Their journey toward that place—a destination with no name, no form, and no certainty—dragged on under the oppressive weight of dread and desperation.
The faces of the group had changed.
There was no hope left in their expressions—only tight jaws, furrowed brows, and dull, wandering eyes that barely clung to the idea of purpose
. The further they walked, the heavier the silence became.
Not because there was nothing to say, but because there was too much to feel.
They were running out of time.
That was the limit they'd been given to find the place that defied maps, logic, and memory.
One of those days was already gone, swallowed into the void with nothing to show for it.
If they failed, if they couldn't find that elusive space in the remaining time…
Then everything would be lost.
The thought alone was crushing.
Hina would be devastated beyond recognition.
And Yuuna… Yuuna couldn't even picture a version of Hina that would survive that kind of loss. I
f they failed… she feared Hina might shatter completely, the way glass does under a careless step. She would be irreparable and scattered beyond retrieval.
But realistically speaking, wasn't this whole mission hopeless to begin with?
The place they were looking for wasn't just mysterious. It was unrecorded.
It was absent from all history, from any form of testimony or rumor. There were no books, no scrolls, and no passing legends.
Some said it was a place only found by sheer accident.
And banking on such an accident, in their current state?
The kind of cruel cosmic joke that only desperate people would cling to.
Right now, Hina, Yuuna, Nagisa, and Aria were all beginning to lose their grip.
The light in their eyes was dimming, their steps faltering, their thoughts splintering into worry and grief.
Meanwhile, Yui—silent and smiling—watched them with a lightness in her eyes, like someone watching a tragic play unfold in slow motion.
She was enjoying this.
Their suffering. Their hopelessness. Their emotional decay.
And that was simply the nature of a fallen angel.
Watching demons writhe in emotional agony?
That was pure entertainment to her.
Their pain wasn't just delightful—it was amplified pleasure.
Their misery fed something inside her, something wicked and cruel and utterly shameless.
But despite her twisted delight, something foreign had begun to stir inside her chest.
An emotion she'd never once tasted.
Yui had never experienced that strange tightening in the stomach, or that whisper of unease slithering through the mind like a chill draft.
But now, it was here.
"Okumura-senpai really does have the ability to change someone, huh?" she thought, a soft pink flush brushing her cheeks. "That's just… so cute of him. Senpai…"
They were still walking when Nagisa abruptly stopped.
Her boots halted mid-step.
Her shoulders squared, and her narrowed eyes locked directly on Yui.
Yui didn't even blink.
She felt Nagisa's glare pierce through her, yet she stood there without flinching, that faint smile never leaving her lips.
"What is it, Nagisa-senpai?" she asked, her tone as sweet as sugar laced with poison.
"What's your real intention here?" Nagisa asked sharply.
"I'm asking you what the hell you're trying to do here."
"I don't understand the question, Nagisa-senpai," Yui replied innocently, voice rising in a girlish sing-song. "Keeping the question that vague won't help me understand it. Maybe try saying it in a way that someone as dumb as me could get? Pretty please?"
Her mockery, drenched in syrupy cuteness, only served to fan the flames of Nagisa's growing irritation.
"You're really pissing me off!" Nagisa snapped. "What's your goal here, huh? Can you explain it to us? Are you actually trying to help us? Or are you just feeding us false hope? Because why the fuck were you smirking earlier while we were drowning in despair?!"
Yui gave a tiny shrug, then tilted her head.
"Oh, that," she said with a slight giggle. "That's just my little habit—smirking at things that look pathetic right now."
Nagisa's face twisted with rage. "…What the hell did you just say?"
"Enough, Nagisa," Yuuna cut in, her voice low and tired. "Fighting with her now will only waste more of our time. We need to keep moving."
Nagisa clenched her fists and clicked her tongue, her frustration biting through the tense air like a knife.
Her anger was justified.
After all, this entire journey was already balancing on the razor's edge of hopelessness.
And now, with a fallen angel trailing behind them—smiling, cryptic and unbothered—it felt more and more like they were being led into a false hope.
Nagisa was already exhausted.
Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually.
She had no room left inside her for disappointment. Not again. Not .
Yuuna turned her gaze to Yui.
It wasn't a look of outright suspicion. But there was something in her eyes,
It was subtle and cautious. Like she was still trying to figure her out.
But there was no doubt that Yui's interest in Kouhei was genuine.
That alone was why she was walking alongside them at all.
"What is it, Yuuna-senpai?" Yui asked with a smirk. "Are you going to accuse me of giving you false hope too?"
"I'm not," Yuuna answered firmly. "I just want to understand your intentions. If we manage to bring Kouhei back… what are you going to do? Are you planning to attack him again? Are you going to send more corrupted humans his way?"
Yui's smile didn't fade.
"Yes," she said plainly.
"I'm not doing this out of pity for any of you. I'm doing it for Okumura-senpai—my senpai. I'm not here to be your ally. I'm here because your goal happens to align with mine. It's a mutual benefit. That's all this is. Nothing more."
Her voice was light, almost cheerful, but behind that smile was a truth that was sharp and unflinching.
She wasn't their friend.
She wasn't their enemy.
And when it was all over?
She was going to go right back to where she started.
Back to her own world.
To play with Okumura-senpai once again.
And despite how twisted that was…
It was still the best deal Yuuna and the others had.
The biting cold of the snow was finally easing up a little.
It wasn't completely gone, but now it was at least bearable.
They could fuse mana into their bodies, and it was just enough to keep the chill from sinking into their bones.
Even so, the snow was knee-deep, and moving through it was starting to become a serious challenge.
They were aware that melting the snow in this place might put them in danger—but considering how time wasn't on their side, they didn't have much of a choice anymore.
Yuuna cast fire magic, melting the snow around her with enough heat to break through the ice.
With that, they pressed on.
"How about we take a break here for now?" Yuuna said after some time had passed.
Hina turned to her, the same worried, anxious look etched on her face like it hadn't left for hours.
"Don't worry. We'll only rest for five minutes. After that, we'll keep going."
They couldn't afford to waste time, not even a second.
They had to use every moment efficiently.
While the others waited, Hina didn't sit down at all. Instead, she just stood still, staring up at the sky in silence.
Even with the thick layers of clothing wrapped around her, her anxiety and desperation still managed to seep through, clearly visible in the way she stood and breathed.
Their pace wasn't ideal.
It was slow—far too slow for comfort—especially in this harsh cold.
But no matter how far they walked, no matter how long they searched, the place they were looking for still hadn't shown itself.
All they could see was the endless white of the snow stretching into the horizon.
It was so overwhelming, it became hard to even think clearly anymore.
"Let's rest here," Yuuna said when they finally reached a cliff.
Below it, a small overhang jutted out, forming a natural shelter.
It wasn't much, but it was enough to give them a place to stop and maybe get a bit of sleep.
Hina looked at her again.
Her expression was almost pleading—silently begging to keep going.
Yuuna exhaled, her breath fogging in the cold. "We won't be able to see anything in the dark," she said. "As much as I want to keep searching too, it's just too dangerous. On top of that, a snowstorm's coming. If we stay out here, we'll freeze to death."
Hina didn't respond. She only lowered her head, her shoulders slumping in quiet defeat.
Yuuna understood her frustration. She really did. But right now, there was nothing they could do.
All they could do now was pray that tomorrow—the final day they'd been given—they'd somehow find it.
But as everyone else tried to rest…
Hina slipped away on her own and continued searching in the dark.