Cassie thought for a moment before answering.
"It's difficult to explain properly. Whenever there is a sound around me, I can tell where it came from and what it hit. My mind sort of... puts everything together."
She raised a hand slightly, gesturing towards the surrounding area.
"I can tell where the ground is, where the rocks are, where you and Neph are sitting, even where Rein is."
Sunny nodded slowly.
"So you can basically see through sound?"
"Not exactly. I don't see colors or anything like that, and if something doesn't make any sound at all, I might not notice it immediately. But for moving around, it's much better than being completely blind."
"I see."
After a pause, he continued, his tone suggesting innocent curiosity.
"But how did Reinhard give it to you? Did you suddenly just gain a new sense altogether?"
Cassie was silent for a moment.
Then she shook her head slightly.
"That is something Reinhard should explain himself."
Sunny blinked.
It wasn't a refusal delivered with hostility, nor did she sound uncomfortable with the question. She simply sounded certain that she wasn't going to answer it.
"Oh."
So she isn't going to tell me.
"Well, it's quite confusing. I didn't think Reinhard had a support-like Aspect ability that allowed him to do something like giving certain abilities to others. Giving someone a completely new sense is even more surprising."
Suddenly, the expression on Cassie's face changed from neutral to a faint smile. Her eyes opened slightly, and she looked down as if recalling something.
"He is quite amazing like that. I don't even know the extent of everything he can do."
Sunny, who was sitting closest to her, could clearly see the expression on her face. There was something almost wistful about that smile.
He was left bewildered.
Wait, wait, wait! Now I get what's going on here!
It was pretty easy to make an assumption from the look on her face.
She definitely likes him, doesn't she?
Although that was amusing to know, it was none of his business, so Sunny focused on the other piece of information he had realized.
That means two things. Either even she doesn't know much about him, or, if she does know a lot, then what she knows is so broad that Reinhard's complete extent of capabilities with his Aspect is too much for her to understand or figure out completely.
Having completed his analysis quickly, Sunny spoke up.
"You don't?"
"No," she paused for a moment before continuing in a quieter voice. "He never really tells me much either."
Unfortunately, that was quite believable.
At that moment, Sunny couldn't really think of anything to say. Even saying something that confirmed he understood what she was saying would reveal that he had been prying into Reinhard's abilities.
Fuck.
In the midst of that silence, he ended up noticing Nephis from the corner of his eye.
She was staring at him strangely.
I should have been more roundabout, huh?
The excitement had gotten to him too much.
At almost the same time, Cassie's expression changed.
The small smile she had been wearing disappeared, and she turned her face towards Sunny with a seriousness that was completely different from her earlier demeanor.
"I don't think we should keep talking about him like this."
Cassie wasn't angry, but her tone told him that this wasn't something she was going to negotiate about. He wasn't going to try anyway; that would only make his intentions seem even more obvious and suspicious.
The conversation had started naturally, and because Cassie had been so willing to talk, he had gradually moved closer and closer to what he actually wanted to know without noticing how obvious his questions were becoming.
And now he had reached the boundary.
Sunny scratched his cheek and gave a small, harmless smile.
"Alright. I was just curious."
Cassie nodded.
"I know."
Sunny laid down on his spot once again, intending to process what he had been told.
He could feel Neph's gaze on him. One that was clearly saying:
I know what you were trying to do there.
***
The day went by with nothing much happening.
Now, a blood-red blaze of the setting sun was spread across the sky.
Sunless, Nephis, and Reinhard prepared themselves for the attack by Nightmare Creatures at night.
Dealing with them, however, turned out to be quite easy; they just had to ambush and push the bulky creatures off the cliff before they could find stable purchase.
Reinhard received a total of nine fragments, taking him from 63 to [72/1000] soul fragments. Sadly, the soul shards couldn't be retrieved.
They decided to spend another day at the cliffs.
The whole day was spent with Sunless training his swordsmanship; Reinhard training Cassie or by himself; and Nephis meditating near the edge.
Soon, the night was upon them again.
This time, no scavenger tried to climb the cliffs, so Sunny and Nephis could rest easy.
While the three of them, including Cassie, went to sleep, Reinhard stayed up on watch.
Now he sat alone, a good distance away from the three sleeping sleepers.
He would also occasionally scout the area to look out for Nightmare Creatures, though now that the Dark Sea had completely risen and remained at the top for a good few hours, it was doubtful that any of the scavengers would climb up.
It was better to be cautious than anything else, though.
There wasn't much else demanding his attention, so the quiet of the night gave Reinhard plenty of time to think.
He also trained his soul essence control a few times in between.
And in the midst of that silence, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from behind.
He was a little surprised to hear them, so Reinhard turned his head slightly.
Cassie was standing there, an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face.
Although he could see traces of... sadness?
There were no signs on her face indicating that she had woken up from sleep.
Reinhard quickly realized that she was waiting for the others to sleep before approaching him, meaning she wanted to talk about something secretly.
This spells trouble.