The room fell into silence, not because there was nothing left to say, but because Hakiten's words had landed far heavier than either Juson or Yokina had expected. For several long moments, only the distant hum of hospital machinery and the occasional footsteps echoing through the corridor disturbed the stillness. Hakiten remained seated beside Wanna's bed, his shoulders lowered beneath an invisible weight while his hands rested loosely against his knees. The redness in his eyes had not faded. If anything, it had deepened.
Juson watched him carefully, trying to understand whether the words he had spoken moments ago were born from grief or whether they reflected a conclusion he had reached long before this day. Unfortunately, Hakiten's expression revealed nothing. It was calmer than anger, quieter than sorrow, yet far more unsettling than either. Yokina stood near the doorway, her eyes shifting repeatedly between the two men as an oppressive heaviness settled over the room, making it feel as though something irreversible had already begun.
Unable to bear the silence any longer, Juson stepped forward and finally asked the question that had been growing inside him ever since Hakiten had spoken. "Who?" His voice remained steady, but the uncertainty behind it was impossible to hide. Hakiten lowered his head instead of answering immediately. His gaze drifted towards Wanna's motionless body lying beneath the white hospital sheet. The fabric appeared endless, perfectly still, carrying the unbearable permanence of death. He swallowed slowly before lifting his eyes once again. This time there was no hesitation.
"Genido."
The name left his mouth quietly, yet its impact inside the room was immediate. Yokina frowned in confusion. To her, the name carried no meaning whatsoever. She had never met him, never heard of him, never imagined he could somehow be connected to everything that had happened. Juson, however, reacted very differently. The instant he heard that single name, fragments of forgotten memories stirred violently inside his mind.
Blue sand suspended inside a glass container. Red particles resting beside it. A laboratory. Demonstrations. Conversations he could no longer fully hear. Familiar faces blurred by time. The memories remained incomplete, but unlike before they no longer felt entirely unreachable. Day by day they were becoming clearer, as though someone had begun slowly unlocking a door that had remained sealed for years.
Hakiten pushed himself to his feet despite the sharp pain spreading through his injured side. His body resisted every movement, yet he ignored it completely. The nurses had warned him repeatedly not to strain himself, but their advice no longer mattered. Nothing seemed important anymore. Not after losing Wanna. Not after everything the past few days had taken from him.
Slowly he walked towards the window overlooking the hospital grounds. Evening sunlight entered through the glass, washing the room in a warm orange glow that softened everything except his expression. He stood there for several long seconds, staring outside without truly seeing anything before finally speaking again.
"You have to resurface those days, Juson."
Yokina immediately interrupted him.
"What are you talking about?"
Hakiten did not answer her question directly. His eyes remained fixed somewhere beyond the parking lot below, as though the past itself stood waiting outside the hospital.
"He started all of it."
His voice remained remarkably calm. That calmness disturbed Juson far more than anger ever could have. It was the voice of someone who had spent years repeating the same conclusion until it had become absolute truth. Juson slowly approached him.
"What exactly did he do?"
Silence settled over the room once more. Outside, traffic continued moving through the streets while ordinary people lived ordinary lives, completely unaware of the conversation unfolding behind the hospital walls. Inside the room, however, time itself seemed unwilling to move forward. Hakiten eventually turned around to face him.
"Wanna is dead."
Nobody answered.
There was nothing to deny. Nothing to argue against. The truth rested only a few feet away beneath the white sheet covering her body.
"And all of it somehow leads back to him."
Juson met Hakiten's eyes without looking away. For the first time since entering the room, he realised something important. Hakiten was not speaking out of rage. He was assembling events. Connecting memories. Following evidence. Every conclusion he had reached pointed towards one person, and that person stood at the centre of everything.
Genido.
Yokina remained completely lost. Neither of them had explained anything to her. The names, the strange sand, the experiments, the forgotten memories... every conversation seemed to begin halfway through a story she had never been allowed to hear. She remained silent for several seconds before finally asking the question that had been growing inside her ever since Juson first returned from the abandoned house.
"What are you two hiding from me?"
Neither man answered.
The silence itself became an answer.
Yokina slowly clenched her fists. The same feeling she had carried for weeks returned once again. It was the feeling of standing outside a locked room while everyone else possessed the key. She could see fragments through the cracks, hear pieces of conversations, witness strange events unfolding around her, yet nobody would allow her inside.
Juson noticed the frustration growing across her face. He wanted to explain everything. He truly did. But where could he possibly begin? Blue Zerre. Red Zerre. Genido. The experiments. The maid. The memories returning one fragment at a time. Even he barely understood what was happening anymore. How could he expect Yokina to understand what he himself could not?
Before he found the words, Hakiten quietly spoke again.
"I don't care anymore."
The statement came so softly that both Juson and Yokina immediately looked towards him. Hakiten had returned to Wanna's bedside and lowered himself carefully into the chair beside her. His eyes never left her peaceful face.
"I have nothing left."
His voice remained empty.
"Nitsuki would probably be dead."
There was no dramatic emotion inside those words. No shouting. No tears. Only exhaustion. The exhaustion of someone who had already accepted a truth too painful to resist any longer. Nobody spoke for several long moments. Finally, Juson stepped closer.
"You still have us."
Hakiten remained silent. His eyes never moved away from Wanna. The room became quiet once again before he finally answered without lifting his head.
"Then help me."
Nobody responded immediately. Outside, the evening sun continued sinking slowly towards the horizon while the world carried on exactly as it always had. Inside the hospital room, however, something invisible had already changed. It was not revenge. Not yet. It was simply a decision quietly taking shape between two old friends. Neither of them realised that the path beginning inside that silent room would eventually demand far more than either was prepared to lose.