The ruined home gradually came into focus as the "curtain" slowly rose. Even though this was already the Seventh Time he had set foot here, Shade still could not fully adapt to the environment.
He stood there with a hand over his forehead for a while before raising his head and sighing at his surroundings. Looking at the sofa draped in white cloth, he recalled how he had sat there holding Adele's hand before every departure. He did not know whether he should feel anticipation or melancholy.
It was like facing an utterly brilliant story—looking forward to continuing to read it, yet regretting the emptiness that would inevitably follow once it ended.
Shade forcefully pushed open the severely warped door stuck in its frame. The windblown sand rushing at him made him narrow his eyes.
The dim yellow sky was unchanged from before. Shade even suspected that every time he came here, it was at exactly the same moment. But considering that even the concept of time no longer existed here, he did not investigate such a meaningless question.
He glanced at the black Sun on the horizon, dripping trails of fire, then took out Adele's pocket watch:
"Adele Isabella."
He pronounced the name with considerable accuracy. When he lowered his head to look at the ground, the string of white runes on the plaza floor tiles, where sand rolled across them, was indeed faintly glowing.
But this time was different from the past. Whenever he spoke that name before, the translucent lady would always lift the edge of her skirt and rise, but this time, no figure appeared within the light.
Shade waited in surprise for a moment, then cleared his throat and repeated it:
"Adele Isabella!"
The rune string continued to glow, but the familiar figure still did