New World? Just Food

Higashino Makoto stands in that collapsing parallel world, the ground beneath his feet sinking down like melted chocolate, and the distant mountains folding, twisting, and disappearing like crumpled paper.

The sky cracked open with countless fissures, revealing the deep purple Void behind it.

He raised his hand, and the miniature world slowly spun in his palm, like a miniature galaxy.

The devouring began.

The small world, like a hungry beast, opened its unseen mouth and began to devour this newly born land.

Pieces of land disappeared, mountains were swallowed up one by one, and oceans were drained dry piece by piece.

The forests, rivers, and cities that Byakuya wove with concepts were as fragile as paper in the face of the rules of the small world.

This is not a battle, it's just eating.

Higashino Makoto stood there, watching the world beneath his feet shrink little by little.

The world created by Byakuya is completely devoid of resistance; it has no gods, no special powers, and not even its own will.

It's like a piece of carefully cooked meat, now served on the table.

"It tastes good."

He said it in a low voice.

The sensory feedback from the small world is coming back; the swallowed matter is being digested and transformed into part of the small world.

Originally, the small world only contained the land taken from the Overlord World and the water borrowed from the sea; it was empty and desolate, like a bare, unfurnished house.

Now it's great, mountains, rivers, forests, oceans, all the topography you can think of is here.

Although the size has remained the same, the content inside has increased ten thousand times.

On the first day, one-fifth of the earth was swallowed up.

The next day, the mountains and rivers began to disappear.

On the third day, the ocean began to recede.

On the fourth day, the sky began to crack.

Day 5, Day 6, Day 7.

Higashino Makoto stood on the last piece of land that had not yet been swallowed up, watching the small world absorb the last cloud.

He closed his palms, and the little world fell silent, like a child who had eaten his fill.

He turned around and looked at Byakuya.

She knelt on the ground, her long, gray hair scattered among the rubble, her red eyes empty.

Her hands were braced on the ground, her knuckles were white, and her fingernails were filled with dust.

Her lips were moving slightly, but it was impossible to hear what she was saying.

The parallel worlds are gone.

She spent a thousand years preparing, pouring all her heart and soul into creating this world, a world she intended to spend forever with Akari, only to have it turned into lunch by this man.

Seven days, it only took seven days.

Akari stood to the side, glancing at Higashino Makoto and then at Byakuya.

Byakuya was no longer in her memory, but her eyes would still involuntarily linger on the kneeling girl.

She couldn't explain why, but the person's back looked familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

She walked up to Higashino Makoto, reached out, and gently patted the dust off his clothes.

"Higashino- kun, aren't you tired?"

Higashino Makoto looked down into those Kohaku eyes, which held only concern and nothing else.

"Good."

"You've worked hard for seven days, you must be tired. I'll make you some tea when we get back."

Higashino Makoto didn't say anything, but simply reached out and ruffled her hair.

A slight smile played on Akari lips as she leaned on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Byakuya witnessed this scene; her fingers clenched tightly in the rubble, her nails broke, and blood seeped from between her fingers.

She didn't feel the pain because her heart ached more.

Akari doesn't remember her anymore. Akari smiles at that man, Akari leans on that person's shoulder, and Akari looks at him with the kind of gaze she's waited a thousand years for.

She lowered her head, her forehead touching the ground.

A tear fell onto the gravel, spreading into a small water stain.

"Why..."

Her voice was hoarse, like a breath squeezed out from deep in her throat.

"Why... I have nothing left..."

No one answered.

A voice came from afar, urgent and choked with sobs.

"Agate! Agate!"

Peach ran out from behind a collapsed wall. She was wearing a white training uniform, her short pink hair was sticking up messily in the wind, her eyes were red, and there were tears in her eyes.

She ran to Byakuya, squatted down, and reached out her hand, wanting to touch her but not daring to.

"Agate, what happened? Are you hurt? You scared me to death!"

Byakuya raised his head and looked at her with his empty Kohaku eyes.

Peach was startled by those eyes, but she didn't back away.

She bit her lip, reached out, and gently took Byakuya's hand.

"It's alright, it's alright, I'm here, I'll stay with you."

Byakuya looked at the hand holding hers, then at Peach's tear-streaked face.

You've mistaken me for someone else; I'm not Agate.

"You are, you are Agate. No matter what you become, you are Agate."

Byakuya's lips twitched slightly as she shook off Peach's hand.

"I told you, I'm not."

Peach's hand was flung away, paused in mid-air for a moment, then reached out again and grasped Byakuya's hand, holding it even tighter than before.

"You are."

Byakuya stared at her for a long time.

There was no hesitation, no doubt in those green eyes, only an almost stubborn determination.

She also noticed that something was wrong with Agate, but she didn't consider that Agate had become a different person.

She will absolutely not admit it!

Byakuya's lips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

She looked down at her hand being held; Peach's palm was hot, like a ball of fire, making her skin feel burning.

But she did not break free.

Peach knelt beside her, talking incessantly.

"You've been missing for several days, and I've been looking for you everywhere. I thought something had happened to you, and I've been praying every day for your safe return..."

Byakuya listened to those words without saying a word.

Her expression remained unchanged, still empty, numb, and indifferent to everything.

But something was glittering in the corner of her eye.

Not tears.

She refused to admit that they were tears.

At the same time, within Byakuya's body, Agate's consciousness began to awaken.

Like slowly rising from deep water.

It started as a vague idea, a sense of existence that she herself wasn't even aware of.

Then came a sound, so faint it was almost inaudible, calling out for something.

She was calling the name from the Akari.

Byakuya's body trembled slightly, and Peach's hand was gripped tightly.

Byakuya lowered her head and looked at her hand. Her hand was trembling, but it wasn't her trembling; it was the Agate that was trembling.

Her mouth opened, and a hoarse, broken sound squeezed out of her throat.

"The light... inside..."

The sound was very soft, almost inaudible.

But I could still hear it through the Akari.

She opened her eyes, lifted her head from Higashino Makoto's shoulder, and looked at Byakuya.

A hint of confusion and an inexplicable flutter flickered in her pale purple eyes.

"Did you just call me?"

Byakuya raised her head and looked into the Akari.

His face was expressionless, but something was churning deep within his crimson eyes.

It wasn't Byakuya's emotion, but Agate's.

That was a long-suppressed, uniquely Agate -like obsession with the Akari.

Byakuya's mouth opened and closed, closed and opened again.

She didn't know what to say, because she didn't know whether the words she had just spoken were spoken by her or by Agate.

Peach's hand was gripped even tighter, and her knuckles made a slight cracking sound.

She bit her lip, enduring the pain, without crying out or letting go.

Higashino Makoto stood aside, watching this scene unfold.

The golden eyes moved from Byakuya to Peach, and then to Agate.

Three women, one drama.

He touched his chin, a twisted smile playing on his lips.

That's interesting.