Maha was despondent for some time after her conversation with Ruri, but she eventually got up and trudged over to Ney’s room to answer her summons. Everyone had tacitly allowed it when she skipped the meeting, sulking in her bed until Ruri came, but now she was needed for something. Having been a soldier for so long, Maha couldn’t bring herself to keep wallowing and ignore the summons.
Devoid of enthusiasm, she knocked on the door to the captain’s room.
“Come in,” said a voice from within.
Maha entered. The room could not possibly be described as orderly by any stretch of the imagination. Clothes, stripped off and haphazardly tossed aside, covered the floor, and thick, half-read books were scattered everywhere. Ney sat on her bed, the only area that seemed free of clutter.
“…You seem down. Did something happen after the fight?”
Maha didn’t reply.
“Seems I hit the mark. What happened?”
“…Nothing. I just couldn’t find the right words to say while Ruri cried in front of me. Now, what did you want?”
“I wanted to talk about you two, actually. So go ahead and tell me what happened in detail.”
Maha frowned, not being all that eager to open up. But Ney had this strange ability to lower the walls people put up around their hearts. I suppose you could say she just had this air of reliability about her. But in any event, she could still read minds, so Maha ultimately decided there was no point in holding back and explained what happened bit by bit.
“Hm, I see…” Ney crossed her arms and pondered.
“…What do you think I was supposed to say to her?” Maha asked with high hopes.
“That’s for you to think about. The most I can do is offer advice.”
“…You’re a strict mentor.”
“Have I ever not been?”
“Ha. I guess not.”
“Come, sit with me.” Ney patted the spot next to her on the bed. Maha obliged and sat down. Bluntly, Ney asked, “First thing’s first: do you want Ruri to live or die?”
“I want her to live, obviously,” Maha answered.
“Good,” Ney nodded. “You should start off by telling her that.”
“I already did. But she didn’t listen at all.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s probably because it was me. Maybe if you were the one to—”
“Fool.” Ney flicked Maha on the forehead with her finger. “Ruri hasn’t opened her heart to anybody but you.”
“That’s not true.”
“But it is. Think about it, child.” Ney continued as if she were teaching a struggling pupil. “Don’t you recall what she said when she first heard she would be disposed of?”
“…She said she was fine with it. But that was—”
“Empty bravado, yes. She’s been hiding how she really feels with a smile this whole time,” Ney explained. “But she revealed the truth to you. Not me, and not anybody else. Isn’t that proof you’re the only one she trusts?”
“…Oh.” Maha made a face that showed the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.
“She wanted you to understand her. Only you, who shares her circumstances, could sympathize with her grief. Do you get it now?”
“I…I think I do. But I still don’t know what I should have said to her.” Maha felt as though she could still hear Ruri’s sad voice in her mind.
“That’s because you keep thinking you need to fix her problems.”
Maha’s eyes went wide as she finally began to understand.
Ney continued. “Right. Was she looking for a solution, or something else?”
Perhaps all Ruri wanted was someone to sympathize with her, someone she could lick her wounds with until she discovered her own way forward.
“Feeling any better now?” Ney asked.
“Yeah. I think I know what to say to her now.”
“I see.”
“Thank you, Ney.”
“No need to thank me. ‘Tis all too late to be of any real meaning.”
Maha questioned with her gaze.
Ney stood up from the bed, walked forward a bit, then turned to face Maha again. “It didn’t feel right to end it all without you knowing the truth.”
“…Ney?”
“So I’ve decided to reveal it all while I still can.”
“…What do you mean?” Warning bells were going off in Maha’s head. But she just couldn’t make sense of any of it. Not of what Ney said…
“Do you still not understand? This is what I mean.”
Nor of what was happening.
Maha watched in horror as darkness enveloped Ney’s body. Her small figure began to change shape. Her chest grew bigger, her waist narrowed, bat-like wings appeared on her back, and horns appeared on her head.
“No… That can’t be.”
“I’m sorry, but ‘tis the truth, Maha.” Ney’s expression seemed to be almost pitying. “I am Tao.”