Chapter 1: Shadow

**The world was still as noisy and bustling as ever. I saw on TV that some stations around the globe were still broadcasting, reporting on the ongoing events outside, while I stood on the street, witnessing it all with my own eyes.**

Chaos—deadly spores known as X spread widely through the stratosphere, infecting and mutating many people and animals, ultimately turning them into "monsters." Yet, in my eyes, these crazed monsters appeared as living, breathing humans.

Why are they sad? Why do they feel despair? Isn't this world becoming more beautiful in my eyes? Shouldn't I be happy?

Am I crazy? No, it's the world's fault. This world threw me into hell, stripping everything from me. I hate this world, but it's precisely this hatred that led to my meeting with Saya, and now this world is becoming as beautiful as Saya and I wished it to be.

As I walked along, I saw cars haphazardly crashed together on the highway, with people screaming and moving around chaotically. Everything was in turmoil. I tried to avoid the rioting crowds as I walked along the roadside, but it was impossible to avoid them all.

I saw a middle-aged man ahead, pounding on a shutter door, crying and shouting. With no other way to go, I cautiously walked around him from behind.

"Why... why is this happening?!" He noticed me and grabbed my pant leg tightly.

"Isn't this the uncle from Yamazaki's grocery store? What are you doing?" I asked in a low voice.

"Why... why are you still normal?"

"I don't know..." I replied as I pried his hand off my ankle.

How could I tell him that this was Saya's last gift to me? Didn't you all avoid me before? Didn't you all treat me like a freak? So why are you trying to cozy up to me now? Where's your dignity as a human being? As I thought this, I almost forgot that, in reality, what I saw as a man was already an inhuman, grotesque monster.

"Please, save me, save me!"

"Let go of me, you're getting my pants dirty!" I snapped, annoyed.

"Don't leave me, save me!"

"What's going on? This is madness!" I said as I forcefully shook off his grip.

Our voices attracted the attention of those around us, and they began to gather around me as if I were a lifeline.

I jogged away, leaving behind the man, now crawling slowly on the ground, and the crowd behind him.

They've always only cared about themselves, always concerned with their own issues, ostracizing those who are different. They don't understand how to love others and aren't worthy of love.

I wasn't sure why, but I felt no sympathy for them. Had I really lost my mind? Anyone else would have gone mad long ago. Maybe I'm not human anymore—just a monster wearing human skin. But it doesn't matter now.

"Tch, damn it—!"

I looked down at my wrinkled pant leg, now stained with dirt. I pulled out a tissue to try and clean it, but the stain wouldn't come off. Frustrated, I kicked a trash can by the roadside.

A small cat darted out from the trash can and quickly scampered away.

Curious, I followed it. As far as I knew, the spores infected humans and other animals but had no effect on plants. So, this cat before me...

Following the cat, I passed through a narrow alleyway, a place I'd never been before—dark and damp.

The cat slipped into a large cardboard box that looked like a makeshift shelter. I gently lifted the flap, and two small creatures huddled in the corner of the box, staring at me warily. One was the cat I had seen earlier, and the other was a little girl in tattered clothes.

After I explained my intentions, the girl let go of the cat, which cautiously walked up to my feet. Seeing that I made no move, it began rubbing against my legs.

"Did you take it in?"

"Yes," the girl said quietly, stroking the cat.

"Aren't you curious about me?" I asked, surprised that she wasn't curious about me.

"You're different from them, and different from me too. You're still human," the girl replied.

"Aren't you afraid? This cat… it's actually a monster, isn't it?" I asked her.

"If it's a monster, then I'm a monster too…"

"..."

Even though I hadn't felt a shred of sympathy for the people crying out in pain earlier, I now felt a strange sadness. Watching the cat snuggle back up to the girl, I could imagine the effort it must have taken for these two "monsters" to become so close and build a friendship.

It reminded me of Saya. I wondered what I looked like to her when we first met. In Saya's eyes, I must have looked no different from a monster. Yet she accepted me, even when I was running away from reality. And when I learned Saya's secret, I even had thoughts of disgust…

Thinking back on everything between Saya and me, I began to loathe myself—the selfish, narrow-minded me, the ugly me of the past. Love is built on mutual trust; without trust, love cannot exist. Love is also selfish, just like it was between Saya and me—we were honest with each other, leaning on each other.

In this little girl, I seemed to see Saya's shadow. In a way, it wouldn't be wrong to say she was Saya's child.

"Come with me; maybe I can cure you," I said, turning my back to her, waiting for her decision.

It was just a possibility, and that possibility lay within me.

Feeling a tug on my clothes, I turned around to see the girl holding the cat in one hand and grasping my coat through a plastic bag with the other.

"Don't worry about it; let's go." I gently took her slightly warm hand, and she softly squeezed my larger hand in return.

It was the first time I'd been so gentle with someone since Saya left—more gentle than I had ever been, even before the car accident. At that moment, it felt like a beam of light shone into my world, softening the icy walls around my heart.