On the way back to the Upper District, Chu Mu told Bronya about everything he had been through over the years.
The siblings had been apart for thirteen years, but time had done little to make them strangers.
Bronya could empathize with the stories of what had happened to Chu Mu, and she held her brother's hand tightly.
Chu Mu hid nothing, nor did he need to hide anything from his sister.
He was already walking a path toward godhood, a rough and winding road whose ending remained unknown.
Caught in an Aeon's designs, Chu Mu had no choice but to keep going.
His return to Belobog was like a moment to catch his breath after a long journey, before reaching its end.
Chu Mu could not stay here for very long.
Bronya asked whether they would see each other again. Chu Mu could not give her a definite answer.
Her brother's silence gave his sister an inkling of the answer.
Bronya said she would keep waiting, for the rest of her life.
Chu Mu said that if he did not return within a year, she should stop waiting for him.
One year was the deadline Chu Mu had set for himself. If he returned to Deep Blue Star and accepted the Black Sun, then no matter what happened, there should be an outcome within a year.
If he still had not returned after a year, it would mean something had gone wrong.
But he could not change his sister's decision. Just as in the past, no matter how many times he told her, the girl would still stubbornly sit on the Orphanage steps, waiting for him.
Bronya gazed steadily at Chu Mu, her silence like a wordless repetition-
She would keep waiting, for the rest of her life.
Chu