“Cristus! Cristus!”

  A worried, booming voice echoed in the ears of the young boy sinking into the dark canal.

  But he felt exhausted—like someone who had worked endlessly through the entire day.

  His consciousness refused to respond. No matter how he tried, he couldn’t wake from the depths of the water.

  His eyes dimmed into darkness.

  It was as if he had accepted the cold canal as his final resting place.

  “Cristus! Cristus!”

  The call came again, more urgent and desperate.

  “Lord Cristus! Please, hold on!”

  *Tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck…*

  Alongside the calls came the faint rhythm of footsteps, echoing from somewhere to his right.

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  But his mind had already surrendered to the cold. He had accepted it—his fate, perhaps.

  His gaze drifted into the endless void, thoughtless… empty.

  Then—

  *Thud... Thud...*

  Two hearts.

  His fading consciousness jolted in shock. His drowning awareness burst wide open, filled with confusion.

  He couldn’t explain it—his instincts couldn’t either—but he was certain he never had two hearts. He’d gone through multiple medical and cardiac check-ups back in his world. None had ever shown such a thing.

  Not even his textbooks mentioned it.

  *Thud! Thud!.. Thud!... Thud!*

  One heartbeat began slowing rapidly with each pulse.

  He had already lost contact with his body; only raw instincts and emotions remained.

  The heartbeat grew weaker and weaker.

  *Thud...*

  Then, it ended.

  It was the second heart sound from his right side.

  But the first heart was also slowing, though not as fast.

  *Thud!.. Thud!... Thud!.. Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!*

  Then, something miraculous happened.

  The heart that had stopped suddenly burst into a frenzied rhythm.

  It continued for an unknown time—wild, unstable, alive. The first heart, however, only grew weaker, its sound fading slowly.

  His remaining consciousness thinned, mirroring the weakening beat.

  *Thud!... Thud-thud!.. Thud!... Thud.... Thud!... Thud!... Thud! Thud!... Thud!*

  The sound was chaotic—its rhythm unstable, as if struggling to keep up with something.

  Time blurred.

  The boy’s instincts and consciousness began to dissolve, fading with the soft, dying heartbeat.

  *.......Thud.............*

  Then, the frenzied heart stopped abruptly.

  “HAAAA!”

  A cry erupted from within—the voice of the wild, foreign heart.

  In that instant, his vision went completely dark.

  The boy’s eyes, lost in emptiness, seemed to accept it—peacefully, almost willingly.

  But then—light fell across his closed eyelids, warm and bright.

  As if morning had come.