Thank you for waiting.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Flor put her hand on the door that she used to enter the grocery store. She closed her eyes, thinking quiet thoughts to herself, so quiet that they did not quite make it to her journal. She turned the knob, greeted by exactly what she wanted to see on the other side.

It was dark, nothing visible besides black, save for a little grassy hill. It stood where it was, stable as a mountain. Flor began to walk through the doorway, stepping upon the inky blackness as if it were a bridge.

"Flor, don't- I've never seen that room before," she said, at first hesitant that Flor was stepping into nothingness, but later intrigued. "What is that?"

"It's my grandfather's," she explained, walking until she was on the hill. Then, she lay down, curling up as if she were going to go to sleep. "It's very soft."

"I... don't see what you're doing," she confessed, following her out until finally she made it herself. She lay down on the hill wincing. "This isn't soft at all, these blades hurt."

"That's because they're real," she explained, sighing before she fell asleep, almost instantly.

When Flor awoke, she was no longer in Mr. Nicholson's office. She was atop that same mountain from earlier, far from the city, atop the mysterious hill that was placed exactly where it was last time. Yenri was there too, bright-eyed with a look of thorough confusion written across her face.

"If I knew this was here," she whispered, annoyance thick in her voice, "I would have done something about it sooner."

Flor knew that the Nicholson family was reading her journal, and that teleportation wasn't an option as she had a guest, so she knew it would only be a matter of time before Ali would come up to bring them away. So, she decided to kill some time until then. She pulled her accordion from her ID card and turned towards Yenri, who was staring out towards Sakuranoka.

"Have you met Midnight Rose?" asked Flor.

"Who?" Yenri's disposition was still as sour as granite.

"Her."

"...Is that what you named the accordion?"

"Yes!" She played a few notes. "I've gotten pretty good with her. Would you like to hear?"

"Is that what we're here to do? Flor, we don't have time- I can't deactivate the process. We are going to die."

"I'm very proud of this accordion," she replied.

"Florence-"

"Yenri, do you trust me?"

She was starting to breathe hard. Flor could see fear in her eyes. "I... I guess I do. Continue."

After taking a deep breath, Flor began to smile deeply, playing the song she had learned how to play just earlier that day. Yenri watched, arms crossed, bitterness tangible on her face. Flor played it as hard as she could, singing atop it. She messed up a few times, but she never stopped. She had even begun to dance somewhat, leaning back and forth as she shared her joy with her friend.

And then something amazing happened. Yenri actually began to hum along. It was her song too, after all. Near the second verse, she was singing – really singing harmony with Flor. Flor thought it was strange that she had never heard Yenri sing before, but it wasn't bad at all – it was breathy and constant, like a brook, and it went well with her own nasally voice.

When it ended, Flor played her accordion extra hard, ended the song on a sour note – and of course they couldn't help but laugh at it. For the first time... ever... Flor saw Yenri laugh; a real, genuine laugh, and it made her want to laugh. It felt strange, but it was almost as if that dark spot in her mind that the shower couldn't clean away was being dissolved by this moment.