Clack!
A black-haired woman opened a bedroom door. Her gaze fell on the shoulder-length brown haired girl who was sleeping next to the star-studded sky.
She chuckled lightly. A subtle smile was etched on her lips. As she moved her hands in the air, the blanket on the brown-haired girl body floated up. It wasn't until some time later that the blanket fell again on top of her, covering her entire body, and swallowing her until there was nothing left on the bed.
"Sweet dreams, Brissia," whispered the woman as she looked at the star-studded sky outside the window with a knowingly smile.
Meanwhile, a man in a polo shirt and trousers stood under a sky that was also full of stars. But unlike the bright stars shining in the sky, his gaze was dim and empty.
As the wind blew against him, he let out a sigh. Benjamin's suggestions and the black-haired woman's requests repeatedly bothered him.
However, he felt that the wind direction had suddenly changed. When he looked up, his eyes widened to see a girl falling from above.
"An angel? No... a real person?!"
Quickly, he walked to the position where the girl was likely to land. He spread his arms, not taking his eyes off the girl who was getting closer and closer, until he managed to catch her.
It didn't take him long to recognize her. His hands that were holding her body trembled slightly and his heart was beating fast. But when he was about to call her name, the girl's wake silenced him in an instant.
Those golden eyes dissolved all the worries that shackled his mind. He seemed to be drowning in it. As Brissia spoke to him later, he could feel the wind around him again and the sound of the grass rustling.
"The stars here are also beautiful. Still, I will never be able to reach them."
Harris was swept up in questions. What other place had a more beautiful sky than the meadow where he was standing? And what did she mean that she couldn't reach for the stars?
As if the wind was whispering a hint to him, Harris immediately remembered the conversation he had with Brissia on the first day they met, about Brissia's ideals going against her parents' wishes. He then carried Brissia in his arms.
Seeing how shocked the girl was, Harris tried to look at her as calmly as he could. The tickling sensation from the girl's grip on his shoulder made him try to focus on conveying what he had to say.
"Look at the sky, Brissie."
Brissia raised her head. Her eyes twinkled to see that there was only a star-studded sky above them. No clouds to get in the way. His grip on Harris's shoulder loosened, making Harris hold Brissia back so that the girl would not fall while admiring the sky.
Harris looked up for a moment. The starry sky somehow looked much more beautiful than before. His gaze shifted to Brissia without his will.
With a gentle smile, which he knew would not be seen by the girl who was captivated by the sky, Harris said, "Don't the distant stars look closer now?"
His eyes widened slightly when the girl turned to look at him. It shattered his expectations. But strangely, it also brought relief to his heart.
"If you only focus on what you see and want to achieve, nothing will seem far to reach."
However, the relief didn't last long because the girl kept staring at him. Therefore, he chose to be the one who averted his gaze.
"The stars are up there, Brissie," he murmured.
"They are now in your eyes," Brissia replied in a soft voice.
Harris's heartbeat was getting faster and faster to the point that he was worried that it might weaken his hand. The soft aroma wafting from the girl's body no longer calmed him. Luckily then, the girl got off him right away.
His conversation with Brissia that night did not fade his feelings for her in the slightest. He realized that he didn't want to just care about her safety, but was by her side in even the most dangerous situations for both of them. Like what he faced when the alarm from the building next to him went off.
"I need to take something. Bye! Have a nice day!"
"Wait, Harris! The higher council will scold you if you enter now!"
Ignoring his colleagues's warnings, he ran through the automatic glass doors and hastily climbed up the stairs.
The thought that he had used Brissia for his personal gain haunted his every step. At one point he stopped in the middle of the stairs, covering his mouth due to a sudden feeling of nausea.
"No," he muttered as he lowered his hand from his mouth, "I have to focus."
While he continued running up the stairs, Brissia was busy dealing with the silver-eyed man who was constantly trying to catch her.
The man groaned as he fell from the table, glancing warily at Brissia as he got up from the floor. When she approached the door, he quickly pointed the gun at her back.
"You gave me no choice but to greet you rudely, lady intruder. What do you want?"
Brissia turned to the man with a raging breath. Blood dripped from her fist, but it weakened neither her stance nor her gaze.
"Just... a piece of information about someone," she answered softly.
"What a vague answer. There's no way you'd only got a piece when you've made it all scatter on the floor, hadn't you?"
The girl clicked her tongue. She remained silent while staring at the man, who did not show the slightest fatigue on his firm face.
"Are you one of Miss Savior's hunters?"
"What does that even means?"
"It means you're going to find her no matter what, just like what Harris Reister would do."
Brissia flinched. Her reflexes narrowed the gray-eyed man's eyes.
"Whatever your excuse, stop. You will only harm yourself by looking for her."
"How can you tell that I will be in danger?"
The man frowned when he saw Brissia approaching the window. "I don't understand why you're so clueless when you're one of them, but didn't you see how your friends died on their way?"
His words stopped Brissia for a moment. Soon, the door was letting in ten people in uniforms like her, but with golden crow badges. She dodged every bullet that came her way, opened the window immediately, then jumped without a second thought.
"Hey! Stop!"
The man looked down, where Brissia climbed down the tree on the third floor terrace and ran inside. He signaled the ten people behind him and then they rushed out of the room.
While running away, the girl took off her cloak and threw it out onto the open balcony. It never crossed her head that it would tell Harris her whereabouts.
As soon as the hazel-eyed man found it from the second floor balcony, he pulled it until it fell from the balcony railing above. A special embroidery was attached to the edge of the cloak. He then ran toward a different staircase, almost bumping into agents who were passing by and looked at him in surprise.
"Ouch!"
Brissia was about to pass by the person she bumped into until the person suddenly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her behind the wall next to the emergency stairs.
"Let go of—umph!'
A soft hiss silenced her as a larger hand covered her mouth. "Brissie, are you okay?"
The girl's eyes widened when she heard a clear voice behind her.
"Yeah. I got the photo as well."
"Good. Now..."
Harris glanced beside him when he heard the echo of footsteps.
"...Let's try not to get caught."
He took Brissia's hand and led her to the ground floor using the emergency stairs. Once they arrived in the lobby, they ran into a red-haired girl that Brissia met earlier.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who's that, Harris?!
"Uh... a girl friend?!" he answered, half shouting.
Brissia stared at Harris in surprise.
"I'm not your girlfriend!"
"You were the one who said that in front of Siger! Besides, it's 'girl-friend'! I meant... female friend!"
"What's the difference?!"
"Tsk! You really don't know?"
A man in a brown shirt leaned against a tree trunk while throwing a gold coin in his hand repeatedly. Footsteps turned his head then engraved a satisfied grin on his face.
"What a solid and blessed duo," he muttered while widening his smile as Brissia waved at him.
After one more toss, he no longer caught the coin. It fell onto an assembly button in front of his leather shoes.
Suddenly, the street lights around the building went out and left the forest path in complete darkness. The gray-eyed man clicked his tongue when he and his troops lost track of Harris and Brissia.
Meanwhile, the two youths stopped in front of the man in the brown shirt while catching their breath.
"Thank you, Ben."
The man in the brown shirt blinked briefly before letting out a soft chuckle. "How kind of you to give me a nickname. I will keep it as the precious one for the rest of my life," he said with a genuine smile.
Harris looked away for a moment before looking back at Benjamin. Even when their eyes met, the well-dressed man's smile did not fade. That sparked a feeling of distaste in himself.
Dawn broke in the sky. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves and branches of the trees they encountered on their way back to Algor District. But suddenly...
"Brissia!"
Harris turned his head when he heard Benjamin's surprise behind him. He held his breath when he saw the girl sitting listlessly on the ground, wringing her calves.
"Can you walk?"
Before Brissia answered, Harris headed in the middle of Benjamin and Brissia. "She can't. Therefore, let's delay the..."
"We can't let time take the chance of finding the person you need to see, Harris. Carry her."
The tenacity in Benjamin's words stunned Harris for a moment.
"Or do you prefer me to do that?"
Harris shook his head firmly.
"No. Let me do it."