The sky was no longer calm.
Aki could feel it—a shift so profound that it made his skin prickle. The stars above flickered erratically, their celestial glow dimming and flaring as if the very fabric of fate was unraveling before his eyes.
Hoshikiri stood beside him, her silver hair shimmering in the uneasy starlight. She, too, sensed the disturbance. Her hands clenched at her sides, her expression unreadable.
"They've made their move," she murmured.
Aki turned to her, his chest tight. "Who?"
Before she could answer, the heavens roared.
A massive rift tore through the sky, crackling with divine energy. From within, the silhouettes of celestial beings emerged—figures draped in light and shadow, their forms flickering as if reality struggled to contain them. Among them, Tsukihikari-no-Kami stood at the forefront, his golden eyes burning with an intensity Aki had never seen before.
"Hoshino Aki," the god's voice thundered, shaking the very earth beneath them. "The time for silent observation has passed. The gods have decided."
Aki's heart pounded. "Decided what?"
Tsukihikari-no-Kami extended his hand, and the air around Aki thickened, pressing against his body like an invisible force. "You are a fracture in the celestial order. The stars have whispered of your defiance, and the heavens can no longer ignore it."
Hoshikiri stepped forward, her eyes flashing. "You mean to erase him."
The celestial assembly did not deny it.
Aki gritted his teeth. "Why? Because I refuse to be controlled by fate? Because I want to choose my own path?"
Tsukihikari-no-Kami's gaze did not waver. "Because you were never meant to exist in this story. And yet, you are here. That is an anomaly the gods cannot accept."
A heavy silence fell over the battlefield of sky and earth.
Aki clenched his fists. He had always known—deep inside—that his journey was leading him to this moment. He had suspected that his existence defied something greater, something beyond mortal comprehension. But to hear it confirmed by the gods themselves… it was both terrifying and exhilarating.
He looked up, locking eyes with the celestial god. "Then I'll rewrite the story."
A tremor ran through the heavens.
Hoshikiri turned to him, startled. "Aki—"
But Aki took a step forward, his stance firm. "If I wasn't meant to be in this story, then I'll carve my own legend. You call me an anomaly? Fine. Then let's see if an anomaly can defy the gods themselves."
The stars above shuddered. The gods did not move, but something in the air shifted—a ripple of uncertainty in their divine presence.
Tsukihikari-no-Kami narrowed his eyes. "Very well, mortal. Then prove yourself."
The heavens erupted into chaos.
—To be continued—