Port Elpis, the evening sea breeze gently stirred the long hair and lightweight skirts of the two young women on the boardwalk.
At this moment, pedestrians were sparse here, and the moonlight poured down like quicksilver, stretching the shadows of Elysia and Eden into slender shapes cast upon the mottled wooden planks.
The whisper of the waves drifted into their ears, and in the distance was the regularly rotating light of the lighthouse.
"Ely, how did you think of coming here?"
In the quiet night, Eden's voice sounded exceptionally clear, carrying at the same time a trace of a lingering, retrospective tone.
"Good Eden, you must have thought of that night too!"
Elysia slightly raised the corners of her lips, her tone carrying a hint of lightness as her gaze drifted toward the meeting point of sea and sky. Then she narrowed her eyes and hooked her arm through Eden's, enjoying it like a sated cat.
Of course, the quiet and peaceful years at this moment came at the cost of someone moving forward under a heavy burden. On the embankment, Belle supported her knees with both hands, panting heavily as the stray hairs on her forehead were drenched with sweat.
"Wait... wait a minute! I can't run anymore... Griseo, wait for me!"
"Sister Belle, you lack exercise!" Griseo replied with a smile, her gaze simultaneously turning to Eden and Elysia on the seaside boardwalk.
"Griseo, why can the two of them 'swoosh' and run all the way here?!"
Belle raised a hand to point at herself, then pointed at Eden and Elysia.
Belle's voice was filled with grievance and confusion, because after coming out of 404, she and Griseo had first taken the subway and then run all the way from the subway station!
"Yeah! Sister Belle, how does