This time, though, unlike the previous visit, the sun was already making its way down the horizon, casting the warm orange light all over the town.
"Hmm, so it's evening, huh?" Agate softly muttered, looking up at the slowly darkening sky.
"Hmm?" he turned toward Niel, "Back in there, it's too dark, I can't differentiate what time of the day it is at all."
"Tell me more,"
"Hmm, it's this town, but deserted and dark all over." Saying that, he averted his eyes back to Niel, seeing his bright eyes averted to the ground while he kicked at small stones as they strode forward.
"What's wrong?" After Agate asked this question, there were several moments of silence as the only sound resonating was from Niel's crunching footsteps.
"Ha" Niel slowly exhaled as he looked at the now much less lively streets, "After your first visit, there have been these small disturbances. Now it's not small, but at that time, we did not think much; no one noticed that each month, a dozen people were vanishing batch by batch every few months, before it was too late."
He paused and turned his head toward a small alleyway and continued, "That area, it's completely empty."
Agate's breath became slightly heavy as he came to a stop, looking at the dark alleyway and at the main street, where there were hardly any people walking by. It only registered to him now, his previously occupied thoughts now focused on the street, his memory vividly remembering his first visit, where people were bustling by. His long lashes drooped as he lowered his vision and continuously stared at his feet.
"Is it because of me?"
Niel shook his head slowly, "Nothing is confirmed yet. It's something that started from the capital of Anthousia; now it's like every 2 or 3 months, each town in Anthousia has a mass-missing case. There's nothing to trace back at all, but my grandma said it might be something you and us are both looking for."
"Hmm," Agate did not say anything much afterwards, as they walked in silence to Niel's grandma's place.
When the house came into their sight, Niel coughed a few times, seeing Agate looking at him, he slowly exhaled a long sigh and said, "I did not mean to make you this desolate. I was just informing you of the situation, you know. I-"
He paused mid-sentence to look at Agate's expression, which did not hold his usual smile. Getting nothing out from his expression, Niel continued hesitatingly, "We still have hope, you know...I don't know what will happen in the future, despite the art of prophecy, we can't pinpoint exact details, but what I do know is that since you can travel back and forth like this, and we can see, it might be an inherent loop, you know? Maybe once this whole cycle is completed, we'll know how to get out of this situation."
This time too, he catiously examined Agate's expression, failing once again to detect anything, he just continued while awkwardly ruffling his hair with a sigh, "So what am I saying is, don't feel like you are the one who caused it. I have thought about this for some time, you know, and I think you might be able to help us."
With that, he moved forward, motioning for Agate to follow behind while he kept on muttering under his breath till they reached grandma's house, "I don't even know where that trust comes from since it's only our 2nd time meeting, hmm."
Vaguely hearing what he was mumbling on, the still face of Agate finally bloomed in a small smile.