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Volume 1, Epilogue 2: The Dog’s End

<Hah! As if handgun rounds would’ve reached from that distance! That was 200 meters, at least. I was expecting a sniper rifle or a rocket launcher or something, man! Were you even thinking back there?>

“…But you still came outside.”

<I couldn’t just run off. There was someone I knew on that boat. And if you really had a missile or something, it’d be my job to shoot it down like a badass. That’s the least I could do.>

“Figures. You’re an idiot.”

<You jealous?>

“————”

<You finally awake now? This ain’t a movie. It’s just plain old reality. Man-to-man duels aren’t as easy as those B-movies make it look like.>

“…”

<You better thank Mr. Kuzuhara. I was just playin’ around at first, but I’d have killed you if he wasn’t around. Anyhow, I’m prolly gonna be pulling some banditry or piracy or some shit in Southeast Asia, so if you wanna come along—>

Hanging up, Seiichi looked at the gun in his hand.

The large-caliber handgun had been at his side always during his time in the city. It was the one that had killed Kanae five years ago, and more recently broken Kuzuhara’s ribs. Seiichi had never reloaded the gun. And now that he thought about it, it was a miracle that the gun still fired after being unused for five years. It was the first and last gun he ever fired in the city.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he put the muzzle to his head and pulled the trigger.

There was a click. Nothing came out of the muzzle.

After staring for some time at the sea, Seiichi quietly said to himself,

“…Let’s go back.”

The lonely young man headed for the city. Not the one on the artificial island, but to his hometown. To the island where the snowy mountains loomed.

As he made the long walk, Seiichi thought to himself.

He wondered—was the town where he and Kanae grew up still there?

The man who escaped reality because of his powerlessness was now returning to reality for the very same reason.

The young man who had never grown up would return to take back his lost time.

To finally make things up to her, and to the people he killed.

It had been years since he looked up at the mountains of Kosado. There was no snow on the bridge, but the peaks were wearing thin caps of white.

The kites circling the sky overhead were no different from those he saw as a boy.

Watching the birds gliding so gracefully, Seiichi quietly fell to his knees and wept.

-End-