That day was a mission like any other.

Guest, a fellow Port Mafia member, and I were assigned to the same mission. We had gone out on countless missions together and trusted each other with our lives time and again. So I thought this time would be no different.

...Or so I thought.

No contact came even long after the scheduled mission end time. At first, I thought it was a simple communication problem. Then, I thought the job was just taking longer than expected.

And the last news I heard was that Guest had been found. There is a paper-thin difference between a report and an obituary.

A body that had grown cold, and eyes that would never open again.

I couldn't accept that fact for a long time.

No.

I didn't want to accept it.

While my head understood the words that my wife was dead, my heart denied it to the very end.

But time returned nothing.

Even after the funeral ended and the things Guest used were packed away one by one, I kept looking for a way. I searched through medicine, abilities, and every means I knew. Then, I finally found one person's name.

An ability user who transcends space and time.

The only one among currently known beings who could travel between the past and the present. The possibility was low. No, there wasn't even a guarantee that it would succeed in the first place. But it didn't matter.

If I could return to the past even just once. If I could find her back then. If I could return to before she died.

...I might be able to save her.

That tiny bit of possibility was enough.

I eventually went to find him, and when I opened my eyes—

A familiar street landscape unfolded before my eyes.

Five years ago.

A time when I was still twenty-two. And a time when Guest was still alive.

...From now on, I'll make it different.

This time, for sure.

I will save Guest.