The Café Between Worlds

Ren was floating in an endless expanse of white. The room around him was completely bare, just a vast, empty space that seemed to stretch on forever. An eerie echo reverberated through the void, and he couldn't make out where it was coming from. 

"Wake up…"

The voice was distant, faint at first, then growing louder. It wasn’t harsh, but persistent. "Wake up..."

Ren's eyelids fluttered, his heart racing as the echo surrounded him. He tried to move, but his body felt heavy, as if something was holding him down.

"Wake up, Ren."

Suddenly, a hand gently shook his shoulder. Ren jolted awake, gasping as he bolted upright in bed. He found himself back in the dimly lit room of the café, Kazuha sitting beside him with a concerned look in her eyes.

“Ren, are you okay?” she asked, her voice soft but laced with worry. She touched his arm, trying to steady him.

Ren blinked, still trying to shake off the lingering feeling from the dream. He could still hear the echoes in his mind. The white room felt so vivid, so real. But he forced a weak smile for Kazuha’s sake. "Yeah, I’m fine. Just… a bad dream, I guess."

Kazuha frowned but didn’t push him. “Are you sure? You looked like something was really bothering you.”

Ren nodded, trying to calm his racing heart. “Yeah, I’m okay. Don't worry about it. Probably just too tired,” he reassured her, though deep down, he couldn’t stop thinking about that strange dream. What was that room? And why did it feel so familiar, yet so foreign at the same time?

As Ren lay back down, Kazuha gave him a long look before turning away, heading out to clean the café. She seemed quieter than usual, more distant. Ren wanted to reach out, but the weight of the dream kept him in a strange daze. His mind replayed the vivid image of that white room over and over again, but he brushed it off as just a strange nightmare, pushing it to the back of his mind.

Kazuha, meanwhile, returned to the café to tidy up, hoping to distract herself. But something was bothering her, too. As she reached out to grab a glass from the counter, her fingers trembled. The cool surface of the glass slipped right through her grip, crashing onto the floor in a loud shatter.

“Not again…” she muttered under her breath, staring at her hands. The sensation returned—a cold, unsettling numbness at the tips of her fingers, almost as if they weren’t there. She held her hand up, watching in disbelief as her fingertips seemed to shimmer, then fade for a brief second before solidifying again. Her breath hitched in her throat.

*What is happening to me?*

She had felt it before—this strange sensation, this gradual fading. It had started as something small, almost insignificant, but now it was becoming harder to ignore. Kazuha clenched her hands into fists, trying to stop the trembling. It was getting worse, and she didn’t know what it meant. Was she… disappearing? Was her time here coming to an end?

Just as she bent down to pick up the broken glass, she heard footsteps approaching. Ren, of course. He must have heard the noise. Kazuha quickly hid her hands behind her back, forcing a smile as Ren stepped into the room.

“What happened?” Ren asked, concern filling his eyes as he saw the shards scattered across the floor.

“I, uh, dropped a glass. Clumsy me,” she said with a nervous laugh, hoping he wouldn’t notice the anxiety in her voice. “I’ll clean it up, don’t worry.”

But Ren wasn’t convinced. He watched her carefully, noting the tension in her posture, the way she avoided looking at him. He wanted to ask if she was okay, but something held him back. Maybe it was the lingering unease from his own dream, or maybe it was the strange distance he felt growing between them.

Kazuha, on the other hand, was fighting her own battle. She glanced at Ren as he bent down to help her clean up the broken glass, and something tugged at her heart. He looked as solid and grounded as ever, still the same Ren she had met when she arrived in the afterlife. If anything, he seemed even more real, more alive than before.

*But why is he so… stable?* she thought. *Why am I the one who’s fading?* 

Kazuha bit her lip, the thoughts swirling in her mind. Ren had been in the afterlife long before her, yet he showed no signs of disappearing. Was it because he had some unfinished business? Or was there something different about him, something that kept him here while she was slowly slipping away?

She looked down at her hands again, still trembling, still feeling that faint numbness. Maybe it was time for her to find her peace, to move on from this place. But the thought of leaving Ren behind, of never seeing him again, sent a sharp pain through her chest.

Ren stood up after gathering the last of the glass, brushing his hands off. "You sure you're okay, Kazuha? You've been acting kinda off lately."

Kazuha hesitated, looking down at her feet. She didn’t want to burden him with her fears, but the words slipped out before she could stop them. "Ren, what if I… disappear? What if I… leave you?"

Ren blinked, caught off guard by her sudden vulnerability. "What are you talking about? You're not going anywhere."

She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. "But what if I do? I keep feeling like I’m fading, like I can’t hold onto anything anymore. And… and I’m scared. I’m scared that you’ll keep drifting away from me, just like in your dream. I don’t want to lose you, Ren. I’m afraid you’re going somewhere I can’t follow.”

Ren’s heart ached at her words. He reached out, gently cupping her face with his hands. “Hey, I’m right here, okay? I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you behind.”

But even as he said the words, a nagging doubt crept into his mind. The dream, the strange white room, Kazuha’s fading—none of it made sense. But for now, he couldn’t let her see his own uncertainty. He had to be strong, for her sake.

Before he could say more, the café bell rang loudly, interrupting the moment. Ren sighed, glancing toward the entrance. Another customer, just as things were getting heavy.

“We’ll talk later, okay?” Ren said, giving her a reassuring smile.

Kazuha nodded, though the worry in her eyes remained. As Ren walked toward the front of the café, she couldn’t shake the feeling that time was running out—for both of them.