The child's words were simple and innocent, but that was precisely what made them so terrifying, stripped of all embellishment.
"Impossible. They can't appear during the day."
"Mom, they're right behind you."
"Shut up, shut up! Stop talking!"
Zero Three One overturned her bowl, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"Mom..." Afterglow didn't understand why his mother was acting this way.
"Come on, we're going somewhere else. Mom will take you somewhere they'll never find you."
"But I want to play with them. I've never had any friends."
"If you go with them, you'll never come back. You'll become just like them."
Zero Three One got up and packed their things. Under Afterglow's bewildered gaze, she grabbed his hand and led him out of the home where they had spent only one night.
"Mom, where are we going?"
"Somewhere they'll never find us again."
Over the next few days, Zero Three One and Afterglow moved from one place to another. Afterglow gradually stopped mentioning his friends, but Zero Three One didn't dare let her guard down for a moment. She stayed beside him constantly, guarding him like a precious treasure. Even when he went to the bathroom, she called out to him every few seconds.
When their food finally ran out, Zero Three One had no choice but to go outside.
She hid behind the curtains. People came and went along the street, and every one of them looked like an undercover agent for the Takekawa Society.
"Sweetheart, stay home. Mom's going out to buy some food."
Zero Three One opened the door and slipped away under cover of darkness. Afterglow had been behaving fairly normally lately and hadn't mentioned any friends again. That was the only reason she dared leave him home alone.
With a hat, a mask, and her entire