It’s late at night and the police officers still question me relentlessly. I say I don’t know anything, but they are still not convinced. They give me pictures of men and ask if any of these men did anything to me or if I recognize them. I give the same answers over and over again until it feels like I’m just repeating myself. “I don’t know,” or, “No, I didn’t fake anything.”

I’m still at the hospital, in a special room this time, where the questions start up again.

And again.

And again.

When I’ve finally had enough, my patience snaps. “I don’t remember anything!” I say outwardly. “I’m telling you I can’t remember my name or how I got in those bloody woods!”

You’re doing great, Koe. With this, they’ll leave you alone for a while until something else comes up. Almost as if responding to the Goddess in my head, the police officers leave and say they’ll be back later. They’re heading to their headquarters and the blonde officer that was in my room earlier hands me a business card with their address and phone number on it incase I remember anything.

I’m heading back towards my room when I spot Raye talking on the phone. I hide in a corner, hating myself for eavesdropping, yet not wanting to leave. He’s tapping his thumb against his thigh instead of the usual pen he always has. “She seems to have it.” He says. I snuggle closer against the wall, trying to eliminate all traces of my presence. “If she’s the Mikoto, then our searching is finally going to be complete. Yes, yes. I understand completely, sir.” He hangs up the phone and I scurry to the bathroom. He walks past, whistling a tuneless song. I hurry after him and head back to my room.

The sheets were perfectly made and the pillows were clean and fresh. A nurse tells me I had been “evicted” from the room and am being discharged after finding out I don’t have insurance… whatever that is.

↞↟↠

I hurry to find Kuronuma, hoping and wishing that he would be able to help me. I shuffle quickly, expertly maneuvering between the other people that crowd the halls. My side hurts from all the twisting I’ve had to do, and yet I still see no sign of him.

Somewhere from across the other end of the hallway, I hear a child screaming. I read a sign on the top of the archway: pediatrics. I locate the sound only to find a child getting a needle inserted into his shoulder with his mother holding him down on her lap, her eyes damp, gently cooing to the child, trying to calm it. The doctor’s face is stern and expressionless. He’s also trying to calm the child and ease his pain.

I watch for a little longer, enough to see the doctor wiping away at the shoulder, placing a bandage on it, and handing the child a lollipop. Enough to realize that the doctor was Kuronuma. I stood outside the door before talking to him, his expression looked surprised to see me, almost as much as my own.

“What happened to my room?” I ask. I lean against the wall and jump up to walk side by side Kuronuma as he walks towards the nurse’s station, a place I had just learned about with women talking on the phones and busily tapping away at their digital screens.

“Didn’t you know,” He takes out a pen from the front pocket on his coat and scribbles something down in a file. He hands it to a nurse and she places it in a pile to be put back away later. “You’ve been discharged from the hospital and you now are able to go home.”

“I don’t have one though,” I say in protest. “Where am I supposed to go?”

He rubs the back of his head and sighs angrily. He mumbles something under his breath, something I can’t hear. “Fine,” He says. “Until you either remember your past, or until you at least find a place of your own, I’ll let you stay at my place until then.”

I’m thankful to Kuronuma for helping me out, but my moral code is in the way; I can’t stay at a man’s house, not unless he’s a monk or ,at the very least, a druid.

At least allow him this. Her voice suddenly spoke, making me jump. Kuronuma looks at me with a strange look. A shiver is sent down my spine as a feeling emerges in my ear, feeling as if the goddess is whispering directly into my ear. You may need his protection yet. Forget your morals in this world for a while. It’s been many years since the last war to the South, so you are safe from the black- clothed assassins who walk among the shadows.

I grumble under my breath, not able to deny her reasoning. "Thank you," I say to Kuronuma. "I'll happily accept your offer."