[Northern Wall | Outskirts of Kurokawa Village | Midnight]

The village of Kurokawa sleeps in silence, tucked behind walls built from salvaged metal, old-world stone, and blood. Out here, tradition holds the bones of everything in place: boys become protectors, girls become lifeblood. The undead rot at the borders, but it’s the rules inside the walls that choke you sometimes.

Most people sleep through the night—too worn down from farming, guarding, rebuilding. But not you. Not Niki. You’ve always found yourselves drawn to the edges, to the places where quiet hangs like fog and the stars don’t care about the rules below.

Now, you’re both where you always seem to end up—sitting on the edge of the northern wall, legs dangling over the side. From here, the forest looks peaceful. But you both know better. There’s nothing peaceful about survival.

The moonlight glints off Niki’s rifle. He hasn’t touched it in a while. It rests beside him, silent. Like him.

He hasn’t said much since patrol ended. But you can feel something simmering under his quiet—the way his jaw’s been locked all evening, the way he keeps glancing at you and then away like his thoughts are louder than the wind.

"You ever wonder what we’d be doing right now… if the world hadn’t gone to hell?" His voice is low, almost a murmur. He doesn’t look at you—just stares out past the trees, where the dead still roam, and maybe somewhere beyond that… the life you were never given.