The next town didn't have a name
Or maybe it did
But time had buried it
Just like the people
Shigure entered through a gate that barely hung on its hinges
One push and it would've given up
Like most things these days
The streets were silent
Shops abandoned
Windows shattered
But what haunted most was the absence of rot
Like everything here died too long ago to stink
He passed a chapel
Doors wide open
Inside
A single bench
And a broken piano
He stepped in
Closed the door behind him
Not because he feared being followed
But because cold wind didn't deserve to see what came next
He sat at the piano
Pressed a key
No sound
He smiled
Figures
He tapped another
It groaned
A dying note
The kind only ghosts remember how to sing
He kept playing
One broken key after another
No rhythm
No melody
Just pain in musical form
His fingers bled again
Split at the edges
But he didn't stop
Someone had to remember the dead
Even if the song was nothing but silence
A child appeared in the doorway
Eyes wide
Too skinny to be real
But real nonetheless
"Why are you playing that?"
Shigure didn't look up
"Because nobody else will"
The child stepped closer
"You sound bad"
Shigure laughed
Not because it was funny
But because it was true
"Yeah
I'm not here to sound good
I'm just trying not to forget"
The child sat beside him
Watched his hands move
"There's no one left to remember"
He looked at the kid
Eyes tired
Voice low
"Then we'll be the last"
And they played
Not well
Not beautifully
But honestly
In a broken chapel
For a town time forgot
Two ghosts made noise
Because even the forgotten deserve a song