Riku's voice faded into the cold wind sweeping over the ridge. None of them answered. They didn't need to. Suzune pulled her jacket tighter and kept her eyes on the horizon. Ichika sat cross-legged, poking the fire with a stick. Hana hugged her stuffed rabbit, blinking sleepily beside the small flame.
For the first time in months, the mountain was still. No rumble, no breathing earth beneath them. Just silence.
Riku stayed awake long after the others slept, sitting by the dying fire. He watched the smoke drift into the dark sky and listened. Every instinct told him to keep waiting—for movement, for the faint hum that always came before disaster. But the night gave him nothing back. Only calm.
Maybe the flood really had worked. Maybe the thing beneath Matsushiro was trapped for good.
