Classes had ended early that day, and the afternoon heat still clung to the air when Lucas stopped by the park before heading back to the orphanage. The wooden steps by the fence had become his usual place to think.
Lucas sat under the veranda, back against a post, letting sunlight pool on the floorboards. The world shimmered with heat, and the wooden boards felt warm beneath his fingers.
A familiar voice broke the rhythm. "You're hiding here again."
He had seen her before at the park near the school, always surrounded by noise and sunlight, a contrast to his quiet corners.
He turned. Momo stood a few steps away, her lavender-tinted hair catching the light, eyes bright with mischief. She held two paper fans and waved one toward him. "You'll melt if you stay out here."
"I'm fine," he said. "It's quiet."
"Quiet is boring." She flopped down beside him anyway. "Besides, if you really liked quiet, you wouldn't keep sitting where I can find you."
He gave her a sideways glance. "Maybe you're just loud enough to find anyone."
Momo laughed and leaned back against the post beside him. "Maybe."
For a while they said nothing. The garden hummed with life. Children shouted somewhere beyond the fence, and wind brushed through the trees.
"Do you ever wish you could go somewhere else?" she asked suddenly.
He thought about it. "Sometimes. But I'd probably miss the quiet."
She smiled. "Then you can bring it with you. A suitcase full of silence."
He shook his head, amused. "That wouldn't work."
"Sure it would," she said, pretending to zip an invisible bag. "See? All packed."
The sound of her laugh made the heat feel less heavy.
Later that evening she convinced him to walk to the river. The air cooled as the sun sank, and crickets replaced the cicadas. The water caught the light like moving glass.
They skipped stones until the sky turned orange. When the first firefly appeared, Momo gasped softly. "Look! It's starting."
More followed, glowing faint green in the growing dusk. They drifted over the grass, their tiny lights blinking in uneven rhythm.
Momo ran after them, hands cupped. "They're so small," she said, turning to him. "Do you think they know we're watching?"
"Probably not," Lucas replied, sitting on a flat stone by the bank.
She crouched near him, squinting toward the reeds. "Do you think they bite?"
"They glow. Isn't that enough?"
Momo giggled. "You say weird things."
"You ask weird questions."
"That's fair."
She tried again, moving slower this time. Her palms closed gently around one. "Got it!" she said, her voice hushed. She lifted her hands toward him. "See? It's glowing inside."
The tiny light flickered between her fingers, painting them gold.
Lucas leaned closer, watching quietly. "You should let it go."
"Why? It's pretty."
"It looks trapped."
She blinked, then opened her hands. The firefly floated upward, spiraling once before disappearing into the dark.
"I didn't mean to hurt it," she said softly.
"You didn't," he said. "You just held on too tight."
Momo thought about that for a moment. "You talk like you're old sometimes."
He gave a faint smile. "Maybe I just listen more than most kids."
She plopped down beside him again. "You listen too much. You'll start hearing ghosts."
He didn't tell her that sometimes he already did—faint hums under the earth, invisible threads of power. Instead, he nodded. "Maybe."
They sat until the air grew cool and the first temple bell echoed across town. The fireflies still drifted, blinking lazily over the river.
"My dad says we might move soon," Momo said quietly. "He's meeting people. The Shitori family. I think they're important."
Lucas looked at her. "Shitori?"
She nodded. "It's an old name, I think. Business stuff. He says it'll help with work."
He didn't answer. He recognized the name—Sitri's alias. Devils moving beneath human skin. But he kept that to himself.
When she stood to leave, she brushed dirt from her skirt. "You'll be here tomorrow, right?"
"Probably."
"Good." She smiled, waving as she walked back up the path. "If you disappear, I'll find you again."
Lucas watched her go, the last bit of sunset catching in her hair. Around him, the fireflies continued their slow dance above the water. He stayed until the last light faded, then pressed a hand over his chest.
The heartbeat beneath his palm was calm, steady, familiar. Innovate Clear stirred faintly in reply, like an echo beneath the surface of the world.
For the first time in a long while, he didn't feel completely alone.