The night wind in Tokyo was colder than yesterday.
Yuan Qing ran along the small path by the river. His breathing was steady, his footsteps heavy, each step landing on the asphalt with a dull thud.
Sundae ran beside him. Her breathing was steadier than it had been in previous days. Though her speed wasn’t fast, she could at least keep up with Yuan Qing’s pace.
When they reached the familiar streetlight, Sundae stopped, hands on her knees, panting heavily. A few scattered drops of sweat slid from her forehead and dripped onto the asphalt, glinting faintly under the streetlight.
Yuan Qing also stopped, standing nearby to wait for her.
“How long… how long did we run today?” Sundae asked between gasps.
Yuan Qing glanced at his phone. “Thirteen minutes.”
“Even faster!” Sundae straightened up, smiling happily. “I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it. That feeling… like my legs are moving forward on their own.”
“That’s progress,” Yuan Qing replied earnestly.
“Yeah!” Sundae nodded vigorously. “See you tomorrow, Mr. Luo!”
“See you tomorrow.”
Sundae waved, turned, and ran towards the apartment building.
At the entrance, she turned back and called out with energy, “Good night!”
Then, Sundae pushed the door open and disappeared into the stairwell.
Yuan Qing stood in place, watching the closed door for a few seconds.
Then he kept running.
Raven leaped from his shoulder, flapping its wings and taking flight in mid-air.
“You’re getting better at running every day…” Raven commented, though it was unclear if it was praise or sarcasm.
“……”
Raven spoke again. “Actually, you don’t have to force yourself to play this training game with me. If you went to Hifumi, you’d get much better training. Hifumi would definitely teach you all her weaknesses without holding back.”
“……”
“…Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Yuan Qing still didn’t answer.
He ran past that streetlight, past the bare cherry tree, past the convenience store, along the small path by the river.
His breathing was steady, his footsteps heavy.
Raven flew beside him.
He ran past the last intersection, into the familiar street, past the row of bare roadside trees.
The apartment building was there, but Yuan Qing didn’t stop. He ran straight past it.
Raven was taken aback, braking sharply in mid-air, its wings flapping and creating a turbulent airflow.
“Hey!” Raven shouted. “You passed it! Your home, you passed it!”
Yuan Qing just kept running.
Raven watched Yuan Qing’s retreating back, its silhouette blurring at the edges in the darkness. It opened its beak, seeming to want to say something, but the words only swirled in its throat, tasting bitter.
Yuan Qing’s breathing remained just as steady, his footsteps just as heavy. He was like a tireless machine, operating on a fixed track, wearing down at a predetermined rate.
He slowly left Raven behind.
That child I contracted with before…
—
The lights in the practice room were still on, bright and white. Mizuho stood before the floor-length mirror, wearing her much-washed training clothes, her hair tied back with a headband. The stray hairs at her forehead were damp with sweat, sticking to her skin.
Raven landed on the back of a chair, its wings drooping, its whole body slumping down.
“So?” Mizuho asked. “Why did you come find me?”
“I wanted to ask you,” Raven lifted its head, trying to steady its breath. “Has he run to you?”
“No… sigh,” Mizuho sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. “Really, what is he doing…”
“Yeah, it’s probably my problem…” Raven tilted its head back, exhaling one last sharp breath. “Haa…”
“Your problem?”
Mizuho turned, walked to the window, and pushed it open. The night wind slipped through the crack, chilly, dispersing some of the indoor heat.
Raven lowered its head slightly. “Yeah, maybe I pushed him too hard.”
Mizuho leaned out, looking at the street below.
The streetlights were on. The street was empty. No one was there.
“He didn’t come,” she said.
Raven was silent for a moment. “…Then where would he go?”
Mizuho shrugged.
“To be honest, I don’t know Mr. Luo well enough either,” Mizuho turned back, walked to the mirror, picked up the towel draped over the chair back, and wiped the sweat from her face. “It’s like there’s a layer of hazy, gray fog around him. It’s just a faint, insubstantial layer, but it makes it hard to see him clearly or get close.”
“That’s exactly it.”
Mizuho was silent for a while.
“…Go find Sachiko.”
Raven looked up. “Now?”
“Now,” Mizuho nodded. “Otherwise, he couldn’t have run to Sundae or Hifumi, could he?”
—
Shinohara Sachiko’s home was in a quiet residential area, not too far from Mizuho’s apartment, a twenty-minute drive.
Mizuho parked the car by the roadside and turned off the engine. Raven lay on her shoulder, having regained some strength, at least enough to speak.
“Is she asleep?” Raven asked, somewhat worried.
Mizuho glanced at the time on her phone.
“Don’t know,” Mizuho told the truth. “But she stays up late. She probably isn’t asleep yet.”
She pushed the car door open and got out.
The night wind hit her face, making her shiver. She turned up the collar of her coat and walked quickly towards the lit house.
Ding-dong.
After the doorbell rang, a few seconds passed before the door opened.
Sachiko was wearing a dark gray loungewear, her hair casually tied back. An unlit cigarette was dangling from her lips. Seeing Mizuho, she raised an eyebrow.
“Coming this late, something wrong?” Sachiko took the cigarette in her hand.
“Wanted to talk to you,” Mizuho got straight to the point. “About Mr. Luo.”
Sachiko looked at her, then at Raven on her shoulder, and stepped aside.
“Come in.”
The living room wasn’t large, but it was tidy and clean.
Warm yellow lighting made the whole room feel soft. A cup of already cold tea sat on the coffee table, next to a magazine flipped open halfway.
“Sit,” Sachiko said, sitting on the sofa and pointing to the chair opposite. “What’s up? Did that kid pull a disappearing act?”
“How did you know?” More than surprised, Mizuho was actually more puzzled.
But Sachiko just held the cigarette, lit it, and took a drag. “Could tell from your reactions. Unfortunately, he hasn’t disappeared over here.”
She slowly exhaled smoke. The pale gray smoke dispersed under the warm yellow light.
Raven flew down from Mizuho’s shoulder and landed on the coffee table, unusually quiet.
Sachiko gave a slight, lopsided smile. “All along, you two have relied too much on his performance. He’s been carrying both your lives on his back and running with them. Probably only something like disappearing would make you pay attention, huh…”
“Don’t say that, Sachiko,” Raven’s voice wasn’t loud, due to physical fatigue and low spirits. “All along, I’ve been reflecting too. I think… maybe I went too far.”
“……”
Mizuho remained silent for the moment.
“I want to hand him over to Hifumi,” Raven continued.
“So that’s it, Familiar…” Sachiko held the cigarette between her fingers, then pointed it at Raven. “Hifumi is a very gentle person, you’re not wrong about that. But he’s not someone who can be satisfied with just gentle, loving kindness, you know.”
“?”
“?”
Raven and Mizuho looked at Sachiko, both somewhat confused.
Sachiko looked back at Raven and Mizuho. “That’s it. It’s precisely because he can’t stand you two constantly accommodating him everywhere that he’s had enough. As a Familiar, Raven, you’ve already failed once. He’s not the Magical Girl from your last contract.”
“I know that, Sachiko—”
“Fighting hurts. Running is tiring. Stepping into seawater feels cold. Winning feels satisfying,” Sachiko interrupted Raven. “He doesn’t have that kind of tangible feeling. If you love him, then grab him and give him a good, hard kiss!”
Having said that, Sachiko picked up her cigarette and took a fierce drag.