The night air was thick with an unseen presence. Aki could feel it pressing against his skin, not in an oppressive way, but as if the universe itself was waiting for him to act. The stars overhead flickered, as if whispering secrets only he could hear.
Hoshikiri stood beside him, her gaze fixed on the heavens. "They're still watching. The gods have stepped back, but that does not mean they are done."
Aki let out a breath. "I figured as much. But I don't understand—why give me this fate only to hesitate? Why am I the one they fear?"
Before she could respond, the space around them wavered. The world blurred, as if reality itself was shifting.
A vision unfolded before them.
The Celestial Court was no longer just a distant place—it was here, overlapping with the mortal realm. Aki saw the figures of the gods standing in formation, their glowing eyes fixed on him. Tsukihikari-no-Kami stood at the center, his golden gaze unreadable.
"Hoshino Aki," the Celestial God's voice echoed through space and time, "the loom of fate has unraveled. You are not bound to the same threads as those before you. You are an anomaly in the cycle."
Aki's chest tightened. "Then tell me why. Why did my mother call me the chosen one? What does it mean?"
Silence.
Then, another voice broke through the stillness.
Amaterasu, her radiance softer than before, stepped forward. "Because you were meant to break the cycle."
Aki's breath caught. "Break it?"
The gods did not answer immediately. Instead, the vision wavered again, revealing flickers of past and future—echoes of choices yet to be made, destinies shattered and rewritten. Aki saw glimpses of himself standing against forces he could not yet comprehend.
Hoshikiri reached for his hand. "Aki, this is why you are different. This is why they fear you. You are not here to follow fate—you are here to reshape it."
The weight of those words sank into him. For so long, he had sought answers, but now he had only more questions. If he was meant to break the cycle… then what was waiting for him at the end of this path?
The vision faded, and the night returned to its silent vigil.
Aki exhaled, determination settling in his bones. "Then I have no choice. If I'm not meant to follow fate, I'll make my own."
The stars flickered once more, as if acknowledging his resolve.
Hoshikiri squeezed his hand lightly. "Then let us begin."
The gods remained silent.
But fate itself had begun to shift.
To becontinue...