A sphere emerged from his field, expanding terrifyingly after Toki uttered those words that allowed him to explore a new perspective.
It froze the space, and everyone inside it saw the colors vanish, turning everything into black and white, as if watching an old television.
The sphere quickly contracted around Luna and her surroundings after its expansion.
Shun's electric hand withered, and the field absorbed all the particles of light radiation.
Toki remained suspended in the air, waiting for the right moment to control the sphere, even though he was bleeding heavily from his abdomen.
His skin turned pale, indicating the large amount of blood he had lost.
From Shun's side, anxious expressions dominated his features. He glanced at Sophie and the guard, then rushed toward Toki.
Shun didn't notice Sophie waking up while he ran. She opened her eyelids as if her intuition was telling her something.
Shun lifted his head, and there he saw Toki falling while holding Luna.
From what he could deduce, despite the vast distance of the fall, Toki was exhausted by some hidden force.
At the same time, Toki was muttering:
"Welcome back… Luna.
I'll make sure no unknown interferes in our path,"
as he awaited the right moment to land using the last air pulse.
His exhausted body could not even maintain holding the cold Luna any longer, and now he faced a struggle to survive from this height.
His eyes were deceived, seeing the ground far below as if copies of himself awaited his failure and breakdown.
He closed his eyes calmly while strong winds pushed them against the current.
Toki thought to himself with a cold breath:
'What is happening to me… Is this what I prepared for? Or — just neutral logic?'
'What happened earlier? No… I must forget.'
He sighed as he slowly opened his eyes.
'Perhaps this… isn't true.'
"Toki!! Look at me!" Shun shouted, waving his arms.
Toki twisted in the air and lightly pressed the air with his feet.
Shun blocked the air with his forearms, repelling Toki's descent.
He approached him, his brows furrowed: "Let me examine you for a moment."
Toki, panting, responded: "Why? Is something wrong?"
"This is necessary," Shun said, extending his palm toward Toki's forehead, which he couldn't move.
Shun whispered to himself anxiously:
'This boy… doesn't he value himself? His spiritual pulse is not fully stable.
But what he did is both strange and rare at the same time.'
He continued, pulling his hand away: 'It seems his will surpasses the limits of his psyche and mentality.'
"You— you almost died," Shun said in an uneasy tone.
Toki looked confused: "What?! What do you mean?"
Shun sighed and added sarcastically:
"Lucky for you, you survived."
"…?!"
"Ha!~ I've never seen someone try to kill themselves on their own. This is hilarious!"
Shun patted Toki's shoulder, his expression optimistic.
Toki sat down carefully, resting Luna on his right side.
Then he said:
"By the way, which zone? We're in the main square, and he's supposed to be here."
"He left, according to his view… Hah, that's a man hard to understand."
Suddenly, the deep wound in his abdomen began to return its blood to its place, though the wound itself remained.
Shun was stunned by the scene and turned instinctively toward the direction it came from.
At Sophie's location, she was sitting, slowly holding her hands, sensing all the blood sources that had cooled from the night air, then returned them to their place.
Sophie assumed that her brother Toki had taken damage in exchange for what he cares about.
Moments earlier, Orfin had peeked from his window with a deep gaze, then quietly closed his curtains with a solemn air.
This night was one of the strangest and most astonishing nights the village had ever experienced. Although all the residents were asleep, it was a rare moment that had never occurred before.
Toki returned Luna to her room at Marcy's house as usual, sneaking quietly and silently, forgetting about his shoes.
Meanwhile, Sophie left for her room, leaving the straw hat tilted on the unconscious guard, as if signaling something.
Shun went home after checking on Sophie through the trace of the guard sitting on the barrel, his thoughts conflicted as they wandered through his mind on the way back.
—
Back to the present…
Luna slowly opened her eyes, rose from her bed, and stretched her arms above her head.
She yawned, then said while adjusting her red-framed glasses: "It's a beautiful morning~ but I feel something different."
She stared at her semi-glass-like palm, which looked paler than usual. She bit her thumb with her canine, causing a wound that leaked bluish-gray dust instead of red blood.
She whispered: "The flow of my spiritual pulse is not in its place…"
She felt slight discomfort in her movements and light fatigue on her shoulders.
She neatly adjusted the blanket after inspecting the surroundings and noticed a change in the weather to cold.
She changed from her pajamas into her usual outfit, a stylish dress coat.
She picked up a hairpin shaped like a rose, half blooming and half damaged, with a butterfly on top—half intact on the front side, while the other half was damaged.
She fixed it in her pink hair after arranging her hairstyle, which had two loops in the shape of an infinity symbol ending in a braid along her long hair.
She sat briefly on her bed, playing with her watering can while pondering the possible events that had occurred outside in recent days, doubting today.
She paused, took a deep breath, and said to herself curiously: 'I wonder what's going on this morning… Something isn't right, and I need proof—'
Suddenly, Luna heard the sound of the bedroom door opening.
Toki stood there, expressionless, his messy hair covering half of his vision, water droplets falling from him.
Luna raised her eyebrows involuntarily immediately upon seeing him.
°°°
(Author's note: Contradictory presence)