I don’t know how many hours I spent lying on the cement outside, looking up at the stars. Eventually, Knell came out of the house and ran over to me.

“Happy Winter Solstice Festival,” he said. He handed me a piece of paper.

On it was a drawing of a snowflake in red crayon.

“Red snow, huh…?”

“I know…but it’s my favorite color. I can’t help it if it makes things look bloody.”

I folded it up and put it in my pocket. “How did you know that was today?” I asked him.

“Blare heard it at the pizza shop. And the clock just struck midnight.”

He put his hands in his pockets. “I remember how much you wanted to celebrate it with me. All the presents you planned to get. I was reading your mind the whole time~.”

I sighed and sat up. “Well, you should know now that I can’t afford to do any of that anymore. I even forgot all about the damn festival…”

“That’s okay. Just being here with you is the best present of all.”

“…That is the single corniest thing you’ve ever said.”

“But it’s true~.”

He sat down on the ground beside me. “Ever since I started living here, you’ve been treating me like a sad little kid. Buying me all the stuff I want, trying to protect me from problems…it was nice. I probably needed it then. But I don’t anymore. Like I said, I’ve grown up.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

I looked at him. “Exactly what is your definition of ‘grown up’? Letting every demon in the world beat on you right after recovering from a near-death experience does not sound ‘grown up’ to me. It just sounds…masochistic!”

He just stared back at me. I looked away.

“Clarion…it’s not like that,” he replied. “I’m not trying to punish myself or anything, I swear. It’s just that I learned a lot about myself while I was…up there, and now I’ve finally figured out what I want to do with my life.”

He stood up, taking a few steps forward. “You know, Toll’s motive wasn’t bad…at its core,” he said with his back turned.

“What are you talking about…?” I asked hesitantly.

“He wanted to make a world…well, a universe with only demon hybrids,” he explained. “He did want to kill off all the other living things, but his end goal was to make a universe where everyone worked together instead of destroying each other. A society where you could just…exist, and learn and create.

“Not that THAT’s what I want to get out there and do…my point is that he wanted to do that because he thought that’s what a Saint should do. Make a better world.”

He turned to face me. “That’s what being grown up means to me. Decide who you are, and make the world you want to live in. Staying safe at home isn’t good enough anymore. Someone with my powers should be doing something else…something meaningful.”

“Anyway, grown-ups don’t have to ask permission to go out, you know,” he finished. “So I’m going. And I really hope…you’ll decide to come with me.”

I tapped the ground with my finger, thinking. I still didn’t want to watch him stab himself with pieces of silver and get slapped around by demons. But he would be doing it with or without me. And for a good cause. And I hadn’t gone to space to get him back just to abandon him now.

“…Alright,” I said finally. “If you’re sure about this…or even if you’re not sure…I’m with you.”

Knell smiled brightly, and sat down next to me again.

While we were talking, a midnight shower had quietly moved in overhead. The raindrops began to fall, but I didn’t really feel like going inside just yet. I just sat and watched it: the clear, uncolored, falling water.

Knell watched with me. Apparently, he didn’t mind getting wet any more than I did. Or maybe he was just enjoying his Winter Solstice “present” too much to leave.

“…It was raining when I first met you, too,” he said.

“So it was.”

“I used to think rain was annoying, but I kinda like it now.”

“…So do I.”