「I don’t have a home to go to.」

・・・・・

Nagi woke up under a roof she didn’t recognize, in a bed that convinced herself she was still dreaming. The sheets and pillow she found herself in felt far too comforting to be a reality, and yet how their material snuggled against her head felt far too real. She felt the sheets run across her fingers, the feeling reminiscent of water running down a river. Staring above, the particles of dust lit by the beams through the window danced as if calling out to her to get up. So she did, and immediately flinched at the dull soreness on her side. It wasn’t a dream. Everything she remembered, truly did happen.

“...I’m alive.”

She exhaled. Her body relaxed as the memories came surfacing back. Nagi had to wonder what became of that night, after she had spoken her name to Riki. Everything blurred thereon when exhaustion closed her eyes and the next time she opened them, an unfamiliar room greeted her. Jarring to say the least.

It was enough to drag herself out of the sheets and take a deep stretch. As she did, she took note of her cloak that sat folded on a chair as well as a fresh set of clothes underneath. In fact, the cloak never looked better than before, perfectly spotless and carrying a flowery scent. Someone had been taking care of her. Was it Riki?

For a while Nagi traversed the rooms and hallways, the complex itself was utterly silent aside from the occasional heater stir. Wandering an unknown apartment void of life, it felt as if that dream had not yet ceased and she questioned whether she had awakened at all. After every bit of running she has done to survive, however, the silence had never felt so welcoming. And as she walked out of the wooden door and into the sunlight, she breathed out, reminded once again of the feeling of warmth. It wasn’t a dream after all.

Kitzkirchen. The town name came to her immediately even though the sheet of thin snow covering every surface was far from familiar to its citizens. She had been here before. She was certain. Smoke adrift the roofs led her eyes through the city blocks, becoming ever more so busy, eventually every square foot was packed with stalls and people hunting for bargains.

Walking around, that certainty became stronger, yet she couldn’t place where that certainty came from. Despite treading through the streets of the supposed familiar town, why then did she feel so disconnected from the people passing her—passing cold looks—as if she was some outcast?

“—Welcome!”

Hearing the sudden shout, Nagi looked to the source. It was a girl inches shorter than her with blue hair accented by white streaks. She stood amidst the bountiful colors of fruits in baskets surrounding her, all the while inspecting every variety of apple she could find. Finding the green shade she wanted, the girl held the fruit up.

“One bag of these apples, if you don’t mind!”

“Granny smith, eh? Coming right up.”

She wore a confident expression for seemingly just ordering from a fruit stand, but nevertheless grabbed the paper bag from the stallman and offered a little salute while balancing the thing on her knee. Nagi felt amused by her actions and watched her scuttle off.

But with a bag half the size of her, her view of the ground was obstructed by the apples, and thus at the end of the block, couldn’t see the jutting rock in her path.

“Ah!”

Her right foot caught against the rock, the apples scattered. And her momentum carried herself forward into the ground. The girl’s knee scraped against the gravel as a result. “Just my luck…” She groaned as she flipped over to her back and sat up to find a droplet of blood trickling down her calf.

Nagi rushed over immediately and dropped to her knees. “…Here.” She hovered her hand over the reddened area. “This might be a little cold. Please bear with it.”

“Huh—”

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Within seconds, the area slowly cooled down into a white layer of protection. The girl flinched and shuddered at the chilliness but the mere spectacle distracted any discomfort.

“Wha... M-Miss...” Her mouth gaped at the sight of her own knee gaining a protective shield of ice. “You have powers?!”

Nagi beamed a smile and offered a hand. “What’s your name?”

But the girl said nothing. Only continuing to stare at the glimmer of light reflected from the ice’s surface. “Miss… you have… powers.” she repeated, a cold expression this time. That was when the girl immediately jumped to her feet and slammed her hands on Nagi’s shoulders. “You have to go before anyone sees you!”

“Eh?”

“Please! Don’t let anyone know you have an—”

“—Hey… did you see that?”

Nagi’s breath caught. The voice came from behind carrying a sense of repulsion. She turned her gaze, feeling the pairs of frozen eyes directed at her. A crowd gathered by the corner—eyes darkened at the sight of the ice on the girl’s knee.

“She has an Aoi…”

“That’s what that parlour magic was?”

“Truly black magic…”

The murmurs from the crowd only grew and it was at this point Nagi realized the implication of the situation. A speck of white in the middle of a sea. She truly was alien to them.

“No… I—” Nagi uttered before a sharp pressure jerked back her head followed by a sudden pain that took her vision for a moment, as well as a warm presence that ran down her face. She instinctively raised a hand to the area and felt that same warmth against her fingers. Lowering it, she saw the color of deep red: blood.

“Had trouble before.” The one behind the act was bald, not of small stature, but enough to peer over any poor soul who crosses his path. As such—he had picked up a rock from the ground and lobbed it at her discriminately. “But never seen trouble quite like that before.”

"Oi that's going too far!" one said as he drew back the man’s arm. "There’s a kid standing right next to her, calm down!" But despite his efforts, the man shook him off.

“My wife had been taken by the likes of them without reason. The next thing I hear she’s now living a fulfilling life in paradise. But do I get to contact her? To visit her? Not once. If that’s not the cruellest lie to tell to someone, then I don’t know what is. And plus—” The man turned to her. “—Look at her. Soulless like her blood was drained from her and left her completely pale. Suppose Aoi did that to herself? Just go to Fallway n’ bask in the sunlight there will ya?”

The murmurs reignited.

“...Then she’s a stargazer?”

“Explains all of the snow lately…”

“And those weird chunks of ice spotted everywhere.”

The man reached down for another rock. “Go and tell my wife I’m doing well. Sure you can figure out her address yourself.”

From their perspective, the recent anomalies were far too recent, too connected to be a coincidence. Any disruption to their familiar day to day life could be attributed to her now that proof was in their hands. In their eyes and in their defense, their decision couldn’t have possibly been attributed to blind, hollow murderous intent.

More and more grabbed pebbles, rocks, anything they could find by their feet. Even with the girl now standing some few well-defined meters away from Nagi, Nagi still was completely baffled by the next action they’d take.

The wall of ice emerged as soon as the volley of rocks came, slamming against its surface relentlessly. As the pelting sounds against the ice felt reminiscent of hail beating down on glass and she couldn’t see through its translucent wall to discern, that was what Nagi wanted to believe. A haily day.

“Miss…” The girl looked up at her but couldn’t maintain the gaze.

Nagi let out a weak sigh, a droplet of blood splattering on the gravel. It had been a long, bracing journey. She fought so hard, but all she got in return for her courage and efforts were nothing more than alienation. This was wrong. Everything was wrong, Very wrong. This wasn’t the dream Nagi had envisioned on that night. This was a nightmare.

Was it really worth it? Did I really escape?

Is this the freedom I wanted?

The girl clenched her fist seeing Nagi’s distraught. “Miss… I’m sorry. I don’t know where you came from, but this is something no one should ever see.” Her faint cloudy blue eyes dropped to her knee where the shield of ice still remained. Perhaps if she had kept her uniform on which would have longer articles of wear, if she hadn’t gotten the idea to buy apples, if she hadn’t bumped into an old friend... then maybe this whole atrocity wouldn’t have ever occurred.

“There was a story that a huge crystalline cocoon was seen before Sozuraka was wiped out in flames. In fact, any refugee said the cocoon transformed into a fiery dragon and breathed flames that incinerated everything it touched. They called it a weapon of mass destruction—no, a beast capable of mass destruction. That’s why they're doing this. That’s why the Republic is doing this. For the bliss of ignorance.”

Nagi listened solemnly. The bliss of ignorance. It was anything but.