“I’m going to sleep on the floor, you sleep on the bed.”

“No, you’re not sleeping on the floor!”

They argued with each other again as they entered the cottage. It was about time both of them would want to head to bed after their long journey out from the forest. Sana volunteered to sleep on the floor but Tzuyu wouldn’t let her. As they took their time, Sana mused silently to herself before she came up with a brilliant idea.

“Then…Let’s sleep together~”

“E-Ehh!?”

“We can’t come to an agreement, so let’s just sleep on the bed together.”

“…Right. Fine!”

Tzuyu didn’t know what suggestions she could give. If she proposed she would sleep on the floor, Sana wouldn’t allow that either. So it seemed that they came to a solution that they would agree with, which was that they shared the bed together. Sana turned the lights off and get onto the bed while Tzuyu was facing towards the wall. She moved in closer and placed her arm on top of the younger’s waist to hold her gently. That just made her heart raced, and she was preventing herself from shoving the exhausted shorter girl away. She could hear her breathing from behind her head and it echoed in her ears. Amazingly, it was calming her down…and she felt rather relaxed. Sana’s body always warmed her up, and it wasn’t too hot, it was just at the perfect warmth for comfort and sleep. Slowly…Tzuyu drifted off to sleep in Sana’s arms.
 

-

“N-Nngh…”

Tzuyu slowly opened her eyes after she had a good sleep on bed and in Sana’s warm arms. However, she saw herself alone on bed and covered with the blanket properly as if someone placed it. She scanned around the room and saw no signs of Sana at all. She got out from bed and hoped that the short Minatozaki would be around here. At least before she left the cottage she saw the note on the table and it was written to her from Sana.

“I went out to clean the dishes and clothes at the river…I’ll be back…Hmm…Oh well, I guess I’ll prepare some breakfast then?”

Tzuyu decided to use some leftover ingredients in the cupboard while another one was busy cleaning the kitchen appliances outside. By the time the door opened was when she just finished preparing all the ingredients together. Sana came with a basket of wet clothes as well as the kitchen appliances.

“Give me the pot, I’m going to make breakfast.”

“Ah! Chewy’s cooking again~ yay!”

“Stop fangirling and pass me the d*mn pot!”

“Okay~”

Then again, Chou was responsible for the cooking once again and she prepared a simple meal breakfast by making miso soup noodles instead. It never failed to amaze Sana and she happily ate the food out of hunger. Tzuyu just sighed with a smile while watching the naïve Sana gobbling the noodles down and drank all the soup.

“Wha~ it’s amazing!”

“It’s just noodles.”

“Still, Chewy you’re amazing!”

“Jeez girl…. ”

They spend their time together while hoping for any villagers to find them here. Before they went out from the cottage, Tzuyu had treated Sana’s wound on the side of the head with proper medications and bandaged it up neatly. At least it wasn’t infected and the wounds were healing much more than yesterday. Afterwards, they stayed outside of the cottage to make sure that they wouldn’t miss anything in their sight. They hoped that the villagers would find them here. However, it seemed Sana was enjoying herself at the beach looking for beautiful shells on the shore.

“Chewy~ over here!”

“What?”

“Doesn’t this shell look pretty?”

It was actually a pink small intact shell. It was the first time she ever saw something like this and it then Sana told her an interesting theory regarding about shells to her. It’s one of the love tales on the island that was told through generations and she shared it with Tzuyu.

“You know in this whole world, there will only be one shell that’s an exact match of one another?”

“Really?”

“Similar to people aren’t they? Maybe just one right person is out there…for you.”

“…”

Tzuyu remained in silence while having a deep thought about it. Who would be that one person in this whole world that would perfectly be the right one? That instant within her heart…she actually hoped that it was Sana. She felt completed when she was around her. Tzuyu never understood why she felt that way and shook it off immediately…because it would never happen. Only pain would be given to her after these 2 days here, as she would be leaving this place and who knows, will she ever meet with Sana again?

“Huh…?”

Sana suddenly turned towards the ocean and it made Tzuyu curious. She called her but no response back. Then suddenly, Sana ran back into the cottage to get this long red stick. She pulled the strings and it shot up a firework into the sky, creating a loud noise echoing clearly. Tzuyu freaked out as she closed her ears tightly.

“W-What are you doing??”

“…I heard it, the sound of the boat, from the ocean.”

“Eh? Really??”

Tzuyu turned to stare out at the ocean for quite a short while before she spotted this shape-liked boat from a distance away. Her eyes grew wide with utmost relief as the villagers finally found them. She turned to the shorter girl behind her to report the good news.

“I saw the boat! They’re heading over here!”

“Wow…you really do have good eyes. Thank goodness~”

Sana sighed with relief and they had waited at the beach for the boat to arrive towards the shore. That was when they met with the villagers that were searching for them all over the island. Everything went smoothly and both of them got up on the boat, heading back to the village where everyone was waiting for them. The adults reported back through their walkie-talkie that they were founded. While the two of them were sitting on the boat together… one of the adult came up to them and ruffled Sana’s head gently.

“Great that you’re safe…you did well protecting this young girl.”

“Hehe~”

He smiled at her before leaving the two kids alone by themselves. How surprising. Two days ago, Tzuyu would always push Sana away from her but now they were close as if they were inseparable. By the time they arrived back at the dock, the chief was waiting for them including Mina’s group of friends. The moment they saw Tzuyu and Sana coming out from the boat…there were smiles of relief everywhere. Then Minatozaki gave the girl beside her a nudge on the shoulder to go towards her group of new friends, as they came gathering around her immediately.

“Tzuyu-ssi! Are you alright!?” Dahyun questioned with utmost panic and worries and it made Chaeyoung tried to calm her down.

“Dahyun calm down! Glad you came back Tzuyu-ssi~” Chaeyoung smiled to her while hiding her worries in her chest.

“Tzuyu-ssi…welcome back.” Mina smiled back to her and everyone was gathering around Tzuyu.

“Everyone…thank you.”

Tzuyu finally revealed her smile after seeing her friends worried about her for the entire time. She really did meet a real friend she never had a chance to have after that traumatizing betrayal. That beautiful smile from Tzuyu made Sana had a huge relief inside her chest. Only she smiled to herself before walking towards her father whom was waiting for her patiently.

“I’m back home. I’m sorry to make you worry.”

“You did well. Ms. Chou won’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

She only smiled as she received the utmost praise from the chief. That was when she decided to leave before Tzuyu would even realize. For some reason, she didn’t seem keen to nag on the raven-haired girl as she should spend her time with her friends. Also, Sana had someplace she needed to go. She told her dad she would be at the shrine with the head priest for the whole day today and left without further ado…and didn’t say a word to Tzuyu or others.
 

-

As Tzuyu was talking to everyone, they told her she should go back to the hotel to take a shower and change her clothes. She agreed with it since she had such a rough time back in the forest together with Sana. Since Mina had the key to their room, she would be heading back to the hotel with Tzuyu and come out to join with Chaeyoung later.

“Thanks Mina. Hey Sana I will—eh?”

The moment she turned, she didn’t see anyone there anymore. Sana just disappeared into thin air and she diverted her attention to the chief immediately to ask about the shorter one’s whereabouts. She had no clue since when did the shorter girl disappeared off.

“Where did Sana go?”
“She needed to do something. Please don’t worry, do have enough rest from the long journey in the forest. We’re sorry that this happen to you.”

“I-It’s okay, I’ll be leaving now…thank you.”
 

-

The students returned back to the hotel, but Tzuyu couldn’t shake off these feelings inside her chest. It was utterly disturbing her so much that she couldn’t stop thinking about that short Minatozaki. She told Mina to go ahead first since she wanted to take her time showering; she would contact them if she’s joining in. By the time she realized again, she was already done taking a long shower and worn her clean clothes. She looked at the schedule and realized how it was a free afternoon for students to do anything they wanted. However, she didn’t have anything in particular she wanted to do…aside from talking with Sana. She couldn’t stop thinking about her at all and it just made her plainly curious about her whereabouts. That girl just disappeared without saying a word to her and it’s making her slightly annoyed.

“…Sitting here won’t help anything. Ugh, stupid me.”

She got out from her room and took her key with her this time, she wouldn’t want to bother Mina for coming back to the hotel again for the sake of forgetting her key. As she headed down to the lobby room she met with the owner, Nayeon, whom was talking to one of her staffs about the dinner tonight. She had a feeling that she might know about Sana’s whereabouts and so she decided to make an approach to the older woman.

“Uh…Ms. Im? Do you mind I ask something?”

“Oh yes! Please do.”

“Do you know…well…where Sana could be?”

“Sana? She will usually be with the head priest at the shrine, do you know where that is?”

“Ah, I can figure out a way. Thank you!”

“Not at all sweetie. Have a nice day.”

She went out from the hotel and if she recalled the shrine was located to the east side. She went along the path and met with several villagers on her way. Also, one of the rare moments she actually spoke up to strangers and asked them for directions. They were more than glad to help her and she finally arrived at the shrine in no time. It didn’t take that long as she thought to be. Standing right in front of the elegant shrine, she marched up the stairs and met straight for the shrine located at the end of this straight footpath. Glad that Sana once took her there before and she could vaguely remember where it was…if she recalled it correctly, it would be this direction.
“A-Ah! I found it!”

She finally found that familiar looking shrine in front of her. She approached it immediately and slowly slid the door to peek in. That was when she saw that familiar back sitting on the floor talking to the head priest on the floor. Her eyes grew wide with relief and she just slid the door to allow herself to go in.

“…So you’re here.”

The young figure flinched before she turned around to see Tzuyu standing there. She was completely surprised to see the young raven-haired girl here…she had no clue how she knew she was here. However, what surprised her even more was that Tzuyu came over here during her free hours that she could’ve spend with her friends.

“Ch-Chewy? What are you doing here?”

“God’s sake…I was looking for you!”

“…What’s the matter?”

“W-Well…”

She was rather too shy to say her own selfish request out, asking Sana to spend time with her today and tomorrow until she had to leave back to Seoul. However, she didn’t know whether it would be a good solution to say so or not…she didn’t want to be a burden to Sana. Also, she was certain that Sana would be teasing her nonstop with this as well.

“…?”

She was still waiting for the reply but Tzuyu was starting to get some blush on her cheeks. As the head priest stared at her, he couldn’t help but to smile and decided to break the silence with his suggestion.

“Why don’t you take Tzuyu-ssi to visit Momo? Since she came this far already…don’t let her effort go in vain.”

“Ah…okay.”

Sana slowly got up from the floor and approached towards Tzuyu with a subtle smile across her face. The moment their eyes met, Tzuyu’s heart began to race and she could feel each of her heartbeat clearly. That sweet smile from the shorter girl just made her day and felt happy.

“You rather look pink recently…”

“S-Shut up.”

“Well~ Do you mind coming with me?”

“…Sure.”

“Thank you~”

They headed out from the shrine together and headed up the stairs on the left side that leaded up to the cemetery. As they slowly went up the stairs together, Tzuyu didn’t really know what she should say to Sana. This topic regarding her mother and her sister was rather depressing to be mentioned or discussed. However, by the time they arrived at the top, they met with adult who seem to come to pray for the deceased ones as well. But that was the moment Sana froze in her spot and Tzuyu could obviously realize it. The adult’s eye turned to the two girls as she heard people coming to the cemetery, however she froze as well…and her eyes were filled with anger and hatred.

“You…why are you here?”

“…It’s been a while, aunt Tamaki.”

“I don’t consider you a part of the family.”

She replied bluntly to Sana and Tzuyu was even surprised to hear such a harsh tone like this especially towards another family member. So this person was actually Sana’s biological aunt, which was Sana’s mother’s older sister. Both of them were blood-related, yet she seemed to have a strong grudge and hatred towards the young short Minatozaki. She turned to look at Sana and that was when she saw that poker face on her…but she could tell that she was wounded and remained in silence.

“Why does Miho have to die…you cursed child…!”

“…”

Sana didn’t respond to the slightest and her aunt continued to curse at Sana’s existence for bringing doom to her own mother’s life. Tzuyu was shocked and she was hurt by those words as well despite she wasn’t the one directed onto, how much pain did it inflicted onto Sana? Just thinking about it made Tzuyu truly worried about the shorter girl beside her.

“Miho had gone through such harsh discrimination because of you… You killed your very own mother, and even your sister was a victim for it—”

“Please stop that! Isn’t it too harsh!?”

Tzuyu roared up out loud despite she wasn’t involved with this. However, she wouldn’t allow this to be tolerated either. Calling Sana a cursed child even though she didn’t do anything wrong at all. She was just living her best with a smile, despite all the past she had. The more Tzuyu heard from the aunt, the more she realized heavier burdens Sana carried. This adult was just throwing all the blame and anger to the poor child who went through many harsh things just as much as the aunt did. What was the most was that she was deadly irritated with how this mature woman was insulting Sana. For some reason, she was bloody pissed.

 As for Sana, she was shocked how Tzuyu stood up to protect her from her aunt’s curse and insult. It just made her heart twitched slightly from this feeling warm feeling growing inside her heart. She felt the kindness through Tzuyu’s actions.

“…Ch-Chewy.”

“Who are you? I suggest you stay away from THAT cursed child if you still want to be alive.”

“Why do you have to say something like that!? Sana did nothing wrong at all, she’s just normal like anyone else. She doesn’t deserve such a treatment like this!”

Sana was shocked with how Tzuyu was arguing back with this woman who was a stranger to her. The more she watched Tzuyu fighting to help her…the more she felt this heavy weight on her heart. It was making her happy, just as much as it’s making her devastated that she wanted to cry right here.

“Chewy…”

“I assume you knew nothing, that’s why you bravely speak up like this. Her? An ordinary child? Don’t make me laugh…”

Sana did not say a word and only clenched her fist tighter while staring down onto the floor without fighting for herself at the slightest. What she had been doing was just to remain in deep silence. That was when she was ready to embrace the cruel truth that Tzuyu would learn her darkest secret… there was no turning back from here.

“That cursed child brings doom to the family…pathetically, acting as if she can see everything.”

“…What?”

Tzuyu got slightly lost with what the aunt was saying but Sana wasn’t saying anything to even protect herself or arguing back. The young raven-haired girl turned to look at her and saw that Sana was actually trembling in fear. She looked so defenseless and helpless when confronting with her own aunt and seeing her vulnerable like this pained Tzuyu’s heart. She wondered why Sana wasn’t trying to fight to protect herself, and allowed this witch to keep insulting her like she’s not even a living being. It felt as if she could feel Sana’s pain…and it killed her heart so badly. She felt like wanting to break down into tears, wanting to run away, and cry alone without anyone comforting her. She felt that loneliness coming from Sana… the more Tzuyu felt and understood it, the more she felt the invisible knives plunging through her heart countless times. She never felt this way before…she wondered why she felt so emotionally connected to Sana.

“Despite being born without any birth defects…yet mysteriously born with both eyes blind. Bringing doom to the whole family and everyone involved with her.”

“…!”

Tzuyu gasped slightly before she slowly diverted her eyes to the shorter one beside her. She was not saying anything to say that the aunt was lying about her story. Aunt Tamaki slowly glared at Sana and it made the young girl tremble even more. She could feel the killing intent coming from her…so much hatred she had for her nephew. Sana slowly gazed up with more fear and looked as if she wanted to run away right now.

“How much are you planning to lie to this poor girl? Didn’t you have enough bringing misery and death to others around?”

“…!”

She tightened up her fist and it just made Tzuyu’s heart collapsed just to see poor Sana being so vulnerable…and lonely. The aunt decided to take the leave as if she had enough with confronting with Sana; it just ruined her whole day. That left the two girls alone in the cemetery and it was terribly awkward between them. After the darkest secret that Sana hid had been revealed…Tzuyu didn’t know how to respond to that. She didn’t know what to say in order to not hurt Sana’s feeling any further. She was scared…She was terrified of what to do from now.

“S-Sana—”

“You should leave.”

“Huh??”

“It’s just as what my aunt said. I always lie to everyone around me, including myself… I’m pathetic as she said aren’t I?”

Tzuyu froze at that spot speechless. She wasn’t able to process all the truth and barely enough to catch up with what Sana was saying. The fact that the girl beside her was actually blind didn’t make sense to her at the slightest, Sana acted so normal as if she could see. The more Tzuyu thought about it, the more she slowly understood what aunt Tamaki meant…that she acted as if she could see everything, but the truth was that she couldn’t see at all.

“I only want people to see the side that I wanted them to see in me, and hide the truth…forever.”

“Sana I—”

“Please leave Tzuyu.”

The very first time she called her by her first name. It made her froze that instant and she decided to leave Sana alone at the cemetery…because there was nothing she could do. Even if she stayed, she won’t be able to help Sana’s poor heart. That was when she realized how far and isolated Sana was…how much pain and pressure she had went through with the fact she was blind. What could she possibly say when she didn’t truly understand her pain, she would just be a hypocrite if she said something.

As she went down the stairs she wasn’t expecting to meet someone waiting for her to come down. The look in head priest’s eyes seemed to show that he was actually waiting for Tzuyu to come down, alone by herself.

“…Please come to the shrine, there’s something I want to discuss with you.”

“Y-Yes.”

She simply followed the priest into the shrine without utter a single word, however she felt like she knew what he wanted to talk to her. It was as if he knew this was going to happen…and knew that Tzuyu would learn about Sana’s secret. Both of them sat down on the wooden floor to have an easy conversation. However, it wasn’t possible for Tzuyu to be at ease when her mind was complete messed at the moment.

“I believe you have many questions in your head…I know what happened up there. I met Sanae as she was coming down from the cemetery.”

“Sanae?”

“Sanae Tamaki, I presumed you’ve met her up in the cemetery. She is Sana’s aunt.”

“O-Oh.”

That clarified her confusion. However, that made the priest led on to the next topic regarding Minatozaki Sana, the unfortunate blind child. Obviously, Tzuyu wouldn’t know what to say or react to this fact. He only sighed softly before he continued from his main point while hoping that this wouldn’t change how Tzuyu felt towards Sana. But if things between the two of them would proceed on…she needed to learn the truth about Sana, everything about her darkest past.

“Do you ever hear about aura visions?”

“Is it about seeing people’s aura?”

“Yes, including objects as well…that’s the world Sana could see, but obviously it couldn’t replace the ability to see like anyone of us could do.”

He slowly explained how he was the one that taught Sana to see aura at the age of 2. She was apparently a smart child that was able to realize and understand that something was wrong with her. She understood what the adults around her were saying. She knew how much her mother went through after she was born… she was very sensitive to people’s emotions. However, that just drove her insane…she rejected everyone and the only person that could approach her was her mother and the head priest. She would only be sitting here in this shrine for hours, for days, for weeks, without doing anything and stared outside into the sky. The sound of the wind and birds were her friend. She wouldn’t say a word despite being taught to, or she didn’t want to say anything. She was like a living corpse losing all her hope to be alive. However, things just suddenly came into her and she started talking once again when she was about two years old. She seemed to have hope once again out of the blue… no one knew why she suddenly became cheerful and hopeful.

However, the priest could pretty guess out why…and decided to teach everything that Sana needed to learn in order to live with people around her. That’s when she could see again by seeing aura instead.

“She could tell people’s emotions from their aura’s color, it allows her to basically read people’s mind based on colors they emit. But there’s a big downfall to it. ”

“…?”

“Sana is a smart kid, apparently too cunning. She would always manage to hide her vision’s weaknesses but it will always slip through the cracks if you pay attention to it.”

Tzuyu mused for a while but she didn’t seem to figure anything that well. She couldn’t even tell that Sana had a problem with her eye since she seemed to see everything perfectly fine to her. The priest could tell from Tzuyu’s face that she was having a tough time figuring it out and decided to just tell the poor clueless girl about it.

“Physical appearance is something she can’t see. How people look…and little tiny things such as what accessories you wear, how your clothes look like, how they look like. Furthermore…her vision is completely blocked at times of frustration.”

“…Ah!”

Something seemed to be running inside Tzuyu’s head. She started to realize the possible hints regarding it. She had a flashback of those hints that seemed to make sense if she recounted the fact that Sana couldn’t see appearance of objects…
 

-///-

The young energetic girl kept talking for the entire time while she was escorting Tzuyu towards the market of this island; it was a very well-known place for tourism and the center of all goodies on the island. Sana didn’t seem to be bored at all despite Tzuyu was remaining silent and listened to her while Sana did all the talking. After the entire long one-sided talk, Tzuyu had a feeling she should be saying something to her before things would be too awkward.

“Oh right~ I’ll take you to aunty Jihyo’s shop! There should be lo