Silver Wish

At one of the dimensions, a woman with long dusty brown colored hair lay on the cold stone ground, with her clothes tattered. She ought to get up and find something to wear, but she could not move. Bruises and whip marks cover her arms and her legs.

Rikka weakly looked over at who entered the room. It was the usual servant who gave her medication and food afterwards. The food aside, Rikka never understood why they gave her medication too. After all, it is not like it makes any difference now.

With her current appearance, no amount of medication can help her.

At the start, they still treated her wounds so she would look presentable. But now, the clients her cousin toss her to are all unusual ones.

In fact, her present state would look more appealing to them.

Rikka was about to apologize for accidentally knocking food onto her cloak when she got a brief glimpse of the person's face.

She felt her heartbeat speed up.

'I know this person. Even though we only spoke one time, I know her. I did not meet her in this place, and she does not belong to my father's circle.' No, this person is-

Perhaps the woman caught her gaze since she exhaled deeply.

"I suppose there is no choice." She edged closer and briefly removed her hood.

Ginger-colored hair wearing a strange cat accessory as a hairclip. Ah?

"Kira Maaya?"

She only met the girl one time, and that was because she had been actively stalking Haruka for Lila-san's sake. Once she caught her with Haruka, she said some quite hostile words and issued a warning.

"Ssh, be quiet. I do deactivate the listening devices and manipulate the footage before I come here, but you just never know."

Rikka stared at the girl blankly and nodded her head. The girl shut her eyes and mumbled a few words. Several small beams of light seemed to appear in the corner of the room.

"Alright, now you can talk."

"You, why are you-" Rikka just couldn't believe it. "Have you been taking care of me the entire time?"

"I didn't notice."

"I am good at disguises and a great actress."

That's right; this one was good at acting.

"To be honest, initially, I just wanted to help that woman escape. I got lost in the dimensional whirlpool while following Kasumi and ended up here. This place is very large, and it seems like they don't have complete control of this area. There are sections out of their control, so I could blend in easily while finding an escape. But on the day I finally found one, I saw you." Maaya trailed off. "At first, I didn't think it was you. I mean, no way. There is no way that woman could be that heartless, but it was you."

".."

"Even if I do not like you, those feelings are so petty. Right now, you are a fellow woman suffering. But," Maaya looked down. "I am not very strong. I am the weakest in the goddess4. I do not have very strong abilities. I judged the situation carefully; there are too many guards here. For me to take you out, it will not be easy. So this is all I could do for you, to secretly slip in medicine so your body can recover enough for you to make your escape."

So that is why recently, she felt as though she had had more strength. Who would have thought it was because of Kira Maaya.

"Thank you, but I cannot leave without Haruka."

Maaya bit her lip and nodded. "I found an escape route, or rather I found several. But after testing them out, this one is the best. There is a route that will directly lead you outside of the portal and into the center of the town. However, the infected have surrounded the place. You wouldn't be able to survive, and if you have Karashima with you, it will be harder."

"It leads directly to a forest. This one is dangerous too, but at the very least, this forest will have no infected or your cousin's people."

A forest, it won't be easy. But right now, it does seem to be the only way.

"When were you planning on telling me? I apologize, but Haruka's state recently-" Rikka struggled to keep the tears from falling from her eyes.

It was painful thinking of the current Haruka. He was a shell of his former self. How many times did they drug and torture him for him to lose his mind like that?

Maaya patted her shoulders. "I am sorry, I should have said so sooner. But there was a time where your cousin seemed suspicious. I didn't want to lose my role as your caretaker. So I had to play safe for a while. Shinozaki, you're going to have to make your escape within the next few days. At the very least this week."

"How come?"

"They are planning something huge involving Karashima. I do not know the exact details, but they will take him away from here, and as for you, they plan to toss you in the middle of the infection."

So, in other words, she no longer has any use. If they separate her from Haruka, who knows what they will do to him? Haruka has remained relatively safe to a certain degree because she has covered for him whenever they tried to do extreme things.

"What about you?" Rikka asked. "I don't think you should stay here."

Rikka looked at her with concern. "It isn't safe; if we do manage to escape successfully, they will investigate all the staff and you-"

Didn't the girl just say she was weak? She definitely won't be able to escape this.

"Back when we met, and I saw you with Karashima, I didn't even let either of you two spoke and just jumped to a conclusion. I said some hostile things. But that was the day Karashima was getting a gift for Lila for their upcoming date plan. I tossed the bag in his hands without even looking at the trash since I thought it was for you since you were together. I was wrong, that was for Lila, and you were coming from a party in the hotel across when you saw Karashima."

"I-"

Maaya shook her head. "That was my fault because I disliked Karashima for taking Lila away from Kiryu. But after I saw how much Lila was willing to do for Karashima, I finally understood who the person she truly loves is. As her friend, I should have been supportive instead of showing such hostile behavior."

Rikka didn't know what to say. Ever since she ended up captive, she has had many regrets. It seems she isn't the only one who has reflected in the past year. Her thoughts broke off when she watched the small balls of light in the corner of the room fade.

Right at that moment, a guard appeared at the entrance. "Miss Sophia is summoning you; hurry up."

Whenever these guards look at her with such disgust, Rikka wondered who they thought she was.. While her appearance had diminished a lot, she still retained some of her original features. Do they think she is just a woman who is selling herself?