~ The Next Night ~

* At school. *

Ding~ Dong~ Ding~ Dong~

Tonight, classes are ending earlier than usual because of the sightings of wolves roaming around the area.

* In Yuki's Classroom. *

After the bell rang, Yuki's homeroom teacher stops his lecture and makes his final announcements before telling the student, who is on welcome duty, to call the command.

The student stands up from his chair and says: "Attention."

Everyone sits up in their seats and faces the teacher.

"Bow! Thank you!"

The teacher excuses the class before leaving.

Once the teacher shuts the door behind him, everyone in class gets up from their seats and leaves as well.

Gradually, the students in Yuki's classroom decreases in number and then Yurika Nakamura―one of her classmates―approaches her.

"Yuki-san?" She calls and stands next to Yuki's desk.

Yuki―who was lost in her thoughts―doesn't answer and stares blankly ahead.

Yui... Before we left the manor... I accidentally overheard Laito talking to Kanato about Yui... Yuki recalls. Could it be that Yui was able to repel Cordelia's control...?

"Hello?" The girl calls out as she hesitantly waves a hand in front of Yuki's face. "Yuki-san?"

Yuki finally notices Yurika and blinks before turning to look up at her.

"Sorry..." Yuki apologizes. "You called... Nakamura-san?"
Yurika smiles and shakes her head, indicating that it's all right. "I just wanted to see if you'd like to join me and my friends to an event."
"An event?" Yuki repeats as she stares at the girl in confusion.
"That's right. A goukon."
"Goukon...?"
"Yeah. One of my friends just told me she was busy tonight and wouldn't be able to make it." Yurika explained. "Will you come?"

"Um..." Yuki says as she looks around the room, searching for Subaru and sees him near the door, waiting for her.

Yurika notices at who Yuki was looking at and glances at Subaru.

"You can invite Sakamaki-kun, if you'd like." Yurika says as she leans a little close to Yuki. "Preferably Laito-kun~"

Yuki parts her lips to speak, but then closes it as she suddenly stands up from her seat. She grabs her bag and faces Yurika with a smile.

"I just remembered that I had something to do today." Yuki says and pushes her chair under her desk.
"Is that so? Then I guess it can't be helped." Yurika responds with a shrug.
"Sorry... Maybe next time?"

Yuki moves around Yurika.

"Yeah... Maybe next time." Yurika nods. "See you around, Yuki-san."

Yuki smiles and turns around to approach Subaru.

"Sorry to make you wait..." Yuki apologizes.
"The car is going to come soon." Subaru says as he turns to leave. Yuki follows after him.

* In the school hallway. *

Just as Yuki and Subaru walks past the Faculty Room, the door opens and on the other side of the door was their homeroom teacher.

"Ah, great timing, Komori-san!" He says and approaches Yuki with a small stack of paper in his hands. "I was on my way to check the classroom to see if you were still there, but it's a good thing I caught you before you left." The teacher notices Subaru and smiles. "Hello, Sakamaki-kun."

"Um..." Yuki says and looks at him in confusion. "Is there something I need to do before I leave...?"
"Oh, sorry. Here." He hands her the small stack of papers and Yuki takes them.
"These are...?"
"These papers are the work you missed the other day."

The teacher turns and opens the door to the Faculty Room.

"They're due today. Sorry about that, Komori-san." He adds before closing the door behind him.

Yuki lets out a quiet sigh.

"I'm going on ahead." Subaru says and leaves. "Don't take too long. It's a pain to go look for you."

Yuki watches him leave and turns around, heading back to the classroom.

I guess I'm walking home today... I should quickly finish this. Yuki says to herself.

~ Later ~

Yuki finishes the assignments in just an hour or two and turns it in to her homeroom teacher. Then, she excuses herself and leaves the Faculty Room.

When Yuki arrives at the front of the school, she suddenly remembers that she has something to buy before returning back to the manor.

* In the Shopping District. *

Although it took Yuki a while to walk to the shopping district from school, she finally arrives and begins to look for the object that she wants to buy.

Time slowly passes and Yuki notices that she's already spend too much time trying to find the item she wanted. She decides to look for the item on another day and makes her way across the city. As she progressively makes her way through the city, she finds herself lost in her thoughts again.

After overhearing Laito's and Kanato's conversation, I quickly went up to Yui's bedroom to check and I found her sleeping in her bed. Soon after that, she wakes up from her sleep and was back to herself. Could it be that Cordelia hasn't completely taken over Yui's body, yet...? Yuki wonders as she slowly approaches a crosswalk with the traffic light on red. Does that mean that it's possible to eradicate Cordelia from Yui? Or―

Suddenly, Yuki feels a hand around her wrist and is pulled out of her thoughts. She notices that if she took another step forward, she could've gotten hit by a car.

Luckily, whoever grabbed her was able to stop her from stepping off of the sidewalk.

"What are you spacing out for?"

This voice... Yuki begins as she turns around, her vision suddenly becoming blurry.

Before the angel loses consciousness, she caught a glimpse of who stopped her and she called out the name.

"Shiki..."

* In a Taxicab. *

Yuki opens her eyes and regains consciousness as she finds herself laying on Shiki's lap.

Huh...? Shiki...? Yuki says as she stares up at Shiki quietly.

"Are you all right?" Shiki asks as he looks at her. "My place is close to here, so we're heading there."

Wait, why is Shiki... Yuki begins, but quickly loses consciousness.

* In the Kuroki Manor. In Shiki's room. *

Yuki wakes up to the smell of roses; her eyes opens.

"So you've finally woken up."

Yuki turns her head to one side and sees Shiki sitting in a chair with an opened book on his lap. He smiles at her before closing the book and places it on the nightstand.

The angel makes an attempt to sit up on the bed―proving to be a bit difficult.

Shiki places an arm behind her back and carefully helps her up.

"How are you feeling?" Shiki asks as he removes his hand from her back.
Yuki shakes her head slowly.
"Thought so..." He says and walks to his desk. "Sorry that I forced you to come here... I thought that you wouldn't want to go to a hospital, so I brought you here."

Yuki silently watched Shiki take an empty teacup and pours some tea into it. He gently sets the teapot back on the desk and turns around, walking back to the bed.

Shiki hands the teacup to Yuki and she takes it while mumbling a 'thank you'. He sits down on the edge of the bed and faces the angel as she takes a sip of the tea.

Yuki smiles. "It's delicious..."
"Glad you like it."

Then, a long silence fell between them, but broke when Shiki spoke.

"Is there any way for you to avoid Judgement?"

Yuki turned and faced Shiki; her eyes wide in surprise.

"How do you know about Judgement," she asks slowly.
"It doesn't matter whether or not I know about Judgement." Shiki says.
"Shiki―"
"Yuki," he interrupted. "Please tell me if there is a way for you to avoid Judgement."

Yuki stared at Shiki before turning away and responding to his question in a quiet voice.

"There isn't one."

Another long silence fell between them and this time it was Yuki who broke it.

"I have to get back..." Yuki says as she moves to the edge of the bed.

Suddenly, Shiki grabs her and wraps his arms around, hugging her.

"S-Shiki!?" Yuki gasps in surprise.

"I don't want to see you cry. I don't want to see you sad or see you suffer, either." Shiki mumbled quietly close to her ear. "I want to always see you smile and I want to make you smile. So, for that purpose, I don't mind if you hate me. That's what I decided."

Yuki's eyes widens after hearing Shiki's words.

"But it hurts," he confesses. "The truth is, I want to look after you more than anyone."

Slowly, Yuki feels her consciousness slipping away.

Why... am I suddenly feeling sleepy...? Yuki wonders as she closes her eyes.

Before she loses consciousness, she hears Shiki say three words.

"But I can't."