Late at night is always when people find it easiest to be honest with one another.
When darkness falls, with only the flickering glow of the campfire in a quiet space, the walls around us slowly come down, revealing our truest thoughts.
Ren and Yuna sat beside each other, the firelight reflecting in their eyes.The atmosphere wasn't exactly heavy, but it wasn't light either. It was quiet, like the kind of stillness where even the slightest breeze might stir all the unsaid words into the open.
Yuna held a short sword in her hand, turning the hilt gently between her fingers, as if still unfamiliar with its weight.
The blade was shorter than most conventional weapons, but still long enough not to be mistaken for a dagger.
"…Do you ever feel like this world is just a dream?" she asked, her voice as soft as the breeze.
Ren glanced at her. "What do you mean?"
Yuna poked the blade into the ground, her milk-tea-colored eyes distant and hazy."Sometimes it feels too real. But then other times… it feels so far away, like it can't possibly be real."
Ren remained silent. He wasn't sure if he agreed, but he understood that feeling.
"You know…" Yuna continued, her voice dipping lower, "If this were just a normal game, if we could log out anytime we wanted… then maybe Nautilus and I wouldn't have met this way."
Ren tilted his head slightly, waiting for her to go on.
Yuna smiled, though the smile carried a trace of longing."He's not just some random friend. Nautilus… feels like family to me."
Ren looked at her for a long moment. Family. It was a word he hadn't heard in a long time.
"He's that important to you?"
Yuna nodded. "There were only three of us in my family, my dad, mom, and me. My dad was very strict. He loved music, but only recognized classical. I grew up in a world where everything had to be perfect. Every note, every step, every word."
She paused, her gaze drifting off somewhere far away.
"But I never had the courage to say how I really felt."
Ren said nothing, just listened. The fire crackled softly between them, tiny sparks snapping in the night air.
From the nearby bushes came the rhythmic chirping of insects, making the silence all the more profound.
Yuna took a deep breath, then smiled gently.
"Do you know who was the first person to tell me I didn't need to be perfect?"
Ren didn't answer, but he already knew.
"Nautilus."
She stretched her hand toward the fire, letting its warmth seep into her fingers.
"He was the first to tell me I could make mistakes… that I could choose the things I loved, instead of always doing what others expected of me."
Yuna paused, as if remembering something...perhaps a memory?
Ren watched her, and then suddenly realized… he had no one like that.
No one had ever told him it was okay to mess up.
No one had ever told him he could live for himself.
No one. Not even once.
From the beginning, Ren had always been alone.
"What did he do?" Ren asked quietly, curious about their past.
Yuna smiled faintly.
She looked down at the short sword beside her.
By the flickering firelight, past and present blended together.
Ren and Yuna sat quietly in the night. The small fire crackled between them, its wavering light dancing across their faces.
The forest's night air chilled their breaths into mist in the soft, warm glow.
Yuna gently turned the short sword in her hands. "Have you ever wondered… what our lives would've been like if we hadn't gotten stuck here?"
Ren glanced at her briefly, then turned his eyes back to the fire."Do you regret joining this game?"
Yuna shook her head, though her gaze was distant.
"Not exactly. It's just… sometimes I think, if we hadn't been trapped here, maybe I never would've changed."
Ren listened in silence.
She let out a soft laugh, like a breeze."Nautilus always says I'm stubborn. But honestly, he's the more stubborn one."
A breeze swept through, stirring tiny flames and sparks. Yuna held her hand toward the light, her fingers trembling slightly, as if sensing something invisible.
"He was the first to promise me that no matter where I went, he wouldn't leave me behind."
Flashback... That Summer
The sky was a vast, endless blue, and golden sunlight bathed the little neighborhood.Wind turbines on rooftops turned slowly, carrying the heat of summer.
On a shady path lined with trees, a girl with tea-brown hair sat hugging her knees on the front steps, her eyes red and swollen. In her hands was a crumpled sheet of paper, its ink smudged from tears.
Beside her stood a boy with soft green hair tinged with earthy brown, hands tucked into his pockets. His amber eyes watched her quietly.
"Rejected, huh?" Nautilus asked, his voice gentle, without a hint of pity.
Yuna didn't answer, just nodded.
He sighed and sat down beside her. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"…I don't know." She gripped the paper tightly. "Maybe… give up."
Nautilus didn't reply right away. After a moment, he reached out, took the crumpled letter from her, flattened it out, and began reading aloud.
"'We're sorry… but your singing doesn't match the style we're looking for in this competition.'"
Yuna glared at him, her face flushing. "Don't read it out loud!"
But Nautilus only smirked."So it's not that you weren't good enough. They just didn't get you. Why give up just because some people don't understand you?"
Yuna opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out.
"Remember when we were kids and we played that game—'if one day we get separated'?" Nautilus tilted his head toward her."You said, no matter what happens, you'd follow your own path."
She hesitated. "But…"
"No buts." He tossed the crumpled letter aside, leaned back on his hands, and looked up at the sky."I already promised, remember? No matter where you go, no matter what you decide to do, I'll go with you. You don't need to be perfect… you just need to be you, in your own way."
Back to the Present... By the Fire
Yuna smiled at the memory. She gripped the hilt of her sword, the cold metal mixing with the warmth of the fire.
"Nautilus has always been the one encouraging me. He believed in me, even when I couldn't believe in myself."
Ren looked at her for a long moment.
He understood that feeling.
Before coming to this place… he had never met anyone like that.
Ever since he set foot in this world, he had always been alone.But when the gears of fate began to turn, Ren met those people, Klein, Dynamm, Issin, Dale...
But... he also understood that he couldn't stay with them forever. He was relying too much on others.
So Ren returned to his solitary way of life.
He had grown used to it. But deep down, something still left him feeling empty.
"…He really is important to you." Ren murmured.
Yuna nodded, her eyes gleaming with determination. "And I won't abandon him."
Ren said nothing more. He simply stared at the fire, letting its light dance within his eyes.
Maybe… he should also try finding someone like that.
"Just like how I chose the sword over a lute."
Ren frowned slightly. "You're not going to use your lute anymore?"
Yuna smiled. "I'll still sing. But now I want to do more than that. I want to be stronger."
The fire kept burning, the night sky remained quiet, and in the flickering light, Yuna looked like a wandering minstrel on a journey to find new meaning for herself.
Ren looked at her, then gently clenched his fist.
Maybe… it was time he started searching for something of his own too.
He quietly tossed another twig into the fire, and the crimson embers soared upward, swirling in the cold wind before vanishing into the deep black night.
The flickering light danced across the tree canopies, casting quivering shadows on the ground, long and distorted like broken fragments of memory.
The soft crackling of the fire filled the silence between them, stretching on as if neither of them wanted to break it.
Yuna quietly observed Ren. He was always silent, always keeping a certain distance from everything around him.
Not in a cold or aloof way, but something in his gaze was always clouded, like a mist no one could see through.
It felt like an invisible wall stood between him and the world, a distance even his companions couldn't easily cross.
Suddenly, she spoke, her voice as soft as a breeze:
"Ren, do you have anyone in the real world?"
Ren flinched slightly, the hand holding the twig tightening before he set it down. His deep blue eyes flickered with an emotion too complex to name, but in the blink of an eye, it disappeared, sinking into stillness like a silent lake.
"…What do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Like family." Yuna tilted her head, the firelight reflecting in her brown eyes. "I have Nautilus. What about you?"
Family.
A simple word, but it stirred up a mess of emotions Ren didn't want to face.
He didn't know how to respond.
If family meant people who shared the same blood, maybe he once had that.
But if family meant a place he could rely on, people who would reach out to catch him when he fell, then he had no one.
Faint images of a distant past drifted through Ren's mind, cold, empty rooms, silent meals alone, distant gazes that never met.
A place called "home," but without even a shred of warmth.No words of concern, no embracing arms, no one waiting for him to return.
The only thing tying him to that world was an invisible thread of obligation, a duty to exist, even if no one cared whether he lived or died.
"…No one."
The words slipped out too quickly, too hollow. But the moment he said them, Ren realized they were truer than anything else.
He really had no one left. No parents, no siblings, no one in the real world waiting for his return.
He hesitated, as if searching for another way to put it, but no words could fill that void.
He didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to tell the truth either.
Yuna remained silent, waiting.
Finally, Ren simply whispered, his voice so soft it nearly melted into the wind:
"…It doesn't matter."
She looked at him for a long moment, her eyes showing no pity, no curiosity, only understanding.
"I see."
She didn't ask anything more.
Ren let out a breath of relief, not realizing he'd been holding it in.
He didn't like talking about the past.