Touko begins walking towards the spot where Horikita's blood had stained the ground, her movements regaining their usual fluid assurance.
Wrong... Wrong!
The thought cuts through my own internal chaos▬
(What's wrong?) Ignis asks, catching the shift in my focus.
I clench both my hands into fists.
I'm tired of being a coward.
I stride after Touko, grabbing her right arm from behind.
My grip is firm, my movements decisive. All hesitation is gone, burned away by a sudden, fierce clarity.
Touko looks surprised. The knowing smile on her lips falters.
"What is it, Lenah?"
"What you said about looking at you." I say, my voice holding a new, raw honesty that surprises even me.
"You are right. I... I have been an idiot."
Touko's eyes widen slightly.
"I observe. I analyze. I compartmentalize. That is how I have survived in this world." My grip on her arm tightens almost imperceptibly.
"It is how I have approached everything. How I have approached you."
I take a deep breath.
"But when you said… when you said I had never seen you… I realized. That was the truth."
I meet her gaze, willing her to understand.
"I saw your Ki, your potential, your strength, and your impulsiveness. I saw my student, my responsibility, Horikita's sister. But I did not see… Touko."
My grip on her arm loosens, the firmness softening into a touch that is no longer a demand, but a question.
"And then, when I finally tried to truly connect—to actually see you—I... I panicked. I retreated. I am still learning this. This… This feeling."
My eyes drop to my grip on her arm, then back up to her face, my gaze holding a raw vulnerability I have never allowed anyone to see.
"And when you said you should go look for Kita, I realized I was still being a coward. I was running away. From you. From myself."
My voice, usually so controlled, cracks slightly.
"I am sorry, Touko."
"But I want to learn,"
"I want to understand. I want to… to see you. Truly see you."
Her silver eyes—the right one with its small mole—are wide, searching my face.
"...Lenah," Touko whispers.
"You… you mean that?"
I nod, my gaze unflinching.
Her eyes soften, and a genuine, fragile smile touches her lips. It's not her usual mischievous grin, but something far more tender.
"Ara, ara... Looks like Onee-chan isn't the only one who's innocent about these things," Touko teases softly, a faint blush on her cheeks.
But the teasing is gentle, affectionate. No bite.
She lifts her free hand, and her fingers gently touch my cheek.
"It's alright, Lenah," Touko says, her thumb caressing my skin.
"We can learn… together."
And it's in that moment, as her thumb continues its gentle caress, that for the first time, I think I truly understand what it means to be seen.
Her hand moves from my cheek, trailing down my neck, over the curve of my collarbone, and then, slowly, deliberately, her fingers spread, covering the two scars on my left breast—the thin line running high towards my collarbone, and the slice across the upper muscle. Her thumb rests gently over my areola.
"And," Touko says, leaning closer into my ear.
"I suppose you'll need a proper lesson on just how soft a woman's breast can be."
A low groan escapes my lips.
(Lenah! Snap out of it!)
(Sh-she's doing it on purpose! Don't let her!)
Too… intoxicating.
"Mou..."
"Looks like this lesson is already proving to be quite effective, hm?" Touko giggles softly, my face flushes, and I—
I notice a camera on a nearby light post.
"Lenah?"
I flinch, pulling away from Touko.
It's fixed on us.
"What is it?" Touko asks.
"A camera," I mutter.
"We... we were being watched."
"A camera?" Touko repeats, her voice softening. She doesn't seem alarmed, only curious. She glances at the light post, then back at me.
"What's a camera?" Touko asks, tilting her head.
I shake my head, trying to process the sudden rush of information.
"It's a device. It records images. We… we were being recorded."
Touko's eyes widen, not with alarm, but with a strange, almost amused curiosity.
"Recorded?" Touko whispers.
"By whom?"
I don't have an answer. A camera… in this ruined city? Who would be operating it? And why?
"I don't know,"
"But it means… someone knows we're here."
The heat drains from my face. Someone saw. Someone saw me… losing control. Saw Touko… and me…
Wait... Someone?
I look towards the blood on the ground.
Could this be connected to Horikita?
No body... Or blood that could point to where she was taken.
They must be skilled—beyond even my heightened senses—to have taken her without a trace.
Though, why would they take Horikita if she was corrupted?
"Unless…"
They weren't trying to harm her. What if they were trying to save her?
Touko puts both her hands on my face and holds it gently, forcing me to meet her gaze.
"What are you thinking so hard about, Lenah?" Touko asks.
I turn my head to look back at her.
(What are you saying, Lenah? Wouldn't whatever this camera is just be controlled by those things?)
I suppose that's the logical conclusion, but what if they had someone who could hack the cameras?
(Hack? What are you talking about?)
It's a way of breaking into systems, gaining control. I've only heard whispers of it, but if a human with that skill is here...
(Humans? Here? After all this time? Don't be naive, Lenah.)
Ignis, do you believe a machine, or rather, the corruption, could take away Horikita without a trace of a body?
(…No. That seems unlikely. The corruption is brutish. Destructive. It consumes; it does not take.)
Exactly. Which means whoever took Horikita is likely not aligned with the corruption. They are a third party. And if they have access to technology like this… they could be very advanced. But why? Why take her? Why take a girl who is already succumbing to the one thing in this world we have no defense against? It makes no sense to risk so much for a lost cause…
Unless…
My breath catches. The thought is so audacious, so contrary to everything I know about this world, that it almost feels like madness.
Unless it is not a lost cause.
(Lenah, what—)
What if they have something we do not? Something we thought impossible. A cure.
(A cure?)
(Lenah, that is a fantasy. Nothing but whispers born of desperation. There is no cure for corruption. There is only the end.)
But the facts do not fit, Ignis! A clean abduction. Advanced technology. Taking a corrupted girl... It is completely illogical. Unless you add one more variable: the possibility of a cure. Then, it is the only thing that makes sense. It is the only reason to take such a risk.
I turn my head fully to meet Touko's gaze, my own eyes wide with the force of this new, terrifying hope.
"I believe," I say slowly,
"That Horikita may be alive."
Touko's grip on my face tightens, her eyes searching mine for any hint of deceit.
"I see..." Touko releases my face and places her hand on her chest.
"I'm glad to hear you say that," Touko says, and the relief in her voice is so profound, so clear, it's almost a physical force.
I place my hand on hers and give it a gentle squeeze.
"Let's go," I say, my voice firm with renewed purpose.
Touko nods, her eyes shining with a trust that feels different now—less like a subordinate's and more like a partner's.
"Mm. I'm right behind you, Lenah."
I release her hand and turn towards the broken city.
The path ahead is as uncertain as ever, but for the first time, it doesn't feel like I am walking it alone.