The car moved quickly through the morning streets.
Yokina sat quietly in the back seat beside Herik while Juson drove in silence. The city outside passed in blurred reflections across the windows.
After several minutes, Juson finally spoke.
Not calmly.
Carefully.
He explained that he arrived too late at Hakiten's house. That the place was already surrounded by confusion. That he saw neighbors running away frightened.
Some of it was true.
Not all of it.
Yokina listened quietly.
Then she asked the question he expected.
"Did you find anything?"
Juson's eyes remained fixed ahead on the road.
"The house was too dark."
Lie.
"I couldn't see clearly."
Another lie.
"And it got too late, so I stayed in the car."
That part, at least, sounded believable.
Juson had become good at hiding truth inside ordinary sentences.
Humans trusted calm voices too easily.
After several more minutes, the hospital building finally appeared ahead.
Before the car fully stopped, Yokina had already opened the back door.
She stepped out quickly with Herik in her arms and hurried toward the entrance.
Juson remained behind the wheel.
He watched them disappear through the hospital doors.
Then slowly, his grip tightened around the steering wheel.
His eyes lifted toward the empty road ahead.
Something still felt unfinished.
Like the night had left something behind for him.
Without hesitation, he pressed down on the accelerator.
The car moved forward again.
Away from the hospital.
Away from the city.
Toward the riverside.
Because somewhere inside him, a terrible feeling continued whispering the same thing over and over.
He might have something there.