Another day of hell had passed.

Although she had no way of keeping track of time, Irene sensed it was about that long.

She sat silently, holding her breath.

Even as the chill from the floor seeped into her body, even as the thick darkness seemed to fester within her heart, she remained there, sprawled like a doll with its strings cut.

*“Aaaaahhhh!!!”*

*“Stop it, stop!”*

*“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die, please stop!!”*

*“No, no, no, no, don’t tear me apart!!”*

Perhaps her spirit had simply broken.

The screams echoing from the corridor never stopped, and the fox could do nothing but listen to them helplessly.

Despair surged around her.

It was a suffocating feeling.

This was a place that wore people down.

Yet, even in such a backdrop, what allowed Irene to retain a shred of her sanity was the voice that spoke to her from the other side of the bars.

The girl chirped cheerfully.

“Hey, Foxy Sister!”

“...Yeah.”

“We’re still alive today! I was worried they’d drag us to the lab while we were asleep.”

“Do they sometimes take people while they’re sleeping?”

“Yeah, sometimes. That’s why I always have to brace myself each morning. I think it’d be terrifying to wake up and find myself strapped to a lab table.”

“……”

“Did… I say something I shouldn’t have?”

Irene’s expression stiffens.

Anne glances nervously at her, but Irene relaxes and shakes her head.

“It’s okay… I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear.”

The girl’s innocent smile reappears.

It was a pure smile.

Though fifteen was an age preparing for adulthood, she was still so young.

The fox silently mutters to herself.

*“I wonder if they’re doing well…”*

She was thinking of her younger siblings.

Her beloved little foxes. They were probably happily running about in a safe hideaway right now.

Unconsciously, Irene murmurs to herself.

*“...If my siblings grow up, will they be like this?”*

Looking at Anne made her wonder.

A bitter taste fills her mouth.

A fleeting pang of regret.

She mourns her siblings.

She’d never see them again.

Only a cold end awaited her now.

A painful ache seeps into her chest.

She’d wanted to stay by them until they grew up, but fate wouldn’t even allow that.

Irene was deep in thought.

Just then…

“You know, Sister…”

“...?”

“When I get out of here, I want to write a book.”

“A book? All of a sudden…?”

“Yes! A book!”

Anne meets her gaze and smiles brightly.

The girl, crouched in the corner, then springs up with a lively response.

“It’s been my dream since I was little.”

“You’re still little.”

“Hey! I mean when I was even younger! And fifteen is an age when you know pretty much everything, you know?”

“Is it…?”

“Of course!”

Anne waves her arms around, as if to protest being called young, but to Irene, she only looked even younger.

After all, only children hated being called children.

“Anyway! I want to write a great story.”

“What kind of story?”

“I’ll write about everything I’ve been through, like piecing together a diary of each day!”

“...Wouldn’t that just be a diary, then?”

“Hmph! Who says a diary can’t be a book?”

Her response was unwavering.

The girl proudly shares her dream.

Though she surely knew it was an impossible wish, the light in her eyes hadn’t faded.

Maybe it was her last bit of hope.

“I know it’s unrealistic, at least.”

“……”

“Maybe it’s just a crazy miracle I’m hoping for. If the devil outside hears my story, he’d laugh at me for my happy delusion.”

Yes, it was nothing but a fantasy.

A girl hanging on the edge of a cliff, praying for a lucky miracle.

And yet…

“But sometimes… isn’t it okay to hope for something good to happen?”

The girl smiles.

It’s the kind of innocent smile only childhood could carry.

“The harder the times, the more you have to be brave. Life becomes beautiful the more you care for it.”

Irene was slightly taken aback.

Despite all the horrible things she’d endured as a test subject, this girl could still speak of hope.

Instead of despair, hatred, resentment, or anger, she could still talk of courage.

“Am I just being naïve?”

“...I don’t know.”

Irene looks at the girl in silence.

Was it admirable?

Or was it simply sad?

She couldn’t decide.

She just gently took the hand reaching out through the bars.

“Heehee!”

“What’s so great about a hand full of calluses?”

“My mom used to say that calluses were marks of hard work. So your hand is a beautiful hand, Sister.”

“...Think whatever you want.”

The fox turns her head away indifferently.

Warmth fills her hand, softening her cold exterior.

She closes her heavy eyelids, fighting the urge to hope.

---

Two more days pass.

It’s now the sixth day since the fox entered the lab.

She’d grown somewhat used to it by now.

The screams from the end of the hallway, the scent of blood prickling her nose, the damp air—she was getting used to these revolting things one by one.

That didn’t mean the souls dying each day were becoming any less tragic.

*Two more days… until I’m dragged down that hall.*

The devil had given her a one-week reprieve.

Her remaining time was down to two days.

Whether the experiment succeeded or failed… she wouldn’t remain herself for much longer.

There was only a difference in method.

The outcome would be the same: death.

Irene was waiting for her execution.

But someone else was first to approach death’s door.

It was Anne.

*“Next up, it’s your turn, kid.”*

*“Seems you’ve been lucky enough to survive so far… but that ends tomorrow.”*

*“The lab director personally requested it.”*

It was news delivered by a passing guard.

They told her to be ready for tomorrow’s experiment, mocking her by saying they’d soon reunite her with her mother.

A sudden death sentence.

Anne merely nodded.

“I understand.”

Her response was calm.

She didn’t cower, beg, or collapse in fear.

She just smiled as always.

She waited for the guards to leave, then continued their previous conversation.

As if nothing had happened.

“Where was I… oh right, the places I always wanted to visit!”

Anne chatted away.

She’d been told she’d die tomorrow—or perhaps suffer a fate worse than death.

Yet even at a time like this, she was unfazed.

Irene quietly watched her from beyond the bars.

“I’ve always wanted to go to the Academy! It must be an amazing place, don’t you think?”

“Anne.”

“My mom told me that only great people go to the Academy. Once I get out of here, I’ll definitely…”

“Aren’t you scared of tomorrow?”

“……”

Irene asked without thinking.

The girl’s noisy chatter came to a halt. It was the first silence to fall between them.

A void lingered between the thick iron bars.

Neither spoke for a while.

The fox and the girl were both silent.

After some time, Anne spoke in a quiet voice.

“Sister.”

“Yes.”

“Sister.”

“Go on.”

“Actually…”

The girl crouched beside the bars.

She sat quietly, lost in thought, then soon offered a complicated smile.

Hugging her knees tightly.

“Actually, I am scared.”

“……”

Her confession was simple.

It was a short statement, but the depth within was immeasurable.

The girl’s voice continued calmly.

“I am scared. I feel sad, anxious, resentful, too.”

“……”

“I can’t sleep because I fear I’ll wake up strapped to the table, and when the guards walk by, I hold my breath as much as I can. Not once have I felt free from fear.”

After all, she was still human.

Not even an adult yet, a young girl in need of someone’s protection.

“Even so, the reason I keep smiling… is because I don’t have any other choice.”

The girl was helpless.

Facing cruel misfortune, all she could do now was hold onto hope.

Perhaps it was the sadness of life.

Her delicate voice wavered with the hint of tears.

“Actually… I am scared.”

It was a pitiful plea.

“I miss my mom, my dad, my sister… I miss my family so much.”

Her tears fall silently.

She tries to hold back her sobs, but faint whimpers escape.

The fox listens quietly.

“If I’d known, I would have told my family I loved them more often…”

An ordinary regret.

An ordinary sadness.

An ordinary wish.

“I don’t want to die.”

“……”

“I want to live.”

“……”

Irene bites her lip.

It was a damned pain.

Her fists clench involuntarily.

After a while, Anne, having calmed down, murmurs softly.

“Hic… I’m sorry. I don’t usually act like this… but you’re the only person here, so I just wanted to lean on you a little.”

“It’s fine.”

“Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“I thought I’d die all alone, but at least talking to you… it feels like I won’t be so lonely.”

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll be right behind you.”

“...Is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Who knows.”

Irene answers indiffer

ently.

The fox takes her hand through the bars.

Anne smiles tearfully.

“Hic… heehee… your hand’s so warm, Sister.”

“Is it?”

“Yes!”

The two sit there like that.

Separated by the cold bars, they waited for a tomorrow they wished would never come.

---

The next day arrives.

As soon as she opens her eyes, Anne is escorted out of her cell.

Walking with the guards holding her, she turns around and smiles one last time.

Leaving a simple message.

“I’ll be back.”

As expected, Anne did not return.

---

Last night, the corridor had been filled with Anne’s screams.

Her voice had cried out in pain until dawn.

The fox wanted to cover her ears, but she couldn’t bring herself to.

She wanted to share even a fraction of the girl’s pain.

The terrible shrieks gradually faded and eventually vanished into silence.

It could mean only one thing.

Anne was dead.

“……”

There was no time for grief.

It was her turn next. The guards soon walked up to Irene’s cell.

*Click,* the sound of a key turning, and the door opened.

“The director is waiting.”

“Hold her down so she can’t resist. She’s a valuable subject, so handle her carefully.”

“Move, and you’re dead. Don’t get any foolish ideas.”

Five guards surrounded her.

Each of them was a high-ranking dark mage. Though they weren’t on par with the devil, they could easily subdue someone like Irene.

Not a single glimmer of hope remained.

The fox took lifeless steps forward.

*Thud, thud.*

Footsteps echoed through the cold air.

Thinking of last night’s memories still lingering in her mind, she grew terrified of what was to come.

A bitter laugh escapes her lips.

*“Haha…”*

In the end, was she just a scared child herself?

She wanted to collapse on the floor.

To call out to her master and cry pitifully.

Or anyone, really.

She was hoping for someone who could take her away from this place.

*“Who knows! Maybe some prince on a white horse will come save us!”*

She clung to the words she’d once dismissed as a fantasy.

Because if this was truly the end, there would be far too many regrets left behind.

A prince on a white horse.

A wish she hadn’t even had as a child, now fervently yearned for with death approaching.

Her insides churned, making it hard to stand.

*“...Save me.”*

A whisper that would never reach.

They were close to the end of the hallway.

If she stepped through that door and down the stairs, she would plunge into an inescapable reality.

The fox’s shoulders trembled.

*Thud.*

Their long march stopped.

One of the guards reached for the doorknob leading to the lab.

At that very moment—

*“That’s far enough.”*

*Slash!*

All five guards’ heads suddenly soared into the air.

With a delayed slicing sound, the severed heads of the dark mages rolled to the ground.

*Thud, thud!*

“……?!”

Startled by the abrupt scene, Irene nearly collapsed, but an arm caught her from behind.

A gentle embrace enveloped her.

“I finally found you.”

A familiar voice rings in her ears.

Even though she thought it impossible, she raises her head to see his face.

Golden hair.

White eyes smiling softly.

“Miss Irene.”

“……”

Was she dreaming?

The last person she’d expected to see was right before her.

“I came to save you.”

The boy whispers sweetly.

Irene stares blankly.

At the same time, an inexplicable sense of relief washes over her.

The despair that had painted her world black just moments ago vanished, replaced by a bright new light.

It was a breathtaking sight.

“You…”

Lost in a trance, Irene surrenders herself completely to the young man.

Her voice breaks with emotion.

“…Why did you take so long?”

“My apologies.”

Hot tears fall.

The boy wipes them away gently. Each touch warms her cheeks.

He was infinitely kind.

“It’s all okay now.”

“……”

“You’ve done so well to endure. I’ll take care of the rest.”

In the dark corridor, Irene clings tightly to the boy’s body, as if never to let go.

She buries her face in his warm embrace.

And the boy silently holds her.

“I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“……”

The two stood there like that for a long time.