Tsukiko finally lowered the shotgun, her arms practically going limp. Shizuka stepped closer without saying a word.

  "Shizuka." Tsuki stared. "You're supposed to be with--"

  The First Knight shook her head. "It's fine."

  Tsukiko moved her mask aside. She shivered as the air hit the sweat on her face. Shizuka didn't move an inch.

  "Tsuki, I..." Shizuka stopped herself, opened her mouth again, and hesitated.

  "Did something happen?" Tsuki asked.

  "C-could you--" Shizuka stopped herself again, then took a deep breath through her nose. "Come with me. Please."

  "What's wrong?" Tsuki insisted. "I need to get back, I need to--"

  Shizuka got even closer. The look on her face startled Tsukiko. Her eyes were blank, almost hazy, like they were starting straight through her. Her lips were curled into a slight smile. The First Knight reached down and grabbed Tsukiko's hand, pulling it close to her own chest. Tsuki could feel how badly she was shuddering.

  "...alright." Tsukiko lowered her gaze.

  Shizuka stood there, staring long enough for Tsuki to notice. Then, she turned and took a few steps down the alley, grabbing an unmarked door and twisting the knob to pull it open. Shizuka held the door, and motioned for Tsukiko to step through. Tsuki slung the gun over her shoulder, but hesitated at the door's threshold, before she was gently pushed through.

  Beyond the door was a thin strip of asphalt, surrounded at both sides by a densely packed field of tall green rice plants. It was damn near pitch black, with only the moon and countless stars illuminating the world in a dull blue grey.

  "Where are we?" Tsuki asked.

  Shizuka put her hands on Tsuki, turned her around, and wrapped her arms around her tight. She held her there without saying a word, her own black jacket shielding them both from the cold. Tsukiko could feel Shizuka shaking, and hear her heart beating fast.

  When she finally gave her niece some space, Shizuka had a smile on her face, but her eyes still showed a faint glaze over them. She pulled Tsukiko close again, and kissed her cheek, then stroked her hair. Shizuka stared at Tsuki, and let out a sigh.

  "Shizuka." Tsukiko finally spoke.

  Shizuka looked away.

  "Talk to me." Tsuki pleaded.

  "I love you." Shizuka couldn't look at her.

  "Shizuka."

  "I wanted to see you again."

  "So you came all this way to find me?" Tsukiko asked.

  Shizuka nodded without a sound.

  "Why?"

  "Someone had to." Shizuka evaded the question.

  "What about the gang? The protesters?" Tsuki stared.

  Shizuka lowered her head. "They're in good hands. You know that. Sylvie and Flowers..."

  Tsukiko didn't speak. Shizuka's eyes met hers, then darted away.

  "I know, I promised." Shizuka sighed.

  "...you can tell me anything."

  "Tsuki..." Shizuka's face soured. "...can't you just let me enjoy the moment?"

  Tsukiko was taken aback. "...sorry."

  "No, I..." Shizuka paused. "Thank you."

  "Yeah."

  Shizuka turned around and started walking, slowly. "Walk with me. Please."

  Tsukiko moved with her in lockstep. "Right."

  A short ways away was a pair of isolated vending machines. Light spilled out from them and lit the green rice and black asphalt before them. Shizuka stopped in front of the first vending machine, looking it up and down, browsing the selection. Tsuki watched her intently.

  "This place is really special to me." Shizuka turned and looked out to the rice field.

  "Why?"

  "...it was one of the first places I ended up after going through one of Aurelia's doors." Shizuka continued. "I've come here... maybe hundreds of times. Some of the locals know me."

  Tsuki spotted some buildings in the distance, and pointed to them. "...so you've been to those villages?"

  "Yeah." Shizuka nodded.

  "You walked all that way?" Tsuki looked at her.

  "Tsuki, I was like... thirteen the first time I came here. I had way more energy back then." Shizuka explained. "Don't you walk a million kilometers a day too?"

  "Well..." Tsuki paused. "The last time I was here--"

  "You've been here before?"

  "Yeah." Tsuki nodded. "Once with Hotaru, and... once in a dream."

  Shizuka cocked her head. "A dream?"

  "Yeah, I... guess I had a fight with Fumi. In the dream, I mean." Tsuki paused. "I had a motorcycle and it broke down or ran out of gas or something. I tried calling her, but she wouldn't pick up."

  "Huh." Shizuka raised an eyebrow. "Then what?"

  "There was this girl standing out in the field. I called out to her, but I didn't get to see her face. I woke up right there." Tsuki finished.

  Shizuka smiled. "Must've been one of those... prophetic dreams."

  Tsukiko shook her head. "I really hope not."

  "Why not?" Shizuka looked at her.

  "I don't wanna get into a fight with Fumi. Not now, not ever."

  "C'mon, you two get along. If you ever do argue about something, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Shizuka tried to comfort her.

  "I just... don't wanna think about that."

  "...what about the bike, then?" Shizuka switched the subject.

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  "It was weird. It felt natural to me, but I've never even ridden a moped. The bike in my dream was big, powerful. One of those super bikes." Tsuki could remember quite vividly. "I didn't have my jacket with me. It was this black leather bike suit thing."

  "Like Fujiko Mine, huh?" Shizuka joked.

  Tsuki let out a soft sigh. "Guess so."

  "Y'know... The offer still stands." Shizuka turned to look her in the eye.

  Tsuki refused. "I can't just run away."

  Shizuka looked at her, a sense of exasperation on her face. She stared at Tsukiko for a while, uncomfortably quiet at first.

  "Tsuki, did I... did I screw up?"

  "What?"

  "This isn't really how I figured any of this would go." Shizuka sighed. "I feel like I forced you into this. The only reason that lunatic hates you is cuz of that damn jacket."

  "You didn't force me to do anything."

  "Tsuki, I--" Shizuka paused. "I know I said there were risks, but this? If I hadn't put those ideas in your head... You'd be happy. You'd be safe."

  "I was the one who made the choice, good or bad." Tsuki countered. "Fumi survived. She was fine. I was the one who went for revenge."

  Shizuka kept quiet.

  "And when it was all said and done, I got my revenge. I found the bastard, and I kept going." Tsukiko laughed a little. "Thinking about it now sounds so silly. I was so reckless."

  "You're still reckless." Shizuka said quietly.

  Tsukiko nodded. "I'm an idiot. You know it's my best quality."

  Shizuka put on a sad smile. "You're so stubborn."

  "I knew what I was getting into." Tsuki reminded her. "It's not like I wasn't already used to coming home covered in cuts and bruises."

  "But why'd you keep going?"

  "Why'd you keep going?" Tsuki turned it back on her. "You've probably had it tougher than me. Why be a Knight when nobody had your back?"

  Shizuka looked unsatisfied. "Stubborn, I guess."

  Shizuka turned away, her gaze settling on something in the distance, staring through the dark. Tsuki couldn't make out what she was looking for.

  "That can't be it." Tsuki pressed her for an answer. "Why do I have to stop, but you had to spend all those years suffering alone?"

  "I'm not like you. I'm just--" Shizuka stopped herself. "...I don't know, okay?"

  "Then neither of us know."

  Shizuka let out a strange laugh. "Hehehehehe."

  "What's so funny?"

  "I should be honest with you. Completely honest." Shizuka laughed a little more. "Hehe. Hah."

  "Yeah."

  "Can I tell you something?" Shizuka looked her in the eye. "Promise me you'll listen no matter what I say."

  Tsuki quietly nodded.

  Shizuka turned back out into the dark, her eyes scanning for something. She grabbed Tsuki by the wrist and pulled her away from the vending machines and raised her hand.

  "D'you see that tower?" Shizuka pointed at it through the dark.

  In the distance was some tall structure, a mess of metal tubing leading up to a small platform. There were a couple dim blinking lights on it. Tsuki couldn't tell if it was a radio tower or an observation tower.

  "Yeah."

  "I used to come here all the time, just to sit and think." Shizuka started. "It's quiet out here. Sometimes I'd sit next to that vending machine with a CD player and just listen to discs for hours."

  "It is pretty scenic."

  "Yeah." Shizuka nodded in approval. "But sometimes, I just needed to get away. Sure there's the bugs and the birds and all that, but there's nowhere this quiet in the city."

  Tsuki's eyes met Shizuka's.

  "This was... one of my secret bases. It was a place I could run and hide as a kid." Shizuka paused for a good long while. "Please, just listen to what I'm about to tell you. It's not something I'm proud of."

  "Alright." Tsuki spoke softly. "What is it?"

  "It's... that tower..." Shizuka took a long breath. "One summer, I climbed all the way to the top. Felt like I could see the whole world."

  Tsuki didn't say anything.

  "Back then, everything was... horrible. Fumi's dad." Shizuka lowered her gaze. "What a piece of shit."

  Tsuki didn't say a word, she just kept listening.

  "I thought being up there would... I dunno, make me feel free, change my perspective or something. Instead... Shizuka kept speaking. "I jumped off."

  "What?"

  "I just... walked off the edge." Shizuka's voice was steady. "I hit a cable on the way down. Damn near split me in half. Aurelia found me. Only time I've ever seen her cry."

  "That's--"

  Shizuka turned suddenly. "Tsuki."

  "Y-yeah?" Tsukiko shuddered.

  "My whole life, I've lived with this... horrible guilt, this shame." Shizuka sighed. "I've hated myself for years. I've always felt like a failure, like I wasted so much time chasing nothing. You remember the pills."

  "Shizuka." Tsuki stepped closer.

  "I dunno why I'm telling you this." Shizuka was smiling. "I guess... I finally have someone to tell. But you already knew all this, didn't you?"

  "No." Tsuki's voice cracked a little. "I didn't."

  "How many times I've tried..." Shizuka laughed. "It's like God himself was watching over me all these years. Kept me alive. Aurelia too."

  Tsukiko watched her. She didn't move a muscle.

  "Sometimes, I think they kept me alive to see you." Shizuka stared. "To know that everything I did wasn't a waste. That I'd eventually protect you, guide you. I love you more than you'll ever know."

  "Promise me you'll never do that again." Tsuki demanded.

  "Huh?"

  "Promise me you'll never try to kill yourself again."

  Shizuka let out a single, weak laugh. "No."

  "Shizuka."

  "Tsuki." Shizuka replied. "If anything were to happen to you..."

  She didn't finish her thought. She didn't want to say the rest aloud, she just hoped Tsuki understood.

  Tsuki spoke in a low tone, almost a whisper. "Don't put that kinda pressure on me."

  "It's not pressure." Shizuka replied. "I can't lose you. I don't wanna live a life where you're stuck in a box somewhere."

  "I wouldn't be fighting if I thought I was gonna lose." Tsuki insisted.

  "I know." Shizuka nodded. "...but if anything goes wrong--"

  "Please." Tsukiko pleaded.

  "I... I can't." Shizuka choked on her words. "Not when it feels like it might be my fault."

  "Shizuka. I... I don't know if I'm doing the right thing, but I don't regret becoming a Knight." Tsukiko looked her aunt in the eye. "It's been some of the happiest times of my life."

  Shizuka wouldn't look back at her.

  "If I didn't put on that jacket, you and I might never have met. If I didn't stand up for myself, would I really have reconnected with Haru? Would I have met Aurelia?" Tsukiko stared. "I'm glad with the way things turned out. I don't have any regrets."

  "I know, I just..." Shizuka's eyes started to water. "I'm scared."

  Tsukiko got closer, wrapping an arm around Shizuka.

  "I dunno if this'll be my last chance." Shizuka's voice wavered. "I just wanted to see you, hold you, tell you how much I love you."

  Tsuki tried to reassure her. "I'll keep on fighting."

  "I shoulda done more, I--"

  "This isn't your fault." Tsukiko cut her off. "Don't blame yourself for what Ishikawa did. It's not your fault."

  Shizuka pushed Tsuki away. "I owe you so much."

  Tsuki smiled. "You don't owe me anything, alright? Just... live. Okay?"

  Shizuka kept trying to hide her face.

  "This won't be the last time." Tsukiko said. "I promise."

  "...I wish I was as tough as you are, sometimes." Shizuka sighed. "You're stubborn, but you've got the strength to back it up."

  "I'm not strong." Tsuki replied. "I'm just as scared as you are."

  "If I were you, I woulda left the country by now." Shizuka chuckled. "I'd be in Beijing, or Shanghai, or... hell, somewhere in America."

  "Really?" Tsuki looked at her.

  "...I don't have my own Fumi, but I have you." Shizuka stared. "And if I found out I was putting your safety at risk just by sticking around..."

  Tsuki looked at her.

  Shizuka lowered her head, defeated. "Nah. I couldn't. I think I'm just as stubborn as you."

  Tsuki frowned. "So you get why I have to fight, even like this."

  "If only he'd gone after me instead.'" Shizuka muttered.

  "We'd still end up here.. I'd be the one telling you how much you mean to me." Tsuki stared at her aunt.

  Shizuka struggled to hold back her tears. "Yeah. I know."

  "...maybe a few weeks earlier, though." Tsuki joked with a smile. "You'd've given him hell."

  Shizuka laughed a little.

  FROM THE AUTHOR: Sorry for taking so long with this one. I fell very ill recently, so I couldn't make as much progress as I would've liked. I've also been working on edits for TKH Vol. 1, so if you like that story, you can go back and enjoy it in a more polished state. I'm very very close to finishing that.

  EDITOR'S NOTE: "Hello everyone, and happy new year! 2026 has been off to a bit of a rocky start, and I feel like the direction this chapter took was somewhat affected by it. In this case we tried to experiment with a more aggressive editing process, flying by the seat of our pants while trying to push a frantic pace on the dialogue. The idea was to let the character's interaction establish the entire scene, without much need for scenery or interruptions. I think we succeeded overall, and the result was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster to put together. Thank you so much for your continued readership!"