“Nari?”

A deep baritone voice faintly resonated nearby, interrupting us, and it immediately stole Nari’s attention away from me. She quickly broke our stare and looked towards the direction from where the sound had come from. I did the same and turned to glance at who made the sudden interruption, placing an annoyed scowl on my face. I scowled deeper when my vision landed to an anonymous lanky guy, in a gray business suit, marching down the small steps by the entryway of the pub. The tall man quickly stopped just at the bottom of the stairs when he spotted me, then he pointedly glanced at Nari then back at me again, looking especially at my direction with a skeptical frown.

“Is that guy bothering you?”

He flitted his eyes back to Nari, still trying to read the atmosphere. He looked too sophisticated and cocky for some friend. And I found his appearance entirely superficial. I carefully peeked over to Nari’s way just to see her reaction and she was staring back at the guy with a cold stoic face and dead eyes.

Not some kind of expression you would give to a friend, I supposed.

“Who are you?”

The question was now directed at me, dripping with grim and threat. The evident challenge from the sound of his remark instantly sprang a sudden rise of innate possessiveness inside my chest.

“Who are you?” I threw back the question at him, ignoring to answer his demand with a scornful sneer. He looked at me with a glare, sizing me up. And I stared at him with the same antagonism.

“Get back inside, Nari.”

I snorted, smirking mockingly, as I shot daggers his way. He glowered back at me, taunting a silent challenge, and I almost moved from where I stood to charge towards him.

“Stop, please.”

I voluntarily stopped, taking a deep breath, upon Nari’s soft plea. I slowly turned to give her a glance and waited for her to push me away. She might actually do it now that someone came here to back her up. I was even already prepared to oblige. But Nari didn’t say anything and instead she just kept standing there, looking too frigid and uneasy as she peeked over at the guy from the distance.

“You sure you’re okay, Nari?” The annoying guy asked.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, Ren. You can go back inside.” Nari weakly replied.

Ren, I took note to myself. I have to remember that name.

“Do you know him?” he asked her again.

“Ren, just go. I can handle this.” Nari, however, quickly brushed him off, sounding firm with a tone of finality. I almost snickered at the cold exchange and felt blissfully satisfied to see the guy unwillingly nodded to her request and finally went back inside—like a loser he was. And the moment he was completely gone, I smiled triumphantly.

“Now, you need to leave.”

My grin was immediately swiped off of my face when I heard Nari told me those words. I quickly turned to her and frowned.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know you. And I’ve never met you before,” she explained with distaste, turning her scowl towards my direction now that the Ren guy had disappeared. “So, please just leave the town now.”

“Wh-But… I knew it was you!” I tried to refute back in frustration but she no longer gave me the chance to redeem myself more as she had already started to walk back towards the pub. I blindly followed her behind, still spouting my pathetic pleas.

“You sang the Nymph’s Lament. You said your name meant we will never see each other again. But I told you my name. I’m Taiyo Takagi!”

The last word that came out of my mouth had somehow stopped Nari from her tracks and she paused mid-step just as she was about to take the front stairs of the foyer. I heard her exhaling loudly. I could not even speak for myself anymore, feeling dumbfounded and lost as I still tried to think of more reasons to tell her just so that she would finally admit that she remembers me.

But as the silence went on, I was quickly doomed with impatience and felt irritated to the cold shoulder she kept giving.

“You know me!” I barked off in desperation, but she still had her back turned on me. “I know you do. Why can’t you just say it? Just tell me you—“

“Leave.” She muttered in a gentle voice, cutting me off, and I almost missed hearing it if I didn’t just see her shoulders stiffening when she spoke. After a second of pause, she finally turned around to meet my eyes. And this time, it felt final.

“Just go,” she said, perfectly plastering a half-hearted smile on her face, “Leave this town and forget everything. Just leave.”

I don’t understand it.

Yet for some reason, it actually worked to shut me up for good. I helplessly watched her walked away from me afterward. Without a word, I was left hanging in dismay as she disappeared. And once again, my heart was drowned back to vague emptiness.

How depressing, it was, as it turned me into some worthless idiot. I hadn’t even earned any resolution.

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