Ke Leya buried her face in her knees, her silver hair falling down to cover her profile.
She closed her eyes, listening to the wind, the chirping of insects, and the thumping of her own heartbeat.
After an unknown amount of time, a jacket still warm from body heat suddenly fell onto her shoulders.
Ke Leya stiffened and looked up.
Vanessa was already standing, her back to Ke Leya, facing the path down the mountain.
The hunting jacket was gone, leaving her in a dark form-fitting shirt that outlined the clean lines of her shoulders and back.
“You’re cold. Go back,” Vanessa said.
Ke Leya gripped the jacket that still held residual warmth and slowly stood up.
Her legs were numb. She wobbled.
Vanessa turned around, reached out to steady her arm, then withdrew as soon as contact was made.
“Can you walk?” Vanessa asked, her gaze fixed on Ke Leya’s face.
Ke Leya nodded, clutching the keys.
She didn’t look at Vanessa again.
Turning, she headed down the mountain.
She walked quickly, her steps uneven on the grass.
Blades of grass scraped against her calves, bringing a fine sting.
She didn’t look back. Not once.
She clutched the jacket in her hand.
The lingering warmth of the fabric gradually dissipated in the night breeze, soon turning cold.
Vanessa stood in place, watching the silver-haired figure stumble and disappear at the edge of the woods.
Only when she could no longer see her did Vanessa slowly lean back against the rock.
Her back pressed against the cold stone.
She raised a hand to rub her brow, then let out a long sigh.
A rustling came from the grass.
Anna parted the waist-high deep grass and stepped out, carrying the breathable gauze cage she had used to hold the fireflies.
The cage was nearly empty, with only a few scattered green dots flickering wearily inside.
She walked over and stood beside Vanessa.
Her eyes first scanned Vanessa’s expressionless profile, then drifted towards the small town down the mountain, and finally returned to the rock.
“…I didn’t catch everything,” Anna began, her voice dissipating in the wind. “But I got the general idea.”
Vanessa didn’t answer.
She tilted her head back and looked up at the still-brilliant starry river above.
After looking for a while, she suddenly twitched the corner of her mouth and let out a self-deprecating laugh.
“How long did you prepare?” she asked, not looking at Anna.
“An afternoon,” Anna said.
She placed the cage at her feet and also looked up at the sky along with Vanessa.
“I scoured all the valley wetlands to catch these. You said you wanted a lot, enough to surround her.”
“Mm,” Vanessa responded.
She reached into the pocket of her form-fitting shirt and pulled out a necklace.
The pendant was an exquisite crescent moon, its edges inlaid with tiny dark blue gems.
“I won’t be needing this anymore.”
Anna looked at the necklace.
“You could have just given it to her.”
“Giving it as who?” Vanessa twirled the necklace around her finger.
The silver chain wrapped around her knuckle, then loosened.
“A fool who sticks around even after being used by her?”
“Those words of hers…” Anna began, choosing her words carefully.
“You didn’t actually believe them, did you?”
Vanessa didn’t answer Anna.
She put the necklace away back into her pocket, her palm pressing against the cool metal for a moment.
“No,” she said, closing her eyes.
“But she wanted me to believe.”
Anna waited for her to continue.
Vanessa bent one leg and rested her elbow on her knee.
The night wind pressed her shirt against her body.
She opened her eyes and looked at the blurred outlines of the mountains in the distant darkness.
“She was trembling,” Vanessa said. “When she said those words, I could hear the tears in her voice.”
“When I called her name, she wouldn’t look at me either.”
“She’s hiding something from me.”
“She’s hiding something from you.”
The two spoke in unison.
Anna was silent for a moment.
“Then what do you plan to do?”
“I don’t know,” Vanessa answered honestly.
She felt a bit mentally exhausted.
There must be something hidden behind Ke Leya’s words.
She didn’t know what it was, but she knew it must be causing Ke Leya great pain—pain so great she would rather push Vanessa away.
“So are you still going to kill Elizabeth?” Anna asked a practical question.
“Kill,” Vanessa answered without hesitation. “I promised her.”
“And then?”
“Then…” Vanessa thought about it. “We’ll talk about it then.”
Anna stopped asking.
She bent down and picked up the empty cage.
“I’ll head back first. Don’t sit out too long—it gets cold at night.”
“Mm.”
Anna left.
The sound of her footsteps was soon swallowed by the grass.
The mountaintop was left with only Vanessa.
She sat still, letting the night wind slowly chill her through.
Her fingers toyed with the necklace in her pocket.
The cold crescent shape was imprinted on her fingertips.
She hadn’t originally planned it this way.
In her plan, when the fireflies rose, she would take out the necklace.
Maybe a bit clumsy, but she would look seriously into Ke Leya’s eyes.
She would loudly tell the girl, “I like you!”
Then she would ask, “Can you try to like me? You don’t have to answer right away. We can take it slow.”
She knew it was very cliché.
But for someone who had been stuck in the Cycle for too long and had forgotten how to love someone normally, this was already the most sincere opening she could think of.
But instead of a stable opening, it had jumped straight into a cutscene.
Vanessa felt a bit regretful.
She should have said it earlier.
╥﹏╥ Vanessa sighed.
Since things had come to this, she might as well kill Elizabeth tomorrow morning to vent her frustration.
She stood up, stretched her numb legs a bit, and walked along the path Ke Leya had taken, heading down the mountain.