Some minutes have passed since the whole group of girls were found by a certain young girl with white lab coat. 

She had cute little hands, slender legs, and brown long hair which were really silky to touch. Her eyes matched the color of her hair while her expression remained the same, unusual for her age.

“I’m sorry if we seem ungrateful after helping us… we… just lost someone important…” The first one to speak was Chloe whose eyes remained swollen and tired.

“I don’t really care. It was my choice to help those in need, so there’s no need to thank me.” The little girl responded coldly to Chloe as she was looking at her own tablet.

Chloe looked around the helicopter, noticing that beside the little girl, there was no one else. And to her surprise, there was no one piloting this helicopter.

“Um… how does this–”

“It’s being piloted by an AI I'm experimenting with.” The little girl responded to Chloe before she could even finish her question.

“Experimenting?” Chloe asked in a bit of confusion at what this girl was saying.

She looked really young to be a researcher, and to her surprise, she was alone when she found everyone in the forest.

[ Does this mean she was doing this all alone? ] Chloe thought to herself as she looked at the girl with concerned eyes.

“I’m a fully licensed scientist despite my age, so there’s no nothing to be concerned about.”

Not knowing how to respond to the unexpected answer of the girl, Chloe glanced back at everyone else who had fallen asleep. Some of them looked really tired after they had cried themselves to sleep.

“Shouldn't you be taking some rest like your friends?” The white coated girl spoke to Chloe while still continuing to work on her own tablet.

“After what happened today… I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep…”

“A monster?”

“Huh?”

“I asked, was it a monster that killed that particular person?”

Chloe looked down in pain as she didnt want to respond to the white coated girl. But deep down, she wanted to share her pain with someone… even if it was a stranger that rescued her.

“No… it was an angel…”

The little white coated girl raised a brow while trying to maintain her serious composure.

“An angel…”

“It all happened so suddenly, the angel had trapped us inside a barrier. And we all knew that we couldn't do anything else other than run, that's why he sacrificed himself so the rest of us could escape…” Chloe wrapped her fingers together as she was at the edge of her seat the moment she remembered Hatsuko’s last moments.

“Was that person far from where I found you?” 

Uncertain by the sudden question that the young girl asked, Chloe looked up straight into her eyes. She didn't feel or notice any suspicious intentions, that's why she decided to tell her how they escaped.

“Thanks to a skill, we managed to teleport ourselves away from there. So we aren't sure where we were….” But once Chloe noticed why the young girl had asked that sudden question, she let out a pained smile. “We won’t be able to save him now even if we return… since he’s already dead… even his corpse… was eaten whole. But I appreciate your kind help.”

“It's not that I was going to help you. I simply wanted to follow and analyze the energy of an angel. That's all.” The white coated girl took a look at Chloe without moving her tablet away from her hands.

“Hehe…” Tears could be seen forming on Chloe’s eyes as she looked down with a disturbing expression. “Even the way you talk is just like him… ah, I’m sorry if I'm being rude.”

No matter how much she tried to hold herself back, she couldn't resist but see that little girl as the boy who sacrificed himself. 

It was painful…

“...Can I… ask for his name?” The young girl hesitated to ask as she knew that this wasn't the right time to remind that girl about the person she just lost. But somehow, her curiosity took control over her mouth.

“Hatsuko… his name was Hatsuko Gee…”

But what the white coated girl didn’t expect was the name of the person she has been looking for this whole time.

The white coated girl looked at Chloe in sheer disbelief as her eyes lost all of the light. Her mouth remained slightly open, her hands remaining in the same position as she thought every decision she had made until now…

[Brother…. Is dead?] The girl asked herself after seeing the sorrow look in Chloe’s eyes.

She knew that she wasn't lying or making anything up. She truly knew how the eyes of losing someone important looked like.

It had to be a coincidence that her brother had the same person as the one Chloe mentioned.

The white coated girl pointed her tablet towards Chloe and showed a picture of a certain person.

“That's… Hatsuko…” Chloe’s eyes teared up once again at the picture of the boy who sacrificed himself. “H-he looks so young and different…” She didn't know how to react to that unexpected photo. Her face only showed another pained smile as she was trying to hold back her tears. But it was pointless, warm liquid continued rolling down her cheeks no matter how much she tried keeping them inside.

“I see…” The white coated girl put down the tablet as her strength disappeared into thin air.

She has been looking for her brother for so long. Continued following his traces, the ruins of the underground city, and all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, only to find out that her brother was dead.

She was too late. Way too late to rescue her brother and bring him back to Sakuru.

“What connection did you have with him? You don’t seem to be related…” The young girl asked as she couldn't recognize who this girl was. 

She wasn't a missing student from Sakuru high school and she truly seemed to care about him.

Chloe wiped and sniffed her tears away before she took a deep breath. “This may sound funny but ever since we’ve been surviving in the wild, me and the rest of the girls here have done everything together with Hatsuko. We were basically a family…”

“A family…” The young girl looked down on her legs, her expression remaining unchanged.

“If I may ask… Do you know who Hatsuko was? You even have a photo of him?” Chloe finally asked, hoping she wouldn't be prying too much into her personal life.

But she had a photo of the man she cared about. How could she not ask? 

Besides, the resemblance to Hatsuko was something that was noticed not only by her, but by the other girls as well.

“I am Lily Gee… Hatsuko’s little sister.”

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* * *

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Darkness. Darkness and only darkness could be seen from all around the space.

There was no life, no sounds, and no such thing which gave existence in this empty space.

That remained the same until a certain green status-like window appeared itself with a bunch of gibberish stuff written on it.

It was a series of numbers and words which were broken and glitched all over the place while the transparent screen was flashing bright colors.

But as it was forming more clearly, a similar status was shown.

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Name: Hatsuko Gee

Gender: Male

Age: ??

Health: ??

Condition: Dead

——————————

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And as the words continued glitching all over the status, a new kind of information was suddenly forming.

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Soul collected: 9,999/10,000 -> 10,000/10,000

——————————

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{The correct amount of souls was confirmed!}

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The words continued glitching nonstop as more information began rolling down at an insane speed while only the main guide of the status could be read.

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{Reconstructing memories….}

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And as the guide of the status informed, the darkness all over the place began deforming into light, then many shapes until something came into existence.

A certain green eyed boy opened his eyes, only to find himself right into a gray world with nothing else but darkness and broken stuff laying all over the place.

Hatsuko remembered this place! 

It was the same place where his consciousness opened his eyes for the first time. The real truth about how everyone still loved him.

But right now, there was no one else other than himself. It was as if his consciousness wasn't there.

But if his consciousness wasn't there, how come that he’s still awake and thinking?

The boy continued walking until he finally found the same door that his consciousness warned him about.

It was a slightly broken door which did not seem to have been touched for a really long time. But what worried him the most was the fact that the place was really gray. 

A world where everything nothing mattered anymore.

“That’s…” Hatsuko tried speaking as he noticed that the door wasn't locked. And he could feel that even though the door was quite big, it felt like he could just push it open with one of his fingers without even struggling.

Uncertain about his decision, Hatsuko looked around, only to realize that everything else was gone… 

Darkness again…

Even though his consciousness warned Hatsuko not to go in there, the place itself was leaving him with no other option but to enter.

Right now there was nothing else but himself and the door in front of him. Everything else was swallowed by darkness.

Hatsuko looked back at the door, left with no other option but to enter inside there…

And that's what he did. 

He slowly opened the door as the light shone all over his face, blurring his vision for a while until he found himself into a completely different world.

Even the door behind him had disappeared, leaving him in the middle of nowhere.

“Where… am I?” Hatsuko questioned himself as he couldn't believe the place that he was.

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