Loneliness kills.
Unless one is exceptional, or something entirely different from human.
For ordinary people, loneliness becomes a blade that can take a life.
Amiya lowered her head to hide her embarrassment. To be comforted by a stranger and cry into his chest... it had been so long since she had seen a person that such a mishap occurred.
She had wandered through many worlds and conversed with people. But those were not conversations between humans, but between a god and mortals, unable to ignite any emotion in Amiya.
Yujin was a variable she couldn't control, one of the few who rejected her power. If she wanted to kill him, she could use other means, but her usual method of sealing via Originium was countered, leaving her at a loss.
Wiping away her tear stains, Amiya lifted her head. Her state could be described as pathetic for a Demon King, but Yujin waited patiently for her to stand.
"…So, you have absolutely no idea why you're here?"
"Yeah."
This wasn't a place an ordinary person could reach. Even if they did, they would have to pay a massive price.
The girl who had endured decades, centuries in a place where no one came, looked at Yujin and thought: Maybe, just maybe. Could this person become my companion?
"I don't even know where this is, and it's my first time seeing it. That's why I was hoping you could explain..."
At that moment, without warning, Yujin‘s body began to be enveloped in starlight. Both Amiya and Yujin reached out in panic, but his fingertips were already fading into light.
"W-wait. Why? I don't even know why I came here...!"
"Yujin!"
Amiya reached out, creating Originium, but she couldn't stop his body from disappearing. Thinking quickly, she shouted a warning to Yujin, perhaps the last person she would ever meet.
"Demon! Beware the Demon! That is your next...!"
A single piece of advice.
That was the last conversation with Amiya.
It was summer, yet gazes clashed in the chillingly cold hospital room.
Raquelamalin meeting Yujin had been pure coincidence. Shoplifting at a convenience store was hardly fitting for a princess, but Yujin had shown her kindness despite the shameful first encounter.
In Kazdel, the title of Banshee Princess might command respect, but not in Kazimierz.
It didn't take long to realize that. Infected, Sarkaz. Stripped of everything else, only those two labels remained, making life difficult.
She wasn't immature, but the shackles of being Sarkaz and Infected weighed heavily on Larin and Kisharsinagh. Even among Infected, Sarkaz were shunned and hated. Yet there were too few Sarkaz in Kazimierz to band together.
Dropped into a foreign country, knowing nothing.
She felt like an outcast. Larin struggled to survive. Fleeing knights hunting Infected, she lived while caring for Kisharsinagh.
Until she met Yujin.
The person who helped her at the convenience store. She thought he was ordinary, but he wasn't. A fleeting connection re-established by Kisha, and Yujin saved her without hesitation.
From then on, Raquelamalin joined Yujin‘s journey.
Yujin challenged the impossible, knowing the odds. He antagonized the Armorless Union, knowing the danger.
Larin tried to stop him, warned him. Told him it could end in a precipice. Yet Yujin never chose to run.
Because that was his nature.
His sharp eyes made him look like a wolf, but a brief conversation revealed his gentle nature.
Being saved, receiving help—it would be strange not to develop feelings. Despite the constant crises, Yujin never once showed frustration in front of the children or Larin.
And, perhaps...
Stopping her thoughts, she returned to the cold hospital room. Looking into Theresa‘s eyes, she understood the feeling.
She had been terribly lonely in Kazimierz, and the knight had helped the princess without hesitation.
The Theresa in front of her was likely the same.
"…I don't know what right you have to act like this."
There was no need for kindness. Theresa treated Larin with hostility, so she would return it in kind.
"Hah..."
Hearing Larin‘s words, Theresa brushed her bangs aside irritably. She had suspected, and she was right.
Buldrokk had dismissed it as overreacting, but Theresa knew. Larin didn't see Yujin merely as a benefactor. Looking at him lying in the hospital bed, her eyes dripped with worry.
A woman's jealousy burns hot. Even if Theresa looked harmless like a country girl, she couldn't be harmless toward someone eyeing what was hers.
"If I had been there instead of you, it would have been better."
Theresa‘s words scattered like shrapnel, piercing Larin‘s heart. Yujin ending up half-dead in the hospital was largely due to the incident in Sector Zero.
"Why don't you help before talking? Unlike someone who was preparing to watch the match in comfort, I was different."
Larin gently let go of Yujin‘s hand and spoke to Theresa.
Hearing her sharp retort, Theresa stared at Buldrokk and Theresis. Buldrokk looked away, and Theresis sighed.
Buldrokk and Theresis, who left early but got lost and arrived late.
Theresa and Kalaisha, who learned to drive and found the way immediately.
If Theresis hadn't hidden the truth and the four of them had come to Kazimierz quickly, Yujin‘s burden would have inevitably been lighter.
As Theresa‘s glare continued, Larin tilted her head and spoke.
"Before blaming others, why not look back at your own actions? Reflecting on whether you bought resentment is a good habit."
Hearing Larin‘s words, Theresa‘s mask began to crack. Seeing Yujin hurt had already driven her anger to the peak. Now, this unknown woman was scratching at her temper.
Crackle, grind...
Dust began to gather in the air. Recognizing the precursor to Arts, Larin lightly gripped her bone-whistle. Just as it was about to reach critical mass...
"Both of you, stop acting pathetic in front of a patient."
The clear sound of a staff striking the floor echoed, and a fur coat fluttered. Kalaisha, leaning in a corner of the room, spoke.
Her hair pinned back with the clip Yujin gave her, revealing one clear indigo eye. Kalaisha slowly stood up like a mediator, looking at Buldrokk and Theresis.
"Fighting now changes nothing. The responsibility doesn't lie with you two. Ah, except for two idiots who acted foolishly for petty reasons."
Buldrokk and Theresis flinched at her words. Seeing Kalaisha‘s fierce eyes, they averted their gazes.
Kalaisha clicked her tongue and approached the bed. There lay Yujin, sleeping like the dead. Seeing him, Kalaisha‘s eyes sank quietly.
Wake up.
Wake up soon...
Her hero couldn't end like this. A hero was someone who never lost. Kalaisha remembered what Yujin had said last season.
The tender boy who comforted her.
Since then, her heart had been dyed in his color. Whether it was love or vague admiration, she didn't know, but she was certain she was tainted by him. Three years was enough time to fully understand the boy named Yujin.
She hadn't known such things were happening in Kazimierz, but if she had, she would have followed him herself.
She just resented that fact.
She wanted to blame someone, but it had already happened. Then, she had to think about preparation for the future.
Fortunately, they were in a hospital with Kazimierz‘s best medical staff. An assassin might target Yujin, but few in all of Terra could pierce through everyone in this room to reach him.
So she could only hope. Hoping only for Yujin to open his eyes soon, Kalaisha gently tidied his messy hair.
"…Ah."
Until Yujin cautiously opened his eyes.
"Yujin? Yujin! Are you awake?!"
As Yujin opened his eyes, everyone in the room gathered around the bed. Kalaisha called his name in surprise, but Yujin frowned and spoke.
"…Don't speak so loudly. My head hurts."
A brief reunion, the waiting of friends.
It was the return of the knight who had set Kazimierz ablaze.