—"You must live."

Natsuki's hands were on my shoulders, her breath on my forehead. Warm. Warm. It was warm. Warm, and yet so distant, like the sun on the outside of a windowless room, a presence which ought to be comforting and yet only causes unnecessary attachment, attachment to a world that should have never been loved in the first place.

"Isn't it enough?!" I cried, burying my face in my hands. "I gave you so many souls! Isn't that enough?! What do you mean that our contract isn't complete?! Why won't you let me die?!"

She exhaled forcefully, then said, in that utterly flat rasping tone, "It is enough. You have offered me enough recompense for what I have given you. But regardless, I do not want you to die."

"Why?!" I shouted. "Do you want more souls from me?! Is that it?! Well, I don't want to do this anymore! I don't want to kill anyone anymore! I just want to die!"

"No. Even if you never offer me another soul, I want you to live."

What could I say to that? She asked nothing more than for me to live. What basis could I have to reject her? If she asked me to live so I could give her more souls— then I would certainly cut off my own ears and kill myself! But she asked nothing! Nothing! She wished for nothing more than the continuation of my life, meaningless as it was, worthless as it was! I could not understand her words, and thus I could not deny them!

"Chunxue," she whispered, "if you truly wish to conclude our contract and slit your own throat, I cannot stop you. But I do not want you to die. Live, Chunxue. You asked a wish of me, and now I ask this wish of you. Live."

Her words hung over me like a curse. Live. As long as she made that demand, that simple and trivial demand, I could not die. I could not die! If she demanded that without a hint of malice, without even the slightest ulterior motive, then I could not reject her!

"Chunxue, do you trust me?"

"...Yes."

"Then listen to me. The family you are searching for is not something you will find in duty. You will only find it in love."

"But that's worse!" I cried. "There are people who owe duty to me. But love? Nobody in this world loves—"

"I do."

She fell forward and embraced me, and I could feel her presence distinctly against the silence of the void, like a lonely moon against the empty night sky.

"Chunxue, I will be your family. I will offer you love rather than duty. I will protect you from the rain and the thunder, and from the evils of this world. And with that, you will live happily. You will dream, and you will realize your dreams. This is the future I offer you."

Stolen novel; please report.

I could feel myself breaking into tears.

"Can you... really do that?"

"Yes."

"Can you... really make me happy?"

As my tears rolled down my face, they illuminated the world around them, like little fireflies flitting through the night, and I knew once again that I was alive, that I was real.

"If you offer the price for binding me to this dream, then yes, I can do anything for you."

"The price..." I wrapped my arms around her and embraced her in return. She was not human, so of course there was a price. But I would happily pay it. I had nothing, and precisely because I had nothing, I would happily pay any price to have something.

"Natsuki, what color does happiness dye a soul?"

"—I do not know, for I have never consumed a soul that did not perish in abject suffering."

"Then... I will live happily, and when I die, you can take my soul. Is that price... enough?"

"For me, it is enough."

Natsuki tightened her embrace, ever so slightly, and I could feel my body only by virtue of her touch.

"Chunxue, you must answer one question before this contract can be sealed. For you to live, many people must die. Do you wish to bear the guilt of their deaths? Can you bear that guilt and yet imagine yourself happy?"

"No..." I whimpered. "I... I don't want to bear the guilt. But— but I don't want to blame you—"

"You will not blame me, no. I will simply take all the guilt upon myself. Thou shalt not kill— why? So that thou may of guilt be free. Do you know, Chunxue? Even the Mahatma Buddh is bound by fate.* He cannot step into this world except to straighten what is crooked. But I can, and for that alone I am stronger than he is. Now, with that strength, I shall bend the world for your sake. It shall bend, and if it yields not, then it shall break."

She unwrapped her embrace, then leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead.

"Our first contract is ended, and our second contract is begun. Chunxue, for as long as the slightest memory of your existence remains in this world, I shall be— your savior, your protector, your sister, and— if you so wish it— I shall be your god."

She pulled my head to her breast and embraced me once more.

"Chunxue," came her voice, at once soft and unyielding like the bite of broiled winter radishes, "is my embrace warm?"

"Yes, Jiejie," I whispered, and I closed my eyes, leaving my entire self in her arms.

Perhaps this, this comfort, this assurance, this warmth, was all that I had ever needed. In this moment, for the first time in many years, I felt something that I could call happiness.

"Good. Then sleep here in your sister's arms, and when you awake, you will be free."

Under the warmth of her words, I let myself fall asleep— for the first time in my life, anticipating the morrow.