Shadow Slave

They stood silently under the tree for a while. Eventually, Nephis looked at him and said evenly:

"You did well."

Sunny glanced at her with a pale smile, then nodded.

"I guess I did, didn't I? My mom would have been very happy. If she was alive, that is. I am healthy, well-fed, and have a house in a good part of the city. I even found my… a student. These things might not sound like much to you, but to her, they would have been like a dream."

He turned to the tree and added after a short pause:

"I don't really remember my dad too well, because I was too little when he passed away. But my mom, I remember her perfectly. She was… like a ray of sunshine. The strangest thing, though, is that when I was a kid, she was the whole world to me. I thought that she knew everything, could do anything. But now, I realize that she was barely older than we are. She was more or less a kid herself."

Nephis looked at him and said:

"But we aren't kids."

Sunny tilted his head, then shrugged.

"That is true, I guess. We are adults, which is a strange thought. I don't really feel very different from how I was before, at least not in terms of being confident and knowing what the hell I am doing."

Changing Star sighed, then shook her head a little.

"That is because you have been an adult for a long time. People like us have to grow up early."

Sunny thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know. I have a suspicion that when I look back on today in a decade or so, I will be dismayed by how big of an idiot I was."

Nephis smiled with the corner of her mouth.

"...That has nothing to do with adulthood."

He spared her a short glance and scoffed.

the point where you were supposed to say that I am not an idiot, you

at him with a deadpan expression, then

"I know."

help

really understand why I wanted to come here. I guess I expected to feel something… and I do.

Eventually, he said

to say something to

a while, then shook his

is dead, and the dead can't hear anything. They are simply gone. They only exist in the memories

he had achieved many things that his mother would have wanted for him, it had not been without a cost. His house, his wealth, and the fridge full of food he had back home were only one side of

And Nephis.

bond with her was a dire

not cloudless

been in Neph's company, doing nothing but training and

was

a week after that, they were going

going to be decided

a crossroad, not knowing where any of the roads actually led. Even worse, he was not

of it

then walked over to the tree and touched it

I am… doing well, I guess. Rain is well, too. She looks like you very much. You would

stupid at that moment, but at the same time,

well… it's complicated. In any case, I think you would have liked her. I have several other friends, too. So I am in

that, he stepped back, looked at the lonely tree one last time, and

"Let's go."

away, Neph looked at him

"Are you alright?"

smiled crookedly and

course. Why wouldn't

them. They were all dirty and disheveled, looking like typical outskirts thugs. The