The room was wide open, yet empty.
Only a single chair remained, steeped in the chilling cold of the gloomy valley.
Raquelamalin stared at the chair, wondering. When can I leave? How much time must pass before I can escape this place?
The opportunity came quickly. She didn't let it slip by. When the Confessarii, with their sinister faces and unknown schemes, visited the Banshee Valley, she learned of a certain child‘s story.
Perhaps she used that child‘s story as an excuse. Telling herself it was unavoidable, that she had no choice but to act to save the child.
So she left. She escaped the frigid valley and saw the outside world.
The scent of dry earth. The scars left by Catastrophes. Plains where grass grew, and meadows teeming with flora and fauna.
Running against the wind. Crossing nameless ruins to gaze upon the world. The world she saw with her own eyes was truly beautiful.
How could she forget the sight of stars pouring down over the vast meadow?
She achieved her wish, but with it came the responsibility for the child. Thus, she moved to Kazimierz, famed as the city of knights.
Illusions shatter.
The world without humans was beautiful, but the world with them was not. Persecution due to the name Sarkaz, and the shackle of being Infected. The world she saw outside her cage wasn't filled only with beauty.
"…That‘s right."
She remembered the eyes she saw while shoplifting at the convenience store. Platinum eyes, clear and without a speck of dust. If she told her past self about these events, would she believe it? Life is unpredictable; one‘s future path is unknowable.
Walking the path. She saw a knight saving Infected and engaging in duels. Unlike her, who wandered the world with an excuse, the knight had a clear goal.
If he hadn't saved her back then, what would have happened?
Who knows.
The Nearl estate. In the garden prepared within that space, she shielded her eyes from the summer sun with her hand. The scent of summer heating the asphalt was pleasant, but the feeling of hair sticking to her skin was unavoidably uncomfortable.
The events in Kazimierz had settled. Discharged from the hospital, Yujin was busily running around Kazimierz working for the Infected Knight System, while his friends began cleaning up the remnants of the Armorless Union.
Only she remained, resting vacantly.
Occasionally, Kisharsinagh would look at her with worried eyes before leaving, but it didn't matter.
"Why are you spacing out? You're sweating."
Maybe that‘s why she thought she was hearing things. Yujin was supposed to be away on business.
Until she felt a cold drink touch the nape of her neck.
"Eek!"
"Can't you hear me?"
"Y-Yujin?"
Why was he here when he should be away? She didn't know, but Yujin smiled under the sunlight.
"You seemed to have a lot on your mind lately. So I came back early to surprise you."
His eyes shone with platinum light, unchanged from when they first met. To hide her suddenly melancholic heart, Larin avoided his gaze.
Yujin sat beside her. As she made a little room on the bench, skin touched skin.
A sensation that would normally be unpleasant and sticky felt warm. Looking back, why had she fallen for Yujin?
Looking again, she didn't know if this was love or just vague admiration. It was the first time she had felt such an emotion. In the Banshee Valley, the gender ratio was skewed, so there were mostly women.
"What should I do now?"
A question to Yujin, but also to herself. The events in Kazimierz were over, and peaceful daily life had returned. But Yujin‘s work was done, not hers.
What she had chosen was akin to running away from home.
"…I know."
Yujin didn't pry. He knew Larin‘s business wasn't finished, but he also knew she hated bringing it up. So he didn't ask further and just stayed by her side.
...Larin liked that about him.
2.
A private meeting. A meeting between a man and a woman might not mean much, but late at night, accompanied by alcohol, the story changes slightly.
No Daniel, no friends. Only Kiril, Kisha, Larin, and Yujin remained in the mansion.
Larin chuckled seeing the mat laid out in a corner of the garden. In the dark night, bugs should have been attracted to the light, but perhaps Yujin had cleared them away with Arts, as there was only light. Larin sat in the spot with a panoramic view of the city lights and the sky.
"What's up? Asking me to drink alone with you."
Larin smiled teasingly. She hoped Yujin would be a little flustered, but he poured a drink without hesitation as soon as she arrived.
"You looked like you had a lot on your mind lately. So I called you for some counseling."
Alcohol poured into the glass. The bottle Yujin held seemed to be one Daniel cherished, but it didn't seem to matter.
"What will you do now?"
Yujin knew Larin and Kisha‘s story. He knew their circumstances. They couldn't just sit and hide in Kazimierz forever, so she had to make a choice too.
"…I don't know either."
Returning to the Banshee Valley worried her because of Kisharsinagh. She couldn't leave the child alone and go back.
"I can't leave Kisha alone, so I have to find a way..."
"If you allow it, I'll take Kisha with me."
Hearing Yujin‘s words, Larin‘s eyes widened. She didn't expect him to say that.
"I'm not going back to Kazdel right now. I'll probably wander the world. It'll be easier to avoid the Confessarii tracking Kisha, and I can protect her."
Swallowing her words. Hearing Yujin, Larin fell into thought.
"…Why?"
"What?"
"Why go so far...?"
She asked out of pure curiosity. Even knowing Kisha's story, taking a child on a journey wasn't easy.
Yujin laughed heartily and said.
"Because that child has become a part of my life before I knew it."
Kisha smiling playfully.
White hair swaying, white horns visible. Unlike when they first met, Kisha now smiled brightly while learning swordsmanship from Yujin.
Even now, she called Yujin "Mister," and it felt awkward if she didn't say it.
He couldn't imagine life without Kisha now.
He had given his heart too much.
Even though it was a short encounter.
Thinking that, Yujin smiled bitterly. Seeing that, Larin carefully held Yujin‘s hand. If Kisha meant that much, what about her?
"…Then, what about me?"
Yujin‘s eyes and Larin‘s eyes met. As if knowing the emotions without speaking, Yujin downed a glass and said.
"Of course, you too. Just like Kisha, you've become a part of my life."
Hearing that, Larin inhaled sharply. She was just an insignificant girl compared to Yujin. Only holding the name of Banshee Princess. Perhaps it was a fragment of inferiority complex she held toward Yujin.
Part of his life.
Larin started drinking while holding his hand. The speed was so fast that Yujin, flustered, grabbed her hand holding the glass.
Eyes met again. Her eyes were red.
"Raquelamalin, you..."
"Yujin, I know it's selfish to say this. But please, take care of Kisha. Take care of Kisharsinagh."
He didn't know with what heart Larin said those words.
Yujin asked no more. Just nodded. Seeing Larin‘s reddened eyes, Yujin drank another glass too.
And, lost in the alcohol.
When he momentarily let his guard down. Larin‘s face came close.
"I still don't know... why my heart is like this. And why you make such choices."
Drunk, her face flushed red, she spoke to Yujin.
Helping Kisha, saving Larin. According to Sona, he even helped Infected in the sewers. He must have helped many while coming and going in Kazimierz. In Sector Zero, he fought to protect the Infected. Larin still couldn't understand.
Why? Why? Asking and answering dozens of times, she didn't know. The reason for saving people without a reason.
"In Sector Zero, and when you helped me, I wouldn't have done that..."
Was it lamentation or grumbling? There was self-reproach in Larin‘s words as she hugged her knees.
Listening to her, Yujin suddenly stood up. His face was also flushed red, the result of drinking continuously without using Arts.
"Do you really need a reason to save people?"
"…What?"
"Do you need a reason? You just save them."
When he was young, he couldn't help because he was weak.
Now?
Different. Yujin had power.
So he just saves. Hoping that someday, Yujin‘s choice would return to help him.
"…Idiot? Who acknowledges that? No one cares even if you save Infected."
"So what if no one cares? The people I saved say thank you. And the people around me know."
Looking at the sky, Yujin reached out. Stars rose. One, two, three. The consecutively rising stars cleared the clouds, making him look at the sky.
Larin might have been whining. Does anyone even notice what we do? But Yujin stood with his back to the star-filled sky, looking at Larin. His clearly shining eyes resembled the three stars in the sky.
"And, someone like me. No, the world needs at least one pushover to turn properly. People just help each other and live."
Yujin smiling foolishly with his back to the sky.
The clouds cleared in the sky behind him, revealing stars. The stars he vaguely admired in the meadow were visible again.
Yujin, backed by those stars, the platinum light contained in her eyes.
Was it just her imagination, or did he look incredibly cool?
Larin stood up too. It was the first time. The first time. Feeling such emotions, everything was a first, so there were times she was afraid.
The moment eyes met.
Whoosh. Her figure came close in an instant. Her hair containing the night sky swayed, blocking Yujin‘s vision. The scent of refreshing summer, the heat that was warm yet hot.
A tickling sensation was felt. Something touched his lips. Soft and fluffy, but Yujin doubted his eyes and held his breath due to the ticklish pleasure.
When he tried to pull his head back, her hands held Yujin‘s face. He felt the warmth of the hands holding him as if telling him not to escape. Their lips were touching on the pulled face.
Breath mixed, and Yujin closed his eyes smelling the fragrant and sweet breath. When the moment-like time ended and their faces moved apart, Yujin‘s face was bright red as if a child had seen something they shouldn't have.
The child-like appearance now.
The appearance talking to Larin with his back to the sky just now.
The appearance of Yujin saving her when she was attacked by the Confessarii.
Mixed together. Yujin was Yujin, and she was her.
"Uh, uh...?"
And, flustered, Yujin fell backward, and Larin ended up on top of him. Looking into each other's eyes, when the saliva connecting their lips stretched into a long line.
Larin was certain.
Ah, I've fallen in love again.