Why was it so loose?

In the downstairs hall.

"Miss, your eyes..."

"It's fine... I'm only temporarily blind. Since it's a [Sequence], they'll grow back in a couple of days... Where's Hana Ye? How is she?"

"Please rest assured, Miss. Your sister is upstairs."

"Is she? But I'm curious-why didn't any of you tell me? Something as serious as Hana Ye going missing happened, and I was the last to know? What were you thinking?"

"Please forgive us, Miss. With the Red Moon descending, we couldn't easily go outside-so-"

"That's enough. I'll tell Father about this. I don't care who you are to him. If anything had happened to Hana Ye, I wouldn't have let any of you off."

"Yes-Miss-"

Soon.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

Click-

The bedroom door opened a crack.

Light spilled in from outside, faintly revealing a girl standing by the door, a silk band wrapped around her eyes.

With her long, straight hair, she looked like a quiet, exquisite doll.

"Hana Ye?"

She called softly.

Lin En: "zzZ"

She reached out with her small hand, feeling along the clothes rack beside her until she found her younger sister's familiar dress.

At last, she instinctively let out a breath and shook her head.

It seemed her sister had already fallen asleep.

If that was the case.

Then she had better not disturb her.

She gently closed the bedroom door, then felt her way through the darkness, took off her shoes, and set them neatly to one side.

Her eyes were covered with a gauze band.

Although her eyes had exploded, fortunately, this was her own home, so she knew her way around. But whenever she thought of the "Great Demon" she had encountered not long ago, she still instinctively felt a chill, goose bumps rising all over her body.

"Was it really an Outer God...?"

She murmured to herself.

Then she gently slipped off her full-skirted dress, untied her hair ribbon, and hung them beside her sister's clothes.

In the darkness.

Her petite figure was faintly visible.

Since her sister was already fast asleep, she did her best not to make any noise that might wake her.

Just like that, a little over ten minutes passed.

After taking a quick hot bath, she climbed quietly onto the bed and slipped beneath the covers, sinking into the soft mattress as her long hair spilled down.

Unlike her sister's curly hair, hers was long and straight, a perfect inheritance from their mother.

But she could not fall asleep right away.

Lying there, facing the ceiling, she found herself staring blankly, weighed down with worries.

Because she was blind, and because their bed really was spacious, she clearly failed to notice that the sleeping "Hana Ye" beside her was a whole size larger than before.

Once again, she could not help recalling what had happened a few hours earlier.

"Gurgle, gurgle-screeeech-"

Even now, remembering the distorted sounds that demon had made when he appeared before her sent her scalp tingling and left her hands and feet ice-cold.

Because she swore those sounds could never have come from human vocal cords.

Distortion.

Chaos.

Evil.

Like beguiling whispers.

"Was it an Outer God or a Great Demon...?"

She stared blankly at the ceiling, murmuring to herself.

Every Exorcist in the city had already been mobilized, and even the Demon Suppression Corps stationed on the outskirts had been deployed. Although she wanted to join the hunt for that monster, without her [Eye of Truth-Piercing], she would only hold the team back.

She could have stayed at the hospital, but after receiving Jones's message, she had rushed home instead.

As long as Hana Ye was safe.

"I hope it really is on Gear Street..."

She drew a small breath and could not help clutching the covers tightly.

"I don't want to run into it again. If I do... I really... really won't know what to do..."

Before she left, her father had told her that although [Eye of Truth-Piercing] was an extremely powerful Sequence, that very power made it all too easy for her to see terrible things far beyond her own rank.

That also meant she was much more likely than other people to encounter those horrifying anomalies!

And if that was the case... perhaps being blind was actually better.

With her sight gone, her perception and everything else would drop to the bare minimum. Dealing with Evil Spirits would become difficult, but that was still better than encountering another Great Demon of that caliber.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin En: "zzZ~"

Time to sleep.

Her eyelids slowly drooped. She rolled onto her side, resting her small hand beside her ear and nestling a little closer to her sister.

Hopefully, when I wake up tomorrow...

Our city will still be here. Please, let us see tomorrow's sun...

Hana Ye, I really don't want anything to happen to you.

Soon.

The room fell silent, with only soft breathing remaining.

Night deepened.

Lin En was also sleeping with a (๑´ㅂ`๑) expression, sprawled out without the slightest idea that another petite figure had joined him.

But as he slept.

He instinctively rolled over and finally brushed against her by accident.

He was groggy and half asleep, but after roughly gauging her size from top to bottom...

Seriously.

This damn little brat!

She said she was going to sleep next door, but hadn't she sneaked right back in? So despite acting all innocent, she was actually a lewd little brat after all.

Fortunately, he had no interest in little girls, nor did he have any inappropriate thoughts.

But since she was here...

He might as well hold her while he slept.

After all, she was a wife handed to him for free. Why pass up a free hug?

With that, drowsiness washed over him again. He gathered the little girl into his arms and soon went back to sleeping, zzZ.

Only...

"Why is she so slippery...?"

Beside him, Glass Lamp was also half asleep, her mind foggy. The Sequence within her was trying to restore her [Eye of Illusion-Piercing], which drained a great deal of her energy.

For a while, she did not notice anything amiss.

Perhaps it was a dream.

She slept groggily, her breathing even.

But it was strange.

She kept feeling as though a man was holding her, or as though she were wrapped in a warm blanket. It was both comforting and reassuring.

But how could that be?

Normally, I barely dream at all, let alone have strange dreams like this. Was I so tense today, and feeling so unsafe, that I wanted a man like Dad to hold me while I slept?

Mmm.

How strange.

But it didn't seem to feel bad.

After all, dreams like this should be perfectly normal when work was so exhausting.

Half asleep, she murmured in her dreams and gradually drifted back into slumber.

Only...

"Why is it so hard...?"

Time flew by, and the night passed without a word.

At last.

Dim sunlight pierced through a gap in the curtains.

Glass Lamp woke groggily and sat up in bed, instinctively rubbing her eyes. But with the silk wrapped around them, and her eyes still not regrown, she could not see anything around her.

"Mmm... Time for work..."

Her sleep schedule was remarkably regular. No matter when she fell asleep, she always woke at five sharp the next morning.

But that dream last night really was strange.

Dreaming of sleeping in a man's arms-was it because I subconsciously felt unsafe and wanted a boyfriend?

She stretched hard.

Still groggy.

She instinctively put on her camisole and panties.

Then, yawning sleepily, she climbed sluggishly out of bed, took her dress off the rack, and put it on.

As for Hana Ye.

There was no way her little sister would wake up at this hour...

Since she still had school, she absolutely refused to get out of bed until the sun was high in the sky and she was on the verge of being late. If anyone dared wake her before then, she would bite them hard.

"I'd better hurry and report in..."

She murmured.

"If they still haven't found that Great Demon today, we'll really be in trouble..."

She straightened her clothes and fastened her buttons, completely unaware that a man was still lying on the bed, sleeping soundly with a (๑´ㅂ`๑) expression.

But just as she closed the door and headed downstairs.

She suddenly froze, her straight bangs swaying.

"That's strange..."

She instinctively reached down with her small hand and felt around her skirt, frowning in confusion.

"Why is it so loose...?"

Her panties suddenly felt as though they did not quite fit.

Had I picked up the wrong pair?

That couldn't be right.

If they were my sister's, shouldn't they be smaller instead? More importantly, even if I couldn't see, judging by the fabric, these should definitely be mine.

(O_O)??