Volume 25 Chapter 5 Part1 (1/2)

She wandered alone in the morning mist.

A gown worn over her sleep-wear. She would have put her slippers on when she got out of bed, but one of them must have caught on something because there was only one for her to take off now.

When was it lost?

Who took it?

In amongst that cloudiness, where she couldn't see more than a metre in front of her, shaking each tree trunk that appeared one after the other, she still felt she'd been left behind.

It would have been better if they were people. In that case, she might have received some sort of hint.

Blood oozing from her bare feet, she walked without pause.

There was no way she could stop until she'd retrieved her precious possession.

”- chan.”

Her cry was absorbed by the mist, not even her own voice could reach her ears any more.

Where should she go?

No matter how far she walked, it felt like she was going around in circles. The visibility always remained low.

Her feet felt distant and she had no confidence that she was properly putting one foot in front of the other.

”Ah.”

Eventually she tripped over a tree root, falling down onto her hands. In that pure white landscape, only the blood spilling from the palms of her hands was a vibrant red.

”I'm.”

Why was it that she was doing this?

It felt like she was searching for something. But what was it?

In a daze, she sat down on a thick tree root that protruded from the ground like a branch.

There was no way she could stop until she'd retrieved her precious possession. But having just stopped, she couldn't comprehend.

What was it she was searching for?

Where was it that she thought she should go?

”I don't know.”