Chapter 99: Summer Memories
The blue paper crane rested in Dillan’s trembling hands.
Its faded folds had yellowed with age.
Yet...
The tiny handwriting inside remained untouched by time.
For the three of us.
The memory still echoed inside his mind.
Three children.
Three promises.
Three paper cranes.
"...There were always three..."
He whispered.
Guardian Network Headquarters.
Commander Yuna arrived moments later.
She immediately caught Dillan before he lost his balance.
"...Easy."
Dana hurried over.
"...Another memory?"
Dillan slowly nodded.
"...A big one."
He carefully handed over the paper crane.
"...We weren’t two."
"...We were three."
Nobody questioned him anymore.
Not after everything they’d witnessed.
Dr. Yeon immediately placed the blue crane inside a protective display scanner.
The machine hummed quietly.
Then...
Every monitor inside the laboratory flickered.
A single sentence appeared.
Not from the scanner.
Not from the notebook.
From every electronic screen simultaneously.
MEMORY ARTIFACT CONFIRMED.
Dr. Yeon blinked.
"...The System..."
She whispered.
"...Has never responded to an object before."
Lyra quietly stared at the crane.
"...Because..."
She spoke almost absentmindedly.
"...It isn’t just paper."
"...It’s a promise."
Silence settled over the laboratory.
Across Seoul...
The silver-haired woman slowly closed her eyes.
The warmth inside her chest had grown stronger.
Another memory had returned.
Not to Dillan.
To her.
She smiled sadly.
"...You really did..."
"...Keep yours."
A soft breeze moved through the riverside park.
Birds gathered around her once again.
Unlike before...
People walking past finally glanced in her direction.
Only briefly.
But they saw her.
She was becoming real again.
Meanwhile...
Inside the abandoned cathedral...
The Third Seat stood before six floating mirrors.
Each reflected a different future.
In five of them...
The silver-haired woman faded into nothing.
In the sixth...
She stood beside Dillan and Sasha beneath the old oak tree.
Alive.
Remembered.
The Third Seat quietly shattered that mirror with one punch.
CRACK!
Glass scattered across the floor.
For the first time...
He looked irritated.
"...History is resisting."
The Fourth Seat calmly watched.
"...No."
He corrected.
"...Someone rewrote it."
Guardian Headquarters.
Late afternoon.
Mira finally uncovered another forgotten archive.
An old elementary school enrollment record.
The file had been damaged.
Several names had been erased.
But one class photograph remained.
Twenty-two years old.
Everyone leaned closer.
There they were.
Young Dillan.
Young Sasha.
And...
The silver-haired girl.
Standing between them.
Smiling.
Dana slowly whispered,
"...She was actually there..."
Dr. Yeon enlarged the image.
Then frowned.
"...Wait."
"What?"
Commander Yuna asked.
Dr. Yeon pointed toward the teacher standing behind the children.
"...Look at her attendance sheet."
Everyone read it.
Twenty-four students.
Yet...
The photograph showed...
Twenty-five.
The silver-haired girl had no name beside her.
No attendance mark.
No record.
Nothing.
She existed...
Only inside the photograph.
"...That’s impossible."
Mira whispered.
Lyra slowly shook her head.
"...No."
"...It’s worse."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...Reality..."
"...Already forgot her."
Silence consumed the room.
That evening...
Dillan returned to the old oak tree alone.
The wind gently moved the leaves above him.
He quietly unfolded the blue paper crane.
Inside...
Another line had appeared.
One that hadn’t been there before.
She always sat on the left.
Dillan smiled faintly.
"...Left..."
He looked beneath the tree.
Instinctively.
There...
Hidden beneath tangled roots...
Something reflected the fading sunlight.
A tiny metal box.
Half buried beneath the earth.
His heartbeat quickened.
He knelt.
Carefully brushing away years of dirt.
The rusted latch finally opened.
Inside...
Three tiny friendship bracelets.
One white.
One crimson.
One sky blue.
Beneath them...
A cassette tape.
Its label had almost faded away.
Only one sentence remained readable.
Summer Memories.
Dillan stared at it.
"...A tape..."
He quietly laughed.
"...We’re really old-fashioned."
He reached for it.
The moment his fingers touched the cassette...
A blinding headache exploded through his mind.
A little girl laughed.
"...You have to promise!"
Young Sasha smiled.
"I promise!"
Young Dillan grinned.
"I promise too!"
The silver-haired girl looked at both of them.
"...Even if everyone forgets me?"
Young Dillan immediately shook his head.
"...Never."
Young Sasha grabbed both their hands.
"...We’ll remember forever."
The little girl smiled.
Then...
She began crying.
"...Thank you..."
The memory shattered.
Dillan gasped for air.
His face was wet with tears.
"...Why..."
He whispered.
"...Why did we forget you?"
Far away...
Standing beneath the evening sky...
The silver-haired woman gently placed one hand against her own heart.
She smiled through quiet tears.
"...Because..."
She whispered.
"...You asked me to."
The wind carried her words away.
Hidden in the shadows of the park...
The Third Seat slowly closed his eyes.
"...So that’s your choice..."
He murmured.
Then, for the first time in centuries...
He looked genuinely worried.
Because the past...
Was beginning to remember itself.
The cassette tape lay in Dillan’s shaking hand.
Its transparent plastic had yellowed with age.
The faded label was barely readable.
Summer Memories
Below it...
In childish handwriting...
Someone had drawn three tiny paper cranes.
One white.
One blue.
One sky blue.
Dillan swallowed.
"...This can’t be a coincidence."
Guardian Network Headquarters.
Twenty minutes later.
Dr. Yeon carefully placed the cassette onto the laboratory table.
"...Please tell me someone still owns a cassette player."
Dana raised an eyebrow.
"...Why would anyone?"
"...Because apparently our lives depend on antique technology now."
Commander Yuna sighed.
"...Find one."
Forty minutes later...
Mira returned carrying an old portable cassette player from the headquarters archives.
"I can’t believe this still works."
She carefully inserted the tape.
Everyone gathered around.
The room became completely silent.
The tape clicked.
The wheels slowly began turning.
Static filled the speakers.
Hssssss...
For several seconds...
Nothing.
Then...
Children laughing.
A little girl’s voice.
Bright.
Happy.
"Dillan! You’re recording already!"
Young Dillan laughed.
"You told me to!"
Another voice.
Young Sasha.
"Wait! Wait! I wasn’t ready!"
All three children burst into laughter.
Inside the laboratory...
Sasha covered her mouth.
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
"...That’s us..."
Dillan couldn’t speak.
He simply listened.
The recording continued.
Wind.
Birds.
Children running across grass.
Then...
The silver-haired girl’s voice.
Gentle.
Timid.
"...Do you think..."
She hesitated.
"...We’ll still be friends when we grow up?"
Young Sasha answered instantly.
"Of course!"
Young Dillan laughed.
"You’ll never get rid of us."
The little girl giggled.
Then...
Silence.
Long silence.
Finally...
Her voice returned.
Quieter this time.
Almost afraid.
"...Even if..."
"...Everyone forgets me?"
Inside the laboratory...
No one moved.
Young Dillan answered without hesitation.
"That’s impossible."
Young Sasha laughed.
"You’re silly."
"Nobody forgets their best friend."
The silver-haired girl quietly whispered...
"...Promise?"
Two voices answered together.
"Promise."
The recording suddenly distorted.
KRRRRRRR...
Static screamed through the speakers.
Everyone winced.
Then...
An unfamiliar voice emerged.
Not a child.
An adult.
Ancient.
Calm.
"The price has been accepted."
Commander Yuna’s expression hardened.
"What?"
The tape continued.
"One memory..."
"For one life."
Static.
"Do you understand the consequences?"
Young Dillan answered.
His voice trembled.
But...
He never hesitated.
"...Yes."
Every person in the room froze.
Dana whispered,
"...No..."
The tape continued.
"Then speak your choice."
Young Dillan inhaled deeply.
Then...
He spoke the words that shattered everyone listening.
"...Take my memories of her."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Young Sasha immediately cried out.
"No!"
The silver-haired girl sobbed.
"Don’t!"
But...
Young Dillan continued.
"...If forgetting her..."
"...Means she’ll live..."
"...Then take them."
The recording ended.
Click.
The cassette stopped spinning.
Nobody spoke.
Not one word.
Dillan stared at the motionless tape.
His hands slowly clenched.
"...I..."
His voice broke.
"...I chose it."
Lyra quietly closed her eyes.
"...Not only you."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...Sasha chose too."
Sasha slowly lowered her head.
Another memory surfaced.
Eight-year-old Sasha crying uncontrollably.
Young Dillan holding her shoulders.
"It’s okay."
"It’ll work."
Young Sasha screamed through tears.
"I don’t want to forget her!"
The ancient voice echoed once more.
"Two hearts."
"One sacrifice."
Young Sasha whispered...
Barely audible.
"...Take mine too..."
The memory vanished.
Sasha collapsed to her knees.
"...No..."
She sobbed.
"...We..."
"...We agreed..."
Dillan immediately knelt beside her.
"...Sasha..."
She looked at him through tears.
"...We forgot her..."
"...Together..."
Across the city...
The silver-haired woman slowly smiled.
Not because she was happy.
Because...
They finally remembered the truth.
She gently closed her eyes.
"...Thank you..."
She whispered.
"...For keeping your promise..."
Far away...
Inside the chamber of the Seven Watchers...
The First Watcher quietly opened his ancient book.
A new sentence slowly wrote itself across the empty page.
The Fourth Lock has begun opening.
The First Watcher looked toward the endless darkness beyond the chamber.
"...Too early."
The Second Watcher answered quietly,
"...No."
"...Exactly on time."
Standing outside the chamber...
The Third Seat slowly lowered his head.
For the first time...
He looked defeated.
"...So..."
He whispered.
"...The sacrifice..."
"...Was real."
High above the seven layers...
Something enormous stirred once again.
Not the Architect.
Something else.
Something older.
Its voice echoed across dimensions.
The forgotten child...
...has been remembered.
The pocket watch in Dillan’s hand chimed once.
Ding.
The hands moved again.
4:23...
4:24.
And for the first time...
The System displayed a name.
[Memory Recovery Complete.]
[Identity Fragment Restored.]
[Name: ██████]
The letters flickered violently...
Then vanished before anyone could read them.