Morning is the day’s clean reset, like dew washing last night off the leaves.

That truth holds for Yokai too, like moonlight that still bows to dawn.

Ling had sulked yesterday, yet she woke today bright as a spark in dry straw.

What counts as pep? Alicia opened her eyes to find Ling perched on her belly, duck-sitting with a little W of legs like a folded crane.

Ling noticed her stir, chirped “morning” like a bell through mist, then pecked a kiss like a cherry on glass.

That, to Alicia, spelled pep, as sure as sunlight through thin clouds.

With the little one’s spirit restored, Alicia’s worry loosened like a knotted ribbon.

She bade Amelia goodbye with a spring-breeze smile, though Amelia looked wilted like a flower at noon.

Maybe Elfe was still being Elfe, a thorn under silk.

But that wasn’t Alicia’s pond to fish in, so she waved and turned, like a gull sliding off wind.

“Heading back?” The question fell light, like a leaf.

“Yeah. We’ve been in someone else’s nest almost a day. Isn’t that enough?” Her tone was dry as sand.

Was this kid still itching to play, like a cat at the door?

Alicia studied Ling’s face and found no reluctance, only star-bright anticipation.

“Hey, sis~ how do we get down?” Ling’s voice skipped like a stone across a lake.

“Maybe… probably… we’ll be teleported the usual way,” Alicia said, grasping at sense like a rope.

“Amelia isn’t short on send-people-home spells.”

That bright, expectant look plus that question sent a chill through Alicia, like a wind under a door.

Ling turned. Her lips curved sweet as candied haw, and she breathed out honey.

“Let’s jump off here~”

Alicia didn’t flinch; if Ling hadn’t said it, that would’ve scared her, like thunder with no clouds.

She had to admit she was curious too, like a moth eyeing a lantern, about what would happen if they jumped in her current state.

But curiosity’s a thin bridge over a dark river; there was no proof they’d land unhurt.

Doing it brought no clear gain, just cliffside air.

“Little sis, hear me out,” Alicia said, soft as rain before a storm. “Don’t do something dumb. Let’s wait for Amelia to teleport us, okay?”

“But… Amelia’s gone…” The words trembled like a string.

“Huh?” Alicia’s gaze swept like a searchlight, but Amelia’s silhouette was gone, a kite string cut clean by wind.

Abandoned, plain as a footprint fading in surf.

“Looks like you’ll have to jump with me, sis~” Ling smiled, sugar over a steel hook.

She said it all sweet, but Alicia felt the sly fox behind that smile, a shadow behind paper.

If she’d told her before Amelia left, Alicia could’ve refused; saying it after showed she wanted the jump.

“Sis~” Ling tilted her head, pouted, and blinked, like a puppy in rain.

“Is that not okay~?”

“Uh…” Alicia’s resolve wavered like a candle in a draft.

She could go look for Amelia, sure as paths run downhill, but those eyes made the words die on her tongue like snow under sun.

“Okay… fine,” she sighed, letting go like a leaf. “Just this once. Never again.”

The future is cheap promises; Ling nodded like a bobblehead, eager as a sparrow at crumbs.

Seeing her all but vibrating, Alicia swallowed hard, the sound loud as a drop in a well, and leaned over the edge.

No bottom. The world below smeared into color and shape, like paint washed by rain.

Even her own house was only a speck of color, a seed on endless earth, not a single pixel clear.

Alicia wasn’t as carefree as Ling; her heart thudded like a drum in a valley.

Ten thousand meters up is no joke, like a blue sea with no shore.

“Are we really doing this?” Her voice was a thread.

“Of course! You jump I jump.” Ling’s grin flashed like sunlight off a blade.

Alicia gulped again, mustering courage like a soldier ties boots. “Then… we count three-two-one?”

“No problem. We take turns~”

“Then… three—”

“Two—”

“One—!!”

“Jump!”

They didn’t bother with drama; they leapt clean, like swallows off a cliff.

Alicia fell back-first, thinking not seeing would dampen fear, like closing eyes before a wave.

She forgot: the unknown is the darkest abyss, a wolf behind the door.

As they launched, Ling spotted a small head peeking from a floating island’s edge like a curious squirrel.

Elfe watched them, her mouth sweet as if dipped in honey, shaping silent words.

From her lips, it looked like: “Bye-bye, f— your mom~”

Alicia stared, baffled by that “blessing,” like a traveler thrown a shoe instead of rice.

Why her? She only put a little chili oil in Elfe’s water last night, a spark in a calm pot.

Elfe drank it without looking; how was that Alicia’s fault, like rain blamed on reeds?

WTF, why?! The thought blasted through her skull like a firecracker.

The day was too fine to waste indoors; it begged for motion like wind begs for kites.

Especially motion with a little sister, sunshine braided into laughter.

With that creed, Remi dragged Flan out to exercise, firm as a general tugging a sleeve.

She absolutely wasn’t thinking about sweat slicking Flan head to toe, clothes turning sheer like wet silk.

She definitely wasn’t picturing herself sweaty too, earning Flan’s disgusted gaze like a cat’s cool stare.

None of that crossed her mind, not even as a cloud.

“Sis, why stand under the sun?” Flan squinted, shade in her voice like a palm over eyes.

“Even if we’re exercising, it doesn’t mean roasting under it, right?”

Remi didn’t hear her; she sailed away on her daydreams like a boat on mist.

In her mind, Flan would wrinkle her nose at the sweat, flee to bathe like a startled deer.

Then Remi would burst in, and Flan would blush scarlet as maple leaves and bathe with her—such nonsense, such sugar.

“Ah—!!” Two screams split the sky like torn silk, far louder than Flan’s call.

This time Remi heard; she looked up, eyes narrow as slits in winter.

Two black dots, drawing closer like hawks stooping. The sound swelled like waves rushing a pier.

Remi squinted harder, focus tightening like a bowstring, yet she forgot her feet, rooted right beneath the falling shadows.

“Ah—!!” The distance was scant now, close as a breath. Remi finally recognized that backlit shape, familiar as a neighbor’s gate.

It was Alicia.

“Sis! Why are you spacing out? Move!” Flan’s shout cracked like a whip.

The warning snapped Remi to her danger, but the gap was too small, a door shutting on her heels.

She opened her mouth for last words, a final flare like a meteor.

“Ah, f— yo—”

To Be Continued