A boundless wasteland stretched like a blank scroll; wind combed the dust, and two figures drifted through it.
The black‑cloaked girl scanned the horizons like a wary hawk; finding no one, she let out a slow breath and loosened her grip on her Goggles.
“Do you have to be that on guard?”
Kananin Rin’s voice was dry, her eyes tracing the girl’s careful movements.
“My identity in the Underworld is sealed away,” Yun Shi said, calm as frost. “Few know who I really am, so I guard everything.”
Kananin Rin didn’t argue; she knew Yun Shi fought in the Underworld as the most enigmatic Witch. Wariness in small things felt natural.
“These two years… you look like you’ve been through a lot.” The feeling landed first; the words followed, soft as wind over sand.
“That’s because of you.” Yun Shi’s tone was light, but it hit like a pebble in a still pond.
“What do you mean?”
“You once told me I was running away,” Yun Shi said, eyes on the pale horizon. “You said my brother fights for freedom, while I just accept a life I dislike.”
“I did say that two years ago.”
“After that, I asked myself what I was doing; what I should do.” Her voice carried the grit of a river running upstream. “If I resisted fate, would I get what I wanted? So I did it. Kananin Rin, because of you, I started defying my fate.”
Kananin Rin blinked, a touch of surprise like cool rain on stone. Back then, she had only wanted to stop Yun Shi from lying to herself; she never imagined it would push her to leave the Clan Head.
“You were right. I kept running and never truly thought about my future.” Yun Shi’s steps pressed into the dust, one hard imprint after another. “I wanted to change, so I left the Clan Head. It was brutal. Saying is easy; doing is hard.”
“Yun Shi…”
“I can’t go back,” she said, a faraway glow on her face like sunset on old rooftops. “Everything before is a dream. Now I just want the world I live in to stay at peace.”
Kananin Rin tilted her head, a half‑smile like a question mark etched in sand. “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten chummy with people from the Outer World?”
“How could that be.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“Nothing at all. And why are you tailing me?” Her gaze slid aside, cool as a blade’s reflection. “I said I’m heading back.”
Yun Shi wouldn’t admit that “world” meant her school and the friends inside it; that was the life she truly wanted to keep.
“I just wanted to talk,” Kananin Rin said, her tone almost playful.
“That’s a lie, right.”
“When did you get this sharp…”
“Fine, ask. What do you want to know?” Yun Shi halted, dust settling around her boots. Kananin Rin took the opening without pretending otherwise.
“If I remember right, you’re planning to fight the Church, yeah?”
On her route from Tokyo to London, she’d checked the names opposing the Church; Night Phantom was on that list.
“Not planning—considering.” Yun Shi corrected, crisp as a snapped twig. Even so, she had already clashed head‑on with the Church.
“Since you’re fighting them, I want some strength. Your power should—”
“I refuse.”
No hesitation; the word fell like a knife. A faint wind carried the silence that followed.
They had a bit of history, but not enough for Yun Shi to stick her neck out.
“So decisive…”
“You know my stance.” Her eyes were shadowed, steady as midnight. “If I side with you, can you promise my brother and those factions won’t suspect us? The Quadra Eye Family might doubt it too. I won’t gain at a loss.”
“Alright.” Kananin Rin lifted her hands and let the idea dissolve like mist. Different positions set different paths; forced teamwork only breeds trouble. Strength means nothing if we can’t move in step.
“Yun Shi, I’m fine with your matter regarding your brother.” Her voice curved, then tightened. “But what’s going on with Zou?”
“!”
She’d hoped to skirt around it; the road bent, but the question held firm.
“What’s there to say? Why pry this hard!” Yun Shi’s eyes slid away, a small, stubborn glint like a trapped star.
“I don’t get it, so I’m asking.” Kananin Rin’s gaze pressed like a tide against stone. “Shen Ling Zou’s gone crazy over you; you still won’t explain what happened?”
Under that near‑pressing look, Yun Shi felt wronged; private matters didn’t permit an “official business” dodge.
“…Nothing big,” she said at last, voice low as a reed in wind. “I saved his life by chance, a year ago.”
“If he learns the enemy he fell for is the fiancée he once opposed, that’ll be fun.”
“Better if you don’t tell him.” Yun Shi sighed; her warmth toward Shen Ling Zou had long cooled. Even if he liked her, she felt nothing.
“I’ll be blunt,” she said, eyes clear as water. “I don’t like men.”
Some truths are lighter spoken early; future tangles cut clean.
“Huh? You… you’re not—into girls, are you?”
Kananin Rin squinted at her, disbelief fizzing like sparks.
“Mm…” Yun Shi nodded, awkward as a swallow landing on a thin branch.
“You’re joking…”
“Do you think I’m joking?”
Kananin Rin stared for a long beat; then she covered her face, a laugh and a sigh tangled like ivy. “I feel bad for your brother; his sister’s into girls.”
“Please don’t tell him, sister‑in‑law.”
“Mm, that’s—wait, what did you call me, you little—!”
Kananin Rin’s finger snapped up, anger flashing like flint.
“Seeing how much you care about my brother, maybe you two match.”
“Brat! Spouting nonsense—who said I’m marrying your brother!”
“Isn’t it you?”
“You’re asking for it!”
They kept bickering in the wide, empty land; the wind carried their laughter, and the tension thinned like clouds at noon.
Yun Shi didn’t know if revealing herself to Kananin Rin was wise; but she felt the gap between them narrow, like two paths angling toward the same stream. Maybe it wasn’t wrong.
“Well, I’m leaving.”
Yun Shi set her Goggles in place, the mask sealing like nightfall; Night Phantom stepped back into her shadows and walked the opposite way.
Watching that retreating back, Kananin Rin felt gains and losses tangle in her chest; she didn’t know if they’d ever meet again. Waiting was all she could do.
“Alright, time to find Yuuya and the others.”
Her task was done; with an unexpected gain in hand, that was enough.
Two figures parted across the bare earth, walking away in opposite directions; the wind thinned their footprints, and the horizon swallowed them whole.
