“……What will become of us?”

A voice by his side reached his ears, and Eun Ha glanced at him.

What’s so cozy about a small candle, the hand tightly holding the candle was trembling thinly. Accordingly, the candle, and the shadow of Lee Jun, shook precariously.

“Ah, no. Just us, shall we talk about what to eat tomorrow?”

Lee Jun tried to lift the corners of his mouth, which wouldn’t rise easily.

Talking about tomorrow was good. At least at that moment, they could think about tomorrow instead of today. No matter if some called it avoidance, it didn’t matter.

Fidgeting with the hand holding the candlestick, Lee Jun said.

“I would like… um, a salad topped with grilled salmon and fresh vegetables.”

He was putting on a cheerful act, but he couldn’t deceive Eun Ha’s eyes. They had been together for three years, after all.

Staring fixedly at the flickering candle with her dark eyes, Eun Ha quickly turned her head.

“……I want to eat rice soup.”

“Rice soup?”

“Yes. The rice soup I often ate with my mother. The kimchi dumplings there are tasty.”

Her profile, faintly illuminated by the dim candlelight, was fixedly facing forward.

“Will we be able to go there someday?”

Drip─

A water droplet fell from the stalactite hanging from the ceiling.

Drip─

When that exceptionally clear sound rang again, Eun Ha opened her mouth.

“Of course.”

Eun Ha, who gave a short answer, rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a blanket.

“It’ll be good to sleep a little before the candle goes out. It’s the last candle.”

And after shaking the dirt off the blanket, she held it out to Lee Jun.

“Cover yourself. I don’t need it.”

She leaned her back against the mosscovered cave wall without hesitation. Then, Lee Jun jumped up and offered the blanket back.

“Lean against this. Your clothes will get dirty.”

“What difference does it make if some dirt gets on this bloodstained uniform?”

“But still…….”

At Eun Ha’s nonchalant response, Lee Jun’s face clouded.

His heart was heavy.

Since when did she, did we, become indifferent to blood splattered on our clothes?

How long will it be like this?

“Come on, hurry.”

Lee Jun ended up forcibly tucking the blanket behind Eun Ha’s back. Eun Ha looked at Lee Jun a bit annoyedly but didn’t particularly stop him.

Then there was a long silence.

For some reason, sleep did not come. Lee Jun glanced at his classmate sitting next to him, sneaking peeks.

Jetblack hair, and equally jetblack pupils. The sharply raised eyes that guarded their surroundings like a cat were no longer scary.

“Eun Ha, can’t you sleep either?”

Swish.

The black pupils, which had been fixed forward, turned toward him.

“If I fall asleep too, we won’t be able to stop a surprise attack.”

Suddenly, the green insignia on her shoulder caught his eye. How heavy it was, Lee Jun could never know.

“Eun Ha, you know─.”

“Go to sleep.”

“If you don’t sleep, I won’t either.”

“…….”

Eun Ha stared at Lee Jun. Then she snickered, a small laugh.

“Do as you please.”

Lee Jun also laughed heartily in front of her.

Lee Jun knew. Eun Ha surprisingly laughed at quite trivial things.

It’s just that her smile was like a mirage. Very faint and pale, and if you reached out, it disappeared right away, that sort of thing.

The two sat leaning against the damp cave wall side by side.

The two long shadows cast on the wall, filled with blue moss, resembled each other. Happy with that fact inwardly, Lee Jun looked at their shadows cast on the wall and opened his mouth.

“─So, you see, my father wants me to go to America. My mother feels the same.”

“But why don’t you go?”

“That’s…….”

Lee Jun licked his lips slightly and glanced to the side. Even in this cave where the only light was this small candle, her black pupils seemed to sparkle like the Milky Way.

Lee Jun stealthily lowered his eyes. His longer eyelashes cast an orderly shadow on his pale cheek.

“Just…… because I like it.”

Eun Ha tilted her head. Apparently, the voice was too soft to hear.

“What did you just say?”

Lee Jun looked at her slightly and then smiled broadly.
“No, Eunha. What about you? Aren’t you going to college? You said you dreamed of being a dog groomer.”

“I’ve given up on that idea now.”

After a brief silence, the slow smacking of lips gave way to a voice that was terribly calm.

“The world has changed.”

Her abilities manifested at the tail end of her nineteenth year. She was conscripted the year she turned twenty, and this year marked her third year as a Hunter.

If the world hadn’t changed, she would be studying abroad in the United States by now, as she had wished.

“When peace returns someday.”

Would you like to go to the United States with me?

Lee Joon couldn’t finish the sentence.

Suddenly, a violent tremor interrupted him.

(This is a time separator.)

“As you know, after that.”

With a flick, Eunha put down her spoon, ending the story.

Under the crimson light illuminating the living room, Siwoo and Eunha’s eyes met.

“Baek Lee Joon escaped, and I was trapped in an unknown gate.”

“……Is that so.”