It was a coordinate that shouldn’t have existed.
Akira, an officer of the Temporal Security Force, had been dispatched to investigate a time-space distortion in a remote mountain forest. But upon arriving, his sensors malfunctioned and his vision turned white. When he came to, he was walking along a mist-shrouded mountain path.
And beyond the fog, he saw it—stone steps overgrown with moss and a vermilion torii gate. Beyond that, a small shrine sat quietly.
“This place isn’t on any map…”
Before he could finish the thought, passing through the torii gate brought an eerie stillness—as if time itself had frozen.
Standing in the center of the shrine grounds was a shrine maiden dressed in white. Her age was indeterminate, her black hair falling silently over her face, which was turned downward. Yet something about her exuded profound presence.
“You’ve come from outside of time.”
Akira cautiously identified himself as a member of the security force.
“This is the Shrine of Offered Memories,” the maiden explained. “It heals wounds in twisted space-time by accepting memories as offerings.”
This shrine was one of the “tears” in time that had opened in the world. Left alone, it would unravel cause and effect—destroying both past and future.
“You were drawn here because of the distortion.”
Akira recalled his mission. His duty was to stabilize the timeline.
“To offer a memory… what does that entail?”
“You may seal the tear by offering one of your cherished memories. But once given, it can never be recovered.”
Akira gasped. He had to choose which memory to lose. Memories of the one he loved. The days of training. The first life he saved.
“Even so… do you still believe this is worth saving the world?”
The shrine maiden’s voice was calm—but cut deep.
Akira closed his eyes in silence. Memories flickered like a reel of film—smiles, tears, wounds, oaths.
Then, one memory surfaced.
His childhood. The day a temporal accident took his family, and he alone survived. He’d screamed and cried, powerless. That moment had driven him to join the Temporal Security Force.
“If I lose that… will I still be me?”
“As long as you choose, you remain yourself. Memories may fade, but their shape lingers.”
She extended her hand.
With trembling fingers, Akira reached out and touched hers.
In that instant, the air groaned and wind swirled. A mirror deep within the shrine glowed faintly. The tear began to close. He felt something peel away from within—a quiet vanishing of something once dear.
When he came to, he was standing in front of the torii gate.
The mist had lifted. The sky was clear. His device functioned normally.
“…What was my mission again?”
The thought crossed his mind, but he didn’t dwell on it. A warm breeze blew through his chest.
Afterward, Akira changed.
He no longer looked back on the past—but never wavered when protecting someone’s future. Even though the memory was gone, the feeling remained.
And deep in the mountains, where no one knew of it—
Only the footsteps of a young man who once offered a memory to time remained, quietly etched into the earth.
