Amber smiled as she scrubbed Iris' back with a sponge, the suds layering on top of the water. The young girl was simply looking emptily out ahead with her large eyes.

"Recently, I've gotten used to Elena, the other girl here, using [cleanup] so we didn't need to bathe. Still, nothing beats the sensation..."

Amber laughed a bit, though looking at the young girl's bare body made her wonder what this girl had been through, how somebody could've done all this to a child.

"..."

The girl remained quiet. She hadn't said a word since parting from Jonathan. Along her body, scars of differing depths seemed to mark every part of her. He arms and legs were laced with shallow gashes, and along her back was... well, it was horrible.

Though it was littered with scars, a pair of extremely deep ones stood out among the rest. They were jagged and red. To imagine what this girl had gone through, her pain and suffering, was close to impossible.

As Amber lightly traced a finger along one of them, she felt the girl tremble underneath her touch. Amber bit her bottom lip as she resolved herself.

"Can... can you tell me what happened to you until now?"

"..."

Amber hated that there wasn't a gentler way to do this, a way that wouldn't involve forcing the girl to relive the past.

She could feel the girl shaking as the memories flashed through her head.

However, it wasn't just Iris that experienced it.

Amber felt dizzy as emotions and images poured into her head.

Flashes of life in a cage and spiteful glares from people with large, red horns. Scolding hot metal tools looming over her. Overwhelming fear as a collar was placed on her neck, one that would trap her forever. The crack of a whip.

All throughout each memory (Amber was sure they were memories deep down) was one constant, inescapable emotion. Hopelessness.

Amber was overcome by nausea, but swallowed hard. She felt disgust, but more than that the desire to spare this young girl from pain.

Amber took a deep breath as a pure light began to emanate from her hands.

I sat down in the common area of the house, on the second floor.

It was where we'd met yesterday, and besides the table with four chairs were three other tables of the same design. Additionally, two couches of a leather-like material and something like a soft beanbag rested within the room as well.

I sat on the beanbag with crossed legs, looking at the door to the room that Alex had settled in to. I might've wondered why he'd chosen a room on the second floor, or if he'd had any plans to worry about, but when the conversation had ended it was pretty obvious he'd just gone into the closest room.

In any case, I was staring at the door, waiting for Alex to emerge, when I heard the front door open downstairs and the sound of footsteps heading upstairs.

"Hey! Where are Amber and the girl?"

Elena walked in with a slight smile on her face, a small paper bag under her arm. It looked like nothing bad had happened, as I'd expected since neither [Reaper] nor her gang had seen her face. If it was a petty criminal, I didn't doubt that she could protect herself. Her fire magic had already shown itself to pack more of a punch than I was capable of right now, at least.

"They're in the third floor bath. I figured that it would be better for Amber and Iris to relax that way."

"Iris?"

"Yeah, Amber decided to give the girl a name since she didn't have one. What do you think?"

I smiled as I spoke, coming in close to take the paper bag from her. However, as I moved to open the bag up I felt Elena's hand grabbing my wrist.

"It's... nice. It's a pretty name."

Elena blushed as she looked up at me with big eyes. As I peered into their ruby color, I could see that they were filled with worry. Not for herself, but for me. It was like her gaze was trying to pass through me to read my mental state.

It was really just like her, wasn't it. Once again worrying about others instead of herself.

"Yeah, it is. I was planning on coming up with a name for her myself, but Amber beat me to it."

I laughed slightly, not sure what I could do to help reduce her worry. However, I saw a slight twinge in her face as I mentioned Amber.

We stood there for a second, then another as I contemplated what to do. Yet I remained indecisive, uncertain.

"A-anyways, I got us some sausages, eggs, and muffins. Figured we could go a bit more extravagant than usual all things considered, brighten things up a bit..."

The corners of Elena's mouth rose slightly as she smiled a bit while releasing my wrist.

Being decisive when it comes to most things, but indecisive when it comes to dealing with her. That was the problem with me, right?

Hell, I'd been the one to kiss Amber, but even now the only time I'd kissed Elena was as a bystander, forcing her to initiate.

"Thank you. I honestly can't even imagine how you always think of stuff like this. If I were in your place, I probably would've just gotten some bread and butter and called it a day."

I grabbed Elena's wrist as she pulled away, smiling at her. I placed her hand on my cheek, which had some stubble now that it'd been over a day since she'd used [cleanup] on me. Since it used a thin layer of water magic to clean the body, it was possible to use it for shaving too if somebody wanted to.

"Hey, do you mind using [cleanup] on me before you go?"

Elena's eyebrows raised in surprise as I spoke.

"I thought that you'd want to take a bath like Amber and Iris... It's more relaxing than a rushed job like my magic, right?"

Elena smiled sadly, but I shook my head.

"Being in the bath alone as opposed to being together with you? Which one I prefer should be obvious."

I leaned forward, inching closer to her face.

"Really?"

Elena smiled a bit bashfully. Realizing what I was doing, her eyelashes fluttered a few times before her eyes closed.

And then, I pressed my lips against hers.

Just like before, the taste of cherries seemed to surround me. However, the world wasn't spinning anymore. Rather, everything from her scent to the softness of her lips became clearly focused.

Time stretched from second to second before I pulled back.

"I'm sorry I was so oblivious before..."

My cheeks flushed, I smiled honestly.

"I-it's fine..."

Elena's looked up at me happily with ruby eyes. Her bright face alone felt like it was healing me. However, in the midst of our rose-colored world, a gasp could be heard behind me.

"So it was you! You're why I struck out!"

Alex was leaning against a doorway, his arms crossed. He laughed lightly as he looked at Elena and I, flustered and fixing our clothes.