Prologue

I never go back on my word.

At least that's what I say all the time - to keep going on. To keep fighting, chasing what I want, my dreams. Her.

Words that were so easy to say when you are in the moment of perceiving what your tomorrow will be. Just when you thought you are about to reach the top of the mountain, everything you worked hard for along the way suddenly crumbles. That feeling when you do not want to give up but you are lost somewhere in the middle, clueless about where to begin again. How can you tell until when is it worth clinging onto words you vowed to fulfill? And until when you should decide to let go of it?

As my body slowly gets sucked underneath the murky waters of the freezing lake, my life flashes before my eyes. From my childhood at the orphanage, my pre-teen to teenage days at the Sarutobi mansion, my independence as an adult in my messy apartment, and...the life I pictured being with her in my dreams. All that came to nothing as I found myself struggling to gasp for air underneath the water. I have every chance to kick the water to swim up to the surface but there's this unseen force that seemingly keeps dragging me down to the bottom. I could only see the distorted light of the moonlight from the surface and it gradually shrinks as I continue to sink to the bottom of the lake.

Maybe that is all there is to my existence. What difference does it make? I've been alone all my life - no parents, siblings, relatives, not a single blood family. Although I do have friends and some people who are dear to me. But are they enough reasons? Is my existence still worth fighting for? If I make it up to the surface, what place and future does the world still have for me? Is this all there is to life? After all, I've been through, this is it?

"Where is he?"

"We lost him."

"Then, go find him, you imbeciles!"

He heard several distorted voices of men above the surface.

How did I get in here in the first place? Do I deserve this? The world and the society were indeed unfair. I survived the harsh reality and world as an orphan only to find out that half of my existence was partly a lie. The only thing I ever did was I fell in love with the Heiress who loved me...

...Hinata

And until then it was her who took over my mind for one last time before everything went black and I stopped gasping for air.