It was darkness. A passageway walled in on all four sides by junk. Refrigerator doors, shattered TV screens, countless plastic doll limbs—all of them jutted out from the walls at odd angles. No flashlight. Only the faint moonlight leaking in from somewhere served as their guide. [angry] "Dammit…!" Blonde twin-tails whipped furiously through the gloom. Jiji, in her gyaru body, kicked the wall. A dull *thud*. But the wall didn't budge. [angry] "Ow… I can't put any strength into this body!" Just as Jiji was about to kick again— "…Jiji-kun?" A faint voice from further down the passage. Jiji turned. A tall silhouette emerged from the darkness. A handsome face, lit by moonlight. Aira. [surprised] "Aira! You're okay!" [sad] "Yeah… but I got banged up pretty bad." The sleeve of Aira's boys' uniform was torn. She must have fallen. There were scratches on that handsome face. [serious] "You too, huh. Same here. Glad I'm not alone." Jiji let out a relieved breath. That's when they sensed another presence. They turned. A beautiful girl with black hair was leaning silently against the wall. How long had she been there? They hadn't sensed her at all. [cold] "…You're both loud." It was Shiratori. [angry] "Wh-what the hell, you had us worried!" Jiji's face went red. Shiratori gently tucked a strand of long black hair behind her ear. [cold] "…We should start a fire. In this darkness, the junk-mushi will come." [surprised] "A fire…? How are we supposed to do that here?" Without a word, Shiratori gathered dry wood fragments and broken plastic chunks from a pile of scrap. Then she pointed at Jiji's pocket. [cold] "You have a lighter, right?" [surprised] "Uh, yeah… I've just kinda carried one around since middle school." Jiji pulled the lighter from her skirt pocket. But her slender gyaru fingers couldn't muster enough strength. Only the empty *click-click-click* echoed. [angry] "Dammit, why won't it turn?!" [serious] "Here, let me—ah." The moment Aira reached out, her large hand bumped into Jiji's. The lighter went tumbling. [sad] "S-sorry… my hands are so big in this body." [angry] "This is no time to apologize! We need to get a fire—" While the two of them fumbled, Shiratori swiftly picked up the lighter. *Click.* A small flame flickered to life. Orange light danced over the pile of scrap. [cold] "…Three seconds." Jiji and Aira both stood frozen, mouths agape. [laughing] "Hah… show-off…" Jiji laughed weakly. Aira smiled too, relieved, her handsome face softening. The three of them sat down around the small fire. Here, in this labyrinth of junk, even this tiny bit of light was strangely calming. The crackling sound of burning plastic echoed unnaturally loud in the silence. The firelight lit their faces from below. A blonde twin-tailed gyaru. A handsome boy. A black-haired beauty. Not a single one of them in their original body. For a while, no one spoke. Jiji was the first to break the silence. [serious] "Hey, Shiratori." Shiratori slowly raised her head. [serious] "How can you look so damn calm in a situation like this?" Shiratori kept her eyes on the fire and tilted her head just slightly. [cold] "…I'm not calm." "But you're not scared at all." [cold] "…I've been scared for a long time." At those words, Jiji and Aira exchanged glances. Silence again. This time, Jiji spoke. [serious] "…Me, I…" Her voice was strained, her eyes fixed on the fire. [serious] "I just want to get back to normal. That's all." It was painfully obvious she was putting on a brave front. But neither Aira nor Shiratori said anything. Jiji was quiet for a moment, then started again. [sad] "Ever since middle school… I've kept going on nothing but the desire to protect the weak." Her twin-tails swayed in the heat of the fire. [sad] "I became a delinquent because I figured if I looked tough, no one would dare lay a hand on the people around me." "…Jiji-kun." Aira gazed softly at Jiji's profile. [crying] "But the truth is… I like stuffed animals, and I can't ignore a kid who's crying, and seeing cute things makes me happy." Her voice began to tremble. [crying] "I've been hiding all that this whole time… and now, my outside matches it. Exactly." Tears spilled from Jiji's large eyes. On that gyaru face, tears traced lines down her cheeks. [crying] "I feel like… there's nothing left to hide anymore. And that scares me." Her voice cracked. Tears dripped onto Jiji's skirt. [scared] "J-Jiji-kun!" Aira hurriedly rubbed Jiji's back. Her large, handsome hands patted Jiji's back awkwardly, but gently. Shiratori kept her eyes on the fire and murmured quietly. [gentle] "…You were hiding something you never needed to hide." [crying] "Shut up!" Jiji sniffled, but still managed a small laugh. At that moment, a strange warmth spread through Aira's chest. *(Jiji-kun… he showed me this much of his vulnerable side.)* Jiji, sobbing in a gyaru's body. But those tears were the true face of a boy who had been pretending, all because he wanted to protect someone. Without realizing it, Aira put more strength into the hand rubbing Jiji's back. In front of the fire. Seeing that Jiji had calmed down, Aira spoke. [whispers] "…Can I say something too?" Jiji and Shiratori nodded. Aira looked down at her own hands. Large, rugged, boy's hands. [sad] "I… I liked Okarun-kun." She sensed Jiji catch her breath. [sad] "For a long time. But I knew Momo-chan liked him too." Aira's voice didn't tremble. But that was because she'd been sorting through these feelings in her heart for so long. [sad] "So I couldn't say anything, and I didn't intend to. Staying friends was more important." "…Aira." Jiji's voice was low and calm now, unlike before. [crying] "But then, with the TS, Okarun-kun became a girl…" Aira's voice began to quiver faintly. [crying] "And for a split second… I thought, maybe this is my chance." A large tear fell from Aira's handsome eyes. [crying] "And I hated that. I hated myself for thinking that, even though I care about Momo-chan. I felt so low." The tears wouldn't stop. [crying] "I wanted to apologize, but I couldn't… I'm sorry, Momo-chan, I'm sorry…" Aira covered her face with both hands and cried. Jiji wiped her tears roughly and said: [serious] "…You're a crybaby too, huh." [crying] "J-Jiji-kun, you were crying too!" Aira looked up and shot back. Her handsome face was a mess of tears. [laughing] "Hah, can't argue with that." Jiji laughed. Aira, still crying, laughed a little too. A strange atmosphere, a mix of tears and laughter. But it was incredibly warm. And then, Shiratori quietly spoke. [cold] "…I'll talk too." Jiji and Aira looked at her. Shiratori hugged her knees and stared into the fire. Her long black hair swayed gently, catching the firelight. [gentle] "Ever since I was born… I've always felt like my body was wrong." Her voice was quiet. [gentle] "I was raised as a boy, but…" A spark popped from the fire. [sad] "Every time I looked in the mirror, I thought, this isn't me." "…Shiratori." Aira, still wiping tears, softly said her name. [sad] "I couldn't tell anyone. I thought they'd look at me like I was strange." Shiratori's slender fingers clasped tightly on her knees. [whispers] "But now…" Shiratori looked at her own hands. White, slender, a girl's hands. [gentle] "With the TS, I got a girl's body—and for the first time, I thought, ah, this is me." Jiji and Aira froze. [whispers] "So, honestly… I don't want to go back." The air in the labyrinth shifted. [sad] "But I know everyone else wants to. It's true that I'll fight for everyone. That hasn't changed." Shiratori readjusted her grip on her knees and dropped her gaze to the fire. [whispers] "…I'm just… sorry." Those last words were barely a whisper. Silence. Neither Jiji nor Aira could speak. Those few seconds felt incredibly long. Jiji was the first to break it. [serious] "…Don't apologize." Her voice was much lower than usual. Dead serious. [serious] "You didn't do anything wrong." Shiratori's shoulders trembled faintly. Aira quietly stood up. Then she sat back down next to Shiratori. [gentle] "…Thank you for telling us." Something glistened faintly in Shiratori's eyes. A new atmosphere filled the space between the three of them. It was trust. Real trust. Not about someone protecting someone else, or helping them. Just the three of them, here, showing each other their deepest selves—and no one denying any of it. The fire crackled. A small but certain warmth enveloped them. --- Meanwhile. Momo was alone. She kept walking aimlessly through the darkness. Her masculinized body was utterly exhausted. She'd slammed her psychic power into the scrap walls over and over, but no matter how much she destroyed, new junk replenished it, and she couldn't move forward. [angry] "Dammit…!" She punched the wall with her fist. *Thud.* Her male fist caught a sharp edge of scrap, splitting the skin. Blood welled up. But she didn't feel the pain. [sad] "Okarun… where are you?" Her voice was hoarse. She'd walked for hours, shouted, and still reached no one. *(I don't know anything about you.)* Her own words replayed in her ears. [crying] "…That's not true." The strength drained from her knees. She leaned against the wall and slid down into a crouch. That's when it happened. A light flickered to life in the darkness. She looked up. An image was floating before her eyes. A small passageway lit by a flashlight. In the middle of it, a figure huddled on the ground. A small girl with black hair. Okarun. [surprised] "Okar—" The moment Momo tried to shout, countless junk-mushi appeared behind Okarun in the image. Okarun tried to run. But her legs tangled and she fell. [scared] "No… help me…" The Okarun in the image reached out, crying. [crying] "Because Momo-chan… yelled at me…" Momo's body froze. [crying] "I got scared, and I couldn't move…" The swarm of junk-mushi piled onto Okarun. [angry] "Stop!!!" Momo screamed and reached out. She slammed her psychic-charged fist into the image. But— Her hand cut through empty air. The image scattered like mist. An illusion. She knew it. In her head, she knew. And yet. [crying] "…It's my fault." Momo's knees hit the ground. *Thud.* *(If only I had done things right.)* [crying] "If only I had… put it into words properly…" She pounded the ground with both hands. *Thud! Thud!* Her large, male hands were cut by shards of scrap, covered in blood. But she couldn't stop. [crying] "All I wanted was to protect Okarun…" The tears wouldn't stop. She cried, stifling her voice. Sobs wrenched from the depths of her throat were swallowed by the darkness. [crying] "That, at least… is the truth…" The will to stand had completely vanished. In the darkness of the labyrinth, Momo stayed on her knees, alone, and kept crying. No one came. Her voice didn't reach anyone. She wasn't even given a second chance to protect the person she had hurt. *(What… am I supposed to do?)* Amidst the tears, only one feeling refused to disappear. She had wanted to protect Okarun. That, at least, wasn't a lie. But the stronger that feeling was, the more it became a blade tearing through her chest, stabbing Momo over and over. In the distance, a mountain of junk groaned. The labyrinth, still at the bottom of the night, held its prey trapped and continued its silence.