A new day. The nurse came in quietly, expecting Hide to still be asleep — but his eyes snapped open the moment she stepped closer. She jumped a little but managed a small smile. "Good to see you awake, but you should rest. Your injuries still need days to heal."
"Thank you," Hide murmured.
When she left, he stared blankly at the TV. The news was replaying that same footage — the 'fiend' at FCC, Sona at the microphone, forced to smile for the nation.
Hide shut it off. The silence pressed down on him. He couldn't stay here.
Every breath ached — broken ribs, fractured arm — but he ignored the pain, slipped on a coat, and wandered outside. In the hospital's small garden, patients dozed in wheelchairs or fed sparrows with trembling hands. He sat alone on a cold bench until an old woman eased herself down beside him.
"Nice air today," she said softly, voice papery and kind.
"It is," Hide said.
She studied his face — then tilted her head. "Your eye… I know that eye."
Hide turned to her, surprised. "You do?"
She chuckled. "When I was a girl, there was a boy with an eye like yours. They called him a monster — but to me, he was a hero. He fought a fiend so terrible none could stand against it — the Lugren, they called it. He saved us all. And when he was gone… the world called him a curse instead."
A tightness bloomed in Hide's chest. "His name," he asked quietly. "What was it?"
"'Hide,'" she said, as if tasting an old word that still felt warm. "Just like you."
Hide stared at her — memories pressing against the cracks in his mind. Minoa. He knew that name. He knew this voice.
He leaned forward — wrapped his arms around her small shoulders. She hugged him back without asking why.
When he pulled away, his throat burned. "Wait here," he whispered, and disappeared into the building. Minutes later, he returned — a small teddy bear cupped in his bandaged hands.
Minoa's eyes watered when she saw it. "Oh… you brought me a bear. That boy, that same boy — he gave me one too, all those years ago. Said he'd come back. I waited so long."
They sat together in the drifting breeze, side by side as the clouds above began to gather.
"Hide," she murmured. "Would you bring me a little cup of water?"
He rose without a word and went to fetch it. When he came back, the bench was so still it made his ribs ache. Minoa sat peaceful, the teddy bear cradled in her hands, her eyes closed forever.
He fell to his knees, clutching her cold fingers. Rain began to fall, soft at first — then harder, until it soaked the garden in seconds. Staff peeked out, worried faces under umbrellas, but Hide only bowed his head as blood-tears slipped down his cheek, mingling with the rain.
One nurse tried to pull him back. "Hide — you're bleeding — you can't—"
He shook her off. "I'll take her where she belongs."
Then he and Minoa vanished, leaving only the bench and the lonely bear.
He buried her under the old tree where her family lay, where his old life still whispered under the moss and stone. He carved her name beside theirs. Placed the teddy bear on her grave, just as he once did a thousand years ago.
"Forgive me," he whispered. "I'm sorry you waited so long."
He sat there through the rain. Sat there until the sun broke through again, casting the broken swing set in gold behind him. He rose, traced his name on his own grave — half-worn, half-buried in ivy. Next to it, Sona's name too. Her ribbon lay there, old and frayed. He tied it around his arm.
"It's been so long."
A rustle in the branches above him.
"Found your place at last?" a voice called. He looked up — the masked girl from his dream dangled from the tree, swaying like a ghost.
"Who are you?" Hide asked, but she only giggled, pressing a finger to her mask.
"All in time, King of Fiends. For now, take it all in. Remember what you are — before it's too late."
She vanished into mist before he could speak.
His phone buzzed — Miss Yumi's name glowing on the screen. He answered it with numb fingers.
"Hide? Where are you?" her voice snapped.
"Exploring the past," he said softly.
She exhaled. "Listen. The Zodiac expedition leaves tomorrow. If you're going — you'd better move."
She hung up before he could reply.
Hide stood alone among the graves and the ghosts. His ribbon fluttered in the breeze like a promise.
Sona's going. She'll be there. So I'll be there too.