All that Hiromi could remember from the previous night is that she finally could manage to fall asleep. She was sceptical of it at first, afraid of what would come after her in her dreams, but the exhaustion took over her before she could protest. In the end, her mind thankfully remained calm during that dreamless night.

She slept for like felt forever — and what most likely was actually a very long time. When the slumber finally started to wore off of her, she noticed the same figure next to her, Melinoe, embalmed in the late midday’s sunshine with gentle wind playing with her hair. Yet, there was something else to this scene.

Her ears caught a sound of a voice, but it wasn’t the goddess’s, it didn’t sound like her. This mystery lit a spark of panic in her mind. Fighting against her body once again, she tried getting up on her own to see what was going on.

Hearing the commotion, Melinoe turned towards Hiromi. When she saw what the other was trying to do, she quickly moved towards her to lend her a helping hand.

Hiromi frantically looked around for the source of that voice, but the blurriness made that task harder than it already was. Even with that obstacle, she recognized not one, but two figures sitting next to the Goddess. The alarms in her head were now ringing even louder at the presence of more unknown people. Adrenaline quickly began flowing through her bloodstream, her body ready to escape just as fast. Not once did her eyes left those strangers in front of her.

“Hey,” Melinoe spoke just as gently as ever, “it’s all good. You’re safe.”

She rose up from the ground to match Hiromi’s height and swiftly put on her glasses on her face. The blurriness faded away with that, giving her a clear view of those people.

In front of her were two people, one taller from the other one, but both were still towering over Melinoe. The latter wore an olive and brown colored clothes with a hat and horns decorating their head. The former had more of red and yellow outfit, with horns as well but also a third eye on their face.

“Hiromi, let me introduce them to you. This is—”

“Medeis here, very pleased to meet you!” The three-eyed person extended their arm towards Hiromi as an invitation to a handshake.

Hiromi looked at the other’s hand. It was hidden partially under a glove with only the golden fingers visible. This unusual look piqued her interest. Some part of her wanted to touch it, although the panic was still in the control over her body so she just stood still.

“Oh, right,” Medeis suddenly perked up and turned towards the other person, “this here is Synn, my son and sompanion!”

“Hi! Nice to meet you.”

Mentally putting aside the topic of apparently gods having children, Hiromi stood there dumbfounded. It might have been to much to proccess right after waking up. Melinoe, seeing all of this unfolding, just sighed and began speaking again.

“As I wanted to say. This is God Medeis, he’s the creator of the mazens species, just like your friend Moshi,” she said as she pointed with her hand towards the taller man. He, seemingly unaware — or ignorant — of a passive aggressive tone of her speech, just waved at the demon.

The Goddess then moved her attention to the other one, “and this is God Synn, a ruler of artesses species, to which Tamaki belongs.”

“They were curious about you, that’s why they are here now. They just arrived so I hope that didn’t bother you.”

“Ah…” Hiromi responded with her still raspy voice.

“We couldn’t wait to see you, really! I mean, this is not a daily occurrence nowadays to see an actual demon here!” Medeis proclaimed, “it’s truly a miracle!”

Melinoe interrupted him, “Medeis, please… this is—”

“Honestly, how did you manage to get here? We thought that’s impossible!”

“Medeis…”

Synn, hearing the goddess’s tone, tugged at his arm, “Mede, maybe this is not the best time for that,” he said with uncertainty.

“How you’ve been doing here anyway? Something cool happened?”

“Medeis!”

“I… was attacked.”

All three of the deities turned towards her, now with their faces all being a mix of confusion and concern. This sudden attention made Hiromi want to sink deep into the ground.

Synn was the first to speak again, “attacked by who?”

She felt that burning sensation on her skin again, blade severing her spine and piercing straight from her back to her stomach, that unforgiving gaze from eyes that weren’t even there, those stabbing words coming out from nonexistent mouths.

Blurry image of Rheya and Roux flashed before her eyes. They were just standing there, staring at her expressionless. Predators waiting for their prey to finally succumb to their trap.

She let out a shaky breath, “hareans.”

Melinoe closed her eyes as her brows furrowed in a mix of anger and sadness. Synn looked at Medeis with a sorrowful gaze, the latter mirroring that action in a response. Even with no words spoken, all three deities now knew what had happened.

The elf Goddess was first to speak up.

“I’m so deeply sorry, Hiromi. You didn’t deserve this…”

It was all my fault, I hurt them, I hurt them all. That was my punishment.

She lowered her gaze, avoiding the staring eyes of others. No words formed on her tongue to respond, her mind blank except for the pervading guilt.

“Hey, Melinoe,” Medeis spoke with a hushed voice, “wouldn’t that be enough to finally bring up this case to her?”

Despite his best efforts, those words reached Hiromi’s keen hearing. She looked up at the God with sudden interest.

“Bring up what? And to who?”

Synn bumped Medeis with his elbow, “uh oh, slip-up.”

It took a second for the three-eyed man to realize what had just happened. He brushed his hand through his hair, with his eyes wide open and a nervous smile planted on his face.

“Oops.”

“Oh, dear me,” Melinoe sighed, but her tone lacked any negative connotation. “Well… this topic would come up at one point either way.”

“Hm?” Hiromi inquired further the best she could with her sore throat.

“It’s best you sit down for it if you want to hear about it since it’d be a long story.”

And to the best of her capabitilies did she sit down as fast as she could. Pure curiosity aside, she’d take anything that would take her mind off of the memories of that moment, even if just for a short while.

It looked as if Melinoe debated whether to continue with that, if it was even worth it. She shook her head, seemingly making a final decision.

“Hiromi, we believe that you are included in other God’s plan, Valerian’s,” she paused for a brief second, “this attack only proves that theory. So, I think it’s best that you know about it as well.”

The demon straightened her back, muscle tense as she put all her focus on the Goddess. It’s not the first time she heard about Valerian and this whole plan. Nailah already had spoken about this matter, but she didn’t provide that much detail about it. If it truly involves her out of all people, it’d be wise to learn everything she could about the topic.

“Where do I even start…” Melinoe thought for a moment, “Well, firstly I should tell you something about us, Gods, in general.”

“There are hierarchies everywhere, even amongst the Deities. There are always twelve Gods that rule over twelve species. I am a Goddess that rules over the species of elves, Medeis is a God that rules over mazens and Synn is a God that rules over artesses. Yet, we are not the highest authority in this whole world. We have our own ruler — Auroseus, a creator of this universe and our “God”.

Hiromi’s mind goes way back to the moment where she first learned about the existence of worlds other than Eunade. An ancient, forbidden book, in which was written about thirteen planets, yet one remained uninhabited. It bugged her for quite a long time, why was it uninhabited? Why is there nothing written about that? Yet now, with these information from Melinoe, it made sense. The last planet was for that ruler. The thirteenth and last missing God.

“With our creation, she put rules in place that we must abide by. One of such laws is that we mustn’t hurt beings from species that is not our own. For example, if I were to cause harm to your friend Moshi, one of Medeis’s people, I would be punished by Auroseus. That also applies to you. If I hurt you, I would also receive punishment. It doesn’t matter if your Goddess is here or not. This rule exists to prevent Gods to carry out executions on the innocent.”

“But, could they—” a cough attacked Hiromi before she could continue,” could they hurt, their own…?”

“Yes,” the Goddess replied, “a ruler of one’s species can do anything to them. Kill them, wipe them out entirely and just… start over. It’s cruel, but that is the truth.”

Hiromi just hummed in response, not entirely horrified by that fact, but more intrigued by all the information.

“Now, this is where Valerian comes into the picture. He was always after total authority and being the true and only ruler of everything. That has been the thing he was always ready to do anything for. He made his people worship him in ways we couldn’t even imagine, but because it was all happening within his own species, we didn’t had any say in it.”

“Yet with time it seemed that this wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He wanted to rule over all but he was bound by our rules. But that didn’t stop him from trying. He tried his luck with servant, beings created by him specifically to carry out his orders and to all of our surprise, he succeeded. They were treated as any other mortal and were free to do as pleased since their rules were much less harsh.”

“It concerned some of us, so we took this matter to Auroseus. She, to our dismay, did not punish him as technically everything was within rules. We couldn’t do much at that moment. With time though, Valerian’s goal was becoming more clear. He wanted to rule over us, to be the new God of Gods. He wants to eliminate others in order to be the first in that cursed hierarchy.”

Melinoe dropped her gaze to the ground, taking a deep breath.

“Ever since your Goddess disappeared, he proclaimed that she’s no longer a threat to him, bringing him closer to his goal. But then…”

She just looked at Hiromi, her sorrowful eyes meeting with the demon’s perplexed ones, that in a moment widened at the realization.

“Since I exist…” Hiromi slowly began speaking, “she exists.”

“And he sees that as a threat,” Melinoe ended her sentence.

“So he wants me dead.”

These word came out in a weak whisper, but everyone could still understand everything in the surrounding silence.

The Goddess replied almost as quietly as her, “I’m sorry.”

But Hiromi had no other words to say to others. The reality of that only setting in, deep into her mind. A God wants me dead. A God, wants me dead.

A God

wants

me

dead.

“This all is grim, I know, but,” suddenly Medeis spoke up, “be assured that more of us are on your side rather than on his. We’ll do our best so he doesn’t hurt you.”

All she could do was hum in response. His reasurrence did little to calm Hiromi’s mind, it all just felt too much all over again. Valerian, a God, wants to kill her. He is sending his people after her so he doesn’t suffer the consequences and Auroseus is remaining silent about this.

Auroseus…

“Does Auroseus know about me?” Hiromi asked.

Melinoe’s ears perked up at the question, “I believe so, yes.”

The demon cleared her throat before speaking, “could I— meet her?”

All three of Gods’s expressions became concerned after hearing her ask. It was as if she wasn’t suppose to even think about such possibility.

“That might not be the best idea, you know,” Medeis replied, “since, well— when mortals see her, it’s usually not for any good reasons and most of the time she doesn’t show up to them just like that. Not even we see her that often to be honest. And if you get to meet her, it would probably at the court—”

“Medeis.”

“Yes, Meli— Oh.”

“Court?” Hiromi asked, catching on another one of his slip-ups.

Melinoe sighed, “The Court of Final Judgement. A place where Auroseus decides your fate in an event where you commited a specifically horrible sin. Anybody can be judged there, a simple mortal or one of the Gods.”

“What would you— have to do, to get there?” she further asked, getting interrupted by her own coughs.

“Hiromi,” Melinoe looked deep into the mortal’s eyes, “never, ever, try to go there on purpose. Meeting with Auroseus is not worth it. Once you’re there, you will most likely not come out of there alive. That place is a death sentence most of the times, or even a fate worse than that.”

The implications of that last sentence, caused Hiromi’s mind to further spiral with all the questions forming inside. What could possibily be worse than death? Maybe it was better to not dwell on that idea for now.

“Wasn’t someone about to go there? Someone from Louhi if I remember correctly…”

“Miru?”

“Yeah, Miru!”

At this point, Melinoe’s eyes were trying to pierce through Medeis’s head to try and stop him from spilling out everything. Catching her gaze, he mouthed to her a silent “sorry”, but what had been said, cannot be unsaid.

“Why?” was all that Hiromi could ask.

“Miru, is technically not a mortal,” the Goddess spoke just as calmly as ever, “they were created as a servant, similiarly to Rheya and Roux.”

Upon hearing those names, shiver sent down Hiromi’s back. Yet, she tried her best to put on the brave facade.

“Gods’s servant are created by them and given more power, they could even reach a title of a half-God. Because of a higher status than a mortal, they are bound by slightly different rules. That, which was the reason of Miru’s downfall.”

“They have abused the power given to them, betraying their own Deity. Such act is seen as the worst sin a servant could do to its God. Therefore, Louhi has punished them by depriving them of that power. Yet because of the fact that they were ‘born’ as a servant, that title remains even if they don’t have powers of one.”

“I don’t have that much more about Louhi’s relationship with their servant, but I believe it surely is strained at best and a lot of secrets is hidden within that.”

Even more questions filled Hiromi’s mind. Was Miru’s plan similiar to that of hareans’s? Of Valerian’s? Did they also strive for the total authority? Why was she included in all those plans?

“Okay,” Melinoe clapped her hand, “we have went a bit too far into this dark territory.”

She turned towards the demon, “Hiromi, how are you feeling?”

Weak. Defeated. Scared. “Just tired.”

“Well,” Medeis interrupted, playfulness in his tone “how about one of uncle Medeis’s outstanding melodies to lull you into sleep with only the best dreams, hmm?”

“Didn’t she just woke up, Mede?” Synn asked with a smirk on his face.

“Well, um— You know, there’s no such a thing as too much of sleep! Especially when you’re tired,” he turns towards Hiromi, “and I bet’cha are tired, huh? Just a tiny little bit?”

“She just said she is.”

“Okay, well—! You are the one that said ‘she just woke up’!” Medeis said accusingly, but there was no venom in his voice, only a positive warmth.

The two Gods’s unserious bickering continued. It was quite a pleasant sight, definitely good enough to forget for a second about everthing that was wrong. Her mind embraced itself in that blissful momentarily distraction.

Unbeknownst to her, Melinoe’s eyes studied the demon. Her gaze was filled with worry and sorrow, yet also with something else, something warmer. It flowed right through Hiromi’s body as she looked right at her soul, trying to uncover the secrets that might be hidden away.

As she caught herself staring, Melinoe averted her gaze away from the other.

“Okay, enough of your little quarrel,” she began speaking, “I think that’s enough for today. I will help Hiromi return to her home now and you two can leave.”

“Awwh,” Synn complaines.

“Come on, lil’ guy. Surely we’ll meet again some day!”

Hiromi perked up at that. “Would that… not be a problem?” she asked, uncertainty in her voice.

“Of course not! I might be busy from time to time but I will find some time for you if needed, no problem. Treat us as equals.”

Equals? Hiromi pondered for a moment about that word before other’s voice broke her out of her thoughts.

“Don’t push it, Medeis,” Melinoe said playfully, “now, Hiromi, do you need help with walking?”

Before replying, Hiromi stood up, testing the strength of her slightly shaking legs. At first, hope has risen in her chest as she managed to take a couple steps, but it soon disappeared as one of her lower limbs decided to unexpectedly give out. Melinoe was quick to catch the demon before she could fall to the ground.

“Maybe…” Hiromi said shyly.

“Okay,” was all that the Goddess replied with no judgement in her tone.

Medeis waived in their direction as he said, “Bye, Hiromi! It was nice meeting you in person finally. Look out for another meeting!”

Synn mimicked the other man’s gesture before both of them disappeared into thin air, leaving respectively red and purple trails of seemingly some kind of magic. Hiromi’s eyes widened in both surprise and confusion.

Seeing her perplexed expression, Melinoe quickly said, “they teleported away, don’t worry.”

“Oh,” Hiromi hummed, “do we also… teleport?”

“We could as I also have the ability to do so, but… I don’t know if I can do that. It might count as manipulating your body and, well.”

“Auroseus?”

“Yes.”

Wordlessly, Hiromi and Melinoe started slowly walking towards the home.

In that silence, she began wondering how others have been doing during her sudden disappearance. Were they looking for her? Well, they probably were as they sent out not one but two Goddesses after her. Though, what if Melinoe was lying simply in order to make her calm down? What if she just stumbled upon her as she was lying motionlessly under that tree for three days? What if they actually didn’t care?

They hate me

Her mind began spiraling into that train of thoughts, again. No, she can’t let it get to her again, not now. It’s okay, it’s alright. She’ll just explain everything to them and it will be fine, and…

Oh, oh.

She’ll have to explain everything to them. The attack, what they did to her, her wou—

Mindlessly, her left hand went to cover the injury on her neck. It will be a miracle if it didn’t get infected. She felt dried blood under her fingertips, spreading over to her shoulders. It made her wonder just how badly she looked. Exhausted, sweaty, dirty, and with blood over her. She needed to take a bath as soon as possible, and that might just mean diving straight into the first river that meets her eyes.

Still, there’s the topic of telling them about everything. It’s not like she can pretend that all of this never happened, she cannot not tell them. That wound is in such place that it will be hard not to notice it and when they do, they will ask about it. What could she even tell them instead of the truth? That she fell over and injured herself on a rock? Who would even believe that?

Hiromi really doesn’t want to talk about this with others. It would most likely include talking about how exactly the hareans attacked her, what it looked like. They must know for the same can happen to them as well.

Oh…

A frown appears on Hiromi’s face upon this realization, forgetting for a moment about anything that had happened to her. If hareans, for some reason, change their target to somebody else, they are at risk of going through the same thing that she had to go through, or even worse.

“Melinoe?”

The Goddess turned her head towards the other, “yes?”

“I… need to get rid off of Rheya and Roux.”

Melinoe frowned at the sentence, yet her eyes were filled with understanding.

“Wait until you’re in a good shape again firstly. That is no small task, you know that.”

It was not a question and she knew as such. Yet still, the anguish that they have caused, fueled her urge to strike back and protect her companions. This self-destructing power that just might be the end of her, keeps her body moving, renewing the lost hope in her heart.

“I know.”

They are now within the borders of the elves’s terrain, a relatively small distance from home. The golden sun was ready to set behind the horizon, casting the last warm rays of sunshine on their bodies. Night would begin soon.

Hiromi’s muscles had warmed up from the walk, making any movements way less painful. Even so, her tempo of walking has been slowing down the closer they got to their target location. Yet exhaustion was not a reason for it.

“How are you doing, Hiromi? Melinoe asked.

To be truthful, she was anxious. Of what others will say, what they will ask, how they will react. How will she respond to them? What should she say? Hiromi got lost in thoughts for a moment before responding.

“I don’t know how to explain this situation to them.”

“Well, I can go there together with you and help a little. Also, if you say that you’re in a bad shape, I’m sure they will understand and let you rest first before anyone will try to tackle something serious.”

“You think so?”

“They care about your after all.”

Care.

Hiromi just hummed in response.

After a while of walking in silence, the place they’ve been trying to reach has appeared in the distance. She tried her best to calm down the nerves boiling inside of her. It really was the last thing she needed right now.

Goddess Melinoe had never left her side during this whole journey and her company surely helped the demon a great deal. Without her, she would surely give out midway and lay on the ground for who knows how long this time.

Step by step, it brought her closer to the house she frantically left just a couple of days ago. It didn’t even cross her mind until now, is everyone okay there? Were they attacked too after she disappeared? Well, they went for help to the Goddesses so they’re alive at least.

One step after another, and they were almost at the frontdoor. Are they even there? Maybe they went out to look for her, or just left in general? Will they come back? Will they leave her like she tried to leave them? Maybe that’s what she deserves—

The steps stop, and now they were standing right in front of the doors. Hiromi’s body felt tense once again, refusing to listen to her. She couldn’t make her arm move and knock on the doors so she just stared at it. Melinoe looked at the struggling demon.

“Should I knock?”

Hiromi nodded.

With that, Melinoe moved closer towards the wooden structure. Her knuckles gently hitting the door, its sound reverberating inside Hiromi’s head way too much than it should.

An agonizing moment passes until a pair of footsteps could be heard from the inside. With a horrible creak, the door had been opened. Immediately, the warmth light eminating from within the house spilled onto the outside. Such a cozy feeling.

“Hello, Maii.”

“Oh, hello your majesty!” the blue haired elf replied cheerfully, “what brings you…”

Her gaze shifting to the side, when she finally noticed presence of another figure.

“Hiromi!?”

What followed that word, was a sound of sudden commotion from the inside of the house. There were multiple frantic steps that in a moment turned out to belong to none other than her companions.

The two people that emerged were Moshi and Tamaki. When their eyes meet with an image of Hiromi, in a way worse than poor state, they expressions turned into confused but more worried ones.

“Hiromi!” Tamaki shouted.

“Tamaki…” she replied, a slight relief could be caught in her voice, “are you guys okay?”

“We— that’s not important, we’re okay, but— what happened to you? Where were you!?”

Tamaki’s arms grabbed the other by the shoulders without much thought. It wasn’t until a hiss came out of the demon that she took a proper look at the other. Her eyes widened in terror at the sight of her neck, still covered in the dried blood.

“What— Is that a—!?”

Moshi followed the trail of Tamaki’s gaze, which gained a similiar reaction in her upon seeing the injury. She put her hands on her mouth in disbelief and horror.

“May I?” Melinoe’s voice cut through the tense atmosphere.

All of the present people’s eyes turned towards the Goddess. All filled with dread, while Hiromi’s expressed a silent gratitude.

“As we all know, the hareans attacked. Rheya and Roux, to be precise. Hiromi tried hunting them down but was hurt in the process. She currently needs her injury to be taken care of and to rest.”

“We’ll take care of everything from now on,” Moshi spoke up, “thank you, your majesty.”

Melinoe gave them a slight bow as a parting gesture. Before disappearing, she glanced at Hiromi.

Be careful.

She sat at her usual place, a kitchen couch. Yet it was far from peaceful as she had people all over her.

Maii sat next to her, as she used her water powers to gently clean the blood off of her skin. Her touch felt uncomfortable to her, but she made no action to protest as she knew they wouldn’t let her go that easily.

Moshi was looking through their house supplies in search of anything that could act as a gauze. Hiromi probably had something in her own bag as she always made sure to have at least some primal medical equipment. Now that she thinks about it, her leaving her backpack at home during the attack could have been a detrimental decision. After all, her pills were hidden in it.

Tamaki was catching Shion, who now emerged from the bedroom due to the havoc, up to speed. The latter have been stealing glances from time to time at Hiromi. It was clear she was trying to not show her concern, but it still leaked through her facade.

“You really gave us all a heart attack here,” Moshi huffed out.

“I’m really sorry,” Hiromi replied, “it wasn’t my intention. I mindlessly followed them and…”

She glanced at demon’s wound, “yeah, but we’re happy you’re back.”

Moshi got closer to her, inspecting the wound that was now free of excess of dried blood surrounding it. She patted the area slightly with a towel to make sure there was no moisture left.

“What happened here after I went out?”

“At first we just got defensive, thinking that the hareans are still here. But after a while it turned out they were gone. So, we went to look for you.”

She put newly found gauze on top of the injury, making Hiromi twitch a little.

“And then you came to the Goddesses asking for help?”

“We sure did.”

“Why?”

Moshi’s eyes perked up to her face with confusion written all over it.

Hiromi coughed, “I’m just wondering since you haven’t done that the first time, when I, well…”

“This situation was more dire. And back then we didn’t really think you were serious about that. Back then, you also came back.”

She fell silent after that, simply letting the other apply dressing over the wound.

“I’m not sure how long it will take to heal,” Moshi thought out loud, “we’ll just have to wait and see. For now, this bandage should help protect your injury.”

Hiromi hummed. Her eyes wandered around the room. Maii has since got up from the seat next to her, with focus on mainly Moshi. The latter, which had began to pack everything back to their original places. It was then, that her eyes locked with Tamaki’s. They were sad, looking straight at her, even when she noticed the other looking straight at her.

She wanted to say something to her, but her mouth and mind fell silent once again.

Moshi came into her vision once again, her gentle eyes sending some warmth towards her.

“How are you feeling?”

“Just tired.”

“Me too, to be honest. And I think others also share this sentiment. We all had a rough couple of days.”

Hiromi sent her a slight smile towards her. Maybe it was out of pure sarcasm or just because it felt nice to be around everyone again.

“It’s probably a high time for everyone to go to sleep for the night,” Maii chimed in, “we’ve been up for longer than usual tonight afterall.”

“I apologize,” the demon utters.

“Please don’t! It’s not a complaint!”

“Maii’s right, we all need some well-deserved rest,” Moshi declared.

A rest surely would be nice. Finally, in the space of their house, with the bits of some sense of safety, even if it’s false at this point.

Some slight commotion had risen as everyone began preparing for departure to their respective places. Maii waved them a goodbye with a bright smile on her face, before going out into the darkness of night. Shion bid farewell before going back into the bedroom.

Moshi slowly made her way into the same room, but she turned around to say the last words of that day.

“Hey, be careful, okay? We’ll be on high alert tonight so you can rest.”

“Just don’t forget to sleep yourselves.”

Moshi chuckled at that, “we won’t, don’t worry.”

With that, she disappeared into the corridor. Soon, a door could be hear opening and closing soon after. The only ones left in the kitchen were now Tamaki and Hiromi. The latter looked at the other, slightly confused on why she’s not going like everyone else.

“Tamaki,” she spoke softly, “are you not going to the attic?”

The said woman inhaled deeply, her gaze stuck to the ground. Mindlessly, she twitched with her fingers.

“Yeah, I am…”

“But?”

She gave out a tired laugh, “but, well… I don’t know. I’m scared.”

“Hey, it’s okay. They won’t attack us now. If they do, I’ll—”

Tamaki interrupted her, before she could finish her sentence, “About you, dummy. I’m scared about you. Well— I’m scared about everyone here, but, right now… I’m scared about you the most.”

Why?

“I’ll be okay, safe and sound, right on this couch,” she tapped the furniture under her, “do not worry.”

To drive this argument home, she sent the other a knowing gaze with a slight smile. Tamaki, couldn’t help but smile herself, but her expressions only hid away the sadness she was feeling. She slowly got up from her seat, as if to let this moment last as long as possible.

“Yell if you need anything, okay?”

Hiromi nodded in response, which let Tamaki finally departure to her room as well. With one final glance at the demon, she disappeared into the darkness of the attic.

Now, left alone in the room, she let out a heavy sigh of relief. This reunion went way better than what her mind had came up with. All that tension was now slowly leaving her, letting all that exhaustion take its place instead. It was time for her to let slumber take her away.

As she readied herself to sleep, a thought still managed to pop up in her tired mind.

What will they do about the hareans?

That was a worry for another day. Her conciousness was slowly drifting away, sending Hiromi into the land of dreamless sleep.

Even during this cloudy night, some of the stars’s light managed to break through them, adorning that dark sky.