There was a single PTV being driven toward someone's final destination.
'To think that we are childhood friends. In fact, you are a year older than me, but you just kept making fun of me by saying I am thirty years old with a declining hairline.'
Inside that PTV sat a twenty-three-year-old man. He was six feet tall with vibrant blue hair and a fit, well-defined body. A smile played on his face as he took a sharp left turn.
'The day you came back from your fifth mission...' The man let out a soft laugh while driving. 'We all thought that you died. We thought they had gotten rid of you since all communication was completely cut off. Yet, you came back alive after an entire year, carrying a mountain worth of information.'
The man was entirely alone in the PTV, yet his thoughts were crowded. He had seen far too much over his lifetime to cry when things got tough. When faced with impossible situations, he simply laughed.
'After that fifth mission, something deep inside you changed. I still remember when you came to my house all alone, late at night.'
The man looked out the window. The land grew more barren and empty the further forward he drove.
'That night... yeah. I still remember your exact words.'
The man yanked the steering wheel to the right and sped up, still smiling through it all.
"Pita, I have decided the next mission will be my last mission before I end my life."
The man driving the PTV was Peter. Pita was the mocking nickname that Kath had given him.
Despite remembering such a painful memory, the smile on Peter's face never once faded.
'Yeah, I didn't let any of my real feelings show back then. I even managed to smile back at you. But I was genuinely shocked by what you said. Still, I accepted it.'
Peter began to slow down the PTV as a sudden, heavy rain began to fall from the darkening sky.
'Ah, what a conveniently timed rain.'
Peter pressed a sequence of buttons on the dashboard. The roof of the vehicle slowly rolled back until the rain was falling directly onto his face and shoulders.
"I accepted it because I knew you would rather sleep inside an empty coffin than live your life inside of one."
Peter slammed on the gas again, drifting his PTV through the pouring rain.
'I always used to make fun of those sad movies where the whole plot was about letting the person you love walk away just because you loved them.'
Slowly, Peter brought the PTV to a gentle stop, turning it off completely. He stepped out into the mud, sat right down on the wet ground, and stared up into the falling rain with a smile.
'When you said those words to me, instead of just accepting it, I really wanted to stop you. Before you became infected, we used to go out together, after all. I desperately wanted to give you some kind of hope. I wanted to tell you that I would take you away from everything, but...'
Peter pulled out his phone and began mindlessly browsing the internet in the middle of the storm. After a few quiet minutes, the screen lit up with a call from a contact named Dad.
Peter just laughed at his own silliness for a second before picking up.
"Man, I was just thinking that my day was going a bit too peacefully."
The caller stayed silent for a second before a voice replied.
"Son, you didn't report to work today. That is very unlike you. Are you alright?"
'Kath, I really wanted to tell you to live. I wanted to hug you tightly and promise that I would free you from your Flaw, that we would go back to exactly how we used to be. But then I remembered how you just stood there carelessly when your parents died during that breakout. Because of your Flaw, you could not even cry, yet you still did. You acted perfectly, faking the grief as if you were truly crying with [Mockingbird]. I knew right then and there that you had become nothing but an actor, maybe even inside your own mind. So, I accepted it.'
"I am just having a nice cup of tea alone in the middle of the rain. Don't worry, Dad. Did you forget who I am? I am sorry about this, but I will be hanging up now."
Without waiting for a reply, Peter ended the call and turned the phone completely off.
'When you came to me that day and handed in your resignation, I knew exactly what you meant. You were telling me that you had decided to end your life that very day. So, I intentionally rushed the mission timeline. It was my own desperate, pathetic attempt to keep you with me for just a month longer, just to hear your voice for a little bit more.'
Peter slowly opened his mouth and let out a heavy yawn.
'For your very last mission, I actually pulled some strings to get your original name back. Kath. I wanted you to be able to die as yourself. I handpicked this specific job for you because the target was already guaranteed to join the government to reach his own goal.'
The rain finally began to stop, the dark clouds parting to make way for the bright, mocking sun.
'I didn't tell you the truth because, since you no longer have emotions, you are basically forced to live every single second for exactly what it is. For us, days usually pass by like nothing, but for you, each day feels exactly as long as you stay awake. This mission was my final gift to you a safe space where you could act human, slacking off and sleeping inside your flat and the medical wing for hours straight just to skip past the boring days. I truly hope you managed to sleep twenty hours a day.'
With the sun now high in the sky, Peter stood up and climbed back into the PTV, completely ignoring the wet dirt and mud sticking to his clothes.
He started the engine and drove for an hour straight, silently sorting through every single memory of their past.
Soon enough, he arrived at her final destination.
It was a massive iron gate flanked by high brick walls surrounding a plot of land. A graveyard.
Peter parked the PTV right outside the wall, stepping out with a fresh bouquet of flowers in his hand as he walked through the gates.
It was a ruined, forgotten cemetery where no living people visited anymore, filled almost entirely with the old graves of elderly people.
Peter walked past a dozen worn headstones until he found the one plot that looked completely fresh. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed someone was already standing there.
It was a woman with black hair.
The woman slowly turned around and caught sight of Peter, giving a brief wave. It was Jet, and she began walking over to him with a completely monotonus expression.
Peter didn't say a word. The two of them were definitely not on good terms.
Jet reached Peter and casually pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket.
"Inside the kid's pocket, I found two separate letters. One had his coordinates, while the other... I feel like it was meant for you."
Peter listened to Jet for a brief moment, his usual smile returning as he pulled a single flower out of the bouquet and pointed it toward her.
"A flower for you, for taking the time to bring this letter to me."
Jet stared at the offered flower for a second. Receiving a single flower taken directly from a bouquet bought for the dead was never a good sign. Jet looked into Peter's eyes and realized instantly that he knew the truth about her Flaw.
Jet accepted the flower without a word, handing over the letter in exchange. She turned and began to leave the ruined graveyard, leaving him with some cold parting words.
"I suggest you don't go after the kid. He is necessary if we want to get out of the Clan's grasp. If you want to get to him, you will have to go through me first."
Peter simply listened to her warning, keeping quiet as he walked the rest of the way to the grave. He placed the remaining flowers gently beside the stone, sat flat on the damp ground, and opened the paper.
It was a large letter, with every single word written down in perfectly neat, beautiful handwriting.
He looked up at the headstone one more time, noting the expensive marble and the clean name carved into it.
"Independent Woman."
"Let's see why exactly you chose to kill yourself without coming back to see me once the mission was over."
He finally focused his eyes and began to read.
[Hello, Kath here. And Pita, if you are reading this, it means I am dead. Well, duh, what else can I be? Before, I was the walking dead, now I am the sleeping dead. If the corporate asks you to tell the difference between these two pictures, they would probably say it's the same picture.]
Peter was caught completely off guard by the tone of the writing. She was acting exactly like she used to back when they were dating, back before she had ever gotten infected.
"You really are incredibly selfish, aren't you?"
Water was still dripping from Peter's hair and clothes, splashing tiny, damp circles onto the paper beneath his fingers.
With a soft, amused laugh, Peter responded out loud to the paper.
"Yes, I don't see a single difference either, and I am definitely not that corporate lady."
[Hey, keep this between us, but I am actually copying a blind girl named Cassie. I don't want to get sued for copyright. She actually wrote a letter to her future self, but well, I don't have a future, so I wrote this letter to you. Yes, before going away, I am going to make sure that you cry at least once, balding old man.]
Peter went completely silent for a second, gently closing his eyes.
'Cassie... that blind girl that Kiyotaka helped out just so he could make the rest of us think he was driven by lust.'
"What do you mean, make me cry? I am literally soaked from head to toe, Kath. Even if I were to cry right now, the tears would just hide themselves in the rain. Sucks to be you. You can't even beat me after you are dead. And for the record, I am pretty sure I have a way better hair than you do."
[Actually, I give up on making you cry. Lowkey too hard for me. Well, let me give you the report at least.]
Peter pinched the bridge of his nose, a wave of fond annoyance washing over him.
"You didn't even mention my mom and dad in this thing. What am I supposed to tell them now?"
[You know I should probably be writing a day-to-day report of what took place and go into detail, or I would be punished. Ahem. -Independent Woman made a fist and used her other hand to spin the air beside it as a middle finger slowly came up.- Duh! Tell those jerks that they can't punish me any longer! So, here's what I did!]
[The target actually made a Binding Vow with nine workers inside the academy from all kinds of places like the medical wing, library, staff room, and even the security room. He basically controlled the entire sleeper section of the academy and used it to decide where sleepers went inside the facility, so he could have entire rooms to himself whenever he wanted to talk about things. But but but but lilbro, I caught him and threatened him with my aura to break the Binding Vow. I am just goated like that. Actually, after that, I did that work for him and got a favor in return.]
As the written text shifted into a mission report, Peter's deep attention began to fade. He didn't truly care about what Kiyotaka had done or failed to do.
After all...
"Him controlling the sleeper section was already under my expectations of him. I specifically sent you there so you could rest as much as you wanted. Why on earth would you go out of your way to do extra work like that?"
[You have to hear this, he actually has a memory called [Divine Ledger] which he or anyone else can use to record what they see, if they are completely honest about it. By touching the essence within it, you can relive whatever the recorder went through, even their emotions! Well, I only used it once and stopped after that. The emotions weren't mine, after all. Except for the last time, it was necessary that time.]
A spark of real interest suddenly returned to Peter's eyes. The smile vanished from his face entirely, and he tilted his head slightly.
'How can an outsider use someone else's memory?'
It was clearly an incredibly valuable tool for spying, and it could easily be used to manipulate targets, but that was all it was good for.
[I also made a trade with him using the favor I got. You know the chess memory I had? I gave it to him. In return, I got two Memory from him, [Whisper of Malice] and [Unforgiven Fragment]. I got them for you. You can take them from the worker named Johnny inside the academy. They will be really useful for you.]
Slowly, the look on Peter's face turned from exhaustion into annoyance. To say the least, this message did not respect his feelings at all. He would have willingly gone to war against a thousand geniuses rather than be treated like an afterthought by the person he loved most.
'Did you seriously believe that talking in this detached, playful way would help me forget about you? If anything, you are just giving me false hope that you still deeply cared. It really isn't fair.'
[If I were you, I would actually put some eyes on Cassie's family because on the twenty-seventh night, after he fought with Sunless, the shadow you warned us aboutz he asked me if I could take him to visit Cassie's parents. I, of course... uh... took him. Hehe. Even the best make mistakes sometimes.]
Peter rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Did you seriously think I didn't see you walking straight out of the academy gates with him? I obviously know exactly where you went. Her family is already completely under my protection in a highly secure flat."
The very next lines on the paper made Peter freeze entirely, a sudden flasg of anger rising deep within his chest.
[I want you to promise me that you won't kill him. The reason my life is going to end early is because I actually made a Binding Vow with him. He gave me Divine Ledger and made a vow that if he goes into the dream realm and Divine Ledger comes back to him before this vow ends, he will die. So the bet was, I had to watch his entire first Nightmare once he goes to the dream realm. If I watch it all in one sitting without stopping or letting it influence my thoughts, he would completely serve you. But if I stop or it changes the way I think, I will die. But before dying, I will have to record the information of all the high-ranking government officials inside this Divine Ledger...]
Peter's eyes widened completely, his pupils shaking violently as he read the words.
Then, his gaze cleared. He let out a breathless, disbelieving laugh at how ridiculous the situation was.
"What kind of crazy Vow did you even make with him that allows you to reveal all of this to me, but to absolutely nobody else? And why do you and Jet keep telling me not to kill him? Do you honestly believe that if I wanted him dead, he would still be breathing right now? He has disappeared from the academ probably Jet's work, but I could easily find his position and end him this very second. I don't need the two of you telling me what to do."
[I am writing this letter as I am about to go into his first Nightmare. I have already put the location letter in his pocket, and this one will also go there. If I fail, according to the deal, I will walk there without realizing it and put it in his pocket, which will be found by Jet and then given to you. I believe you already know what he is going to do with the officials' information. After all, you basically predicted it again with your Aspect. Let's see who wins this chess match between you and him.]
[With this, kath... epik adventure ends.]
[P.S. I might or might not be trying to think of my sad past during his first Nightmare in hopes I get some sort of power-up if things go bad. Bad Wi-Fi connection, here I come.]
...
[I am sorry for being selfish. You are willing to let me go because you love me, but I am not willing to stay for you. I am really sorry. Why did God make you love someone like me? Give my love to uncle and aunt.]
...
Peter slowly leaned back, laying his entire body flat against the muddy ground. He stared blankly up at the huge sky. His clothes were ruined, and thick mud stuck to his skin, yet a smile stayed stretched across his face.
"Guess this time, things just went according to life."
He slowly rolled over, pushing himself up to his feet to look down at the expensive marble one last time.
His smile widened, and he turned on his heel and began walking out of the empty graveyard.
"I promised you a two-month break, didn't I?"
The only reason he had handpicked this specific, decaying cemetery where only old people rested was because, in this exact plot of land, Kath's parents were buried.
"I will be visiting your grave every single two months for the rest of my entire life."
Volume 1 [Trapped In Chains of Fate] Fully ends.
********
There is a confession I have to make. The reason this chapter took so long to come out is actually because I hit a creative wall one that I couldn't get past no matter how much I tried.
I wrote four different drafts before this one from Kath's POV that started with comedy, added a pinch of seriousness, and then swapped POVs to Peter. But well, none of them really sat right with me. I just couldn't write Kath for some reason. I wanted to have her as someone who influences Ayanokouji's thoughts.
In reality, "Trick is a matter of perception" and "Actions have consequences" were supposed to be taught by her to Ayanokouji, but I just couldn't write it. Skill issue fr.
Well, with this, Volume 1 fully ends. I know I took too long to start the second volume, so the only thing I can do to make it worth your waiting... is to make it hit.
I will be meeting you really soon with Chapter 1 of Volume 2...
Peace.