Covering her waist-length hair with her veil, the nun rose in the morning light. She originally intended to close the window that let in the morning breeze, but for some reason, her hand stopped as if guided by a phantom.
She left a small crack. From the outside, it shouldn't be visible... right?
"Aponia, what happened last night?"
A man wearing a ridiculous corrugated cardboard mask was waiting at the door early on.
His name was Kalpas. Like most people sheltered here, he was brought back by Aponia. However, he was not infected with that strange disease, and... he was strange enough himself.
"What's wrong?" the nun asked softly.
"I'm asking you!" Kalpas tone was somewhat violent. His suspicious gaze moved back and forth between the nun and the room behind her. But seeing her eternally unchanging, natural expression, he softened slightly. "It felt like someone entered the sanitarium last night. Did you notice anything?"
He had noticed something unusual around her room last night, but when he approached, nothing particularly strange was there. Since the nun had come out of her room as usual today, he began to wonder if he was being paranoid.
Had staying in the sanitarium for so long dulled his senses?
"..."
"Aponia?"
Seeing that the nun didn't answer and instead seemed dazed, Kalpas frowned under his mask, but said nothing. He had already checked the entire sanitarium and found no anomalies. Coming to see the nun was just to confirm she was okay; it seemed he had simply overthought it.
Although reluctant, Kalpas left a message: "If anything happens, come find me."
He certainly couldn't have imagined that the nun simply didn't want to lie, so she pretended not to hear him.
Concealing an assassin was something that would definitely desecrate a pure and flawless faith. In fact, the nun felt a slight sense of transgression when she left that crack in the window; her heart seemed to beat faster then than when the man pointed a gun at her last night.
She didn't know why she was doing this, but as a firm believer in the doctrine of fate, she had no doubts about her "feelings."
She felt the man was not a bad person, and what he was investigating might be closely related to this sanitarium.
As she said, she hoped others would not be disturbed. Not everyone could remain calm at gunpoint, let alone the children.
Of course, Kalpas was a different consideration altogether...
...
It was another peaceful day. The lethargy of Sundown Alley was kept out by the vitality of the sanitarium. This place seemed like a paradise, isolating despair and death.
The nun walked to her door. Her hand hesitated as it touched the doorknob.
She listened intently. The laughter of the children playing in the distance drifted in softly. Her own breath hit the door panel, the moisture turning a small portion into white frost.
The room was quiet—so quiet that even a single breath from someone's throat could be heard.
Creak... The nun pushed the door open and entered.
"..."
The unlit room was empty. The window remained as she had left it in the morning, with a cold wind blowing through the crack, making a jarring, eerie sound.
She remained expressionless. This was natural; no normal person would look forward to someone holding a weapon visiting them every night.
The nun walked to the window and closed it.
At that moment, she felt a familiar, sharp gaze pierce her back.
Click. The door was closed.
The nun tentatively turned her body. The man didn't speak to stop her, indicating he didn't care if she saw him.
So, the nun turned to face the man who was leaning against the wardrobe, his entire being blending into the darkness. He also happened to look up, for the first time directly observing this young nun who held the most authority in the sanitarium.
Then, both felt a bit surprised.
The man was surprised that the nun was younger than he thought; she looked about his age. Her ethereal aura and blank expression made it hard to associate her with the manager of the most "renowned" sanitarium in Sundown Alley.
The nun was surprised that... the man was wearing a mask.
Used to Kalpas mask, this was the first time she had seen someone else wearing one. And compared to Kalpas poorly made, comical mask, the man's was no less ridiculous.
He was wearing an Ultraman mask.
A man who sneaked in at midnight, held a dangerous weapon, was ruthless and silent, and had a cold, trained aura—wearing an Ultraman mask.
"Uh... that..." The man did the most hilarious thing with the most serious aura and attitude, so much so that the nun was stunned into silence for a moment, even wondering if she had made a mistake.
"...I want to know about the situation at the sanitarium."
The man, however, quickly returned to normal. At headquarters, he had already seen too many extraordinary people whose appearances didn't match their personas.
As for the mask... he had found it at his base. It was probably something Pardo had collected before she left. Investigation missions usually took a long time, and he couldn't walk around Sundown Alley in his helmet all day.
"Eh? Ah..."
"Didn't you tell me to come to you?"
Prompted by the man, the nun remembered what she had said last night. She suddenly realized that he indeed hadn't sought out anyone else, and his investigation was indeed related to the entire sanitarium.
"May I ask... um..." The nun was about to say something but suddenly stopped.
How should she address this person? Assassin? But was the man really an assassin? And calling him "assassin" seemed a bit impolite, didn't it?
"What?"
"How should I address you? Could you tell me your name?"
"...Whatever you like."
"Then..." The nun looked at the mask on his face and smiled faintly. "Mr. Ultraman?"
"..."
Seeing the man's dejection, the nun couldn't help but chuckle. It seemed that while both were masked men, the man and Kalpas were two completely different types of people.
The man glanced at the nun's smile and didn't voice any objection; after all, he was the one who told her she could call him whatever she liked.
After a soft sigh, the man continued, "Do you know everyone who works at the sanitarium? Are there any people of unknown origin or anyone who usually behaves strangely?"
Unknown origin? Strange behavior?
The nun immediately thought of someone, but she didn't say it. When Kalpas came to ask her today, she hid the truth; she couldn't just hand Kalpas over now that the man was asking.
"Could you tell me why you are looking for someone in the sanitarium? If you find them, what do you plan to do to them?"
The room suddenly fell silent.
The man and the nun looked at each other.
The moonlight hid behind the clouds.