the cracked coffee shop window, something strange happened.
Raka's phone buzzed.
Not a message.
Not a call.
An unknown notification.
He frowned, unlocking his screen.
One line of text glowed softly:
> "NEW DIMENSION LOADING... STANDBY."
He showed it to Iqiww, who blinked, then grinned like a madman.
"No way," Iqiww whispered, leaning in. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Raka's pulse quickened.
Somewhere deep inside him — deeper than fear, deeper than nostalgia — the spark reignited.
Hope.
Adventure.
Another story waiting to be written.
---
"Bro," Raka said, standing up fast enough to almost knock over his chair.
"You ready for Round Two?"
Iqiww drained his coffee in one gulp, slapped a crumpled bill on the table, and grinned.
"Always."
They burst out of the coffee shop into the golden light of a setting sun — two players, older but unbroken, racing toward the unknown.
The city blurred around them.
A new game awaited.
And this time... they were ready.
---
To Be Continued...