Silver Wish

"Would it be wrong of me?"

Yuhi shook his head. "No, I understand how you feel. I also think we must have made a mistake back then; otherwise, this wouldn't have happened."

"Even if I hadn't killed that child's parent, it would have gone wrong anyway since I kept Lucifer alive."

"I thought you killed him; that attack should have killed him," Yuhi mumbled.

"It should have, but it didn't, when I realized that I decided there was no use in continuing. I took one look at my surroundings and understood, this needs to end now. If we continued any longer, then all our friends would be dead. So I made that decision."

"Correction, we made that decision."

Sumire laughed at his words. "Are you competing?"

"Sumire, like I told you back then, none of that was your fault alone. The truth of the world is exactly like what you said before. Without darkness, there can be no light, and the same goes vice versa. Even if it did not happen during our time, the world would have collapsed in the same way eventually during another era. That is why you do not have to blame yourself over it."

"Your words make so much sense, Yuhi-san, but you must know I triggered this chain of events."

"No, we triggered it."

Sumire was at a loss. This is the first time he has left her this speechless before. The first time Yuhi-san has bothered countering everything she said. Maybe it is because he is older now, but she can't help but think how cool he is like this.

She felt the pounding sound of her heart and chuckled. She is so silly getting embarrassed when he is acting seriously. Her thoughts broke off when she felt a familiar warmth in her hand.

"You can still walk behind me, but at least allow me to hold your hand."

"Are you taking my hand hostage Yuhi-san?"

"It seems so."

She wonders why even after all this time, he can still make her feel like this. Even though she is no longer an ordinary human after all that happened in the past, he still treats her like a normal person. Her life span is no longer the same as others. In the next few years, it will become increasingly obvious. All her friends will continue to age, but she will remain the same. She will remain the same even when this world ceases to exist.

Her gaze fell on Yuhi. He doesn't know yet, does he?

Naturally, he wouldn't know. She has not said a word about it. Sure there are signs like her inability to eat normal food and not needing to sleep anymore. But Yuhi-san thinks it is only a temporary side effect since she remained with Lucifer in a place of darkness for so long.

If he knew about the cruel fate that awaited her, then surely he wouldn't be able to smile for her like this.

The place they arrived at was their current accommodation here in New York. It was one of Yuhi's old family manors. It didn't stand out much despite the large size, so it was okay to live in. But more importantly, it was enough to house a lot of people. This is why she opened it up for those who didn't have homes right now.

It beats staying in the restricted zones by a long shot. There were many elderly and children here. An elder woman with pale brown hair tied in a bun approached her; she had dustpan in hand. It seemed like she had just finished sweeping the front.

"Ah Martha, good work."

"Miss, it is a good thing your back."

"Did someone come here and cause problems?"

Although this residence is further from the affected areas and restricted zones, some people do still crawl in here and make things difficult.

"No, it's that young gentleman from before."

A deep sigh passed her lips when she heard those words. Yuhi raised his eyebrows. "You have suitors still chasing you out here, my wife?"

"As if it's Rika-chan's ex-fiance."

"He probably wants to know if we heard anything." Sumire felt very frustrated about this issue. No matter how hard she searched, for some reason, she couldn't find any traces of Rikka-chan and Haruka-kun. They are most likely together; she concluded that the same people kidnapped them.

"Want me to come with you?"

"No, it's okay; check on the others and see if anybody needs anything."

Sumire quickly headed inside, knowing that Martha led the young man to the guest parlor again. She is too kind to turn him away. Whenever the others spot him, they would chase him out since he looks wealthy. They were cautious about Yuhi and her at first, but now it has reached this point.

She has to do her best to defend this place. If she collapses, then what would happen to the people here?

The moment Sumire opened the doors, she spotted blonde hair sat on the couch with a dazed look on his face. "Judging from your face, you haven't been sleeping much," Sumire commented as she walked over.

Carter laughed. "Well, it is a bit difficult to sleep under these circumstances."

"Your father is truly a tyrant; it's a good thing I caught him before he did anything stupid. Is he behaving?"

"Surprisingly, he is staying put."

"I think I found something."

Oh?

Sumire took a seat opposite him and picked up the envelope. Her eyes widened when she saw the photographs.

"This place-"

"It is in the center of town; there used to be a chapel there." Carter trailed off. "I looked around for any survivors, but instead, I found an area that I could not cross. It feels like there is a wall of some kind there."

A chapel in the center of town? Why does this set-up seem so familiar- Sumire paused for a moment before something came to mind. Now that she thought about it, it was the same back then too. Back when she first went against Lucifer, he hid the organization in a chapel in the center of town. She even recalled commenting how they are defiling a place of worship.

If that is the case, then she may need to ask Lucifer to come and check. She could do it herself, but it would be a bit too obvious if she made a move.

"Do you think they are here?"

"I am positive; there can be no other place. Both of us have looked all over New York. There may be a chance that they are somewhere else, but realistically, this is the best place they can be."

"Then I will go with you tomorrow."

This child truly loves Shinozaki Rikka, and yet she wonders why the woman never noticed it. There is somebody so perfect by your side, and yet she still chose the hard path.. If she stuck with this man, then Rikka-chan would not have been kidnapped; she would have had no purpose to the enemy.