"Glass".

I found glass to be the most interesting thing. I don't quite understand what it is. It's hard, like the surface of a smooth rock. However, it is cold and transparent, like the depths of great water.

- It's funny.

I love glass.

Birch doesn't seem to like glass. It's like she doesn't like water anymore. or crystals. Or gemstones, which tend to be hidden behind glass in cities.

- A weirdo.

I noticed that my friend Birch didn't seem to like looking at anything at all that might reflect herself. Maybe after all this time, my negative thoughts about her appearance finally affected her?

I leaned down and slowly pressed my stem against the back of her head.

Don't worry, friend.

I was wrong.

You're not a scary, disfigured monster. There is nothing to be afraid of.

My friend didn't answer. But she did rub her nose from side to side, her long hair on the back of her head, rubbing against my stem.

- Symbolic gestures to express gratitude.

Yes. Succeed.

Birch looked up at me and smiled, the smile around her cheeks and under her eyes looking unusually heavy.

Well.

I don't think her smile is as pleasant as her other smiles. However, maybe I'm just being too selfish? After all, I got a free smile.

What else can people get out of life?

Birch turned around and looked at the city we were still staying in. It's been a few weeks since we reached her point where she was attacked.

If my friend gave me a pleasant smile, or a horrible smile, maybe I should really be grateful for both?

It's like I'm grateful for the sun shining, even on a cloudy day like today.

I can only appreciate a little bit of its elegance. But even so, I'm grateful. Thanks for the smile, Birch.

I am a grateful sunflower, not perfect, but beautiful.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

EXP: 217/310 EXP (Birch): 36/240

As fascinating as I find it all, I still don't quite understand why we're here.

The city is an amazing place, full of life and things to see. There are hundreds of new things to see every day. New concepts, new faces, new colors and new flair for creation.

- I feel like I can sit here for a month and then another month and still nothing new to look at.

But.

We don't wander.

We are not progressing.

We won't be crawling, clapping, and beating our way to heaven as I'm used to.

My friend found a way to support himself; The metal discs she had taken from the abuser. Somehow, she seems to be able to swap these things for food.

The food was also strange.

It's not Apple.

It is not a piece of meat.

It's not a fish.

It's a combination.

The food here is complicated, and although I don't eat it, I must say that I don't like it either. Mixing these ingredients and ingredients together to form a variety of creations is creative, but I feel that it really hides the beauty of a single individual.

Apples are a magical thing. Hard, brittle and complete. But when it's covered in some flaky brown substance, we don't see its ruby brilliance, we don't see the luster of its epidermis, we don't see the density of its nucleus, we don't see the sweetness of its cold, dripping juice.

A fish, smooth, fat, and soft, is sacred in its creation. Simple perfection. But cut them into small pieces and soak them in brackish water, and all of a sudden, all the natural beauty is gone.

- It's too complicated.

I think the food here is too complicated. I find the city interesting, but too complicated. As a friend of Birch's, I think she'd be better off eating just an apple, a tuber, and a fish, and they're all ready-made, perfect, and nutritious.

But Birch became strange in a familiar way.

Now I know what's wrong with her.

- Covetousness.

Yes.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

Experience Points: 224/310 EXP (Birch): 43/240

The old ghost has caught us again.

Remember, in the cave a few weeks ago? Remember the cave where we hid? We hide in the cave to avoid the non-birds, and she eats the plump fruit and the clear water inside?

She had thought she was safe there. That sense of security tied her firmly there, like a metal buckle. It seems that she has fallen into the same trap again.

Our journey has been scary and difficult. There were many times of hunger and thirst, many times of cold and warmth, many times of fear and blood boiling.

- Here, those times are strange. Here, the ease of comfort is everywhere.

Oh, Birch. You idiot. I really adore you. It's expected, I think, naïve. She was young after all.

- However, maybe she is not naïve? Maybe she's just denying it?

Given that this happened shortly after we arrived in the city, I think so.

Yes.

Poor thing. She has a lot of hope for it. I now understand why she didn't look at her own reflection. Its gaze would prove to her what I already knew.

Looking up at the cloudy sky, I wondered, when will her eyes be as clear as glass?

- We are not safe at all.

It's like being in a cave, it's an illusion.

Birch.

My dearest friend.

You're as aware as I am, right?

There is not a single place in the whole world that is safe. Forever. There is no place for us to hide, and there is no other place here, except perhaps the gardens of paradise.

There is nothing to do but keep going, to keep traveling, or to perish, as if we were beasts in the drought, through the wasteland, towards the only hope.

- Paradise.

I whispered its name greedily in my heart.

-Scream.

Another screamed.

Screams filled the air of the midday world, accompanied by the many semaphoric bells coming from afar.

The people ran away, and Birch and I turned to look from a high vantage point at the front of the city, on a hill in the center of the city.

We saw a large flock, a flock, a group of goblins, rushing out of the nearby forest path and rushing towards the city, more than a thousand of them.

- Wow.

The view is so beautiful.

We stood on the top of the Heart Hill and watched as the gray and green silhouette rushed towards the walls of the unprepared city.

As the tide poured in through the open gates, we watched as the once translucent streets, gates, and glass were painted red.

Good.

Maybe I really need to complain? Life is so interesting sometimes. It seems that our time in this city has come to an end.

Good.

-Let's go?

Birch shuddered, cried and struggled to his feet. Her body doesn't want to do what her brain tells it needs to do.

What's wrong, friend?

I leaned on her shoulder and leaned my head on hers. When I did this to her book a few weeks ago, she seemed pleased. Maybe now it will work too?

Why aren't you happy?

- Look.

Hundreds of people are dying.

Who can live to say that they have witnessed such a rare thing? Standing in such a perfect position?

We were really lucky. We are fortunate because life has given us a treasure trove of novel experiences.

When a fire begins to erupt from the entrance to the city, screams fill the air, engulfing houses and falling people, like fireflies during the day.

Clusters of silhouettes cut through the streets and alleys, flowing like a wriggling poison, rotting everything as it dripped through the venous channel to a slow-beating heart.

- We are blessed.

It's a pleasure.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

Experience Points: 225/310 EXP (Birch): 44/240

It's happy.

Looking forward to more such experiences in the future.

Isn't that the best?

Birch watched as a family was attacked by a swarm of bees, killed by various sharp knives, and then turned and fled.

Yes.

There is still a lot of stuff in the world waiting for us to see.

Howling men and smoke engulfed the day we left. We walked through the streets, through the alleys, through the many doors and windows, and I watched others make the mistakes we had avoided.

They try to hide in one place for too long. In a cozy place.

They closed their doors. They closed the windows.

- But these things do not bother the fire. They don't bother youkai.

We ran and ran, and I felt the wind blow on my petals with a nostalgic breath. I listened to Birch's heart pounding intensively and frantically, in a way that took me back to the old days, and I listened to her feet thumping on the ground as we ran for our lives.

For the first time in so many days, we really came to life. The thrill of the hunt continues.

- I would like to thank the leprechauns for waking my friend from her slumber and waking her up from a cozy cobweb-like hallucination.

Comfort doesn't mean safety. Comfort is a trap that leads to complacency. Complacency leads to being eaten.

It's wise to keep this in mind.

There were some strange things on her feet, which she had left in the forest, and now that there were no them, Birch was running faster.

An hour passed, but Birch was still running, not along the big road, the trail, or the path, but along the sunset that was sinking in the west.

It was sinking now, closer than ever, and as we strode towards it, I realized that the red of the setting sun looked like blood on translucent glass.

What a coincidence.

- Isn't life fascinating?

It's the best.