Tonight, the moon was far more incomplete than usual, and even the starlight was dim.
So much so that even those who normally loved admiring the moon and savoring the night had little interest in it tonight.
Goodbye Halo was likely one of them.
The famed designer sat alone in her armchair. The floor-to-ceiling window gave her a perfect view, yet she had no interest in it at all. Her expression carried a trace of boredom—
and a fatigue whose source she could not quite name.
Tonight, she would have this enormous house entirely to herself.
Every room in it would belong to her alone. Every corner would be hers to enter—
and yet that did not make her happy.
If anything, it only made the place feel lonelier.
Goodbye Halo braced a hand on the armrest and slowly rose. Her body blocked out the already faint moonlight, casting her shadow across the floor. As she glanced back, her ears twitched, and a soft, sorrowful murmur escaped her.
It seemed she had put on a little more weight again.
A hollow remark, and she herself knew full well what she was really grieving over.
This silent house—she had always thought that ever since then, she had liked it best this way.
Quiet. Peaceful. Perfect for working.
For a designer, silence was what allowed the deepest concentration.
So why was it that now, more than anything, she wanted to see that small figure?
Hadn't she already won the G1 she had dreamed of?
So why hadn't she come home yet...?
She walked toward the stairs, not bothering to turn on the lights. She had long since grown used to navigating this darkness, enough that the blur of it no longer hindered her. She stopped precisely in front of the staircase and was just about to step up—
when a strange sensation hit her.
Goodbye Halo's ears shivered. She spun around sharply.
Beneath the floor-to-ceiling window, the cold moonlight still spilled across the room. At the boundary between brightness and shadow, there was nothing there.
And yet a chill washed over her.
The hair all over her body stood on end. Even her tail began to flick uneasily.
She wanted to retreat, but some instinct urged her forward instead, trapping her between advance and retreat. She could feel it clearly—
something was watching her.
The ringtone of the phone in her pocket rang out.
Goodbye Halo knew that if someone was calling this late, it had to be something important.
And yet, in that moment, she found herself unable to move her hand.
She hadn't even noticed when the feeling of being watched faded.
Just as she hadn't noticed when the ringing stopped.
Her fingers trembled as she finally pulled out the phone. The number was familiar. Biting her lip, she called back.
The other side answered almost immediately.
"We've confirmed it. It's definitely not here. Goodbye Halo, I have to ask you one more time—are you sure? Back then... she wasn't wearing it?"
"I'm sure!"
Her voice rose abruptly, her tension making her lose her composure. The other end fell silent.
"Sorry. I lost my cool."
After a moment of silence, she forced herself to say it.
"Can you think of anywhere else?" the other person asked. "You know this kind of search is like looking for a needle in the ocean. We've basically just been relying on blind luck."
"I—"
Goodbye Halo's eyes reddened.
She could no longer think of any other place.
Maybe...
maybe the thing she wanted so desperately to find really had been lost.
Her silence said enough.
The person on the other end continued.
"Stop for now. This can't go on like this. Wait until you can think more clearly."
Goodbye Halo did not argue. Though she hated it, she knew the other person was right. In a sea of countless possibilities, trying to find a single answer was far too difficult.
She pressed her lips together and hung up.
Then she looked again toward the place where she had felt that gaze earlier.
The sensation that had made every hair stand on end was gone now, and that gave her the courage to investigate. She moved toward it one step at a time, and as she drew near, she switched on her phone's flashlight.
The beam was not strong, but in the darkness of the room it was enough.
She slowly circled the armchair and looked behind it.
The moonlight on the floor seemed to take on a shape there, as if its brightness had somehow sketched a pattern into the darkness just beyond the line of shadow.
It looked like the outline of a necklace.
Goodbye Halo's pupils contracted violently. She rushed toward the window without thinking.
But the floor-to-ceiling glass was sealed. There was no possible way in or out.
She looked outside in desperation.
There was nothing there but the night.
Or perhaps there was something.
Hanging high outside was a signboard, and on it Saint King Halo was smiling brilliantly—the expression she had worn after winning the Osaka Hai.
Only then did something click into place, and all strength seemed to drain out of her.
Staring at the image of her daughter, she had to admit it:
the confidence and spirit radiating from that smile was something she had never seen in the girl in all these years.
She was not a qualified mother.
The truth was, she had known that for a long time.
She knew her love for Saint King Halo was real.
Yet in her actions, she had always contradicted that love.
She had her reasons. No matter how little the outside world understood, she would never doubt that she was right.
She had once lived through that kind of pain herself.
She could not bear to see the same tragedy happen again in this family, already broken once before.
And yet now, she seemed to understand where that earlier gaze had come from.
And she seemed to understand, too, that perhaps she would never be understood by anyone.
Not even by the one person she had once believed would understand her.
Even a woman who had remained firm after being openly challenged by Teraizumi Shinji, even after her daughter had proven her talents in the Osaka Hai—
finally bent.
Pain flashed across her face.
Then she crouched down and curled up beside the sofa.
The place that had frightened her only moments ago now somehow felt difficult to leave. Her hand tightened around the necklace at her chest, trembling slightly.
"So even you think that too?"
She did not know whom she was accusing.
No answer came.
Only the faint echo of her own question reverberated through the empty house, returning to her as though it were asking the same thing back.
It was her own voice.
And that only made the mockery sharper.
Goodbye Halo's face went pale.
A bitter smile tugged at her lips as she looked at her reflection in the window. This time, she thought she could see a vague shadow standing behind her—
perhaps only a trick of the mind.
Or perhaps there really was such a figure there.
"Still just as arrogant, aren't you? With your false gentleness, your fake thoughtfulness, your foolish dream of challenging the whole world—and never once thinking of me!"
She felt as if the shadow had lowered its head.
But she also believed more strongly than ever that this must all be nothing more than her own imagination speaking back to her.
How could that person ever lower their head?
"Halo cannot repeat the same mistakes. I'm doing this for her own good. This time... I want to be selfish too."
Still no answer came.
Goodbye Halo buried her head between her knees. Her body trembled, and she could no longer tell whether it was from cold or something else.
Then a sudden coolness touched her brow.
She lifted her head.
In the reflection on the glass, the woman stared blankly at herself.
Behind her in that reflection were only the elegant decorations of the room—
and her own reddened eyes.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 155)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter200)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter110)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter230)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 200
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 180
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/5
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 230
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 220
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/30
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 120
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 135
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 110
I Can Copy Unique Skills 100
Summoning an Evil God, but the 70
Supernatural Multiverse 100
My Harem Is Indescribable 90
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 95
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 68
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 69
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 80
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 70
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 75
Checking In in Demon Slayer 80
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 85
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 70
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 65
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 70
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 70
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 65
Why did they assign me to Uma 65
MYGO Beauties 65
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 55
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 65
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 45
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 45
The Uma Musume Who Became 40
I'm Definitely Not the King of 45
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
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