The gentle breeze drifted past, carrying with it the warmth of a blazing dusk.
The girl stood frozen against the green carpet of earth.
Body held still, unable to move a single inch.
Her tear-brimmed eyes drifted slowly downward — to the grass beneath her feet.
The color in her gaze was swallowed by black, then returned to its original green.
Her body gradually lowered.
*Thud.*
Both knees struck the ground.
Her arms reached out, trembling — as though desperate to catch hold of something.
Wanting to embrace it, yet unwilling to accept it.
The thin skin at her fingertips descended slowly, feeling the cold of the earth seep through every crease of her hand.
"..."
"Soft... warm — it's so warm!"
Her palms closed tight. Her expression could no longer hold itself together.
Choked.
She was genuinely crying —
Crying without sound. Only her shoulders shaking in broken tremors, and small, strangled sobs — as though someone had a hand around her throat.
The sound of her grief traveled outward.
She tried to fold herself inward, to press the pain back inside — but its aftershocks spread through every gap between the leaves, stirring the very soul of the forest.
From deep within the ancient woodland, a warm wind moved gently forward — pressing against the child like a quiet, tender word of comfort.
She drew each breath slowly, deeply, into her chest.
Her ten fingers rose high — nearly level with her face.
*Pop!*
The sharp, clean sound rang out like a proud creature raising its voice.
Both cheeks flushed red, burning hot.
"Re — you are not allowed to be weak like this!"
"You are — not allowed to cry like that."
"Your life has been given permission."
"Stand up — STAND UP NOW!!!"
After the shout, her whole body seemed to recover its strength — every part of her understanding the command and moving to obey.
Her entire form rose free of restraint, lifting upward.
She drew one more breath, deep and full, to fill her lungs — then let it out slowly, shedding the softness of this moment.
She wiped away the last of her tears.
Then opened her eyes wide.
Gazing toward the far edge of the horizon, her bearing now held only a burning, unwavering resolve for the road ahead.
Her manner gradually shifted. Her voice grew firmer.
"You've been watching this whole time, haven't you?"
The words carried toward the space behind her — but no answer came back.
"Fu."
"Either way — thank you..."
The air settled into silence. Not that heavy, suffocating silence from before.
*....*
...but a peaceful one.
A warm silence. Earned.
Her lips curved into a quiet smile, turned toward the other side.
"Thank you for —"
*CRASH—!*
She flinched at the heavy sound.
Her body spun, turning fully around.
A large figure collapsed — Uzuki's entire body striking the ground, with almost no reaction at all.
She froze entirely — completely still for one short, breathless moment.
Coming back to herself, she cried out immediately.
"UZUKI!!"
She threw herself toward him, running to his side.
Dropping to her knees.
"What happened to you?!"
"Uzuki!!"
"Say something—!"
"Don't you dare die on me?!!"
She was shaking. Both hands had lost control — she couldn't bring herself to touch him, completely at a loss for what to do.
Her hands finally made contact with Uzuki's body.
"Huh —?"
An unexpected coldness flooded through her fingertips — nothing like the warmth of a living person's body.
"This isn't right... this isn't right!"
"What happened to you, Uzuki!"
She bit down on her lip, forcing herself toward calm.
"Can you hear me?"
No response.
Her eyelids trembled slightly — but her eyes could not look away.
She grabbed Uzuki's shoulder and pulled him upright.
But in that instant, she went still.
He was...
"Too light??!"
"How is this possible?"
She turned to look directly at his face — and could barely believe what she saw.
Uzuki's face was dry, hollow. His skin had gone pale blue.
His breathing was fast — but shallow and faint, barely enough to detect.
He looked like a dried husk —
Only now did she look down at her own hands, expression unable to process what it was receiving.
"What is this..."
"How can someone be this cold —"
She came back to herself and pressed her ear against Uzuki's chest.
*...*
Nothing.
"No..."
Her pupils contracted.
But then —
*Thump.*
One heartbeat — so faint it had nearly ceased to exist — reached her ear.
The tension in her face eased the smallest degree, but the fear did not diminish.
Her small shoulders braced, lifting Uzuki upright. Strangely, though his frame was large, he no longer felt heavy at all.
She lowered herself. From beneath her feet, small particles of snow began to spiral, crystallizing into a pair of sharp, clean ice shoes.
"Uzuki — I'm going to find a way to save you!"
Her foot struck the ground hard, and her entire body launched skyward.
Other snowflakes followed in her wake, forming a long ribbon of ice.
Waiting for her to land.
Without hesitation, she carried Uzuki on her back and began to glide across the surface of the ice.
The landscape of the great forest blurred past like a film running too fast —
— Carpets of grass glowing green in the last light of dusk. Enormous ancient trees. Strange creatures she had never encountered before.
— Wait —
*"What am I doing, noticing all of this? Why am I paying attention to any of that?!"*
*"I need to save this idiot."
"I absolutely have to save him."
She pushed past everything, forcing her focus onto the single goal ahead. At this speed, she should have found something by now...
Suddenly, she stopped. Her brows drew together sharply, something uncertain moving behind her eyes.
Despite having traveled a considerable distance, the surroundings were completely empty — not a single human presence, not one sign of civilization.
She looked up toward the wide open sky. Ice particles gathered in her palm — but her legs trembled in a strange way. After a few seconds of drawn energy, she withdrew it all at once, the horror on her face clear as she felt the body growing colder against her back.
She could not hesitate any longer.
She set Uzuki down on the grass, pressing her palm flat against his chest. A current of blue energy slowly appeared, wrapping around her hand — as though attempting to fill the distance between them.
Her mouth did not stop calling his name.
"Uzuki."
"Uzuki!"
"Don't go to sleep, Uzuki..."
Her eyes were locked to his body, scanning, refusing to miss a single detail.
— Damn it, his temperature is at or below this — not warming at all. What in the world happened to you?
— No external wounds.
— Nothing broken.
— No sign of poison.
— Heart still beating.
— Then why does his whole body look this withered and cold? What is the reason??
— Did I miss something?
"Huh?"
She pressed her face against Uzuki's chest — and in a single instant, the color drained from her face, her pupils contracting sharply.
"UZUKI, WAKE UP!"
"WAKE UP!!"
She could no longer hold herself together. He felt even colder now than before.
Both hands seized his body and wrenched him upright.
Her shaking hands tightened, losing control, shaking his body hard again and again.
"Wake up — wake up fast!"
"Don't just lie there with that bloodless face —"
She stopped abruptly. A thought cut across.
"Blood...?"
"Wait —!"
As though suddenly realizing something, she grabbed his collar and pulled sharply.
"This — it's too tough, I can't tear it!"
She ground her teeth, shifted her grip, and wrenched the fabric away with force. And then — the sight before her left her stunned.
Where the cut had been made on his body, there was something like a strange living material — contracting in place like fish scales but pitch black, rough, and bubbling like hot tar.
"Is this connected to it?!"
"Could it be that thing..."
— 'Death Slash'
— Impossible. That already happened earlier.
"Wait... could it be —"
Lines recorded dimly in memory began to clarify:
— 'His hands were trembling'
— 'Instead of using his ability, he simply walked slowly after her'
— 'Each step heavy, slightly off balance'
— 'Holding himself braced the entire time'
Her gaze lifted to Uzuki's pale, drained face.
Then moved outward to take in everything around them, her expression slowly darkening.
*Tsk —*
She bit down so hard her gums bled, the metallic taste of something cruel spreading across her mouth.
"Uzuki — I'm begging you —"
"Please. Answer me."
"I don't want to leave you behind."
In answer to that plea — only the terrible silence of a face dry as stone, as though every last drop of life had been wrung from it.
"I HATE THIS!!!!"
She screamed into nothing, her fist driving down into the ground again and again.
Her knuckles found no softness, no relief — and she seized him again, her voice shifting into something that sounded like accusation.
"How many years — all this time — and I finally meet someone who isn't lost in their own madness —"
"Finally — someone who showed me again what I'd lost sight of —!"
"Who fought me without flinching, without letting me push him away —!"
"And now you're just going to leave?! DON'T YOU DARE, YOU IDIOT!"
"Uzuki — I have not given you permission to die!"
She pulled back.
Her lashes lifted quietly toward the sky — but what she saw only made her shudder, her hands going weak.
Nearly doubling forward, just barely making contact with the lower half of his body.
Her hands clutched at her own head, clawing hard enough to leave her white hair ragged and tangled. Her mind felt like a skein of knotted thread, spinning without stopping, impossible to settle.
Her eyes began to shift — the jade green slowly replaced by something between green and blue.
The muscles of her face went slack. Emptiness closed in.
Her whole body — like an old television set that won't stop flickering — unstable, and disturbed.
Like the water had been, just then...
....A streak of blue light swept across her eyes.