[When a tear-streaked Tsumiki tightly embraced the still somewhat bewildered Megumi Fushiguro in the entryway, sobbing as she repeatedly checked whether he was hurt, you simply stood quietly outside the door, watching them with gentle eyes.]
[You reached out and softly ruffled both children's hair. After a few quiet reminders, you considerately pulled the apartment's slightly aged security door shut for them, keeping their childish fear and the warmth of their reunion safely within the warm room.]
[After the soft click of the closing door, you turned around. The gentleness on your face instantly receded like the tide, replaced by an inscrutable depth.]
[You walked to the end of the apartment's rather cramped outdoor corridor, facing the cold wind. Bracing both hands on the rusty railing, you gazed toward the Zenin Clan's headquarters, hidden amid the rolling mountains, a place that represented the pinnacle of decay and oppressive power.]
["Click."]
[You took out a lighter and deftly cupped the flame to light a cigarette.]
[You took a hard drag, letting the harsh, acrid smoke pour deep into your lungs, as though trying to suppress the complicated emotions churning in your heart through this crude physical stimulus.]
[Then you tipped your head back slightly and slowly exhaled the gray-white smoke into the boundless night sky.]
[Amid the dissipating smoke, you turned to look at Mei Mei, who leaned against the wall beside you with her arms folded, having joined your side entirely "voluntarily," and asked in a soft voice barely above a murmur.]
["Miss Mei, tell me... am I being selfish?"]
[At your words, a subtle shift passed through Mei Mei's beautiful eyes, which always held a calculating shrewdness.]
[She did not answer immediately. Instead, she naturally reached out with her slender, meticulously polished fingers, took a cigarette from the pack