One more night and one more day passes.

If Hiromi were to die here, she wouldn’t really mind that. Honestly, she might have wanted that, just a little bit.

No matter how hard she tried, the memories of that night occupied every space in her head. All the feeling, all the words, all the pain. It was all crushing her.

The seals crumbled on themselves, leaving her and her poor state exposed to everyone. Dark circles hung under her tired, empty eyes, her skin became a tone paler, looking more sick than anything. As wind was howling for the past three days, her hair became a tangled mess. Her glasses had slipped long ago from her face, leaving her vision blurry in a lot of places.

As the sun was setting, its rays hit Hiromi’s skin. Now with the seals gone, it was the first time in those couple of days where she truly felt its warmth. Sure, it wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t unbearable. It was a promise of a blessing, relief of a cold night.

The light struck her in the eyes so much, she had to squint. It was as if a sky gained another sun. It was so bright… too bright.

Unexpectedly, in an aura of all that light, a figure appeared in her field of view. One, even through all the blurriness, she didn’t recognize.

“My, oh my,” the person spoke, “what happened to you?”

Instinctively, Hiromi flinched, trying to get away from the stranger, yet her body still resisted her. All she could do, was to stare at them with her panicked, tired eyes.

“Hey, it’s alright. You’re safe.”

The other has kneeled down, revealing that the additional source of the light was a halo. Hiromi tried to distinguish their features, of which she could make out short, teal hair with an outfit of the same color and a light complexion.

When they spoke again, their voice was gentle and full of calming warmth.

“We have met before but you haven’t seen me. I am Melinoe.”

Melinoe. That name does ring a bell.

Hiromi’s throat ached, she still couldn’t get any word out of herself. Seeing her struggle, Melinoe simply sat by her side.

“I will explain to you what I’m doing here, okay?” she asked, not really expecting anything in response.

“Effole came to me, saying that one night you’ve ran out of your house and didn’t come back since. She and others wanted to make sure that you’re alright.”

Ah, right. She did that. In all that havoc that was happening in such a short amount of time that night, she didn’t even tell others what she was doing or where she was going. In one second, she was just gone.

But, why would they worry about her? They…

They hate me. They hate me. They hate me—

“So me and Nailah went out to search for you and it appears that I found you first. Although…”

Melinoe’s gaze saddened. She clearly was looking at Hiromi, at her sickly and exhausted state.

“A lot happened, I presume.”

Hiromi closed her eyes. Way too much happened, she thought to herself. It was as if all her life’s mistakes came crashing at her all at once, all her insecurities and fears. All while a threat that her illness might betray her, causing even more destruction. She felt it trying to escape, and if it went for just a second longer, then…