It was 7:45 AM at the north entrance of Yoyogi Park.
When Kuroto arrived, Reze was already there.
She stood beside the vending machine near the gate.
A white short-sleeved shirt.
Denim shorts.
Her hair was loose instead of tied like it usually was in the café.
White canvas shoes.
A perfectly ordinary outfit.
But Kuroto still stared for a second.
Because she wasn't wearing an apron.
She wasn't standing behind a coffee counter.
And she wasn't holding a coffee cup.
Right now—
She looked like a completely ordinary teenage girl.
Reze noticed his gaze immediately and frowned slightly.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing."
"It's just… you look a little different today."
"How?"
"Like a normal high school girl."
"I'm already that age."
"That's not what I meant."
Kuroto carefully chose his words.
"You look relaxed today."
Reze turned her head away and walked into the park.
"Stop talking nonsense."
"Let's go."
Yoyogi Park
At eight in the morning, the park wasn't crowded.
The joggers had mostly finished their morning runs.
Dog walkers hadn't arrived yet.
Only a few elderly men sat quietly on benches reading newspapers.
The rainy season made the air humid.
But today—
It wasn't raining.
The sky was gray-white with thick clouds.
Occasionally sunlight slipped through narrow gaps.
Hydrangeas grew along the southern side of the park.
A wide stretch of blue-purple blossoms could be seen even from a distance.
Reze slowed her steps.
Kuroto didn't hurry her.
She walked to the flowerbed and stopped.
Hydrangeas were at their peak in June.
Clusters of blossoms formed round bouquets across the bushes.
Blue.
Purple.
Pink.
Different shades blending together.
Morning dew clung to the petals like tiny crystal beads.
Reze crouched down.
She reached out and touched a droplet resting on a petal.
The droplet rolled away and shattered against her fingertip.
"They're small."
Her voice was soft.
"What's small?"
"The petals."
She looked carefully.
"I thought flowers like this would be bigger."
"That's because it isn't one flower."
Kuroto crouched beside her.
"It's made from hundreds of tiny flowers."
"Each little petal is its own flower."
"They grow together to form one cluster."
Reze tilted her head slightly.
"Huddling together for warmth?"
"Something like that."
"That's… very human."
Hearing those words from someone raised as a weapon created a strange feeling.
They stayed crouched beside the flowerbed for a long time.
Long enough that Kuroto's legs began to go numb.
But Reze kept watching carefully.
She examined each cluster.
Occasionally touching a petal.
Then quickly withdrawing her hand, as if afraid of damaging it.
"What are you thinking about?" Kuroto asked.
Reze spoke quietly.
"There was an empty field beside the base where I trained."
Her voice sounded distant.
"In winter it was covered in snow."
"There was nothing there."
"I thought nothing could ever grow in that place."
"And then?"
"One spring… seeds appeared."
"Some small white flowers started growing."
"They were tiny."
"Close to the ground."
"I secretly went to look at them a few times."
"And then?"
"The instructor discovered it."
"They said I had abandoned my post."
"I was punished."
"No food for three days."
She said it calmly.
Like describing an ordinary routine.
But Kuroto's fists tightened.
"What happened to the flowers?"
"They were crushed."
"That area later became a combat training zone."
Silence followed.
Kuroto suddenly stood up.
He reached into the hydrangea bush and snapped off a blossom.
"Hey!"
Reze frowned immediately.
"This is from the park!"
"I'll pay the fine."
He handed the flower to her.
The blue-purple cluster was almost as large as her face.
"This one won't get trampled."
Reze stared at the flower for a long time.
Then she reached out and accepted it.
Her movements were clumsy.
As if she had never held something like this before.
Which was probably true.
A girl raised to handle guns, knives, and explosives—
Had probably never been handed a flower.
"Thank you…"
She began.
Then hesitated.
As if the word itself required practice.
"You're welcome."
Kuroto finished the sentence for her.
Reze lifted the hydrangea and smelled it.
Then lowered it again.
"It barely has any scent."
"Hydrangeas usually don't."
"Then why give it to me?"
"Something doesn't need to smell good."
"If it looks beautiful, that's enough."
Reze snorted softly.
But she held the flower even more carefully.
They walked slowly along the path.
For the first time in her life—
Reze walked without a mission.
No target.
No escape route.
No surveillance objective.
She seemed slightly unsure how to move.
Not literally lost—
But her steps were too precise.
Too predictable.
Kuroto deliberately changed his walking speed.
Sometimes slower.
Sometimes faster.
At first Reze maintained her own rhythm.
But eventually she grew irritated.
"Can't you walk properly?"
"I am walking properly."
"You look like a drunk."
"This is called strolling."
"Strolling doesn't have a fixed pace."
"…."
Reze frowned.
Then she tried adjusting her speed.
Faster.
Slower.
Faster again.
Like a child trying to imitate an adult.
Kuroto nearly laughed.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Nothing."
"Your mouth is twitching."
"Muscle spasm."
Reze raised her hand to smack his head.
Halfway through she paused—
Remembering his arm was injured.
After a moment's hesitation she still slapped him.
Very lightly.
By 10:30 AM, the park became livelier.
Young couples walked hand-in-hand.
Parents watched children run across the grass.
College students spread picnic blankets across the lawn.
Reze's steps gradually slowed.
Crowds made her uncomfortable.
Not social anxiety.
But the instinct of a spy.
More people meant more variables.
More danger.
Kuroto noticed immediately.
"Want to leave?"
Reze didn't answer right away.
She looked down at the hydrangea in her hand.
The petals were already starting to curl slightly.
Separated from its roots—
It wouldn't survive long.
"I'm hungry."
"What do you want to eat?"
"Anything."
"There's an old taiyaki shop nearby."
"Want to try it?"
Reze didn't say yes.
But she was already walking toward the park exit.
The shop stood in a narrow alley outside the south gate.
A faded noren curtain hung above the entrance.
Inside, an elderly man carefully turned iron molds over a stove.
Steam rose into the air.
Reze watched quietly.
"What filling do you want?" Kuroto asked.
"Red bean."
"Again?"
"Why?"
"Nothing."
"I just noticed you like red bean."
"I don't particularly like it."
She said stiffly.
"I just haven't tried other flavors."
"How about custard today?"
"…Alright."
Kuroto bought two.
One red bean.
One custard.
Reze bit the red bean one first.
Then the custard one.
Then another bite of the custard one.
"How is it?"
"It's alright."
When she said that—
Most of the custard one was already gone.
She held the red bean taiyaki out toward Kuroto.
"You eat this."
"I bought the custard."
"I know."
"But this one is too sweet."
"I don't want it."
The taiyaki already had a bite mark.
For a brief moment—
The phrase "indirect kiss" flashed through Kuroto's mind.
He quickly suppressed it.
"Okay."
He took it and bit directly where she had bitten.
Reze stared at him for one second.
Then quickly turned her head away.
The tips of her ears turned red again.
Leaving
On the way back, Reze carried the hydrangea carefully.
The petals had wilted.
But she never threw it away.
When they reached the park entrance, she suddenly stopped.
"Today…"
"Yeah?"
"…Today was alright."
For Reze—
That was probably the highest praise possible.
"Want to go somewhere again on your next day off?" Kuroto asked.
Reze didn't answer immediately.
She looked down and fiddled with the flower.
Then muttered something quietly.
"What?"
"I didn't hear you."
"I said…"
"…we'll see."
Then she turned and walked away.
Her steps were fast.
But not the measured rhythm of a trained agent.
It looked more like—
Running away from a pounding heartbeat.
Kuroto watched until she disappeared around the corner.
His phone vibrated.
System notification.
[Fate Deviation Value: 25%]
[New memory node created — "Yoyogi Hydrangea"]
[Memory anchored within the target's soul]
[This memory will resist future fate correction]
[Warning: fate correction will begin within 36 hours]
[Abnormal demonic activity detected within Tokyo's 23 wards]
[Number of anomalies: 3]
Three devils.
More than the shadow remnant from before.
And they appeared immediately after Reze formed a new happy memory.
Fate did not want her to be happy.
Every piece of happiness required a price.
Kuroto inhaled deeply and tightened his grip on the phone.
No matter how many came—
She had already accepted the hydrangea.
No one could erase that memory now.