For a moment, time seemed to stand still. Even the desert wind stopped blowing.
Boruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if trying to force every last trace of hesitation and doubt from his lungs.
When he opened his eyes again, they were clear and resolute, blue as the sky after rain.
He looked at Uchiha Hikari and said clearly, "All right. I promise. Let everyone leave safely, and I'll stay in this world with you for as long as you want."
Hikari's pupils contracted. Her body swayed almost imperceptibly.
She had imagined Boruto refusing in anger, struggling in anguish, even yielding out of helplessness. She had never imagined he would offer himself so readily, so calmly, without a moment's hesitation.
"You really mean that?" Her voice trembled with disbelief. "You'd stay in this false world? Give up everything you have?"
Boruto nodded firmly. A warm smile even spread across his face. "I told you. I'll never abandon my friends."
"If someone has to make that choice, if my staying means everyone else will be safe and you won't be alone anymore, then I'll make it."
He looked at Hikari, his gaze utterly clear. "And I believe we can still find something real here. We can still be happy. Because..." He pointed to his chest. "What matters isn't whether the world is real. What we feel here is real."
Hikari stared at him.
She saw the sincerity in his eyes, unclouded by doubt, and the warmth and hope that seemed to radiate from him as naturally as sunlight.
That light did not hurt her eyes. Little by little, it melted the ice that had built up in her heart over countless years and illuminated the dark wasteland hatred and despair had left behind.
She had always believed