It was moments after Katsuri exited the house, everything around her had shattered like a mirror into a million pieces before revealing the morning skies hidden behind the illusion.
'It seemed like saving her was the key to escaping this place.'
Fortunately, she had never once thought of actually leaving the small child behind.
Since it is quite rare to actually see someone shorter than her, meeting Faith made it seemed like she had become an older sister.
'...Hopefully her growth wouldn't be stunted like mine.'
A single Katsuri is enough for this world, no need for another one.
Speaking of which, how'd she even get here? Faith is just her but younger. All those questions she asked confirmed them.
Which means that there's something going on with the timeline.
How is both Katsuri and Faith existing in the same place at the same time?
"...No clue."
She can't really understand anything at this moment, she highly doubted she would in the future.
Unless she seeks help from someone smarter, there's no way she could get the answers she wanted.
But who is trustworthy enough?
She needed someone who is both smart and trustworthy, also possibly expertly literate in otherworldly stuff...
Ah, Shorekeeper.
Even if it's not Shorekeeper, wouldn't Rover also work?
Well, maybe not the current Rover...
In which case, Shorekeeper is probably more knowledgeable right now.
But she can't get to the Black Shore willy nilly, she needed a plan of some sort.
Plus, she highly doubted that Black Shore would allow an outsider in without an invitation...
Katsuri stepped on the cold grass, some of the sharper ones stabbing her shin. They're quite the tall group of grass.
Suddenly, the weight on her back disappeared, following it, a light got absorbed into the back of her neck.
Surprised, Katsuri rubbed her neck, not knowing how to react.
'At least I don't have to take care of her...?'
How convenient it is, being a Resonator.
Even physically existing sentience could be stored inside the Tacet Mark.
Katsuri applauded nobody.
After doing so, she turned around, facing the old house in which Danjin had made their base earlier.
It was also the same house in which she had helped Faith escaped the fire.
Now that she looked at it again, there does seem to be some remnant of scorch mark on the walls.
So the fire had indeed happened once.
Katsuri looked at her arm, the one that had been burned inside her hallucination. They were very clear, not a hint of injury was pasted on it.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, somethin dropped on her head, causing her to yelp and fall on her knees.
"Where'd you ran off to? I even panicked searching for you."
A stern Danjin had appeared!
"Uh... Let me explain..."
"Hm, 5 words or less, otherwise I'm controlling your diet."
Katsuri rubbed her head, the exact spot where Danjin had chopped.
"I got stuck in a halucination? Ah! Hey, why'd you chopped me again!?"
"I said 5 words, you did 6. Hah... Anyways, what did you mean by halucinations?"
Katsuri began explaing everything that had happened while she was hiding inside the bush.
From discovering the burning house to exiting.
Of course, she kept secret her meeting with Faith.
She still doesn't know what to do with this information.
"I see, you got stuck inside of a Sonoro Sphere then."
"Ah! That's the word! It was always at the tip of my tongue whenever I tried to recall its term..."
"Yes. So you do know what a Sonoro Sphere is?"
"Heh, that's the one thing I accidentally came across while researching for some things... I couldn't get it out of my mind at some point."
"Really? What were you researching?"
"Secret."
"Hm, that's alright. We could leave the talk about the past for later, I want to test something with you. I just needed your consent first." Danjin held Katsuri's sword in her palm before making the action of sheathing it.
"You just need to say 'Yes'."
"Yes?"
Suddenly, everything became heavy. The world lost its color and sweat began covering her back.
Her heartbeat quickened, almost as if she's a prey being hunted in the wild.
Katsuri could feel the pressure being pressed on her, as if it was on instinct, she wanted to run.
Clank
Then, a sound of metal dropping brought her back.
"...Huh?"
It was too sudden.
"Hehe, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you like that but I think I figured out what the condition for wielding this weapon is. Although, there's probably some other hidden ones that I can't discover, I do know one of them."
At breakneck speed, Katsuri turned her head and glared at Danjin, who had turned from a predator eyeing its prey, to a walking cinnamon roll.
"What's wrong with you?!"
"Sorry, sorry. I thought that if I actually told you what I'm gonna do you it might not trigger the response I'm trying to get out of the sword!" Danjin scratched her head, almost as if embarrassed.
"You were going to kill me!?"
"Ah? You could differentiate them? That's... concerning."
"What's concerning is you actually leaking out so much bloodlust! I thought I was going to meet Grim Reaper, damn it!"
"But I only leaked a little...?"
"You call that a little!? Compared to what!? To the god of death!? Ahhhhh-! I thought my heart was gonna stop beating...!" (Valid crashout or nah?)
"I'll treat you later, don't worry. I did figure out that I can't wield your sword with the intent of killing an innocent person. Which means that this weapon can only be wield for justice."
"...Don't think that I'm letting this go, I'll pay you back one day." Katsuri sighed deeply
After a couple minutes of calming down, Katsuri sat down, her gaze also dropped onto the sword laying on the ground.
She hovered her hand over the handle, hesitating on whether or not she wanted to pick it up.
"..."
It didn't take long before she grabbed the hilt.
'I'll just rest for today, too lazy for anything else.'
And she easily lifted the blade.
[Wuthering Waves]
The sky was orange, which means that it's about to become a night sky.
After the small incident in the wild... Both Danjin and Katsuri had decided to just stroll around Ragunna, looking at what the atmosphere around before the Carnevale would look like.
Although most of the people were radiating happiness, there was a hint of... unrest to a smaller part of the citizen.
It was abysmal, but not easily undetected.
What's going on?
They walked around a little bit more before a conversation caught Katsuri's attention.
"...first mask, a unique design might be more fitting?"
In an instant, she hid behind the wall.
Why? Katsuri just felt like she needed to.
"Hm... You have an impressive memory."
"Thank you, I'll be on my way now."
Then, the sound of footsteps moving farther and farther away echoed, in her ears.
She caught her breath, trying not to make any sound at this moment.
"...I didn't expect it to be Mr. Gilberto from the Fisalia family."
"...! Rover! Behind that wall!"
Suddenly, Abby appeared, they immediately pointed towards the wall Katsuri was hiding behind.
Quickly, Katsuri ducked.
Fortunately she did, as a fist now replaced the location of her head, taking along a small chunk of the wall.
"...Ah."
"Wait, Rover. That's a regular person, why did you suddenly do that?" A concerned Zani asked.
"...Sorry, I panicked."
"No, no. I woke up just to tell you! That's the exact same smell that had lingered on that acolyte this morning! In fact, that might be the source!"
All eyes were on her.
"...I'm not a bad person...?"
Katsuri felt like crying.
She almost got killed twice in the same day!