Chapter 21: Time With My Family

For the first time in what felt like forever, Ren woke up without pain.

No screams in the back of his head. No dungeon rot burning through his chest. Just the soft smell of breakfast, Yui's humming in the kitchen, and sunlight filtering through the window.

He stretched, blinked at the light, and smiled.

His mother was alive. Sitting in the garden. Reading again. Smiling again.

The house was small, worn, and creaked with every step—but it was warm.

That morning, Ren helped Yui make tea and toast. She scolded him for cutting too slowly. He let her.

They ate together on the floor, laughing at nothing, speaking about everything but power, monsters, and void. Just life.

His mother joined them later, bundled in a blanket Kaede had left behind. Her eyes still carried weariness, but it was the weariness of recovery—not decay.

"I missed this," she whispered, her fingers brushing Ren's. "I missed my son."

"I never left," Ren said.

They sat like that for hours.

Kaede stopped by later, dressed casually for once, without weapons or armor. She brought fruit and a quiet smile. She didn't say much—but she didn't have to.

That evening, the four of them sat on the roof. Yui lay with her head in their mother's lap. Ren leaned back with Kaede beside him.

The stars were clear. The city was quiet. Even the dungeon, for now, was still.

"Do you think it'll last?" Yui asked softly.

Ren looked at her, then at his mother, then at Kaede.

"No," he said. "But that's what makes it precious."

They all nodded.

And for one night, the world was exactly what it needed to be.