After Isshiki left, the ruins sat in stifled silence for seven days.
It was not the easy quiet that followed a battle, but a heaviness pressing against the chest. Even the wind seemed half a beat slower.
Everyone was waiting, waiting for that black figure to return, waiting for him to figure out that unanswerable question.
But seven days passed without the slightest stir.
The Black Tide on the horizon had dispersed, those unnerving pale gold eyes had vanished, and even the clouds that had lingered for days had cleared away completely. The sky was a clear, brilliant blue, which only made it seem unreal.
Early on the eighth morning, warm sunlight fell across Shuo's face. Lying on an old wooden plank, he narrowed his eyes and fished out a chestnut candy, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth. The sweetness slowly spread.
The speck of black light in his chest flickered gently, and the voice inside him drifted out. "It's been seven days."
"Mm."
Shuo answered indistinctly around the candy in his mouth.
"Why hasn't he come yet?" There was a trace of hard-to-place agitation in his tone.
Shuo chewed the candy and thought for a moment. "Maybe he hasn't figured it out yet."
"Figured what out?"
"Who's real. You or him."
The voice inside him immediately fell silent. The black light in his chest dimmed a little, as though burying itself in that difficult question.
Just then, Hand Princess Big slowly crawled over, the eye in her palm fixed on Shuo's chest, and asked softly, "Is he still there? That black one."
"Yes."
Shuo nodded.
Hand Princess Big moved closer and called to that speck of black light, "Want to come out and play?"
The black light suddenly brightened, as though answering.
Hand Princess Big immediately turned