Yuki and Yui finally emerged from the trees—hair disheveled, uniforms dirt-streaked, lungs still burning—they found half the class in mild hysteria and the teachers in full panic mode.
“Where were you two?!” a teacher snapped.
Yui didn’t miss a beat.
“We… uh,” she glanced at Yuki.
Yuki, calm as ever, adjusted his sleeve. “Took a wrong turn.”
Karin squinted. “You look like you rolled down a cliff.”
Yui forced a laugh. “Nature bonding.”
They didn't mention the embedded blade in the tree, the masked figure disappearing between trunks and the assassination assassination attempt. Because the last thing they needed was more chaos.
----
The inn was unusually quiet after dinner. The teachers had announced an early curfew, and exhaustion settled over the students like a heavy blanket. Laughter echoed faintly from the girls’ room, but Yui felt too restless to join in.
At one point, Karin leaned in towards her, whispering loudly, “You two either need therapy or a kiss. This tension is criminal.”
"What!? Shhh what are you talking about about!?" Yui jumped in and covered Karin's mouth.
"I mean clearly something is going on between you two!" Karin whispered.
"Stop looking at me with those EYES! Nothing is going on..." Yui whispered trying her hardest to dodge the question.
Karin gave her a sly smile."Tch...if you say so..."
Yui waited until the others were asleep before slipping out quietly, her heart pounding harder than it had during the hike. The hallway lights cast long shadows along the wooden floor, and when she stepped onto the veranda, the cool night air wrapped around her like a secret.
Yuki stood at the edge of the deck, facing the ocean.
The sea was calm. Unbelievably calm.
Moonlight stretched across the surface like silver silk, as if the world had decided nothing violent had happened beneath the trees that morning.
She walked toward him quietly, then reached out and poked his side.
“You know,” she began lightly, “I’ve realized something important.”
He turned his head slightly, not startled. “Should I be worried?”
“I always seem to end up running for my life when I’m with you.”
He exhaled through his nose, something close to a smile touching his lips. “That’s an exaggeration.”
“Is it?” she pressed, crossing her arms. “At this point I feel like your family name comes with a warning label.”
His gaze drifted back to the sea. “Things like these are very common for me... Assassination attempts are nothing new...”
She lifted her hand and lightly slapped his arm. “You can’t just say that so casually—”
He flinched.
Not dramatically.
Not playfully.
In pain.
Her expression changed immediately. “Sanada…?”
She stepped closer and pulled at his sleeve before he could stop her. When the fabric slid back, the moonlight revealed bruises blooming along his forearm and a cut that had dried dark against his skin.
Her stomach dropped.
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” he said quietly.
“It’s not nothing,” she replied, her voice softer now. “You were bleeding.”
"Wait here for me!" Yui ran back to the inn, only to return five minutes later with a small first-aid kit she may or may not have stolen from the hallway cabinet.
She knelt in front of him.
Carefully cleaned the wound.
He didn’t look at the injury.
He looked at her.
Her brows furrowed.
Her lips pressed tight in concentration.
Her fingers gentle, despite the scolding tone.
“You twisted your knee too,” she muttered, noticing the scrape through the fabric.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You were busy panicking.”
“I was not panicking.”
“You were vibrating.”
She shot him a look. "Does this look like a joke to you?"
He softened.
“…I didn’t want you worrying more.”
Her movements slowed.
“You don’t get to decide that alone.”
Silence stretched between them.
The sea whispered below.
She moved to his knee, dabbing disinfectant gently.
He flinched.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
Yuki smiled mischievously.
The air between them shifted.
When she finally looked up, she found him already watching her—not teasing, not distant, but open in a way that made her pulse stumble.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
After deep long thinking he had finally made a firm decision. A decision that could change their lives for the better or worse. He hesitated to speak up.
Then he asked quietly, “Do you want a divorce?”
The words felt like cold water poured over her.
Her hands stilled on his knee.
“…What?”
Divorce. The word struck like a bell in the quiet evening, reverberating through her chest. She turned sharply toward him, eyes blazing, the wind whipping her hair like a living thing.
“Divorce? You are bringing that up again!?” she snapped, her voice sharper than she intended. “Do you think this—any of this—is our choice?”
He blinked, taken aback by the sudden fire in her tone.
“It’s—” he began, hesitant, carefully measured.
“No!” Yui cut him off, stepping closer, fists clenching at her sides. “This marriage… this whole situation… it’s because of our parents. We don’t get to just ‘choose’ freedom whenever we feel like it. We can’t just walk away!” Her chest heaved, her voice trembling slightly under the force of her anger. “We’re trapped in their decisions, whether we like it or not. And if you think—just think—that I would ever use your words as an excuse to leave, you’re wrong!”
Her voice softened, but the intensity never faded. “I’m not leaving because of fear. I’m not leaving because of you. I’m leaving… only when our parents decide we can. Until then… we endure. We survive. Together.”
Yui herself didn't know what she was saying. She just kept saying whatever came to her with those uncontrollable emotions. In her heart, she just knew that she never wants to leave him.
And somewhere in the quiet, Yuki realized he wasn’t just thinking about divorce anymore—he was thinking about her, about the sharp defiance that made her impossibly, maddeningly real, and about how every moment apart, every dangerous misstep, only tightened the hold she had on his heart.
The trip came to an end, but the storm between them had not. Not even close.
------
Meanwhile, Deep within the forests in an empty lantern lit cabin louis had other plans. Different pages spread on the wooden table and the walls filled with clues and links to the Sanada family.
The phone vibrated.
“Speak,” Louis said quietly.
The voice on the other end was calm. Too calm. Polished smooth by years of never raising it.
“You’ve been emotional lately.”
Louis exhaled through his nose. “I didn’t realize that was a crime.”
A faint pause. Then—
“Do you remember the house near the river?”
Louis went still.
The cigarette snapped between his fingers.
“…Why bring that up?”
“I hear the hydrangeas are blooming early this year,” the voice continued conversationally. “Your mother always liked them, didn’t she? Blue ones. Said they reminded her of somewhere far away.”
Louis closed his eyes.
Images surfaced uninvited—thin curtains fluttering, the smell of medicine, a woman humming softly to herself as if the world hadn’t already taken too much.
“Don’t,” he said under his breath.
“You misunderstand,” the voice replied mildly. “I’m not threatening you. I’m reminding you how fragile peaceful places can be.”
Silence pressed in.
Then, deliberately—
“The Sanada family understands that fragility very well.”
Louis’s jaw clenched.
“Men who think themselves untouchable,” the voice went on, “often leave messes behind. Women abandoned. Children erased. Promises broken during overseas trips disguised as ‘business.’”
Louis’s knuckles whitened.
“You told me once,” the voice added softly, “that you hated hypocrisy.”
The word hate echoed, sharp and poisonous.
“Finish your job,” the voice said at last. “Before old wounds reopen in inconvenient ways.”
The line went dead.
Louis lowered the phone slowly.
For a long moment, he didn’t move.
Then he laughed—quiet, hollow, nothing like amusement.
“…So that’s how you plan to corner me.”
His reflection stared back from the darkened window—eyes cold, smile brittle, shadows carving him into something sharp and unfamiliar.
-----
Two days later, the house felt heavier than ever. The usual tension that they finally managed to resolved was back.
At midnight, when Yui was asleep, While searching for documents in the study, Yuki found a folder tucked between books.
Inside were printed articles about the Sanada scandal from years ago. Headlines about a business trip. Rumors of a foreign woman. Speculation about a child that had vanished from records.
And in the margins—
Yui’s handwriting.
Notes. Questions. Dates connected with careful precision.
He sat down slowly, reading through every page.
She had been trying to understand his world long before he realized she was part of it.
The pieces aligned and it clicked to him.
His uncle’s recklessness.
The hidden child.
Louis.
Yuki reached for his phone and messaged Louis.
We need to talk.
The reply came almost instantly.
When?
Tomorrow. Alone.
There was a pause before the response appeared.
I’ll be there.
Yuki stared at the screen for a long time after the conversation ended.And for the first time, he wasn’t afraid of what was going to happen.
Because when he thought of her kneeling in front of him, hands trembling as she bandaged his wounds, whispering his name like it mattered—
He realized something irreversible had already happened.
He was no longer fighting for survival alone.
He was fighting for her.
And that changed everything.
"I keep falling deeply in love with you....."
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