A strange ache bloomed in her chest.
Something unfamiliar.
Something that felt like an invisible thread had tied her to this child.
Was it… empathy?
That aching, echoing sorrow—
The grief of seeing someone who mirrors your own pain?
The ache of a soul too young to carry the burden of such loss?
Just like she once did…
But… wait, Kyouno's brow furrowed.
Did the girl just say… her mother is in heaven?
"Why… why did you say your mom is in heaven?" Kyouno asked, almost without thinking.
The child looked slightly surprised by the question, then gently answered, her voice like a fragile breeze:
"Because… she told me…
When people die, they go to heaven."
The moment the girl heard those words, her entire being froze.
As if… just now, she had heard something that transcended the bounds of reason.
A strange feeling—thin and smoldering like a veil of smoke—suddenly rose in her chest.
Unnameable, indescribable—it only made her breath quicken, almost to the point of chaos.
"Can you… could you tell me more about what your mother said… about that heavenly realm?"
Kyouno clutched the little hand tightly, her voice earnest and trembling, unable to hide her urgency.
The little girl was momentarily stunned.Wasn't this sister a fairy?
Why would someone like that want to hear about heaven?
Yet seeing the genuine longing in the sister's eyes, the little girl didn't ask further.
She merely nodded gently and began to speak, bit by bit, with a voice clear as crystal, yet choked with sorrow.
....
Twenty minutes passed…
Kyouno remained silent, sitting beside the girl who now stared blankly at the floor.
The story about heaven had been told, haltingly, interwoven with sobs, and in the end, tears spilled silently.
The heaven described in that story…Wasn't so different from the childhood tales Kyouno had once heard from her own mother.
A mystical, resplendent realm—home to gods—known in this world as fairies or angels.
But this time, there was a new detail:
"When people leave the mortal realm, their souls don't disappear.
They are guided to a place called heavenly realm.
There, there is no pain, no bondage of life and death or karma.
They live in serenity… blending into that eternal space."
Those words made Kyouno's heart tremble.
A sliver of hope… seeped into the place that had long since gone numb.
If heaven is where souls gather…
Then… her mom and sister… would be there too?!
"When I was three, mother died of a terrible illness…"
"But before she left, she told me…That she would wait for me… in heaven."
"So please, fairy sister…Can you… can you take me to heaven?
Even if just to see my mother's soul, I just want… to see her again."
The girl's voice cut into Kyouno's thoughts.
Her eyes… shimmering with a longing so pure it ached.
Kyouno was stunned.
She didn't know how to respond.
How could she tell the girl that she was only human,
Not yet of the Divine-Tier Rank, how could she even dream of reaching heavenly realm?
Though she didn't yet understand the girl's background,
Kyouno knew this much: In this foreign world, here was another soul who had lost someone precious—just like her.
Kyouno's heart suddenly tightened.
An invisible thread connected them.
A shared empathy between lonely, wandering souls.
"S-sure… I will… I'll take you to heaven."
The words slipped from Kyouno's lips, sudden and trembling—
as if she couldn't bear the sorrow etched onto that little girl's face.
"…But not yet."
The girl, upon hearing her wish granted, barely had time to rejoice, before the second part of the sentence hit.
Her eyes dimmed.
Hope halted midway like a butterfly caught in a storm.
"Why…? Why can't I go yet…?"
Kyouno hesitated, mind racing to find the best excuse, something gentle enough to soften the blow:
"B-because… to get to heaven, you have to… you have to be 18."
"That's the rule.It's… it's a real rule, okay?
When you're old enough, I promise, I'll take you to that heavenly place."
Hearing those words, the little girl lifted her face, and her tear-filled eyes suddenly lit up, gazing straight into the enchanting eyes of Kyouno.
"You… you really mean it?"
"O-of course! Of course I do! I never lie, okay?
When I say one, I mean one.When I say two, I mean two.
Never three! Haha!"
Kyouno's voice rang louder than usual,forced, but earnest.
A hopeful mask trying to hide her hesitation.
And yet, that one firm promise… was all the girl needed.
Her small body seemed to exhale all at once, like a dam had burst inside her chest.
Like a heavy stone, pressed against her heart for years, had finally been lifted.
All the sorrow, all the weight she'd carried in silence—
it came pouring out in broken sobs,
in warm tears streaming down her face.
"Th-thank you… hic… thank you, big sis… hic… hic…"
She cried, all at once—
and Kyouno, startled, could only stammer
"A-ah… y-you…"
She meant to soothe her.
But then, at a glance—
She saw that the little girl was crying out of joy, a release, as if a great weight that had long been pressing down on her heart had finally been lifted.
Seeing that… Kyouno felt her own shoulders relax, her own heart grow quiet.
"…Hic… Waaahh!... waaahhh!…"
The little girl kept crying.
And Kyouno didn't stop her.
She let the tears fall, let the sadness unravel—
As if this was the only way the girl could finally begin to heal.
....