The night air was still, just cool enough to brush the skin. Crickets sang lazily in the grass, and above, the stars hung like forgotten jewelry scattered across the sky.
Yuzume sat on the porch steps, brushing her tail in slow, even strokes. It was part habit, part comfort. Riku sat beside her, this time with no tea, no broom, no kitchen disasters. Just silence.
It wasn't awkward.
Just... quiet.
After a while, he said, "You've never asked about me."
She glanced over. "You've never offered."
He nodded. "Fair."
A longer pause.
Then, "So, have you always been here?"
She blinked. "At the shrine?"
"Yeah."
She looked up at the stars. Her hand slowed.
"…Yes."
"You've never left?"
She gave a small shrug. "Why would I?"
"I don't know. Just seems like you'd be curious. The world's kind of… big."
She was quiet again. The wind moved through the chimes above them, low and soft.
"I've been to the edge," she said eventually. "Once."
Riku turned to her.
"There's a place where the veil gets thin. You can see the mountains beyond, and sometimes, the river that winds into the city. I stood there for a long time."
"What stopped you?"
She didn't answer right away. Her voice was soft when it came.
"It felt like… my breath got heavier. Like my feet weren't mine. Like the world was pushing back." She paused. "The trees looked too far away. The clouds looked fake. Everything felt wrong."
He frowned. "That sounds… intense."
She nodded. "It was."
"Did anyone explain it?"
"My master never let me go near the edge. Said the veil protected me. I didn't understand why. I thought he was just being strict." She gave a soft laugh. "Now I get it. He wasn't trying to keep me in. He was trying to keep me alive."
Riku was quiet for a long time.
"That's why you've never left," he said.
"I can't," she whispered. "And even if I could, I don't know what's out there waiting for someone like me."
He looked at her, really looked.
"I think," he said, "whatever's out there is missing something if you're not in it."
Yuzume blinked.
Then rolled her eyes and gave him a light nudge. "You're just saying that because I didn't poison you with eggs."
He smirked. "A little."
They fell back into silence.
But something lingered now. A deeper understanding. A softness.
Even if she couldn't step outside the veil… maybe someone else could carry a little of her world out there someday.