"Let's make a deal."

The voice left Shiki Eiki cold as winter steel, yet reached Ling like sunrise touching frost, a small warmth she could cling to.

"The deal's simple. You teach me what feelings are. I help you save Alicia. How about it?"

Clarity hit like cold water; hope surged first, thought came later. Ling didn’t hesitate. She nodded, grabbing the only rope in a storm.

Then doubt crawled up her spine like mist. Feelings were smoke and moonlight—how could she explain them to Shiki Eiki?

Before the question could take root, Shiki Eiki cut it like a judge’s gavel.

"I’ll send you somewhere. All you have to do is come back alive."

"Deal! No time to waste. Send me now!"

"You don’t want to know where you’re going?"

"I’ll learn when I get there! Hurry, I can’t wait!"

Shiki Eiki sighed, a leaf-fall breath in a stone court. She flicked her small hand. A black rift split the air like ink on rice paper. Ling dove in without a second thought, like a swallow into night.

As the rift narrowed, Shiki Eiki watched, her eyes holding a tired moon.

"If she really comes back from there, I might grasp what love is. May she face the sins of her past."

She turned and walked back into the Yama Hall. The great doors drew shut behind her like mountains sliding together, sealing her from the world once more.

——————

Where is this?

Darkness pressed in from all sides, a dead lake with no ripples, air cold as a grave.

Snap.

Her right hand snapped. A tiny green light bloomed on her index finger, a firefly in a jar, and the dark peeled back like old paint.

Only then did Ling notice a very shallow river at her feet, thin as glass. Shallow as it looked, the far bank sank into fog, further than sight could fish.

She didn’t step in right away; caution tugged her sleeve. Who knew what swam beneath black water? She scouted the emptiness, but every direction was the same blank canvas.

No matter how far she walked, a single blink brought her back to the same fixed spot by the river, like a compass needle nailed in place.

No hints, no roads, no doors. Years of gamer instinct flicked on like a HUD. The river was the only path; the river must be walked.

She slipped off her shoes, breath clouding like mist, and stepped into the shallow water.

"Hss!"

Ice stabbed up from her soles to her skull, a thousand needles ringing her nerves like chimes. Her mind snapped sharp, clean as glass.

She swallowed the sting, lifted her small foot, and pushed forward, one step, then another.

Tap... tap...

She was stepping on water, yet her footprints floated like pale leaves, refusing to fade, a breadcrumb trail on a liquid mirror. She took it in stride; she’d seen stranger glitches, and followed her flicker of light down the endless road.

Elsewhere, unseen, Shiki Eiki’s closed eyes flashed open like a blade unsheathed. Resolve tightened her gaze.

"It begins."

……………

Smack.

Water climbed to Ling’s waist in a heartbeat, a trap springing up from stillness. No more pinpricks—this was knives. Her skin felt flayed by invisible blades, every inch, every breath, every cell caught in a storm of cuts.

"Ahhh!"

The sudden pain ripped a scream from her, raw as torn silk. Her legs turned to wet paper—but her mind held. As the water reached for her head, she forced her feet to root and stood.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Her heartbeat hammered like a drum at a war gate. She’d come a breath from feeling her head severed by water. Maybe she couldn’t die here—but she wasn’t a masochist. She wasn’t signing up for that.

And if it got deeper, would she have to swim? That would hurt like hell.

Lost in that thought, she didn’t see the shadow wade up behind her, as quiet as a snake through reeds.

"Limit Magic Cannon—100% output."

The voice hit her ear like her own echo in a cold hall. Surprise sparked; instinct spoke louder. Ling dove forward in a single, clean leap.

Whoosh!

A bright green Magic Cannon tore through the water behind her, carving a trench and hurling up a wall of waves. Drops struck Ling’s cheek and hissed like acid on slate; the same sharp sting crawled across her skin.

She wiped the water from her face and stared at the ambusher.

"Who are you?"

The figure walked out of shadow, wearing her face like a mirror. No wonder the voice matched, no wonder the power felt like a twin blade in the same sheath.

An embodiment of sin, or her heart’s shadow? Classic novel setup. She almost laughed.

"Right on~ I’m your sin."

"What?!"

Shock punched through her. It could read her thoughts like wind rifling pages, and that unnerved her more than the hurt.

"Don’t be surprised. I’m your sin-body; of course I know what you’re thinking. Trope as old as ink—you fighting yourself~"

"Tsk." Irritation flared like a struck match. Talking to herself sounded fun on paper, but that smug look—‘I know you, you don’t know me’—made her want to smash the mirror.

"Ara-ara... do you hate me? How could that be? How can Big Sis hate such a cute little sister?"

"Enough. Shut up." Ling cut her off, impatience sharp as a slap. "Do what you came to do. It’s sleep time. Be a good baby and crawl back to whatever hole you came from. I don’t have time to bicker with a counterfeit."

Sin-Ling smiled. The curve of her lips climbed too high, like a crescent moon with a crack in it.

"If Big Sis is that impatient, let’s begin our Judgment~"