Samsara – Chapter 5: Gaze

Mina was running alone through the silent forest.

No matter how far her feet carried her, her heart remained tethered to that place.The soul of Reiji, which she had left behind, still called out to her—through pain, through longing.

In that fleeting moment, his "pain" had certainly reached her as well.

She was supposed to leave him behind, as someone who had fulfilled her duty.As a guide, it was only natural.Calmly, rationally—she should have chosen that path.

…And yet.

What was this unnamed feeling, clenching her chest so tightly?

(…Why does it hurt so much…?)

Until now, Mina had encountered countless Travelers—souls wandering through reincarnation—meeting and parting time and again.Not as a person, but as a role.Emotions only got in the way, so she had learned to shut them out.

But Reiji… was different.

The days she spent with him—The way he smiled in the village, pouted at times, blushed when surrounded by children—And beneath it all, the deep shadow and pain he carried.

Even as he smiled, he always bore the weight of "guilt" and "regret."He tried so desperately to hide it from everyone. But with Mina's eyes that could see souls, she could see right through it.Still, she didn't say anything.She didn't want to break the fragile "ordinary happiness" he had finally found.

(I… turned a blind eye…)

The realization struck her heart like a sharp thorn.

That moment he turned back—his sad, uncertain expression—When that image flashed in her mind, something inside Mina shattered.

Her feet stopped, and in the next breath, she had already turned around.There was no hesitation.She left behind her reason, her duty, even her orders—And simply ran toward Reiji.

Her "role" no longer mattered.

She understood what it meant to defy the will of the Creator.She knew the price. But even so, it didn't matter.

(Even if… I must face any punishment…)

That single thought drove her forward.

Cutting through the wind, racing through the woods—Reiji's trembling soul guided her, like a thread of light.

And then—she saw him.

Reiji, standing before the monument, reaching out with a trembling hand.

And she saw it.His soul screaming: "Help me."

In that moment, all of Mina's hesitation vanished.

"Don't touch that—!!"

Without a second thought, she leapt through the air.

The moment she embraced him, their souls intertwined—And the monument was engulfed in blinding light.

But that light was not one of peace alone.

Within the silence, a faint pain bled through.Behind the nostalgia, lingered the scent of finality.

It was as if…Two souls, knowing they would be torn apart by an inescapable fate, were looking into each other's eyes one last time.

Love twisted into sorrow,Hope quietly fraying at the seams.The fate that would divide them crept silently closer, just beneath their feet.