Hayato was on his knees.
His shoulders had collapsed.
But not a single tear had fallen from his eyes.
And that…
that was what scared me the most.
Because this silence—
it was familiar.
When someone stays quiet,
they're either holding on…
or they've already broken.
Aoi stood beside me.
Back straight, face tense.
But her eyes… they were on the verge of shattering.
I looked at her.
We didn't say a word,
but we felt the same thing.
Hayato's eyes were hollow.
"Secret?"
That's all he said.
Takumi slipped away from the room.
Coward bastard.
We hadn't told Hayato.
We kept quiet.
That Takumi…
had betrayed us.
We didn't tell him.
Even now, we couldn't.
We didn't want to see him fall any further.
But seeing him like this now…
that choice sat in my throat like a noose.
I slowly walked up to him.
"Hayato," I said.
No answer.
"I know you can hear me."
I crouched beside him.
"I understand your silence.
But you can't stay there."
Aoi turned her head and sighed.
"Yui is still waiting for you," she said.
"She needs you.
Kana…
she's waiting too."
Hayato didn't move.
"Watari's gone," I said.
"And we can't bring him back."
Naoki stepped forward.
"Hayato, you have to be strong.
For all of us."
I backed him up.
"If you fall too…
then everything we did
will be for nothing."
Aoi's eyes welled with tears.
Hayato didn't react.
Then—
very slowly—
He stood up.
His eyes were still dry.
But in them—
there was pain.
A deep, quiet kind of pain.
He looked at Watari.
Knelt down.
And without a word…
he picked him up.
Gently.
As if he were still breathing.
As if he could still wake up.
He began to walk.
Silent steps.
Measured.
The first floor team had come up.
No one asked questions.
No one said, "What happened?"
Our faces were the answer.
Our steps grew heavier as we passed the silence of the second floor.
We were supposed to go to the third floor.
But…
Hayato—
We couldn't leave him.
So we…
we followed him.
Aoi, Naoki, Rin, Misaki, the others…
Rei and Kai were missing.
Probably went with that bastard Takumi.
Our steps fell into rhythm.
As if leaving him alone would be a betrayal.
As if doing anything else would be wrong.
We walked in silence.
Down the second floor.
Then the first.
The stairs were long,
but Hayato never stopped.
When we stepped outside, the rain had started.
But no one lowered their heads.
No one looked for shelter.
No one said a word.
Just the sound of footsteps…
and the weight of Watari's silence.
Hayato kept walking.
Holding Watari against his chest.
Like a child…
Like a secret…
Like a vow.
He carried him for two days.
Even at night, he didn't stop.
He didn't sleep.
He didn't rest.
And none of us could tell him to.
Even during short breaks,
he never laid Watari down.
He held him in his arms.
Without sleep.
Without words.
Alone.
When we reached the camp,
Yui screamed.
But it wasn't just the sound of grief.
It was the echo of a goodbye…
that came too late.
Most of us had wetness in our eyes.
And it wasn't because of the rain.
Hayato walked all the way to the great sakura tree.
Started digging with his bare hands.
I joined him.
Then the others.
Yui knelt down.
But she didn't say a word.
She bowed her head…
and placed Watari's bow and arrows beside him.
We buried him.
Silently.
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The last chapters of Volume One coming in next few hours.
-Shadow Of Cliff
-I Never Cried