The moon hung motionless overhead, bathing the deserted city in its pale light.
Reize leaned his shoulder against the wall, looking at the moon through a small barred window next to the back door of the café. She lit a cigarette with automatic movements, his mind wandering aimlessly.
"How did we end up like this…? Damn it… I just hope it doesn't destroy us completely", she thought, letting the smoke escape slowly from his lips as memories from hours ago came back to his mind.
After washing the dishes and putting away the few supplies that remained, she had met up with Koen and Arika. Then they took turns watching from the dusty windows, alert to any movement outside.
But as the minutes passed, the tension inside the café grew like an invisible tide, heavy and suffocating. What was happening in the streets was too terrible to put into words.
And Arika... after what had happened that morning, she seemed to have built an even higher wall around herself. She refused to rest, her senses sharpened, as if she feared the world would break apart again at any moment.
Even so, human exhaustion is unforgiving. Little by little, everyone fell asleep, overcome by fatigue.
Reize was the first to wake up. She saw the deep darkness outside the windows and, careful not to make a sound, she slipped to the back of the café, not wanting to disturb their fragile rest.
She returned from her memories with a sigh. There, alone, she smoked. Thinking. Carrying silences, she didn't know how to let go.
A voice broke the stillness:
—I didn't know you smoked.
Reize turned with a start, instinctively hiding the cigarette. It was Koen.
—Koen… —she murmured, relaxing a little—. You're awake.
He nodded, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
—And Arika? — asked Reize.
—She's still asleep —replied Koen with a half-smile—. At least for now.
He moved a little closer, without invading her space.
—Do you mind if I stay with you? —she asked.
Reize blinked, somewhat taken aback.
—What for? —Reize asked.
—To relax a little and forget everything... like you —Koen said, looking at the moon.
—I don't know what you mean—Reize said, scratching her head.
—No need to deny it, I noticed —Koen said, shrugging—. So… will you give me a cigarette?
Reize let out a soft, resigned laugh and handed him one.
—Here you go. But only if you promise not to tell Arika on me.
Koen took the cigarette, amused.
—Would her reaction be that bad?
—She'd give me an endless lectura —Reize replied—. And the worst part is, she'd be righ.
—Don't worry. I won't say anything —Koen laughed—. Besides, if she's so strict with you, I imagine I'd get a scolding too.
—No doubt —said Reize, letting out a soft laugh.
They lit their cigarettes and shared the silence for a moment, as the smoke dissolved into the cold air.
—I'm not a smoker —Koen confessed, bringing the cigarette to his lips—. But some nights just call for it.
—I understand —Reize said, smiling wearily.
The moment stretched out, quiet, until Reize spoke:
—What happened with Arika today worries me —she said softly —. The way she was so excited… so alert… it unsettles me.
Koen nodded thoughtfully.
—I know … —he said quietly —. I'm worried about Arika too.
Reize raised an eyebrow, surprised by the sincerity in his tone. It was the first time Koen had admitted something like that so directly. It was as if the invisible wall that had existed between them since they met had cracked.
—Wow … —she said, smiling slightly —. I didn't expect to hear that from you. I didn't think you cared that much, since you seemed more… distant before.
—Don't exaggerate —Koen snorted, looking away —. I'm just worried about her as a teammate, that's all. If we help her, she'll get over it in time.
—Just as a teammate? —Reize tilted her head, a mocking sparkle in her eyes—. Mhm… sure, sure.
Koen frowned.
—I'm telling you, it's not what you think.
—I'm not thinking anything —she replied, amused—. Although … —She paused briefly, resting her elbow on the table— I admit that your change is interesting. Maybe Arika has a special effect on people.
Koen sighed, as if he would rather leave the subject there, but Reize softened her expression.
—But joking aside, you're right. The best thing we can do is help her let her guard down little by little. If she feels she's not alone, maybe that tension she carries will dissolve over time. —said Reize, letting the smoke escape from her lips.
Koen nodded silently, although the look she gave him afterwards said more than he was willing to admit out loud.
After a few brief minutes of silence, Reize glanced sideways at Koen with a small, mischievous smile.
—By the way… —he said, feigning casualness—today… you two seemed very close.
Koen, who was just taking a drag, choked on the smoke and coughed several times.
—¿What …? —he managed to say, his voice hoarse.
Reize burst out laughing and patted him on the back a couple of times.
—Oh, don't be like that. I just made an innocent comment… —she said, but her eyes sparkled with mischief.
—I don't know what you're talking about… —Koen grumbled, trying to compose himself.
—Really? —She raised an eyebrow, leaning slightly toward him —. Then who was I watching a few hours ago with Arika leaning on your shoulder, so calm, and you didn't move an inch to push her away?
Koen looked at her with annoyance, but he couldn't help feeling cornered.
—Well…whatever you say —he sighed—. That was just to cheer her up. I saw she was sad, that's all. Don't get the wrong idea.
—Mmm… yeah, sure … —Reize murmured, drawing out the last word as he smiled mischievously —. But you know… if I see something like that again, I'm going to start thinking you're developing feelings for her …
Koen clenched his hands and said nothing for a moment. Reize expected him to deny it sarcastically as usual, but instead, after a tense silence, he spoke in a deep voice:
—… And would there be anything wrong with that?
Reize froze. She hadn't expected to hear him say something so direct.
—Wait…what? —she whispered, somewhere between surprised and amused —. I suspected it, but hearing it from you… I really didn't see that coming.
—I… I'm not entirely sure yet … — Koen admitted, looking away and fidgeting with his hands—. But it seems to be what you say… even though I try to deny it to myself. Besides, this is something new for me… and I'm not quite sure what to do with it.
Reize smiled softly, this time without mockery.
—You know, when you put it like that… you remind me of her.
Koen frowned.
—Arika? Why?
—Because Arika is also learning —she replied—. Everything is new to her: joy, sadness, anger… even love. All those emotions are strange and unfamiliar to her.
Koen looked at her, puzzled.
—Is it like those people who can't feel emotions?
—Not exactly —Reize shook his head—. It's not that he can't feel them, it's that he has a hard time figuring them out. His brain doesn't process them as quickly, so he needs time to understand what they mean... and sometimes he doesn't even know what to call them.
—I see … —murmured Koen—. That's why, sometimes, her expressions don't seem to match what's going on around her.
Reize nodded with a sigh.
—That's right. And not everyone has the patience to understand her… that's why I always worry about her.
Koen looked down and said firmly:
—I would too if I were you …
Reize watched him for a moment, recognizing that the hardness he used to see in him was slowly softening... and even though he wouldn't admit it openly, he already knew that Arika had begun to crack his walls.
He leaned his back against the wall, looking up at the sky.
—When I met her, she was like a blank canvas. She didn't understand joy or pain. She didn't remember her past. She was just… there, like a little shadow
Reize's voice grew lower, almost a whisper.
—They told me they found her alone in the snow. No name. No home. And no emotions. And that came to light when one of the children at the orphanage died. She didn't flinch and carried on as if nothing had happened. She didn't understand what it meant to lose someone. So the other children started to see her as a freak, to make fun of her, to leave her out.
Reize squeezed the cigarette between his fingers, as if holding back the anger of the memory.
—One day I saw her being bullied by another child. I defended her… and that's when I realized that Arika wasn't insensitive. She just… hadn't learned to feel yet. But she had a beautiful heart, with emotions as sincere as anyone else's, even if the world couldn't see it yet.
Hearing this, a mixture of anger and sadness was reflected on Koen's face.
His hands trembled slightly as he put the cigarette away.
The moon continued to shine above, indifferent.
But below, in the small darkness shared by two worried hearts, something new was beginning to grow: a silent bond of protection.
Koen looked away from the window and toward the dark interior of the café.
A dense knot formed in his chest, so tight it almost hurt.
Arika…
He thought he understood her, that her silence and strange calm were just part of her character.
But now he saw how much she had had to endure alone, how much she had struggled in silence, in a world she didn't even fully understand.
The mere thought of her, small, trembling in the snow, forgotten by everyone... turned his stomach.
"I wish I could have been there for her."
The thought sprang to his mind with fierce, sincere clarity.
Not only because of how he felt about her... but because he knew that someone like Arika deserved to be cared for, respected, loved, even if she didn't yet fully understand what that meant.
He squeezed the cigarette between his fingers, letting the ember slowly burn out.
I won't let her be alone again.
He turned his head toward Reize, who was still silently observing the night, as if she too felt the gravity of what they had just shared.
Koen made a promise to himself:
No matter how long it took... he would find a way to reach Arika, to teach her, with patience and tenderness, what it meant to be loved.
Reize noticed the heavy silence that had fallen, but she didn't break it right away. Somehow, she understood that Koen needed his own space to process everything.
Finally, she exhaled the last of the smoke and crushed the cigarette against the old rusty flowerpot they used as a makeshift ashtray.
—You know? —Reize said, her voice calm but charged with a strange tenderness—. I'm glad it's you.
Koen blinked, surprised.
—That it's me… what?
Reize smiled, one of those tired but sincere smiles.
—That you're the one who has earned her trust. It's not easy for Arika… but if anyone can stay by her side, I think it's you. Even though it may not seem like it, the two of you have more in common than you think.
Koen glanced at her sideways.
—Do you really think so?
—Yes… —Reize said confidently —. I think you'll be a great help to Arika… just as she will be to you.
Koen looked down, feeling the heat rising to his face, not from embarrassment, but from a mixture of gratitude and resolve.
—Thank you … —he murmured—. I don't know if I'll be enough, but… I'll try.
Reize patted him on the arm, like an older sister encouraging him.
—That's all that matters. Don't leave her alone.
They stayed like that for a moment longer, looking out at the night through the window. There was no need to say anything else.
Finally, Reize stretched her arms with a silent yawn.
—We'd better get back. I don't want Arika to wake up and think we abandoned her.—she joked, lightening the mood.
Koen chuckled softly and nodded.
They blew out the makeshift candle that lit up the back, and together they returned silently to the central part of the café, where the calm of sleep still protected the little refuge that the three of them were slowly building.