It is night.

Everything is shrouded in shadows. Against this twilight background the street lamps glitter like eyes in the dark. The buildings that line the opposite ends of the street are unlit and empty.

Not too far away, the heart of Tokyo resides. Subaru knows it. He can hear the traffic and the voices. Lights, sounds. Light, smells. People rushing past one another, not meeting the eyes of strangers. Products wrapped up in bright plastic containers, untouchable, undisturbed.

This place, however, is deserted.

The spirits here are whispering amongst themselves. They speak of a recent visitor. A visitor, who could not see them, yet knows of their presence. They say he has an enigmatic smile; sometimes mocking, sometimes sincere. He is dressed in black and impenetrable sunglasses shade his eyes. When they sees him, the spirits hush, watching this stranger, a bringer of death. Yin. And then he walks away.

Subaru hears their stories and hides his pain.

His character leaves no allowance for him to love half-heartedly. When he falls for someone, he falls hard. When he loves, he loves completely. Heart and soul and being.

But oh, how wrong a person to love. How completely the heavens had played him. The angels and the saints must be laughing at this cosmic joke, when he watch the sister he adore die at the hands of the one he loves. To realize that he is nothing more than a bet.

Subaru believes in magic. There is magic in the air tonight. There is seduction and mystery and a thousand deathly sins here, in the air. Like a dark mist enveloping the entire place. An aura that only he can create.

If only Subaru could see him... if only he could reach out and touch, feel, realize, come here, just a few hours earlier.

Subaru knows it is futile to wait. He won't come back. He won't come back even though he has left him sisterless and broken, left him hopeless and desolate. Hating and loving someone at the same time. A wretched combination that eats away whatever joy he has. That crawls into his mind every time he closes his eyes. Always wondering to himself – what if? What if?

What if I had just...

He closes his eyes at the memory and turns around. No use staying any longer here, a place where only ghosts of memories exist.

What do you want to see, Sei-chan, before you will show yourself?

Do you want to see Subaru break down on the ground and cry?

Do you want to see his face twisted with anguish and tight with pain?

Do you want to see Subaru alone, broken, and shattered through and through?

Around Subaru, sakura leaves are swirling. The wind howling around him creates a haunting melody. The ground only echoes his footsteps, and nobody else. There is a pathway in front of him, unlit by light, deserted and devoid of souls. He follows the cement ground.

He thinks he sees a flash of sunglasses. He thinks he hears a trench coat flapping. He thinks he sees the mocking smile he wears, reflected in every shiny surface.

Alone, broken, shattered.

He thinks he is watching him now. But that may just be the reflection of a sakura petal.