Lost Time

Prologue

Shouto nodded, silently swallowing the lump in his throat. He raised the gun up to his eyes, one hand on the trigger and the other holding his firing arm still. He closed one eye, ready to fire. I watched as time slowed, and the bullet began to move out of the nozzle of the gun with a loud bang and a small explosion. I watched with curiosity as the bronze bullet sailed towards the target, leaving behind a small cloud of silver smoke. I smiled sadly at Shouto, who looked like a frozen statue.

Trudging towards the trunk of the tree, I stood in front of the target, my head exactly in the way. Time resumed again, and all I saw was a flash of gold, then red.

Shouto scrambled from his frozen state to grab me, but it was too late. I smiled sullenly as the world faded into darkness, and the words coming out of his mouth became inaudible. I managed to make them out just before the world disappeared, but nothing could be done as my vision faded, and I embraced the black gladly. Everything was forgotten in an instant, except for the last words that he had mouthed to me.

I'm sorry. I was wrong to say-

One last time, I braced myself to face the light that had brought me into this world, and I wished a farewell to my friends who once took my hand to their world of youth. To Shouto, who once helped me fight against my failures and to Varus who had served me and treated me like a younger sister. This is a forever farewell.

One last time.

That was all I could think of.