"What happened?", Shiro croaked painfully. His throat was very dry so it was difficult to talk.

"Drink some water," Mornil said as he passed a glass of water to Shiro. Gratefully, Shiro drank the water in one gulp.

"What happened?", Shiro asked again, even clearer this time.

"You should tell me instead. You scared the wits out of me…", Mornil replied.

Shiro tilted his head in confusion. Mornil sighed as he began explaining everything to Shiro.

"I went looking for you in your home, but I saw a lot of blood at the front door. I thought something must have happened to you, so I rushed to the seashore to find you again. I found you lying on the ground, unconscious.", he gave a short explanation of what he had done.

Shiro's fuzzy memory became clearer now. He widened his eyes, realizing that he was able to go home now since the officers had gone away.

He stood up and ran out of the clinic.

"Shiro! Where are you going!? You're not supposed to run yet!", Mornil yelled after him.

Shiro did not bother to listen to him as he ran to his home.

Just as Mornil had told him, the front entrance had blood splattered everywhere.

Shiro gulped as he reached out for the blood-stained doorknob. His hands were trembling violently.

There was nothing inside except blood splatters everywhere. Of course, he found nothing, not until a few drops of blood fell on his face.

He slowly raised his head up only to find his mom hanging right behind the front door, naked. There were a lot of bullets and lashes on her body.

Shiro fell to his knees.

"M-mom?"

All of a sudden, he could see stars all around him. With a loud sob, he slumped onto the ground again.

"…"

Shiro woke up in a daze. He was sitting behind the rock by the seashore.

He looked around confused. Suddenly, he felt a water droplet on his hand.

Shiro patted his cheeks. It seemed like he was crying.

"Shiro!", Mornil yelled. Shiro's ears perked up.

"Uncle?", Shiro called out.

Mornil, who had just heard Shiro's soft voice, rushed towards him. He saw Shiro crying quite pitifully.

"Shiro, come here…", Mornil said as he embraced Shiro.

Although Shiro was crying, he couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu.

'It feels as if this isn't the first time this has happened…', Shiro thought to himself.

"Are you okay, Shiro?", Mornil asked.

"Yeah, uncle. I was just feeling a bit down…", Shiro said as he wiped his tears.

Mornil nodded and asked, "How long have you been here?"

"I'm not sure, uncle."

"It's okay, you don't have to."

Shiro nodded as he fiddled with his thumbs. "Uncle?"

"Yes?"

"Can we have a funeral for mom?"

Mornil looked at Shiro in shock. "You knew that your mom was dead?"

Shiro looked at Mornil weirdly. Did Mornil know about his mom's death?

Shiro nodded, and Mornil immediately grabbed his shoulders. "You need to do a proper burial for your mother. Poor Loyola, she was merely tossed into a pit and buried by those Anti-Pirate pests."

Shiro gasped. "What do you mean, uncle?"

"I'll show you…", Mornil said as he pulled Shiro towards the village.

They reached Shiro's home. Instead of entering, Mornil pulled him towards the large empty space at the back.

"Your mom is under there…", Mornil said as he pointed at the huge pile of dirt.

'Huh? What's going on? I clearly remember that I ran from the clinic and went to the room to find room hanging in the room…', as he questioned himself, in confusion, Mornil kept pointing at the pile of dirt.

Also, as Shiro snapped out of him, a weird, dark strand of energy vanished emerged from his chest. Shiro saw it for a moment right after which it vanished.

'That was…', he wiped his eyes in confusion only to snap out of it and look at the pile of dirt that Mornil was showing.

Shiro looked at Mornil and asked, "Can you help me, uncle?"

"I- Well, I-," Mornil mumbled as he scratched his head. Shiro looked at him pleadingly.

"Shiro, it's not that I don't want to help you. I just- don't dare to go against those officers."

"But you saw her get buried uncle!"

"I know! But I'm a powerless doctor, how was I supposed to stop them?"

Shiro ran towards the huge pile of dirt. He used his hands to dig the dirt.

Mornil was stunned to see Shiro's immediate reaction. He walked towards Shiro.

"Shiro, stop it! What if those officers see you?"

"It doesn't matter. They are not even present here right now anyway…", he said.

Shiro kept quiet as he continued digging in the dirt. Mornil couldn't say anything else and just stood by him silently.

After some time, Shiro was finally able to see his mother's corpse.

His mother's body was completely naked. Mornil cleared his throat and looked away respectfully.

"Mom…", Shiro whispered as he looked at her.

"…"

"Uncle, could you bring me some of mom's clothes, please?", Shiro asked Mornil.

Mornil nodded and headed inside Shiro's house. After a few minutes, he came back with a few pieces of clothes in his hand.

"I'll give some space to you. Once you're done, let's have dinner at my place…", Mornil said as he gently stroked Shiro's head. Then, he walked away.

Shiro began putting clothes on his mom's corpse. Although it was not at all necessary to give his mom some clothing as she was going to be put inside the pile of dirt again which would serve as her grave, he wanted his mom to be warm in heaven.

While putting on a coat for his mom, he felt something hard in one of its pockets. Shiro searched the pocket and realized it was his mom's favorite locket.

Shiro trembled as he placed the locket around his neck. Then, he proceeded to do his task at hand.

After he was done, he carefully placed Loyola's corpse back into the pit and buried her again.

He then sat cross-legged next to Loyola's grave.

Tears were pouring down his face. He had the urge to sob loudly, but he held back because he knew Mornil was nearby.

Shiro held onto the locket and bit his lower lip. A single drop of blood and tear fell onto the locket at the same time.

The locket started shining brightly, which caught Shiro off guard.

The light was blinding. The locket then levitated and have a weird aura right after which, Shiro heard a voice with the appearance of a screen.

*Ding*

A system notification window appeared in front of Shiro.

[ System rebooting ]

[ Rebooting… ]

*Ding*

[ Congratulations on becoming the host ]

"…"