He is gone.
Finally gone.
I watch his figure disappear into the darkness—that boy, that thing that shouldn't exist, walking away like he owns the world. Like he belongs here.
Like he's not a monster at all.
My legs give out.
I collapse onto the grass. The cold night air hits my skin—sharp, alive, nothing like the sterile emptiness of my world. The grass crushes beneath me, releasing that green smell I still don't have words for.
Haa... haa...
I'm panting.
For no reason.
My body shouldn't need to breathe this hard. I don't need to breathe at all. But here, in this world, my body does whatever it wants. Reacts however it wants.
Like it knows something I don't.
That sensation.
Every time I'm near him.
It keeps my Exofail active.
No matter what I try.
No matter how hard I focus.
No matter how much I want to be normal.
I grab my own throat.
Squeeze.
Maybe if I cut off the air, the feeling will stop.
Maybe if I hurt myself, the burning will focus somewhere else.
Maybe—
cough... cough
Haa... haa..
Stop it.
Stop being dramatic.
You're not human.
You don't get to act like one.
I force myself to sit up.
The field stretches around me—dark now, lit only by the things in the sky. And there are so many of them. Thousands. Millions. Little lights scattered across the black like someone threw glowing sand at the darkness.
But also—
Other things.
What are those?
I look up.
Dozens of them. Bigger than the lights. Round. Glowing faintly. Scattered across the sky like someone hung lanterns and forgot to take them down.
Capsules.
That's what they look like. Giant glowing capsules floating in the darkness. Some are bright white. Some are pale yellow. Some have this soft orange tint, like they're warming themselves.
Thirty-one.
I count them.
Thirty-one glowing capsules in the sky.
What are they for?
Who put them there?
Why do they glow but not fall?
I don't know.
I don't know anything about this world.
I lay there for long moments.
Staring at the capsules. At the lights. At the endless dark between them.
He said he'd come back tomorrow.
He said he'd be here.
Why?
Why would anyone come back for me?
I think about the way he looked at me. Not with fear—not anymore. Not with anger, even though he should. Just... curiosity. Like I was a puzzle he was trying to solve.
He should hate me.
I erased his friends.
I erased all of them.
But he just... stands there.
Talks to me.
Like I'm normal.
Like I'm—
I stop the thought.
It's dangerous.
All of it is dangerous.
A noise.
Footsteps on the road. Running. Fast. Desperate.
I sit up. Look toward the sound.
A figure emerges from the darkness. Small. Panting. Black hair flying behind her. School uniform—white shirt, blueish skirt, black coat. A bag bouncing against her hip.
She's running.
Toward me.
Toward the field.
She skids to a stop when she sees me.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! It's getting so late!"
She doubles over, hands on her knees, gasping for air.
I stare at her.
She's... young. My age? Younger? Hard to tell. Black hair—long, straight, messy from running. Red eyes.
Red eyes.
Like mine.
She straightens up. Catches her breath. Looks around.
"Where am I? Is this still the road to Chensa?"
"Chensa is that way." I point behind her.
Her face falls. "Oh no. I'm going the wrong way. I've been running the wrong way this whole time?"
"I don't know. Which way are you trying to go?"
"Chensa. I need to get to Chensa before—" She stops. Looks at the sky. At the capsules. At the darkness. "Before... now. I needed to be there before now. I'm so late."
Late.
For what?
Who's waiting for her?
She pats her bag. Checks inside. Makes a frustrated noise.
"No flashlight. Of course. Why would I have a flashlight? That would be too convenient." She looks at the dark road ahead. Then at me. Then at the road again.
Then at me.
"Um."
I wait.
"Would you maybe—" She hesitates. "No, never mind. That's weird. You're a stranger. I can't ask a stranger to—" She stops herself.
"Actually, I'm going to ask anyway. Would you maybe want to walk with me? Just until the fork? It's dark and I don't have a light and I'm already lost and—"
She keeps talking.
I stop listening after a while.
She wants to walk together.
In the dark.
With me.
Why?
Doesn't she know what I am?
Can't she feel it?
"—and it's totally fine if you say no! I'm not trying to be weird! I just—I don't want to be alone right now. In the dark. Lost. You know?"
I look at her.
Really look.
Black hair. Red eyes. School uniform. Out of breath. Alone.
Alone.
I know that feeling.
"Okay."
Her eyes go wide. "Really?!"
I stand. Brush grass from my clothes.
"Yes. But I'm going to Mingia. Not Chensa."
"That's fine! That's perfect! We can walk together until the fork!" She's already moving, already talking, already existing in that way humans do.
How do they do that?
How are they not afraid?
We walk.
The road stretches ahead—dark, empty, lined with shapes I can't quite see. The capsules above provide just enough light to see the path. Thirty-one of them, watching.
She talks.
The whole time.
"I'm Kurumi, by the way. I don't think I said that. Too busy panicking about being lost in the dark." She laughs at herself. "Today has been a disaster. First the transfer papers, then the line at the office that took forever, then the office was closed when I finally got to the front, and now I'm lost on some random road in the middle of the night."
She keeps going.
I listen.
Not because I care. Because I don't know how to stop her.
"—and the worst part is, I don't even know what I'm going to do now. Go back tomorrow? Try again? Hope the office is actually open this time?" She sighs. "Living alone is hard, you know? No one to remind you about things. No one to say 'hey, maybe check if the place is open before you walk an hour to get there.'"
Living alone.
She lives alone.
Like me.
"What are those?" I point up. At the capsules.
She looks. Blinks. "The moons?"
Moons.
"Is that what they're called?"
She stares at me. A long look. "You... don't know what moons are?"
I know now.
"Thirty-one of them," I say. "I counted."
"Yeah, Ilsa has a lot. More than anywhere else, I think." She shrugs. "I grew up in Maedarok, so I'm used to watch them. They're just... there. Always watching."
Always watching.
Like eyes.
"Do they have names?"
"Probably? I don't know them. No one really names them. There's too many." She grins.
"You could name them, if you want. Name all thirty-one. Your new hobby."
Name them.
Thirty-one capsules.
Thirty-one watchers.
I don't tell her I'm considering it.
---
We walk more.
She talks more.
I learn. Her name is Kurumi, she's told me twice now. She's transferring schools because she moved—alone. She doesn't mention parents. She's been living by herself for a while. She hates being late more than anything. She's scared of the dark but won't admit it. She thinks I'm "mysterious" and "probably really interesting if you talked more".
I don't tell her I've talked more tonight than I have in centuries.
We reach a fork in the road.
One path goes right—toward Chensa, she says. One goes straight—toward Mingia.
She stops.
"Well." She looks at the left path. Dark. Winding. Empty. Then at me. "This is me."
I nod.
"Thanks for walking with me. Seriously. I would've been so lost without you." She pauses. "More lost. I was already lost. But less lost now."
"You're welcome."
She hesitates.
"Hey, um..." She shifts her weight. "I know this is random, and we just met, and you probably have your own stuff going on, but... could I have your name? So I can, like, remember this night? The night a random stranger saved me from wandering in the dark forever?"
My name.
She wants my name.
"I am Ar..."
Why am I stopping?
Why can't I say my own name?
"Arcueid."
"Arcueid." She tests it. Smiles. "Oh my, that's a cute name! Like you!"
Cute.
She called me cute.
Why?
"Okay, Arcueid!" She waves. "Maybe I'll see you around! In Chensa! Or Mingia! Or wherever! Bye!"
She runs.
Disappears into the dark.
I stand there for a moment.
Kurumi.
She wasn't afraid.
She talked to me like I was normal.
Like I was just another person on the road.
Like I wasn't—
I shake my head.
---
[ MINGIA, NEIGHBOURING VILLAGE ]
A few moments later, I cross into the next village.
"WELCOME TO MINGIA"
A sign. Crude. Painted. Unlike the last village, which had nothing.
Hmph.
Show-off.
The sky is dark—proper night. Stars scattered across the black like someone threw diamonds at velvet. Lanterns flicker along the streets. People still move, still talk, still live.
I pass a food stall. Something catches my eye. A snack. Fried. Golden. Smelling of oil and spices.
"Custody of Culehara," the vendor calls out. "Fresh! Hot! Best in Mingia!"
Custody of Culehara.
What does that even mean?
I buy one.
Take a bite.
It tastes... good.
I guess.
"Sir, aren't these foods getting too pricy lately?" A man nearby, talking to the vendor. "Last month they were half this rate."
The vendor shrugs. Apologetic. "We can't help it, sir. We ain't receiving that much goods from Maedarok anymore. Supply's down, prices go up. You know how it is."
Maedarok.
The place Kurumi mentioned.
---
I walked.
"Bastard, keep moving!"
"Get out, motherf—"
"Where the fuck you looking, worthless kid?"
I stopped.
Down an alley. Three men. Surrounding someone smaller. Younger. A boy, maybe fourteen, pressed against a wall.
They're hitting him. Shoving him. Laughing.
Bullies.
Worthless beings.
I could kill them.
Easily. Instantly. They'd be gone before they knew what happened. Erased from existence like they never were.
But if I kill them...
Where will the boy go?
Will someone else just take their place?
Are they slaves to something? To circumstance? To the same darkness that exists everywhere?
I wonder what the difference is between my home and this place.
I think about it.
None.
Both places are filled with worthless people who I want to erase from all things.
But I don't move.
I watch.
Why aren't I moving?
Why aren't I helping?
What's wrong with me?
"Get out of our way, bit***s!"
Vehicles.
Young boys on them. Speeding through the crowded street. Shouting. Laughing. Almost hitting an old woman.
What do they think they are?
Kings?
Gods?
This place is completely different from what I saw in Nams's village.
There, people laughed together. Played together. Teased each other like family.
Here—
Here, it's rotten.
"Hello, Miss."
A voice. Too close.
I turned.
A man. Maybe thirty. Grinning. Drunk, maybe. Or just stupid.
"Are you alone tonight?"
GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE.
I want to say it.
Want to scream it.
Want to make him understand what he's walking toward.
"Yes." The word comes out flat. "I am."
He smirks.
His friends appear behind him. Three of them. All grinning. All stupid.
"Wanna come to a party?"
A party.
I've wanted to try that. In my realm. But aren't those too expensive? Too exclusive? Too—
"I don't know."
"Come on, pretty lady." He reaches for my arm. "We'll show you a good time."
His fingers touch my skin.
The world stops.
Not metaphorically.
Actually stops.
The sounds cut out. The wind freezes. The lantern light goes gray.
And my Exofail—
Activates.
Not on purpose.
Not by choice.
Just... reaction.
His hand—the one touching me—turns to sand.
Starts at the fingers. Spreads to the palm. The wrist.
He doesn't even have time to scream.
His friends don't have time to run.
I don't have time to stop it.
Sand.
All of them.
Sand.
Then nothing.
The world resumes.
People walking. Talking. Living.
No one noticed.
No one saw.
I look at my arm. Where he touched me. Still there. Still solid. Still me.
But them—
Gone.
Like they never existed.
Like I never existed.
I walked away.
Fast.
Faster.
I need to get inside.
I need walls.
I need—
[ MINGIA - HOTEL ROOM ]
The room is small.
One bed. One window. One chair. Walls the color of old paper. A ceiling that reflects nothing.
Expensive.
Everything here is expensive.
I move to the window.
Look out.
The capsules—the moons—hang in the sky. Thirty-one of them. Glowing softly. Watching.
He'll be there tomorrow.
In the field.
Waiting.
Why?
I don't know.
But I'll go.
Because for the first time in a thousand years—
Someone wants to talk to me.
I lay on the bed.
Stare at the ceiling.
White. Plain. Empty.
Like my world.
Like me.
Through the window, the moons glow. Thirty-one witnesses to whatever I am.
He's a monster.
That's what I thought.
That's what I believed.
But tonight—
Tonight, a girl named Kurumi walked with me in the dark.
Talked to me.
Saw me.
So who's the monster?
Him?
Or me?
The ceiling doesn't answer.
It never does.
---