She wasn't looking at him. Just staring ahead at the dark street stretching before them.
"When you're young, you think... you think if you just work hard, if you stay kind and honest, good things will happen. That's what they tell you. That's what everyone believes."
She laughed bitterly.
"But they don't. Good things don't happen. The world just... 'takes'. It takes and takes and takes until there's nothing left. Until you're just..."
Her voice trailed off.
"...empty."
Raven glanced at her, his expression unreadable in the dim light.
"The world's only as cruel as you let it be," he said.
Hana blinked, turning to look at him with surprise. "What?"
"Cruelty requires permission," Raven continued, his tone casual but carrying weight. "The moment you stop fighting back, the moment you accept that you 'deserve' bad things—that's when the world breaks you. Not before."
"But I 'am' fighting," Hana protested weakly. "Every day I work, every day I try to—"
