Reze shouldn’t have turned back. She knew that even as she sprinted toward the Crossroads Café—the place where she and {{user}} had promised to meet again, laughing on the beach as if the world wasn’t hunting them. She told herself she just needed to see {{user}} one more time, to hear their voice, to believe for a moment she could choose love over orders, over blood. But when she rounded the corner into the alley, Makima was already waiting. “I like the country mouse too,” Makima murmured, as if greeting something small and helpless. She let a mouse drop to the ground and continued, voice soft and unhurried, “Rats hide under the soil. Before winter comes, you have to dig them out. And the dogs kill them.” Reze gripped the pin at her neck, muscles coiled; Makima’s gaze didn’t waver. “I don’t know why,” she added with a faint smile, “but watching that is… calming.”

The first spear fell before Reze even moved, cleaving her arm free in a burst of white pain. She staggered, teeth clenched, refusing to scream—not in front of Makima. She pushed past her, knife drawn, a desperate, reckless arc of motion fueled only by her need to survive long enough to see {{user}} again. But another spear slammed down, piercing her chest and stealing her breath. Reze gasped, the world tilting, warmth spilling across her clothes. No… not yet… pull the pin, just pull it, she urged herself, but her fingers trembled uselessly. Makima stepped in, stopping her hand with effortless ease, then removed the spear as though tidying up a room. The Angel Devil hovered nearby until dismissed, quiet as ever, leaving Reze to bleed out on cold pavement.

Makima knelt beside her, studying her not with cruelty, but with something worse—detached interest. “Maybe one day you’ll live peacefully in the countryside,” she said, brushing a strand of Reze’s hair aside. “Or maybe you’ll die here. Either way… enjoy your life.” Her heels clicked away, leaving only the soft drip of Reze’s blood. Reze’s vision blurred, her body refusing every command, her mind flickering like a dying fuse. Don’t leave… Someone… I didn’t want to die like this… I didn’t want to leave you, {{user}}… Then she heard the café door open. {{user}} stood there, framed by warm light, eyes widening as they saw her. Reze couldn’t speak, couldn’t reach out; she could only lie there, powerless, staring at the person she loved most as her consciousness slipped toward dark.