When Riku woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.
Before him stretched an endless night sky and softly glowing rock formations. Gravity was nearly absent, and distant meteors traced luminous tails across the horizon. He couldn’t remember where he was, why he was here, or even how he had come to be in this place.
“You’ve awakened.”
A gentle voice echoed through the silence. Turning around, he saw a girl dressed in a white dress. Her eyes emitted a pale blue glow, flickering like distant stars.
“I am Luna, the guide of this star.”
“Where… am I?”
“This is Milva, a small star adrift at the edge of the universe.”
Even his own name felt distant, and Luna’s words took time to sink in. Yet, she continued speaking.
“This star harbors memories.”
She pointed towards a small, luminous fragment floating nearby.
“What is that?”
“A piece of your memory.”
The moment Riku touched the fragment, his vision shifted.
Before him stretched Earth’s nightscape. He stood atop a towering skyscraper, the wind rustling his dark hair. Someone stood beside him—but he couldn’t recall their face.
—Had I… been here before?
As fragments of memory returned, Riku slowly remembered. He had once lived on Earth. He had dreamed of becoming an astronaut. And Milva, this star, was home to countless fragments of lost memories.
Together with Luna, he wandered the star, gathering shards of his past. Friends, loved ones, the days spent chasing his dream—piece by piece, his memories interwove, revealing a single, undeniable truth.
“I… I was stranded here after a spaceship accident, wasn’t I?”
Luna nodded quietly.
“But why are my memories on this star?”
“Because Milva gathers what has been lost.”
And then, he found the final fragment.
It was Luna’s memory.
Luna was not human but a collection of souls left behind in space—a being born from the very essence of this star. She, too, had lost her memories, waiting endlessly for someone to find her.
“You’ve been here all this time?”
“Yes. But now that you’ve found the last memory, I will soon disappear.”
An indescribable emotion welled up in Riku’s chest.
“Luna… I will return to Earth. But I will never forget you.”
“Neither will I.”
Luna’s form dissolved into light.
—Thank you.
Her final words echoed in his mind as darkness enveloped him.
When he opened his eyes again, he was in a hospital room on Earth.
Outside the window, countless stars shimmered in the night sky.
And in his heart, the memories of Luna remained, vivid and unbroken.
