The black-haired middle-aged man gently smiled.

"Work was great today, Sakatoro."

He walked to the child, kneeled, and patted his head. 

"Remember, Sakatoro, love always leads nowhere."

"Huh..?" Zenatori uttered.

The Father then walked to another room and rummaged through the cabinets for something.

"Never trust anyone, or anything. Don't even trust your mother," he said. "Good left this world long ago. Only the children remain innocent. All I can do is hope for your future. It's horrible, it really is."

He chaotically scattered through a drawer and briefly paused.
"There she is," he said.

He held a pistol. He slowly cocked the hammer back, getting a nice feel of it.

"I'll see you later, Sakatoro Zenatori. Have hope."

Zenatori shot upright, and his eyes finally opened up to the real world.
"What a nightmare," he thought.

His heart raced, and sweat ticked from his forehead. He frantically looked around and noticed he was in a medical bed. He also felt a strange warm sensation on his right hand, and as he checked, it was a young girl holding his hand. It was Akikyo Yachi. 

He jolted his hand back. 

"Why were you holding my hand?" he said.

"You just look scared," she said with a gentle smile. "I didn't mean to startle you so hard." 

"I don't like being touched. Even I have boundaries, you know?"

"Sorry," she said, looking away.

"Even then, why are you here? How'd you know I was in here?"

"You weren't in class today, so I did some investigating. I asked Hayoku, and he told me."

"He told you my business that easily? Geez..."

Zenatori instantly froze and remembered the previous day. He quickly raised his hand over his mouth. Yachi noticed that his pupils quickly dilated.

"Oh God," he let out.

He thrashed back and turned around to face the opposite of Yachi. He quickly jerked his shirt up to reveal his chest. He saw a giant scar on his body from the earlier gash of the automorph. 

He looked around his arms, feeling his entire body as he went. All of his wounds had disappeared, and he physically felt fine.

"How am I... alive?" he muttered.

Yachi observed Zenatori's stuttered movements.
"Are you okay, Zenatori?"

"I'm fine," he quickly said with a jitter in his tone. "I just had to check something."

Upon hearing the words, Yachi smiled.
"Well, what happened?"

Zenatori quietly thought about everything that had happened.
"If I survived, then Akari did, without a doubt. What happened after I got knocked out? At least Hayoku defeated the automorph- Wait, why is Hayoku so strong? Seriously, how am I alive? There's no way I could have survived with wounds like that." 

Yachi noticed Zenatori was lost in thought. She suddenly reached her arm forward and grabbed Zenatori's hand. Zenatori looked back in surprise, and Yachi soothingly spoke.
"Hey Zenatori, what happened?" 

Zenatori looked down momentarily, with a cold gaze, looking at her hand, lying on his. He opened his mouth to say something, but then reluctantly yanked his hand back.
"I told you about the touching," he said, taking his arm away. "Besides, I told you, it's nothing..."

She frowned. 

"So you won't tell me, huh? I guess that makes sense, considering we're basically strangers."

They both sat in silence for a few moments before she eventually sat up.
"I guess I'll take my leave," she said as she left the room.

Zenatori looked at his hand stoically for a moment, quietly caressing the area of his palm.