Yukio walked through the forest, while he thought about what he should do next.

Nobody wants to tell me anything! Are they trying to make me fit this useless role? Who would tell me the truth, with worrying about how I felt?

Yukio immediately thought of someone, and searched for them.

After an hour, he found the green haired emotionless girl, who destroyed a platform by herself.

"Hey, Hikage!" Yukio called out to her.

"Huh? Oh, Yukio. What is it?" Hikage asked in her usual monotone voice.

"Can you tell me what's going on here? People are keeping secrets from me, and I thought I could count on you to tell the truth." Yukio explained.

"I see...I can't do that." Hikage answered.

"Huh? Wait, why?" Yukio questioned.

"Homura said to not tell you anything." Hikage responded.

Seriously?! So even Homura is protecting me?! If Asuka's and Homura's teams are both keeping secrets to protect me. Chances are that Yumi's and Miyabi's teams will do the same.

Yukio said goodbye to Hikage, and walked away.

"A dead end then...damn it!" Yukio said, frustrated to not know anymore.

With nowhere to go for now, Yukio decided to do favor he was asked to do. So he started to searched for Ryobi.

After a couple more hours of searching, Yukio found Ryobi, and approached her.

"Hey, Ryobi. How's it going?" Yukio tried to start up a conversation.

"Uh...good, I guess. Why are you suddenly asking me that, Yukio?" Ryobi asked.

"I wouldn't say 'suddenly'. You've been acting strange since we got here, so I wanted to know if you were doing okay." Yukio explained.

"I guess that makes sense...thanks for your concern, but I'm fine. I just need to be alone for a bit." Ryobi replied.

Can't accept that as an answer, sorry. I need to find out what exactly about her sister is bothering her?

"I ran into Ryoki last night." Yukio said, he saw Ryobi twitch at her older sister's name.

"You did? That's nice...what do you think of her?" Ryobi asked. Yukio didn't expect a question like that.

"She's...really nice, and caring towards both you and Ryona. You were lucky to have a sister like her." Yukio responded honestly.

"She's amazing, right?" Ryobi said as a quiet admiration.

"You two must be close, huh?" Yukio asked.

"H-Huh?! W-Well, that's not really..." Ryobi grew flustered.

She doesn't seem to be indifferent towards her...maybe I should tell her that Ryoki was worried.

"Ryobi...is everything really ok between you two?" Yukio asked, and Ryobi went silent.

"O-Of course! She's my sister, after all. I always wanted the best for her, and then..." Ryobi stopped, and Yukio understood why she hesitated to continue.

"Ryobi, take my advice however you want." Yukio took a deep breath, and started. "You shouldn't let your final goodbye be one of regret. Whenever you have a chance to say goodbye, make it count. Maybe then, they will forgive you...I hope you'll understand what I mean." Yukio said.

Yukio's small speech left Ryobi spellbound. She simply stood there, as she processed his words.

"Well, I've got to go. See ya later, Ryobi." Yukio said, and left her.

"W-Wait, you knew about-" Ryobi tried to stop Yukio, but he left before she realized that he knew about Ryobi's regretful final goodbye with Ryoki.

Hopefully they make up...I'd hate to have achieved nothing from getting to know about them.

Yukio spent the rest of the day searching for Miyabi's mom. Surprisingly, he also didn't see any of the other girls in the forest. However, he did find something unpleasant. In the corner of his eye, he saw the familiar ghosts of his previous lives.

"What are they?" Yukio turned towards the ghosts, and he saw that they slowly walked towards him.

Yukio panicked, and immediately ran away from them. "What do they want from me?"

If none of the girls can see them, does that mean that they are here because of me? These ghosts died in vain...because of me?

Yukio shook his head, and looked back towards where the ghosts were, and saw a ghost of Ikaruga, with a slash mark through her stomach, standing in front of him.

"Ah!" Yukio fell back in fear. "W-What do you want?! I don't want to see Ikaruga like this, ok?"

This was when she was killed by Murasame, her brother. I...I caused this death because I distracted Ikaruga. So it was...my fault.

"I'm sorry! Ok?! I'm sorry I did this to you! It's all my fault, you're here because of me!" Yukio yelled, as he fell to his knees in defeat. Tears started to well up in his eyes.

The ghost slowly reached towards Yukio, and hugged him. He heard a faded voice from the ghost.

"Not...Yukio's...Fault..."

"Huh?" Yukio was shocked from the words, he then saw the other ghost versions of the girls surrounded him. They all reached out towards Yukio, and gently caressed him like he was a small animal.

"Thank goodness...Yukio is...safe..." The ghosts said in a faded voice.

"Wha-" Yukio didn't know how to respond to this. He thought the ghosts were there to haunt him for the whole festival, he didn't think they were there to check on him.

"Please...stay safe..." the ghosts continued to care for Yukio, even though he wasn't in any danger.

"You girls..." Yukio's eyes started to leak.

They have always cared for me, putting me before themselves. I haven't done that much before taking down Hebijo, so even since the beginning saw me as someone who needed protection. I...

"I'm still weak, aren't I? I still need to be protected...I haven't gotten stronger at all." Yukio's voice cracked, and he started crying.

"Yukio is strong...stronger than us..."A ghost of Asuka said, she had burn marks and a katana slash through her chest.

"I...what? No, I'm not strong." Yukio said, as he continued to cry.

"Ah, Yukio." A old voice called out to Yukio, which made him immediately irritated.

Yukio looked around and saw Sayuri. She gave a confused look toward the teary-eyed Yukio.

"What's wrong, Yukio? Are you ok?" Sayuri asked, clearly concerned for Yukio.

"I..." Yukio didn't know how to react to Sayuri's sudden hospitality, as he was surrounded by the ghosts.

If only these ghosts were visible, if only I could tell them about my curse, if only I could...why am I still asking questions I will never get the answer to? I'll never get answers to these hypothetical questions. I need to see things for what they are.

Yukio got up, and looked at the ghosts around him. Then he looked up at Sayuri.

She can't see the ghosts, so I'll simply respond to her.

"I'm fine. Just..." Yukio stopped mid-sentence. All of the ghosts looked toward Sayuri, which made Yukio uneasy.

"Yukio? You're gonna have to speak up." Sayuri brought Yukio's attention back to her.

"I'm sorry, it's just...how do I phrase this...I'm terrified. For the first time since I've been exposed to this world, I'm unaware of what happens next. There's almost nothing that my curses can do here. It's just terrifying, not planning for whatever is waiting here." Yukio said, he wiped his tears and looked down.

"I'm stuck in the present. I'm scared of my future's uncertainty, and my past's mistakes. I just want out, out of this place, and to be a normal person again." Yukio said, his tears returned.

"Yukio..." Sayuri approached him, and he saw the ghosts moved out of the way for her to get to him.

"It doesn't matter what the future holds, or what the past gave you. You can only accept what you have in the present. If that makes you feel trapped, find another way to free yourself. Whether it be friends, family, or even your rivals, surround yourself with people that make you feel comfortable in the present." Sayuri stated, as she put her hand on Yukio's shoulder to comfort him.

"But...it seems that everyone has gotten further and further away from me. All because of this damn festival." Yukio said, he started to get angry.

"Don't blame the festival, boy. The festival is merely a setting. It's you who has gotten further away from everyone." Sayuri countered.

"But...that's because everyone is leaving me behind. That feeling sucks." Yukio said.

"Then stop running ahead." Sayuri responded. Which made Yukio silent.

Have I been...leaving everyone behind? Not just from my Death's Restart, but because of my desire to learn about what I don't know.

"You need to accept your limits, boy. You can't be first in every competition." Sayuri said.

With Yukio's silence, Sayuri turned and left him with the ghosts, who moved away from her again. Yukio stood there in silence, still in shock from Sayuri's sudden advice.

To be continued...