You Can't Do It

When she looked back, everything around her had fallen quiet, leaving only the boundless night. Shiori's heart tightened, her breathing quickened, and she grew restlessly uneasy. She stared blankly ahead as tears gathered in her eyes again—

Hearing footsteps, Shiori turned her head. Surprise flashed through her eyes as she asked in a slightly tearful voice, "Reine?"

"Mm... it's me, Little Shido."

Reine answered simply, then gently rubbed the dark circles beneath her eyes, along with the corners of her eyes. For some reason, Shiori felt that Reine was grieving too.

It was just that Reine hid her grief far more deeply.

"This is Eden's ability," Reine said softly. "Little Shido, you should still have fragments of scattered memories left, right?"

Shiori felt numerous memory-like fragments surfacing in her mind. She forced down her emotions, including her distracted unease, took a deep breath, and answered,

"They have remained. I still remember what I went through with Huanyue. Those... were things that really happened before... weren't they?"

Reine nodded calmly. "Mm. They were probably all things that truly happened. They were choices you made during Eden's cycles—in other words, 'possible outcomes' that could occur while the world was being reset."

"Is that so..." Memories more vivid than any fantasy could only be understood that way.

"Where did Huanyue go, Reine? Do you know?" A trace of hope gathered in Shiori's eyes.

Regrettably, Reine shook her head. "Her Spiritual Power fluctuations went deeper inside. After that, they could no longer be detected."

"..." Shiori nodded as if she understood, though she did not fully. The hope in her eyes shattered, but it had not completely faded. Her lips moved. "Then... why did Rinne set up that barrier?"

"That's because..." Reine paused for a moment. Her gaze briefly turned strange, though her expression