The Closest Stranger

"Mo Bai?"

Without a doubt, the man sitting on the bench before Mo Hei was Mo Bai.

A face and clothes could be faked, but nowhere else in Solaris would she find someone brimming with as much Cursed Energy as he was.

"That's right, it's me. When you took so long to come out, the Academy put its backup plan into action."

Mo Bai smiled from the bench, then began explaining to Mo Hei how he had gotten there.

"The students at the Academy really are impressive.

In so little time, they built a device that lets outsiders enter Sonoro without alerting anyone."

As he spoke, Mo Bai pointed to the door behind him. It looked almost identical to the one Mo Hei had entered through.

"Now we just need to find the other students and bring them out.

Once we're somewhere safe outside, we can discuss how to eliminate the danger inside Sonoro for good."

After those encouraging words, Mo Bai rose and walked toward the door.

"Mm. I understand."

Mo Hei nodded and followed close behind him.

She trusted Mo Bai completely.

Even without her old memories, the night he had taken her to the cinema and helped her out was reason enough to trust him.

She had also heard him tell her a little about their past.

But hearing about the time before she lost her memory only left her with a deep sense of regret.

If only I could remember the past. If only I could remember how I felt when I was with Mo Bai...

Bzzz—

Beyond the door, Mo Hei followed Mo Bai into an entirely different scene.

The dark tunnel and swarms of Cursed Spirits were gone. In their place was something like a chaotic current of data made visible.

"Hmm... I'd say