The world spun sideways the moment Seigi finished merging with him.
Raito stumbled forward through the thick snow, his boots crunching sluggishly against the ground.He couldn't hear anything.Not the howling of the wind.Not Kurai's endless complaining.
Nothing.
The silence inside his head was somehow even louder than the storm.
He moved on autopilot, barely aware of the fact that his body was moving toward the car parked half-buried under a thin sheet of snow.His fingers trembled slightly as he opened the door and slid into the driver's seat.The keys rattled when he tried to start the engine.
A dim, flickering thought crossed his mind:
"I probably shouldn't drive like this."
But he ignored it.
Some stubborn, half-faded instinct pushed him forward.
He had to get back.
The engine roared to life. Tires skidded slightly over the frozen ground as Raito pulled out, steering clumsily onto the narrow mountain road.Visibility was terrible; the snowstorm that had been triggered by Seigi's full awakening still raged around him, making the world look like a swirling white void.
Luckily—or maybe miraculously—the roads were deserted.Nobody sane would be driving through a mountain blizzard at this hour.
Nobody except him.
His vision blurred in and out, the lights of the car stretching into long, thin lines.He blinked several times, trying to clear his head, but it only made him dizzier.
His body was heavier than lead.
His arms felt like they weren't even attached properly anymore.
Somewhere in the back of his consciousness, he realized:
"My body... it's breaking itself down and rebuilding again..."
A side effect of becoming Seigi's vessel.
He gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep driving.
The hotel appeared like a shadow in the snowstorm, its warm lights barely piercing the storm's madness.
Relief hit him in a delayed, dull wave.
He pulled into the parking lot, the car sliding slightly as he tried to park.His body swayed in the seat, head dropping forward for a split second——and then—
BANG.
The car jolted as he lightly smacked into the vehicle next to him.
Raito winced, but it wasn't even strong enough to fully process the mistake.
The car door next to him flew open.
A woman stomped out into the snow, bundled in a coat, her face twisted into an expression of fury.
"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU—"
She didn't even get to finish.
Raito turned his head toward her, his movements slow, almost mechanical.
And he looked at her.
Just looked.
No anger.
No malice.
No words.
But the raw, unsettling pressure behind his half-lidded stare froze the woman mid-breath.Her glare faltered.She instinctively took a step back, confusion and unease flickering in her eyes.
Raito said nothing.
He simply turned away from her and staggered out of the car, dragging his body toward the hotel entrance like a dying soldier.
The woman watched him go, mouth slightly open but no words coming out.
The automatic doors slid open, and warm air blasted against Raito's frozen skin.
The lobby was mercifully empty.
No Yumi.No Raika.No Emi.
Perfect.
He barely made it to the elevator.
By the time he reached the hotel room, his hands were trembling so badly that he almost dropped the keycard twice before he finally managed to slide it in.
The door clicked open.
Inside, the room was quiet and dark except for the faint hum of the heater.
Raito stumbled toward the bed, his legs giving out halfway.He barely made it onto the mattress, collapsing face-first into the blankets.
The second his body touched the bed, it was over.
His consciousness shattered like glass.
The world blinked out in an instant.
And for the first time in a long, long while, Raito Yakamura lost complete control of himself——drifting into an endless, dark sleep, while two ancient forces battled quietly inside his soul.