He knew.

It had been there from the start.

Under the shaking, under the anger, under the moment his hands closed on her collar and he dragged her inside.

He had known.

Hana did this to herself.

She killed herself by her own choice.

If Shizuka had wanted her dead, it would have happened the first day he met her.

It would not have been this obvious, not this careless, not something that pointed straight back at her.

He knew what Shizuka was—ancient, dangerous, possessive in a way that did not bend.

He knew that.

She had been protecting him for close to a decade.

And he had still blamed her.

The thought turned over in him, heavy now instead of sharp, pressing down where the anger had been.

Why hadn’t she stopped him.

Why hadn’t she said no.

Why had she just taken it.

The anger didn’t come back.

There was nothing there now.

His legs gave out under him, and he dropped to the floor hard enough that the impact traveled up his spine.

His hands came up to his face and stayed there, pressing in as if that could hold something together.

For a moment, nothing came out.

Then his breath broke.

The sound followed it, low and pulled from somewhere deep, something he could not control once it started.

She had loved him.

She had said it.

The thought did not stay still.

It circled back, again and again, each time hitting the same place.

Why.

Why.

He heard Shizuka move.

There was weight in it, a drag in each shift as she forced herself upright through the damage, through the dark energy still leaking from her and the blood spread across the floor.

She steadied herself once, then moved anyway.

She came toward him on her hands and knees.

Her silver hair hung loose around her face, the ends dark and heavy with blood.

It stuck to her cheek where it had dried.

Her top had torn at the shoulder, the skin beneath marked and darkened.

She reached him.

Her hand touched his back first.

Warm.

Then her arms came around him from behind and closed without hesitation, pulling him back into her before he could lean forward again.

She held him there.

Her chest pressed fully against his back

Her body fitting along his spine, her weight settling into him so he felt it.

Blood from her face ran onto his shoulder and spread through his shirt.

Slow, soaking, and he felt the heat of it stay.

Her breath broke against his temple.

Short.

Uneven.

It brushed his skin again and again, close enough that he felt each inhale and each release.

Her arms crossed over his chest.

Her hands didn’t just rest.

They pressed.

One over his heart. The other just below it.

She adjusted her grip once, tightening, pulling him further back into her, her fingers spreading as if to cover more of him.

He tried to fold forward.

She didn’t let him.

Her hold tightened at once, her forearm locking across his chest, keeping him upright against her.

Her chin came down on top of his head and stayed there, the weight of it steady.

Her hair fell forward around his face, brushing his cheek, sticking where it touched the damp skin there.

"I’m sorry," she said.

Her voice was close enough that it moved against his ear.

"I am so sorry this happened, Kai."

He shook harder.

His shoulders jerked. His breath broke in uneven pulls.

Her hand over his heart pressed down harder.

Not to hurt.

To hold him in place.

"She loved you," Shizuka said.

Her thumb moved once against his chest, a small motion that stayed, dragging slightly before settling again.

"She did."

Her other arm tightened.

"Every part of it was real."

He tried to speak.

His throat closed.

Nothing came out.

"This is not your fault."

Her lips brushed his ear when she spoke.

"Not one part of this is yours to carry."

He bent forward again.

She pulled him back immediately, her whole body closing around him, her knee pressing lightly against his side to anchor him in place.

Her grip didn’t loosen.

Her hands stayed firm over his chest.

"I am here for you," she said.

Her voice dropped further.

"I’m here."

Her breath touched his skin again.

"I am right here."

Outside the window, the sunlight dimmed.

It didn’t fade. It dropped out in a single moment, the light across the floor flattening as something stepped into it.

A girl stood by the open window.

Dark hair cut short around her jaw. A plain dress that moved slightly in the air.

She looked inside.

At Kaito on the floor, his spiritual energy spilling out of him in uncontrolled waves, rising and breaking without shape.

At Shizuka’s arms locked around him.

At the blood across the boards.

At the dark energy leaking through her.

Her gaze stayed there.

On him.

She had stayed back for weeks, keeping her distance from the silver-haired Umbral who never left the boy’s side.

There had never been a moment to approach without drawing her attention.

Until now.

The window was open.

The silver-haired one was down.

The boy’s energy poured out without resistance.

Both of them exposed.

The girl smiled.

Then her shape broke.

It tore apart from the inside, the face splitting first, the edges pulling wide as something forced through it.

The body followed a fraction of a second later, expanding, distorting, the human form collapsing into a mass of dense shadow that filled the frame of the window.

Limbs pushed out of it at wrong angles.

A mouth opened across its front, splitting from top to bottom, the edges lined with shifting, grinding shapes that moved without stopping.

It lunged through the window.

Fast.

The distance between the window and them closed in an instant.

Shizuka moved before it got noticed by Kaito.

Her arms did not leave him.

Her body did not shift.

But her back tore open.