The night had settled deep over Outpost 34, most of the base fallen quiet, the usual hum of activity reduced to distant machinery and the occasional passing patrol. Inside the captain's quarters, the air was still, dimly lit by the faint glow of a wall panel and the pale spill of moonlight through the narrow window.
Nishihara woke abruptly.
His breath caught halfway in his throat, his chest tightening as if something still had its grip on him. For a second he didn't move, just lay there with his eyes wide, staring into the dark like he hadn't fully returned yet.
Then the air hit him all at once.
He dragged in a sharp breath, then another, faster this time, his hand coming up instinctively to his chest, fingers curling into the fabric as his breathing began to spiral, uneven and shallow. The room felt wrong, too quiet, too still, his eyes flicking across the shadows, scanning the corners, the door, the ceiling, anywhere but still, as if expecting something to be standing there.
Nothing was. But the feeling didn't leave, it clung.
Slowly, painfully, he forced himself to pull in a deeper breath, holding it for a second before letting it out again, then repeating it, again and again, until the rhythm steadied and the tightness in his chest loosened just enough for the panic to begin receding.
Beside him, Yasui stirred.
'…Nishihara?'
Her voice was soft, thick with sleep as she shifted, pushing herself up onto one elbow, her eyes adjusting quickly to the dim light before settling on him.
'…Another one?'
He didn't look at her right away, only gave a slight nod, barely there.
Yasui exhaled quietly and sat up properly, brushing her hair back before reaching for him without hesitation, her hand sliding behind his head and guiding him gently toward her.
'Come here.'
He didn't resist.
His head came to rest against her chest, her arm wrapping around him and holding him close in a way that felt instinctive, familiar, like she already knew what he needed without asking. Her hand moved slowly through his hair, fingers brushing his scalp in a steady, calming rhythm.
'…What was it this time?' she asked softly.
There was a pause before Nishihara answered, his voice quieter than usual, rough at the edges.
'…Same as always.'
Another breath, slower now.
'…Corpses.'
His fingers tightened slightly against the sheets.
'They were talking again.'
Yasui didn't interrupt, just listened.
'…But this one was different.'
That made her brow knit faintly.
'How?'
A longer pause followed.
'…There was a kid,' he said finally, the words heavier than the rest. '…Small. Just standing there with them.'
His breathing had steadied, but his voice hadn't quite followed.
'…It wasn't screaming, wasn't accusing me.'
He swallowed faintly.
'…It just kept talking.'
Yasui's hand slowed slightly in his hair.
'...About?'
Nishihara's gaze drifted, unfocused.
'…Said I should free myself.'
The words lingered in the air, quiet and unsettling.
Yasui didn't respond immediately, only tightened her hold on him slightly, pressing her cheek lightly against the top of his head.
'…That's a new one,' she murmured, more to herself than to him.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Then she shifted.
Her hand slid from his hair to his jaw, guiding his face up gently until he was looking at her, her expression softened even in the dim light, still heavy with sleep but grounded and present.
'Hey.'
She leaned down and pressed a slow, gentle kiss to his lips, letting it linger just long enough to pull him out of whatever still clung to him. Then she moved, repositioning herself in the sheets until she was laying over him, one arm braced lightly beside his shoulder, the other resting against his chest.
'I'm here,' she said quietly.
Simple, certain.
Nishihara's hands came up to rest lightly at her sides, not pulling her closer, but not pushing her away either, and after a second he gave a small nod.
The tension in his body eased, just enough.
Yasui settled against him, her weight steady and grounding, her head dipping slightly to rest near his shoulder as her fingers traced slow, absent patterns across his chest again.
Neither of them spoke after that.
The silence wasn't heavy this time, just quiet.
Gradually his breathing evened out completely, the sharp edges worn down by exhaustion and her presence, his eyes drifting shut again as the remnants of the nightmare faded into something distant and indistinct.
Yasui stayed where she was, unmoving except for the slow rise and fall of her breath.
And not long after, with her still there, he slipped back into sleep.
***
Kanesaki woke slowly, not all at once, but in pieces, awareness returning in fragments while the remnants of a dream clung stubbornly to the edges of his thoughts. For a few seconds, he didn't open his eyes, just lay there beneath the sheets, suspended between sleep and waking, his mind still somewhere else.
'…Free,' he murmured under his breath, the word slipping out before he fully registered it.
His brow tightened slightly as he shifted.
'…I'm… free…'
The words didn't feel like his own. They lingered in his mouth like something borrowed, something spoken before in a place he couldn't quite reach anymore. Slowly, his breathing steadied, the weight of the dream loosening as the present pulled him back.
The room came into focus around him, dim light, familiar walls, the low, constant hum of the sanctuary filtering in from beyond the door.
He turned his head slightly.
The bed beside him was empty.
Kanesaki blinked once, then pushed himself up onto an elbow, his gaze moving across the room more deliberately now. The sheets on Yasuko's side were still disturbed, but already cooling.
A second passed.
Then the bathroom door opened.
Yasuko stepped out wrapped in a towel, damp hair falling loosely over her shoulders, droplets still trailing down her skin. She paused when she saw him awake, tilting her head slightly, studying him for a moment as if gauging how present he actually was.
'Oh,' she said lightly, 'you're up.'
Kanesaki exhaled through his nose, sitting up a little more, one hand dragging briefly across the back of his neck as he tried to shake off the last of the dream.
'Where were you?'
She gave a small shrug, adjusting the towel as she moved further into the room, completely at ease.
'Shower,' she replied, casual, 'you were out cold, looked like you'd been hit by a freight train, figured I'd let you sleep.'
A faint smirk touched her lips as she glanced at him.
'Missed you, though.'
Kanesaki let out a quiet breath that almost passed for a laugh, the tension in his shoulders easing just slightly.
'…Right.'
He hesitated, watching her for a moment before speaking again.
'Hey… have you had any weird dreams lately?'
Yasuko slowed just a fraction, her movement pausing mid-step before she looked back at him.
'Define weird.'
Kanesaki shifted, trying to find the right way to explain it, his expression tightening slightly as he searched for something concrete.
'…Like people you don't know, just… watching you,' he said, slower now, 'a pale man. Have you ever seen someone like that?'
A brief pause settled between them.
'…And there's always a butterfly,' he added, quieter this time.
Yasuko didn't react immediately, but something in her posture shifted, subtle enough that most people wouldn't notice, though Kanesaki did. Her gaze lingered on him for a second longer than usual before she turned away, reaching for her clothes.
'Sounds like your brain's messing with you,' she said, her tone deliberately casual, 'we've been through a lot the past few months, more than most people deal with in years. Stuff like that doesn't just disappear.'
She pulled a shirt free, shaking it out slightly before continuing.
'It catches up in its own way,' she added, glancing back at him briefly, 'dreams are probably just the easiest place for it to land.'
Kanesaki watched her, the explanation settling somewhere between reasonable and unsatisfying.
'…Yeah,' he said after a moment, quieter now, 'maybe.'
Yasuko slipped the shirt on, smoothing it down as she moved around the room again, her energy already shifting back toward something lighter, more familiar.
'Either way,' she went on, a faint smirk returning, 'if your dreams start telling you to do anything weird, maybe don't listen, yeah?'
Kanesaki let out a small breath, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly despite himself.
'Noted.'
He swung his legs over the side of the bed, grounding himself fully in the present now, though the faint echo of the dream still lingered at the back of his mind.
And even as the moment moved on, settling into something normal again, that feeling didn't entirely fade.
Kanesaki stayed seated for a moment longer than he needed to, the weight of the dream still lingering somewhere in the back of his mind, refusing to settle properly. Across the room, Yasuko had already moved on, pulling clothes from the drawer and slipping into them with the kind of ease that suggested none of it had stuck to her at all. The towel dropped away without ceremony, replaced almost immediately by the worn, familiar layers of sanctuary clothing.
He didn't look away fast enough, and Yasuko caught it.
She glanced over her shoulder, pausing just long enough to meet his eyes, and a slow, knowing smirk spread across her face.
'What?' she said flatly, completely unbothered, 'you being a creep this early in the morning?'
Kanesaki blinked and straightened slightly, the reaction immediate.
'I wasn't—'
'Mm-hm.' She adjusted her top, not even pretending to believe him, then gave a small, dismissive gesture toward the door. 'Go shower.'
He exhaled through his nose, rubbing the side of his neck as he stood.
'Fine.'
Yasuko had already moved on, her attention elsewhere, the moment gone for her as quickly as it had come. Kanesaki left the room with the last traces of sleep still clinging to him, one part of his mind lingering on the dream, the other trying to shake it loose.
The corridor outside felt quieter than usual, even for the sanctuary, the kind of quiet that pressed in slightly more than it should.
He'd only taken a few steps when a sharp buzzing sound cut through it.
It came from the elevator.
Kanesaki slowed, then stopped entirely as the sound repeated, urgent and deliberate, not random noise, not mechanical error, but a signal. Someone was there. He turned and headed toward it.
By the time he reached the main garage corridor, Sho and Asami were already in place. Sho looked like he'd been dragged out of sleep seconds earlier, posture loose but eyes sharpened instantly by the interruption, while Asami stood composed as ever, arms folded as she stepped toward the monitor beside the controls.
Kanesaki joined them without a word.
Asami tapped the interface, and the camera feed flickered to life. For a moment, the screen showed nothing but the empty platform outside, wind dragging dust across the stone, the distant shapes of rock formations barely visible in the dim industrial lighting.
Then the elevator arrived, the doors slid open. Someone was already inside.
Sugimoto Satoshi.
He stood there without tension, without urgency, as though he had all the time in the world. If anything, he looked relaxed, like this was nothing more than a routine visit.
Then, slowly, he raised one hand and gave a small, casual wave directly into the camera.
Sho stiffened immediately.
'…You've gotta be kidding me.'
Kanesaki's expression hardened, his eyes narrowing slightly as recognition set in.
'That's him,' he said quietly, 'the assassin from the barge.'
Sho's hand hovered near his weapon, instinct kicking in before thought could catch up.
'Why is he just standing there?' he muttered, tension creeping into his voice, 'is this a trap, or are we getting ready for a fight?'
Kanesaki didn't look away from the screen.
'If he's here alone,' he said, low and measured, 'it's either arrogance… or something worse.'
Asami, however, didn't react the same way. She leaned slightly closer to the screen, studying Sugimoto for a second longer than necessary, her expression unreadable.
Then she exhaled.
'Calm down.'
Sho turned sharply. 'Calm down!? There's an assassin in our elevator–'
'I know who he is,' Asami cut in, smooth and controlled.
Her hand moved to the panel.
'And he's here by request.'
Kanesaki frowned. 'Request?'
Chapter 80 – end