“I’m sorry about last time. I didn’t want to scream at you,” Risa finally said.

“It’s okay. I know you just wanted to protect me,” Kenji answered.

“Protect you from what? The fire happened years ago,” Risa laughed.

“Number Fourteen,” Kenji said.

Risa froze. Her eyes widened.

“What do you mean?” she whispered.

“I remember,” Kenji said calmly. “You’re Number Fourteen. I’m Number Eight. You can talk through minds, move things, manipulate machines… My ability isn’t as awesome as yours, though. I can start a fire with my hands. I burned the building. I’m sorry I blamed you.” He smiled faintly. “I found my own Papa. And I see you did, too.”

Risa broke into tears. She showed Kenji her tattoo: 2003-001. Kenji showed his. They laughed through their tears and hugged.

“How did you do that? You weren’t supposed to remember,” Risa said.

“I got some help.”

Risa lay beside him, resting her head on his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair. Santo peeked through the door window. His face flashed with shock—and jealousy. Risa didn’t notice; she was facing away.

“Santo saw us,” Kenji muttered. “Do you think he’s gonna make a big deal out of it?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I know you guys were a thing. Santo told me,” Kenji said. Risa sat up, turning to face him.

“Then this is gonna add fuel to the fire,” she sighed. “My dad came with me, right? He introduced himself as my father. He said he was worried about my boyfriend. You should’ve seen their faces.” She laughed.

“So they already knew? Damn, I didn’t think things would escalate this fast,” Kenji said, a playful grin forming.

“They pulled me aside while our parents rushed to your room. I told them it was just a skit. You had to lie because you needed to visit me,” Risa explained. Her expression shifted, suddenly serious. “Santo… he got mad. He was jealous. He asked why my dad was so worried about you. He said we’ll talk later.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Kenji offered.

“No. You have no business in that.”

“Why do you always do this?” Kenji asked softly.

“Do what?”

“Protect me.”

“It’s the right thing to do.”

They stared into the void in silence. Kenji looked at Risa, unable to believe she was the same girl who had saved him years ago. Back at the orphanage, he would cry whenever someone played Mary Had a Little Lamb. The other kids laughed at him. He never knew why the song hurt—just that something inside him always cracked.

“Why did you let them take away my memories?” he finally asked.

Risa flinched. She hesitated.

“I’ve been with Papa in that room—that room that erases memory—so many times,” she began quietly. “As a kid, I knew something was wrong. But my five‑year‑old brain couldn’t understand it. I tried everything to stop it. I would force myself to stay awake and remember what happened before Papa drugged me to sleep if I refused to go to bed. Little by little, I saw patterns—conditions that let me trick the system.”

She took a breath.

“If I didn’t sleep, I could control the lights. So I pretended to be asleep. They would strap me on the bed, and I would replay a memory from that day—something I didn’t want to lose. Like Number One praising me. Or you playing with me. Anything. I pretended to stay unconscious until Papa carried me back to my room.”

Kenji listened, stunned.

“So I was basically taking extra study sessions under that beam,” Risa said with a dry laugh. “Eventually, I could block the light. Manipulate it without them noticing. I went from saving one memory to keeping the entire day. No one ever knew. I pretended to forget.”

“So how were you sure it would work on me?” Kenji asked.

“I tested it with Three. I told him I had a way to trick Papa, but we had to stage a fight. During a study session, Twelve and I pretended to go too far. Papa punished us with the beam.” She smiled weakly. “I talked to Twelve through my mind. He was scared. I told him to pretend to sleep, so Papa wouldn’t drug us. Then I told him to focus only on my voice.”

“And it worked?”

“It worked perfectly,” she said. “Three kept his memories. But he was a snitch. He told Nine. So I provoked Nine and Three during playtime. I made them mad. They beat me. Papa was furious and punished them.”

Her expression hardened.

“They were strapped to the bed. I controlled their minds so they wouldn’t speak. But I didn’t block the light. I made it stronger. They lost their memories because I let the beam take everything—not just the day.”

Kenji swallowed. “Then why did you let it consume me?”

Risa looked at him with soft, sad eyes.

“I didn’t want you to live with that fear,” she whispered. “Once I learned how to control the light, everything changed. I used to think Papa was a good man. But every memory I kept showed the truth—he was cruel. He made children call him Papa while using them for his own interests. I never looked at him the same again.”

She paused.

“And I thought… if they let us go someday, I didn’t want you to remember what happened there. I wanted you to have a normal life. Even if it meant you’d forget me.”

“So all along… you knew it was me?”

“I did,” Risa nodded. “Even when you scared me at first, I tried so hard to be your friend. I figured you wouldn’t remember me as Number Fourteen. But we could start a new story as Kenji and Risa. I’m sorry for hiding it from you this long.”

“Thank you,” Kenji said softly. “That place gave you a horrible childhood. You had to do things no five‑year‑old should ever have to do.”

“It was scary. Draining. I always felt like someone from the lab would come back for me.”

“You’re not alone, Risa,” Kenji said gently. “Not anymore.”

》》》》》》》》》》

“Kenji and Risa have been hanging out more lately. Like… just the two of them. That’s kinda suspicious, right?” Riku said, eyes following the two as they walked away from the group. They only said they had to be somewhere and bounced first.

“You’re still stuck on what Risa’s dad said at the hospital?” Haruto asked. “They already told us it was a skit.”

Santo pretended to focus on his biology homework — four days overdue, untouched, and now suddenly the Most Important Assignment of His Life. Not because he cared. But because he desperately needed a distraction. Anything to stop his brain from spinning.

He was the first to notice Kenji was gone that night.

On the night of Kenji’s disappearance, Mr. Takamine had messaged Santo, asking if he’d seen Kenji’s car anywhere. Of course he hadn’t. But the thing that rattled Santo was that somehow, Kenji’s dad always had a sense of where his son might be. Santo never told the others. He didn’t want them spiraling.

Instead, he spent extra hours biking around town in the cold night air, scanning every street, every turn, every dark corner. He kept imagining punching Kenji in the shoulder when he found him, telling him he was stupid, then apologizing after.

Santo was also the first to find Kenji’s wrecked car slammed into a tree.

He froze — then immediately called an anonymous tip to report it. After that, he rushed to the hospital and acted shocked, clueless, innocent.

But what confused him the most was Risa’s father.

He never liked Mr. Yamanaka. He hated him. He even once promised Risa that if he ever laid a hand on her again, Santo would beat the man to a pulp. So seeing the same guy looking all worried about Kenji — Kenji — made Santo furious in ways he didn’t even understand.

And then at the hospital…

He saw Risa lying on Kenji’s chest.

Risa.

On Kenji.

Comfortable. Close.

The closest Santo had ever gotten to her was sitting beside her or walking shoulder to shoulder — and even then, he held back from taking her hand because he didn’t want to ruin things. He wanted to wait for the right moment.

But that moment never came.

Santo told Risa they needed to talk. She ignored his calls the whole night. When she finally replied, all she said was that she was tired and wanted to be alone.

But the message after that?

That’s the one that punched a hole through his ribs.

She said maybe… they were better off as friends.

Santo stared at the screen for a long time, his throat tight, his chest burning.

So that thing with Kenji — the “skit” — really was nothing. Lies. All lies.

And in the corner of his mind, an ugly, bitter thought whispered:

He kinda wished he had just left Kenji there to die in that damn car.