Night had fallen.
A full moon hung high in the sky, its silvery glow spilling down like liquid mercury.
The lights of thousands of homes gathered like a lake below.
Neon signs painted the city in dazzling colors, turning night into something almost as bright as day.
On the bed, made from an unfolded sofa, a girl slept soundly.
Kiana lay with her lips slightly parted, warm breaths escaping softly.
Her pristine white hair spread out like snow, framing her swan-like neck.
Her arms dangled to the sides, perfectly outlining the curves of her upper body.
But in her sleep, Kiana furrowed her brows.
Her pale face was drained of color, and her long lashes trembled slightly.
Was she dreaming?
In her dream, it felt like she was sinking into an abyss—deep, bottomless, and cold.
She lay in a room that looked like a lab. And all she could feel was cold.
A chill far beyond despair.
A void that pierced deeper than bone.
A frost that felt eternal.
White-coated researchers moved through her field of vision.
The soft hum of machinery filled her ears.
The experiments on her body were as routine as eating breakfast.
As a test subject, she felt neither joy nor sorrow—just calmly staring at the clock on the screen.
From the time displayed in its cold, flickering digits, she could tell this had happened just earlier that afternoon.
But she couldn't focus on it for long—because…
'Cold.'
Like falling through a snowstorm into an icy sea.
Like sinking, slowly and helplessly, into the frozen depths of the ocean.
She was about to drown.
———————————————————————
"Ahhh!" She bolted upright from the bed.
Her smooth forehead was covered in sweat, and her chest heaved with rapid breaths.
The silk nightgown clung to her damp skin, highlighting her graceful figure—but Kiana was far too shaken to care.
It felt like the whole world had abandoned her.
That crushing, suffocating despair of being caged—
That overwhelming, ever-present loneliness—
It felt like it could crush her at any second.
Her sky-blue eyes were blank and hollow, her body trembling violently as she gasped for air.
Her panicked breaths echoed through the silent room, slowly calming over time.
A flicker of life returned to her lifeless eyes.
Her face, ghostly pale—whiter than paper—was the face of someone who had lived a sheltered life, now feeling fear for the very first time.
———————————————————————
"Kiana, what's wrong?!"
The bedroom door burst open.
A black-haired boy with a bare upper body rushed in, worry written all over his face as warm light flooded the room.
Her scream, though piercing in the dead of night, hadn't reached the others.
The apartment's soundproofing was top-tier, and both Mei and the little grasshopper were deep sleepers.
But of course, it had awakened Nagami, who shared a connection with her other self.
Worried something terrible had happened, he hadn't even bothered to throw on a shirt before rushing over.
Thankfully, he wasn't sleeping naked tonight.
"What hap—?!"
The rest of the question died in his throat.
Because before he could finish, he found himself with an armful of soft, warm girl.
She had slammed into his chest, pressing her body tightly against him.
Her silky hair slid down his arms like flowing water, carrying her warmth and fragrance with it.
For a second, Nagami seriously considered giving up on his "male pride" altogether.
I mean, if I get seduced, then so be it.
In the end, whether it's Kiana or C.C., the result is pretty much the same, right?
But that fleeting thought vanished as quickly as it came. His expression turned solemn.
The girl in his arms—was trembling.
Kiana curled up against him, gripping his shirt tightly. Her entire body shuddered with fear.
She didn't even notice that she was hugging Nagami and not the female form of C.C.
Nagami had no idea what happened, but he opened his arms and gently hugged her back, as if holding a frightened child.
Her soft curves pressed against his chest, her fragrance filled his lungs, but there was not a single trace of lust in him now.
He narrowed his eyes slightly and ran his hand softly down her back, trying to soothe her.
What he touched wasn't smooth skin—but a nightgown drenched in sweat.
What the hell had happened…
That could scare Kiana this much?
Letting her rest her pale cheek against his chest, Nagami quietly cast a healing spell.
No luck. It didn't work.
All he could do was wait for Kiana to calm down on her own.
———————————————————————
Meanwhile…
Back in time, somewhere in Europe.
In a secret Schicksal laboratory.
The building was about the size of Nagami's apartment—but the atmosphere couldn't be more different.
Every room door stood half-open, all the lights on. Yet not a soul stirred.
A massive wall-mounted screen played a loud, ridiculous variety show, full of laughter and cheers—a celebration of life and joy.
But the girl watching it—if she could still be called Kiana Kaslana—lay alone on the sofa, bathed in starlight pouring in through the windows.
Whether it was the raucous noise from the screen or the steady ticking of the clock, nothing could reach her ears anymore.
She had long since forgotten what it meant to dream.
But this rare dream… was entirely beyond what the girl expected.
A strange, unfamiliar setting—something she had no memory of. In her dream, her sapphire eyes reflected a fair, snow-white figure… her own. A mysterious light pulsed softly across her body.
'What is this…?'
A sensation she had never known before surged within her chest, stirring gentle ripples in what had always been a dead, silent sea of emotions.
'Warmth?'
No… blazing heat might be a better description.
A girl who lost her mother early, abandoned by her father, and raised alone in the cold sterility of a laboratory—this was the first time in her life she had ever truly felt something this overwhelming, this searing, this alive.
'Could this be… love?'
Vaguely recalling descriptions from books she'd read, she made a hesitant judgment.
If this wasn't love, then how could it burn so brightly?
If the long-reviled carnal desire buried deep in humanity's genes—long seen as a sin—ever knew it might one day be mistaken for love, it would surely shed tears of joy.
Like a child cherishing a long-awaited ice cream, the girl, with her parched and lifeless soul, gently savored this newfound warmth, sip by sip.
It was like finally glimpsing a ray of light in eternal darkness, like a dying traveler in the desert discovering a handful of water—drinking it down drop by precious drop.
As the dream shifted to a cozy, unfamiliar living room, the girl saw herself gazing at a mesmerizing green-haired beauty.
This time, the emotion in her heart was no longer scorching—it was gentle, like sunlight on a spring morning.
Another feeling she had never once experienced before.
As if she were soaking in a warm spring, heat slowly spread from within her, melting the frost that had clung to her for so long.
And as her emotions shifted, so did her gaze.
She didn't know what these feelings were.
She didn't know where they came from.
But what she knew—what she felt—was that they brought with them something other than coldness. And that alone was enough.
The dream continued, and more figures appeared—each stirring something deep in her soul.
A replica who bore the name "Kiana Kaslana," a girl with long, dark violet hair whom she couldn't recall… and a boy she'd never seen before.
Truth be told, the girl no longer felt much toward her clone.
Maybe, long ago, she had hated her.
But time had long since frozen and shattered that resentment into dust.
It didn't matter anymore.
She simply… didn't care.
Her attention was focused entirely on the boy.
And now, as the master of this dream, the girl could clearly feel it—the emotion welling up in her chest when she looked at that boy.
It was the same warmth she felt when she looked at the green-haired girl.
Like spring wind brushing gently across her skin, a joy so pure her body instinctively trembled.
A strange feeling—unfamiliar yet undeniably real—seemed to flow across time and space, seeping deep into the parched soil of her soul.
In the later parts of the dream, she shared warm laughter over dinner, played silly games, and basked in carefree moments of happiness.
But one thing never changed—whether with the green-haired girl or the black-haired boy, that peculiar warmth remained, constant and unwavering.
Back in reality, the girl curled alone on the living room sofa slowly opened her eyes.
A breeze drifted in from the open window, gently stirring the long hair that cascaded down her back.
And then… a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Warm drops followed, trailing across her face, moistening her dry lips, slipping into her mouth.
'Salty?'
No…
It was the sweetest taste she had ever known.
Her breath caught. Her mind, once clouded by chaos, was suddenly clear.
Countless flickering emotions bloomed like wildfire in her chest—too intense to suppress, too overwhelming to ignore.
And yet, amidst that flood of warmth, a sorrow she couldn't explain quietly spread inside her.
The tears wouldn't stop.
Her vision blurred, soaked in the flood of unspoken feelings.
Standing at the border between light and shadow, the girl shed silent tears—her face devoid of expression, her soul quietly unraveling.
And so she cried…
Until dawn.