Taro’s character. The one he'd made in 2014. Long grey hair, a single missing eye (from a playthrough where he'd challenged the entire Shinsengumi), and the legendary sword Muramasa at his hip.

He smiled. Then he quit the game, opened the save folder, and for the first time in eight years, he didn't back anything up.

"That's impossible," Taro whispered. He had every ending. Pro-Shogunate. Pro-Imperial. Pro-British. The secret "Alien Invasion" joke ending. The "Noodle Cart Mogul" ending. He'd even married the ghost girl.

Way of the Samurai 4. The black sheep. The clunky, beautiful, utterly insane samurai sandbox set in the fictional port of Amihama during the late Edo period. He’d spent 300 hours on it back in college, chasing every ending, every sword, every dojo rank. He’d never reached 100%. Life got in the way.

"You've completed the list," it said. "But you never completed the self. The final ending wasn't in the game. It was in closing the loop."

But below it, in red:

A dialogue wheel appeared—something Taro had never seen in Way of the Samurai 4: 2. [Merge timelines. Keep both memories.] 3. [Walk away. Let the ghost keep guarding the bridge.] Taro's thumb hovered over the controller. Rain hammered the window. Somewhere in the code of a decade-old game, a version of himself was still waiting.

At the final blow, the old samurai stopped attacking. It sheathed Muramasa and bowed.