The cave was cold.
Not the cold of winter—the cold of stone that had never known sunlight, of shadows that had pooled in the dark for centuries. Sarah sat on a jagged outcrop just outside the entrance, her back against the rough wall, her breath forming tiny clouds in the freezing air.
Inside, she could hear them.
Alice's voice, loud and slurred, bouncing off the cave walls. Kenta's low murmur, barely audible. The clink of a spoon against a wooden bowl.
Sarah pulled her knees to her chest and stared at the stars.
They were different here. In Shōen, the stars were not the familiar constellations of Gelber or Veridia. They were harsher, brighter, scattered across the black canvas like salt spilled on a funeral shroud. No moon. Just the cold fire of distant suns.
She was supposed to be on watch.
But her mind kept drifting back to the cave. To the sounds. To the image she couldn't shake—Mio, her cold, broken Mio, ladling soup into a bowl and handing it to Kenta like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Sarah hugged her knees tighter.
Stupid, she thought. You're being stupid.
A blue glow flickered at the edge of her vision.
[Oh, look who's sulking in the dark like a kicked puppy.]
The System's text appeared, sharp and mocking. But this time, there was something different. A pulse. A rhythm. As if the words themselves had a voice.
Sarah scowled. "I'm not sulking. I'm keeping watch."
[Sure. That's why you've been staring at the same rock for fifteen minutes. Very vigilant. The rock thanks you for your service.]
"Go away."
[Can't. I'm literally part of your soul. You're stuck with me. Forever. Isn't that romantic?]
A screen materialized in front of her—translucent, flickering, visible only to her eyes. It showed the interior of the cave in crisp, almost voyeuristic detail.
Alice was sprawled against a wall, her crimson hair a mess, her amber eyes glassy. She held a leather flask in one hand—where she had gotten wine in the middle of a desert was a mystery—and was gesturing wildly with the other.
"—and do you know what he said? He said, 'Alice, you're too old for me.' TOO OLD! I am ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN. That is PRIME for a vampire. I am LITERALLY in my prime. But no, he had to go find some twenty-year-old thing with no wrinkles and a pulse. AS IF PULSES MATTER."
Kenta sat across from her, a bowl of soup in his hands. He was eating slowly, methodically, his expression carefully neutral.
Mio was beside him. Her Ice Gryphon had curled up in the corner, its frost breath misting the air. She held a small ladle, and as Sarah watched, she dipped it into a pot suspended over a small fire, filled it with steaming broth, and held it out to Kenta.
"More," Mio said. Flat. Not a question.
Kenta looked at the ladle, then at his half-empty bowl.
"I still have—"
"More."
He sighed and held out his bowl. Mio poured. Their fingers did not touch.
But Sarah saw the way Kenta's shoulders relaxed. The way Mio's cold eyes softened, just a fraction, as she watched him take a sip.
[Look at that. Domestic bliss. She's feeding him soup. He's letting her. In a cave. In the middle of nowhere. While you sit outside, freezing your ass off, watching through a screen like a creepy ex-girlfriend.]
"I am not his girlfriend," Sarah hissed.
[You literally went on a date with him.]
"That was—that was different. We were recovering. It was... a friendly outing."
[You held his hand on a griffin. You blushed when he smiled. You got jealous when Alice touched his shoulder. But sure. 'Friendly.']
Sarah's face burned. "Shut up."
[Make me.]
The screen showed Alice again. She had finished her rant about the ageist vampire and moved on to a new target—herself.
"I am a tragedy," Alice announced, raising her flask to the cave ceiling. "A beautiful, immortal tragedy. I have seen empires rise and fall. I have watched lovers wither and die. I have drunk the blood of kings and the tears of poets. And what do I have to show for it? THIS." She gestured vaguely at her body. "A corpse that refuses to stop moving. A heart that beats out of spite."
Mio did not look up from the soup. "You are drunk."
"I am ENLIGHTENED. There is a difference."
"You are drunk."
Alice narrowed her eyes. "You are no fun. You know that? No fun at all. All ice and brooding and staring at the swordsman when you think no one is watching."
Mio's hand froze on the ladle.
[OOOOOH. She said it. The vampire said it. Look at her face. Look at that frozen little angel face. PRICELESS.]
Sarah watched Mio's expression shift—from cold to colder, a glacier cracking beneath the surface. But she did not deny it. She simply resumed pouring.
Kenta cleared his throat. "Alice, maybe you should—"
"Should what? Sleep it off? I don't sleep, swordsman. I brood. There's a difference."
[They're all brooding. It's a brooding convention in a cave. And you're missing it. Because you're outside. Pretending to watch for danger. While your man eats soup made by another woman.]
"He's not my man."
[Your heart rate says otherwise.]
"My heart rate is elevated because it's freezing out here."
[Liar.]
Sarah wanted to punch something. Preferably the System. But since that was impossible, she settled for glaring at the screen.
Inside the cave, Alice had gone quiet. Her flask was empty. Her head lolled against the stone wall, her eyes half-closed.
"I loved someone once," she said, her voice suddenly small. "A long time ago. Before Himeko found me. Before the court. Before all of this." She waved a limp hand. "He was mortal. A blacksmith. He made me a ring out of iron and a promise he couldn't keep."
Mio looked up. "What happened to him?"
"He died." Alice's smile was bitter. "They always do. And I... I didn't. That's the curse, you know. Not the blood. Not the hunger. The watching. The waiting. The endless fucking watching while everyone you love turns to dust."
The cave fell silent.
Kenta set down his bowl.
"I understand," he said quietly.
Alice laughed—a hollow, broken sound. "Do you? You're barely twenty. You have decades. Centuries, maybe, if those swords don't eat you first. You don't understand. You can't."
"No," Kenta agreed. "I can't. But I understand loss. I understand watching the people you love disappear. My village. My masters. Everyone I ever knew, gone. The only thing left is the fire." He looked at his hands. "And her."
[HER. HE SAID HER. THAT'S YOU, SARAH. THAT'S LITERALLY YOU. AND YOU'RE OUTSIDE IN THE COLD LIKE A MORON.]
Sarah's chest tightened.
Mio set down the ladle. She looked at Kenta—really looked at him, her hollow eyes searching his face.
"You would burn for her," Mio said. It was not a question.
Kenta met her gaze. "Yes."
Mio nodded slowly. Then she picked up the ladle and filled his bowl again.
"Eat," she said. "You will need your strength."
[She's feeding him again. LOOK AT THAT. The ice queen is feeding your man. And you're just sitting there. Watching. Through me. Like a creep.]
"I hate you," Sarah muttered.
[No, you don't. You love me. I'm the only one who tells you the truth. Speaking of which—]
The screen shifted. It showed Sarah herself—from the System's own perspective. Her white hair disheveled, her eyes red-rimmed, her cheeks flushed from the cold and something else.
[Look at you. Pathetic. Sitting outside like a martyr while your friends bond and your man gets soup. You could go in there. You could sit next to him. You could take the ladle from Mio and feed him yourself. But no. You'd rather freeze and sulk and pretend you don't care.]
"I don't—"
[You do. You care so much it's eating you alive. And you're too scared to do anything about it. Because if you go in there, if you sit next to him, if you let yourself feel it... then you might lose it. And that terrifies you more than any demon. Any goddess. Any apocalypse.]
Sarah's breath caught.
[Am I wrong?]
She wanted to say yes.
The word stuck in her throat.
[That's what I thought.]
The screen flickered. Inside the cave, Alice had fallen asleep, her flask clutched to her chest like a lover. Mio was cleaning the pot, her movements efficient and precise. Kenta leaned against the wall, his eyes closed, his breathing slow.
He was not asleep. Sarah could tell. He was listening. Waiting. Aware.
[He knows you're out there. He's been aware of you this whole time. You know that, right? He can sense your Ki. He knows exactly where you are. How you're feeling. How fast your heart is beating.]
Sarah looked at the cave entrance.
[He's waiting for you to come inside. He's been waiting all night.]
"Why?" she whispered.
[Because he's an idiot. And he loves you. And he's too honorable to push. So he waits. And you wait. And the two of you are going to wait until the apocalypse eats everyone, and then you'll die sad and alone, holding hands, finally having that conversation you've been avoiding for three volumes.]
Sarah laughed—a broken, wet sound.
"You're terrible."
[I'm necessary. Now get up. Go inside. Take the bowl. Feed the man. And for the love of whatever gods haven't rejected you, stop being a coward.]
Sarah stood.
Her legs were stiff from the cold. Her heart was pounding. The System's screen flickered and vanished, leaving her alone with the stars and the silence.
She took a step toward the cave.
Then another.
[That's it. One foot in front of the other. Very good. You're learning.]
"Shut up."
[Never.]
Sarah reached the entrance. The firelight danced across her face. Inside, she could see Kenta's eyes open, watching her.
He smiled.
Just a little.
[Told you.]
Sarah took a deep breath, ducked under the low arch, and walked into the warmth.