Heavien was devastated by what he said. First doesn't want to hurt her because she's hurt others. Is that how he feels now?
"No, I don't feel that way. At first, maybe? But when I need to do something forbidden and immoral to protect you, I won't hesitate to."
What is he saying? Why doesn't he even feel guilty for killing someone? Is it okay for him to kill as long as he protects me? All because of me?!
She punched him in his chest lightly. He wasn't even surprised or angry about what she did. Looks like he was already expecting that she would be mad at him.
"Let it out. I'm here." He put his arm around her and embraced her.
She can't stop herself from crying. She cried until his uniform was wet. She is crying because of the mixed emotions she was feeling. It hurts so much. What a heartache to see someone die in front of you, and the sad thing is, you didn't do anything because you couldn't do anything.
Are they going to kill you, or will you kill them?
She also can't blame First, so she has no right to hate him and accept his apology because he is not at fault. He just wanted to live. He just wanted to let her live, so he did that. She feels helpless because the only thing she could do was cry about it.
"S-Sorry... I'm sorry too," she sobbed.
He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Silly you. You can always cry on me."
She felt like her burden was lifted for a while with what he said. It made her feel embarrassed, so she covered her face. He grabbed her hands that were blocking her face, and he removed them from her face.
"It's okay. Now that I've seen your vulnerable side, you can show me your crying face."
She doesn't know if he's teasing her. She's ashamed of her puffy eyes and red nose.
She is still grateful, even though a lot has happened today, because tonight, First and she were able to apologize and talk to each other. She's glad that they're back to the way they used to be. She's thankful that he is her partner. He is a good person who humbles himself and communicates with her, which has strengthened their relationship. She is truly grateful to him.
"Good night," First said goodbye to her, and he got up from sitting.
"Good night," she replied.
She heard the door closing. It was a long night.
Heavien woke up in the middle of the night to drink water. She got thirsty in the middle of her sleep. She is having a nightmare, so she needs to enliven herself. It was a bad dream about her fallen friends. She would be taking some time to recover from all this emotional and psychological damage.
She stared at the wall clock, and it was exactly 1:00 am. She got up and put on slippers. She was about to open the door when something caught her eye in the window. She saw a big shadow in the window. The curtain is white, so it is noticeable. She would have just ignored what she saw when she saw a large figure again.
"Ah!"
It didn't just pass by the window, but it stopped right outside her window.
She sat up and was worried. It was about ten seconds before that shadow disappeared. She sighed in relief when it was gone. She is confused about what it was. It's like... It's like she saw that figure before. It was also night when it happened. She thought deeply about where she had seen that figure before, and she finally remembered. The figure is similar to Neinuko's.
She shrugged it off in a few days, but now it's all bothering them. Because of this Brenille has already given a conclusion.
"Then I think we must conclude that it was just a tree or an animal wandering outside the mansion." Brenille proclaimed.
Maybe they were just imagining things. They might be paranoid because of the tri-games.
"We can put it like that, but why does it exactly show up at 1:00 AM?" Trake commented. He must have a recollection of what had happened.
"I don't know. Maybe it just happened to be in there at an exact time." Brenille answered. "Too accurate to be a coincidence, but we must consider such a rare possibility."
"Because of what Cy said, I haven't slept all night to find out what kind of shadow I saw. I opened the window, but there was nothing." Trake yawned. Heavien notices that he calls her by her second name.
"Me too, I saw it," Rochevel interjected. "Ever since Heavien and Trake mentioned it, I can't sleep anymore. It was at 1:00 AM," Rochevel reported tensely.
They've been here for 4 days in the mansion. It's been three nights in a row that some of them saw that shadow. She means that what they see must be real because Trake, Rochevel, and she have witnessed it. They all sat on the sofa in the living room and talked carefully about this matter.
"Why don't we reinvestigate?" Brenille initiated. He still acts as their leader, and they have no issue with it. "At 1:00 AM, no one will sleep. Guard your respective rooms so we can find out whose window the shadow will show. We will determine if it's something to be worried about." Brenille suggested.
They couldn't get out of this mansion to see what that mysterious shadow was because all the exit doors were locked, and the windows had grilles. They've been trapped again.
It's 12:55 AM and she's here in her room now. Five minutes to go, and they need to be alert.
12:59 AM. She stood by the bed and was ready to see that shadow. She also held a broom to open the window and hit the suspect with it. Only thirty seconds left... 1:00 AM!
N-Nothing?
Heavien saw no shadow at all. She waited another ten minutes, but nothing. She went down to meet others. It was discussed to report immediately when they saw a shadow in the living room. Others have come down as well and gathered.
"Negative." - First
"Nothing in my room," - Trake
"Not in my room either." - Rochevel
Seyah nodded, saying nothing too.
"Me too" – Brenille
Everyone has the same answer.
Why is that?
They all pondered, but no answer came to their minds.
It's afternoon. They spend their time in the living room talking about their lives now that they remember who they are. First doesn't share his life story with them. He just talks to her, but not about his life.
"You looked cool when we played the virtual game." They sat on the sofa. Heavien is currently having a chat with First.
"Why?" she mumbled.
"There's a hologram screen and hologram buttons when I played, but the image of you and the background is 3D."
So, everything looks in 3D. She must look like a game character, then. Just like in a video game, the characters and settings are animated.
"Wow, that's awesome."
"No, it's not."
"Why?"
"I want to see the real you, not the animated one."
Why? Is she ugly when she's animated?
And they talked a lot more about the previous games they played. If she asks him what his real name is, he will always answer, 'call me First'. She shrugged it off because she wanted him to tell her willingly.