MEMELAND

Light.

Then darkness.

Then—

Heat.

Kai's eyes snapped open.

"..."

He was lying beside the cracked pedestal.

The orb.

Or rather—

What remained of it.

The once brilliant sphere had become dull.

Its faint glow gone.

Only tiny cracks covered its surface.

Silent.

Lifeless.

Kai slowly pushed himself upright.

His entire body ached.

His head still throbbed.

Fragments.

Countless fragments.

Different faces.

Different lives.

Different choices.

Different endings.

None of them complete.

None of them enough.

Yet all of them...

Were his.

"...I really did all that..."

He whispered.

His own voice sounded unfamiliar.

He looked around the chamber one last time.

The fossilized remains still rested beneath layers of dust.

Collapsed pillars leaned against broken walls.

Ancient magic circles had faded into little more than carvings on the floor.

Whatever this place once was...

It had fulfilled its purpose.

Kai quietly bowed his head.

"Thank you..."

He wasn't sure who he was thanking.

The orb.

The countless versions of himself.

Or perhaps...

Whoever built this place.

Then he turned around.

And walked back toward the surface.

---

The familiar desert sun greeted him from above.

He instinctively raised an arm to shield his face.

The desert wind greeted him immediately.

Hot.

Dry.

Endless.

The ruined crater stretched behind him.

Nothing looked different.

If not for the headache lingering in his skull...

He would've believed everything had been a dream.

"..."

His hand instinctively reached toward the air.

Without thinking.

He closed his eyes.

That strange feeling returned.

Tiny streams.

Almost invisible.

Flowing everywhere.

Mana.

He couldn't see it.

Yet somehow...

He knew it was there.

Like feeling the direction of the wind without opening your eyes.

"...Weird."

He laughed quietly.

"I never noticed this before."

He lowered his hand.

Maybe...

He had changed.

Or perhaps...

He had always possessed this ability.

He simply never knew how to recognize it.

---

His footsteps eventually carried him back toward the ruined streets where the Outlaws had been scavenging.

Voices echoed nearby.

"There!"

"I told you he wandered this way!"

"Kai!"

Munnu emerged from behind a collapsed wall.

The outlaw leader folded his arms.

"There you are."

Kai scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry..."

"I got distracted."

"You vanished for almost half a day."

Munnu sighed.

"I was beginning to think the ghosts finally got you."

Persia adjusted the large radio strapped to his back.

"I would've said we should leave him."

"You did."

"I know."

Kai couldn't help smiling.

Somehow...

Hearing them bicker felt...

Comforting.

Munnu looked him up and down.

"So?"

"Did you find whatever you were looking for?"

Kai hesitated.

"I..."

He glanced back toward the distant crater.

"I think so."

"...Maybe."

"But..."

He couldn't explain it.

He found answers.

Yet somehow...

He had even more questions now.

Munnu laughed.

"That's usually how ruins work."

"You enter looking for treasure."

"You leave with a headache."

Several Outlaws nodded in agreement.

"True."

"Happened to me."

"I only found rats."

"You found rats?"

"They stole my lunch."

The group burst into laughter.

Even Kai chuckled.

For a brief moment...

Everything felt surprisingly normal.

---

As they resumed searching the ruins...

Kai noticed something strange.

Without consciously trying...

His eyes naturally drifted toward objects that still contained faint traces of mana.

Broken crystals.

Half-buried magical conductors.

Fragments of ancient circuitry.

He somehow knew...

Which pieces still worked.

"...Over here."

He called.

Munnu looked over.

"What?"

Kai picked up a rusted metallic plate.

"This one."

"It still works."

Persia frowned.

"How would you know?"

Kai froze.

"..."

Good question.

"I..."

"I just had a feeling."

Persia remained unconvinced.

Munnu simply shrugged.

"We'll take it."

Several minutes later—

Kai pointed again.

"There."

Another usable component.

Then another.

Then another.

Eventually...

Even Persia stopped questioning it.

Instead—

He quietly began watching Kai.

Not with hostility.

With curiosity.

---

As the afternoon stretched on...

The carts slowly filled.

Hovercraft stabilizers.

Old circuit plates.

Mana conductors.

Broken alloys.

Ancient machine parts.

Munnu grinned.

"Good haul."

Kai nodded absentmindedly.

Yet his thoughts remained elsewhere.

The Memory Hub.

The countless versions of himself.

One sentence echoed louder than the rest.

"You can only walk one path."

Magic.

Or...

Magic Circuits.

He subconsciously looked at his own hands.

No glowing circuits.

Only skin.

And faint traces of mana flowing around him.

"..."

If he already possessed mana...

Then...

The path before him seemed obvious.

"...Magic Circuits..."

He whispered.

Not because another Kai had chosen them.

Not because someone ordered him to.

Because if those memories were real...

Then someone had once found a way to combine them.

Someone had survived the surgery.

Someone had become strong enough to fight.

Strong enough to protect.

Kai slowly clenched his fist.

"...Then I'll find them."

His determination lasted exactly three seconds.

"..."

"...Actually..."

"Where the hell do you even get Magic Circuits?"

Silence.

He blinked.

Then sighed.

"One problem at a time."

Behind him—

Munnu shouted.

"Quit talking to yourself and help push the cart!"

Kai laughed.

"I'm coming!"

He jogged after the others.

The desert wind continued blowing across the ruins of Oheyo.

Far beneath the sand...

The dormant Memory Hub rested quietly.

Waiting.

For the day someone would finally uncover the truth behind the Archive.