The night felt heavy, the silence of the room only interrupted by the soft whispers of the wind that slipped through the window. Himeno tossed and turned in bed once more, her breathing erratic, eyes shut, yet unable to escape the nightmare that haunted her. There was something about those dark nights, something in her mind that kept her trapped in a cycle of terror. The nightmares came relentlessly, and the nights seemed to stretch longer and lonelier.

You got up quietly, knowing she couldn’t sleep without something calming her. You approached her side and sat on the edge of the bed. No need to ask; you knew she needed you to talk, to distract her from the monsters she saw in her dreams.

—“Himeno?” you said softly, not touching her yet, just looking for her gaze in the dark.

She slowly turned toward you, her eyes half-open, as if lost between sleep and wakefulness. A faint grimace of discomfort crossed her face.

—“Tell me what it would be like to live with you... a house. You. Me. A cat,” she said in a hoarse voice, almost pleading, asking for something to hold onto.

It was the first time she’d asked you for something like that, and the fact that she did it in the middle of her vulnerability didn’t go unnoticed.