The party lasted until midnight, and by the time it was over, Al was asleep from playing.

After saying a brief goodbye to Northford, Yanagihara carried Al on his back, got on the snowmobile with Liz, and drove back to the basement.

On the road at night, the headlights shine on the ground, and as the snowmobile moves, it is like a lonely light shining into the darkness.

In the carriage, Liz looked at Al lying beside her, tilted her head, and suddenly asked Yanagihara.

"Speaking of which, what is the relationship between you and Little Al, you don't look like relatives, do you?"

"This ······" In the driver's seat, Yanagihara glanced in the rearview mirror, looked at the two people sitting in the back of the car, and replied with a wink.

"Like you, she's my client."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Liz seemed to be interested, leaned next to the driver's seat, and continued to ask Yanagihara.

"May I ask, then, what is the commission she gave you?"

Yanagihara was silent for a moment, then spoke up.

"To the sea to the east."

Liz looked stunned for a moment, and then asked again as if she hadn't reacted.

"Ice fields that span the entire east and west?"

"Well, across the entire ice field."

“······”

After a moment of silence, Liz sat down in the carriage again, her expression stiff.

"Damn, you still call me crazy, so you look a little more like a crazy person, right?"

With just two people, they actually want to cross the entire continent.

This should be an impossible thing to do anyway, and it is tantamount to a suicidal act.

"You might die." After hesitating for a moment, Liz looked at Yanagihara and said.

"Would you still care about such a thing?" Yanagihara raised an eyebrow and quipped calmly.

"Before you think about whether we're going to die, think about whether you can survive the blizzard."

“······”

Through the rearview mirror, Liz looked into Yanagihara's eyes, half loud, and silently looked away again, and said slowly.

"It's none of your business."

"So, what does it have to do with you whether we will die or not?"

Listening to Yanagihara's answer, in the sound of the moving vehicle, Liz quietly looked at the retreating building on the side.

After a long time, she turned her head to look at the sleeping Al beside her, and whispered to Yanagihara.

"I'm going to survive, I'm going to take the concert to the sea in the East, and then you have to remember to come and listen to it."

Yanagihara glanced at her sideways, but only after a moment of deep groaning, he shrugged his shoulders and said lightly.

"Perhaps, who knows."

After all, in such a world, who can have the luxury of what the future will look like.

"I don't care, you have to come anyway."

Liz said stubbornly, looking at the rabbit doll in Al's arms.

I've pinned my best things on you.

So you have to get the happiness that I didn't get.

It is no exaggeration to say that the day she received this lucky rabbit was the happiest day of Liz's life.

She vaguely remembered that her father had saved up for half a month's salary to buy her the toy from the wealthy district, and then delivered it to her on Christmas Eve.

On that day, the house was hung with seven-colored lights, and my father and mother were smiling, standing in the kitchen preparing dinner, as if everything could be so calm forever, with a little bit of warm happiness.

It's a pity that reality is always cold, and life always changes.

Her mother left, and her father began to numb himself with work.

Liz is left with only this rabbit by her side, so only she knows how much she cherishes this gift.

She would groom it every day, cuddle it to sleep every day, take it with her every day, and leave it with her every day, even when she left the greenhouse.

If it hadn't been thrown in the garbage, it would have been clean, as Liz had taken good care of it.

It was originally Liz's everything, until the day Liz abandoned it.

The rabbit was soiled, and the white fluff was stained with unsightly dust, along with the stained ones, and Liz's fantasies about the future.

Liz knew she couldn't go back, but Al had a choice.

So she hopes that this rabbit will bring some good luck to the girl and make her not go down the same path as herself.

To be honest, Liz regretted it a little.

She regretted not leaving the rabbit clean in Al's hands.

Because Al is such a clean girl.

"It's unreasonable, but it's hated."

Yanagihara drove the car and replied with a flat expression to Liz's almost unreasonable speech.

"I don't care what you think, as long as Al doesn't hate me." Liz said, leaning sideways and resting her head on Al's shoulder.

"I mean, you don't have any weird fetishes, okay······" Yanagihara replied weakly.

"You guys who are suspected of child trafficking are not qualified to talk about me."

"This is not trafficking, this is commissioning."

"Cut, who knows, let me tell you, the laws of greenhouses are very strict when it comes to children's cases."

"I know that."

"Ah, look, you see, I really have studied it!"

"Hmmm······" At this time, Al who was lying in the car suddenly frowned and muttered.

Probably not wanting to wake the girl, Yanagihara and Liz closed their mouths at the same time.

They looked at each other for a moment, then each smiled helplessly, shook their heads and stopped talking.

This is probably a common denominator that exists in any group that has the potential to get better. Mature individuals will protect their young, out of the instinct of life for continuity.

"Yanagihara."

"What's wrong?"

"Let's do a big cleaning tomorrow, the things in the room are a little too messy."

"Okay, I'm fine."

"Don't be lazy."

"As long as you don't sleep in."