Chapter 42: What I Forgot

Ren sat in a room filled with light.

Soft sunlight filtered through the open window, carrying the smell of garden flowers and the sound of birdsong. It was peaceful.

But to him, it meant nothing.

He stared at his hands—hands that felt too familiar to be foreign, but too empty to be his. Kaede sat nearby, watching him cautiously. Yui paced outside the door.

"I don't know how old I am," Ren said quietly.

Kaede looked up.

"I don't remember a birthday. I don't remember growing up. I don't remember ever being… small."

He looked at the tea in his hands, untouched.

"There's a woman who cries when she sees me. Says she's my mother."

He paused.

"I don't feel anything when she hugs me."

Kaede's hands tightened around her cup.

"She says I used to laugh. That I liked cold noodles. That I never complained, even when we had nothing."

He closed his eyes.

"I don't remember being poor. I don't remember being loved."

Kaede's voice was soft. "You were. So deeply."

Ren turned to the window.

"I don't even know if I was a good person."

"You were the best of us," Kaede whispered. "Even when you had nothing, you gave everything."

He didn't respond.

His heart didn't ache.

It didn't feel anything.

But somewhere beneath the void, under layers of time and power and silence, something stirred.

A name.

A promise.

Not memory—but feeling.

"I want to know who I was," he said.

Kaede stood slowly. "Then we'll show you."

And outside the window, petals fell—like pieces of a life waiting to be remembered.