The heavy silence looming over the cell walls was suffocating Yuki.
Between Haru's piercing gaze and Luka's impenetrable stillness, the air had turned poisonous.
Yuki took a deep breath and, rubbing his trembling hands together, said, "Haru... let it be. Stop it now. Don't stretch this any further."
Just then, Lane, who had been clinging to Luka's shoulder, straightened up.
He rubbed his eyes with a tiny fist and gently began to tug at the corner of Luka's shirt.
"Luka..." Lane's voice held a childish persistence mixed with a lot of sadness.
"I... I really don't like it here anymore. It's so dirty here and so dark."
Lane's gaze turned toward the threshold where there was no door—just an empty, ominous entryway.
Through that open passage, the artificial light from the vast field outside flooded in.
That sharp white light was cold and lifeless, casting long shadows across the cell floor.
Ahead lay the sprawling open field, where the glare of the artificial light tried to pierce the darkness of the cell.
"Can't we go outside?" Lane looked at Luka with teary eyes.
"You told me that when my leg got better, we'd go out and play."
Lane moved his leg to show him and then gently stroked Luka's arm.
"Look, my leg is better now; it doesn't even hurt anymore. Come on, let's go from here... look at all that light outside, let's go there."
Lane's innocent plea pierced Yuki's heart.
Despite the absence of a door, they couldn't take a single step outside, yet Lane believed that light was their destination.
Luka's face softened slightly.
Without a word, he ran his hand through Lane's messy hair.
But his eyes remained fixed on that illuminated field—
A field that offered a sense of freedom but was actually an invisible wall surrounding them.
When Lane saw that Luka was not responding to his words, his restlessness grew.
He nudged a bit closer, his eyes filled with hope.
"Luka... you know, right? I've been out there before," Lane whispered, as if sharing a secret.
"And look, nothing happened to me. I'm perfectly fine."
When Luka's silence remained unbroken, Lane gave up and turned his face toward Yuki.
His small nose flared with a mix of frustration and sadness.
" Yuki brother!" Lane pleaded with profound innocence,
"Please tell Luka to let us go outside now. He's not listening to me."
Yuki opened his mouth to say something, but the words caught in his throat.
His gaze fixed on Luka, who seemed lost in a different world altogether.
At that moment, the terrifying scene from outside was flashing through Luka's mind—
The place he had just returned from.
He remembered that gleaming white railing where, while passing by, he had noticed that everything was far from normal.
The guards, who usually stood as still as stone, appeared utterly disarrayed and panicked.
There was a strange chaos unfolding everywhere.
The scene replayed vividly before Luka's eyes—
The sound of hurried footsteps, guards shouting at one another, and that artificial light looking even more ominous amidst the frantic movement.
He was certain that something massive, and perhaps something terrible, had happened outside.
He knew that the 'light' of the open field was no playground for Lane; it was likely a death trap.
Luka gripped Lane's small hand tightly in his palms.
But his eyes remained fixed on the illuminated field, watching it as if anticipating the arrival of a predator.
"Brother... Yuki brother! Please, tell Luka," Lane's innocent voice echoed once more against the cell walls.
But this time, the voice didn't feel like sweet music to Yuki's ears; it felt like an icy sting.
Yuki's body stiffened involuntarily.
From the moment Luka had stepped out of the cell, followed by that vampire guard fleeing in fear, that entire scene was still playing out before Yuki's eyes like a horror film.
He kept remembering how, as soon as Luka left, Lane's innocent face had peeled off like old paint.
The image was still vivid in Yuki's mind—
The second he had tried to touch those mysterious stars, the familiar golden glow in Lane's eyes had vanished.
In place of those golden eyes, a dark, dense, and terrifying darkness had taken over.
That blackness was so deep that Yuki's soul trembled just looking at it.
At that moment, there was no innocence in Lane's eyes, only a violent shadow that had threatened him—
"I don't like being touched."
But as soon as Luka stepped back into the cell, within a single moment, that deep black darkness vanished into thin air.
The same golden glint and innocence returned to Lane's eyes, as if nothing had happened.
Yuki's mind was still struggling to process this change.
The fear of falling to the floor and the lie he told when Luka asked—
All of it was still leaving a profound impact on his mind.
Yuki took a heavy breath; his throat was parched.
He averted his eyes from Lane's expectant gaze, knowing full well what was hidden behind the eyes of this 'child.'
Steadying his faltering voice, he said softly, "Lane... ask Luka this yourself. He is the one who will decide whether he wants to take you outside or not."
Luka fixed his deep gaze on Lane's innocent face.
The artificial white light from outside the cell highlighted the golden glint in Lane's eyes even more—
The same golden glint that had made Yuki's soul tremble just moments ago.
A faint, slow smile crawled across Luka's lips.
"Alright," Luka said in a soft but steady voice.
"But there is one condition... you will not go too far from me at all. Not at all."
Upon hearing Luka's words, Lane's face lit up.
His sadness vanished in an instant, and he nodded his head happily.
"Okay! I promise, I will stay right by you," Lane chirped.
As if he had been granted the greatest joy in the world.
When Yuki saw this, a wave of restlessness surged through him.
He remembered those black, lifeless, and terrifying eyes.
He shifted a bit further back and spoke in a suppressed voice, "Luka... you know, don't you? When he went out last time, he was lost."
"Do you really... really want to take him back into that chaos?"
The warning in Yuki's words was clear, yet even with all his courage, he couldn't bring himself to tell Luka the truth about what he had seen.
Luka heard Yuki's words, but his piercing eyes remained fixed on Lane.
He took Lane's small hand in his and pulled him a bit closer, asking, "Are you listening, Lane?"
"You will not go too far from me at all. If you fully agree to this, only then will I step onto that field with you."
There was a strange stillness in Luka's voice.
As if he weren't testing Lane, but the shadow hidden within him.
Lane looked up at Luka with his golden, innocent eyes and once again agreed with complete innocence.