The moon was up, yet for several people, what greeted them in the night wasn't sleep, but rather their work. Several nurses and doctors attended to a single woman, her tummy round which clearly showed that she was pregnant.

"AAAHH!!"

—and that was the woman's scream that tells that she was currently in labor.

"Just a little bit more, miss!! I can already see the head."

"Breathe, breathe, in and out."

But their voices didn't reach the woman as she was busy with controlling her breathing, and tolerating the pain of her pelvic bones separating. It was too painful for her to be able to even think, as she screamed and wished for the best for both herself and her child.

"A little bit more, miss. Hang in there."

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Amidst the screaming inside the labor room continued, the people outside weren't that better of. Especially the one man who continued to be seated on the bench right in front of the door. He had been hearing his wife screaming for about seven hours.

Seven. He couldn't believe it when people said that labor could take hours, but he didn't expect it to be this long. To think that his wife had been enduring great pain for that long.

"AAAAAHHH!!!!"

Another scream was heard from outside the room.

Whenever the woman screams, the man looked up in worry. As she was giving birth to their child, the man couldn't do anything but pace back and forth outside the room. It made him nervous that any battle that he had ever been.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Oh gods, he wished for it to end soon.

It took about 10 hours for the delivery of the child to finally end. The woman had fainted due to exhaustion and was assisted by a group of nurses.

But when one trial ended, another had arose. The nurse who held the newborn had a worried expression as she turned to face the midwife, a little panicky.

"Ma'am, the baby won't cry."

"What?" the midwife approached the nurse, now with the same expression as the latter.

"He is breathing, but there has been no vocal response." that made the midwife be a bit of at ease to know that the baby was alive. She checked, and the child really was breathing, it also respond to touch, flailing his arms when he was poked.

"That is weird." the midwife took the child from the nurse's arms.

The door opened and showed the man going in with a look of anticipation. He rushed over to the midwife.

"I was told that I can go in." the man received a nod, but he noticed that there seems to be something wrong at how the two acted to be somehow hesitant.

"Did some kind of problem occur? Don't tell me the baby—"

"No! It is not like that sir!" It seems like the man had misunderstood and thought that the child was gone. Knowing that that wasn't the case, the man heaved a sigh of relief.

"Then, what is..." he trailed off.

"The baby is fine, it's just that he hadn't cried ever since the miss delivered him."

The man blinked a few times as his gaze landed on the softly breathing newborn. He didn't know much about children, much less babies, so the man didn't know how to respond.

"Is that a problem?" the man regretted not studying up before going into fatherhood, a bit embarrassed and worried if there was some kind of problem with his son.

"No, it's just that. Most cases like this turn out that the child is mute." the mid wife said, hesitatingly as she gazed down on the baby.

The man haven't been able to decide on what to do when he heard those words, but he wordlessly approached the midwife and held out his arms. The other was shocked but still handed over, instructing the man on how to hold a newborn.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw that his wife was starting to gain consciousness. Looking tenderly at the small burrito in his arms, he approached the woman.

"Shunji, that... Is that our child?" the woman asked when her line of sight caught the tall figure of the man holding a small bundle of baby in his arms.

With a smile, the man nodded in reply and went close to his wife.

"It's our son. You did a great job, Himiko." the man, Shunji, carefully cradled the baby, and slowly bent down to let his wife hold him.

"..." the woman, Himiko did her best to place strength to her arms so that she would be able to carry the child.

Looking down at the small baby, she can't help but feel a warmth coming out of her eyes. Tears of joy both flowed down the couple's cheeks.

"What will we name him, dear?" Himiko said between sobs.

"Hikaru... Hikaru, our light." Shunji said and the woman smiled, chuckling a bit too.

"Such a simple name." Himiko's reaction seem to have made the man a bit upset.

"Hey..." he murmured, about to complain but stopped when he heard what Himiko said next.

"But I like it." She followed up and surprised her husband. The man smiled as he heard his wife say that.

"Hikaru, our son, our light." She murmured and nuzzled her cheek to the newborn. The baby touched his mother with his tiny hands.

"Fujimoto Hikaru-chan."

Contrary to what the two were currently feeling, the child in Himiko's arms were stirred awake. His small eyes slowly opened, wandering around, as if confused.

Her death was a painless, one, and seeing her family before she left might have reduced the regrets that the girl had. She doesn't remember how long it was ever since she left. Stuck in the dark, she was enveloped in warmth for a very long time.

It was comfortable, especially when she heard light taps from outside. She didn't know if the place where she was at even had an outside so she had just assumed.

It was peaceful, she didn't feel tired or hungry.

Everything was perfect and all, but it suddenly came. It was as if there was a tremor happening. Shaking, and shaking, it became uncomfortable so she decided to move.

But that seems to be the bad choice since the shaking became even worse.

Some time passed and it stopped. She was about to thank whoever it was that stopped the dizzy shaking, but she hadn't even managed to relax when something seems to be pushing her away. It annoyed her, she was sleeping so comfortably and now something or someone decided to push her.

Once she has the chance to move, she will surely enact revenge to that nuisance. Other than her annoyance, the pushing didn't feel painful so she endured and tolerated.

That was when the unexpected happened. The warmth disappeared and she was met with a sudden gust of wind. She wanted to groan and complain, but it seems like other than not being able to move, she cannot also make out a sound in this place.

She was exposed to the wind for so long that she became used to it. The pushing also stopped so it seems like she lived through a crisis. That thought made her chuckle.

Lived through. She already died though.

It seem like it doesn't end since now she was tormented with a constant tapping on her back and poking on her hand and face. Also it kept moving, like someone decided that it was fun to move her from one place to another.

That was when she finally got fed up with it, and decided to open her eyes. It deemed to be quite a challenge and took her a few minutes to be able to open them.

She was about to complain, but the scene in front of her was weird.

It was all blurry, and there were colors moving around, also some muffled noise here and there.

Such a weird place.

Where even was this?