The heavy ambulance finally screeched to a sudden halt right in front of the brightly lit emergency room entrance of the city hospital.

  Before the vehicle even completely stopped moving, the back doors were thrown wide open from the outside. A swarm of nurses and doctors in blue scrubs immediately surrounded the ambulance, their faces serious and entirely focused.

  "We have a female trauma victim, early twenties!" one of the paramedics yelled out loud, jumping down to the pavement while helping to guide the stretcher out. "Multiple lacerations, blunt force trauma to the face, severe blood loss, and she is showing signs of deep medical shock due to extreme cold exposure!"

  Erwin practically stumbled out of the back of the ambulance right behind them.

  His legs felt like they were made of heavy lead. He could barely feel his own feet hitting the solid concrete of the hospital driveway. His eyes were completely locked onto Aoi’s pale, bruised face as the medical team rapidly pushed her stretcher through the automatic sliding glass doors.

  He tried to follow them inside. He wanted to stay right by her side and never let go of her hand again.

  "Sir, you cannot come back here," a tall male nurse said firmly, stepping directly in front of Erwin and putting a hand flat on his chest to stop him.

  "I need to be with her," Erwin pleaded, his voice cracking with pure desperation. "Please, she is my girlfriend. I just found her. I cannot leave her alone in there."

  The nurse looked at Erwin with a lot of sympathy, but he did not move an inch. "I am very sorry, man. But she needs emergency surgery right now. We have to stitch up those deep knife wounds and stabilize her core temperature. You being in the room will only slow the doctors down. You need to wait out here."

  Erwin knew the nurse was right. He knew his presence inside the sterile operating room would just be a dangerous distraction.

  He slowly stopped pushing forward. He took a shaky step back, letting his arms drop limply to his sides.

  "Please save her," Erwin whispered, his dark eyes totally hollow and filled with tears.

  "We are going to do everything we absolutely can," the nurse promised him sincerely. Then, the man turned around and rushed through a set of heavy double doors, leaving Erwin completely alone in the cold hospital hallway.

  Erwin just stood there for a long time. The bright, harsh fluorescent lights above him buzzed with an annoying, constant hum.

  He slowly looked down at his own hands. They were completely covered in dark, sticky red blood. Aoi’s blood. He looked down at his expensive white dress shirt and his dark trousers. They were totally ruined, stained with massive patches of crimson and soaked with the freezing rainwater that had been on her clothes.

  He felt entirely sick to his stomach. A wave of intense nausea hit him so hard he actually had to lean his shoulder against the cold wall just to keep from falling over.

  He slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting on the hard linoleum floor. He pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his bloody hands. He did not care who saw him crying. He did not care about looking weak. He just sat there in the quiet hallway and completely broke down, sobbing quietly into his palms.

  About thirty minutes later, the chaotic sound of multiple people running really fast echoed down the quiet hospital corridor.

  "Erwin!" a loud, frantic voice yelled out.

  Erwin slowly lifted his head.

  Coming around the corner was a massive group of his friends. Samuel was leading the pack, looking totally out of breath. Right behind him was Marek, Felix, and Jonas. But the boys were not alone.

  Kana was running right beside Samuel, her face completely pale and streaked with fresh tears. Trailing closely behind her were Yuri, Hina, Nana, and Mei. The entire friend group had rushed straight to the hospital the absolute second Kevin called Samuel to give him the update.

  The moment Kana saw Erwin sitting on the floor, she completely froze in her tracks.

  The other girls bumped into her, stopping abruptly. They all stared at Erwin in absolute, frozen horror.

  They saw his messy hair, his pale, exhausted face, and most importantly, they saw the massive amount of dark red blood completely covering his clothes and his hands.

  Kana let out a sharp, choked gasp. Her knees totally gave out underneath her. She collapsed right onto the hard hospital floor, covering her mouth with both of her hands as she started sobbing hysterically.

  "Oh my god," Kana cried out, shaking her head in total denial. "Oh my god, Erwin. Whose blood is that? Please tell me that is not her blood."

  Erwin forced himself to stand up. His legs were shaking, but he managed to walk over to where Kana was sitting on the floor. He dropped down onto his knees right in front of her.

  He didn't try to touch her or hug her, because his hands were still dirty. He just looked at her with the most broken, guilty expression a human being could possibly make.

  "I am so sorry, Kana," Erwin whispered, fresh tears rolling down his face. "I found her. She is alive. But she is hurt really bad. She is in surgery right now."

  Hearing that Aoi was still alive made Kana let out a massive breath of relief, but the sight of all that blood told her exactly how much her best friend had suffered.

  Kana leaned forward and just cried, wrapping her arms around her own stomach.

  Yuri and Mei immediately dropped down to the floor next to Kana. They wrapped their arms around her, hugging her tightly as they all started crying together. Hina and Nana stood right behind them, holding hands and wiping their own tears, looking completely terrified.

  "What happened to her, Erwin?" Yuri asked, her voice shaking violently. "Who did this to our friend?"

  Erwin looked at the girls. He saw how much they loved Aoi, and it just made his guilt feel a million times heavier.

  "A mercenary," Erwin answered, his voice totally flat and hollow. "A professional guy driving a black van. He took her to an abandoned chemical warehouse on the west side of the city. He beat her. And he cut her with a knife."

  Nana let out a small scream, turning her face away to cry into Hina's shoulder.

  Marek, who was standing right behind the girls, suddenly punched the concrete wall of the hallway with his massive fist.

  "Damn it!" Marek yelled angrily, not even caring about the pain in his knuckles. "I am going to kill the guy! Where is he, Erwin? Did the tactical police guys arrest him? Tell me they got him."

  Erwin slowly shook his head, looking down at the floor.

  "No," Erwin muttered quietly. "He slipped out the back door before the SWAT team could even surround the building. He completely vanished into the dark. The cops lost him."

  "Are you kidding me right now?" Felix asked in disbelief, throwing his hands up in the air. "The federal police had an entire convoy and a tactical unit, and they just let some guy drive away in a van?"

  "It is a massive abandoned district, Felix," Samuel explained, trying to keep everyone calm. Samuel walked over and gently helped Erwin stand back up from the floor. "There are no cameras out there. The guy probably knew exactly which dirt roads to take to avoid the police helicopters. It happens."

  "Well, it should not happen when it is Aoi!" Jonas argued, looking really stressed out. "She is the nicest person on the entire campus. She does not deserve any of this."

  Samuel patted Erwin on the back, giving him a supportive look. "Have the doctors come out to say anything yet, brother?"

  "No," Erwin replied softly, leaning his back against the wall again. "They said it might take a few hours. We just have to wait."

  The hallway fell into a really heavy, miserable silence.

  The girls eventually moved over to a row of uncomfortable plastic chairs lined up against the wall. Kana sat in the middle, staring blankly at the floor while Yuri rubbed her back. The boys stood around in a loose circle, none of them knowing what to say to make things better.

  It was just awful. They were all young college students. They were supposed to be worrying about exams, bad cafeteria food, and weekend parties. They were not supposed to be standing outside an emergency room covered in blood, waiting to see if their friend was going to survive a brutal knife attack.

  Erwin leaned against the wall, staring directly at the swinging doors of the operating room.

  He listened to the quiet sounds of Kana crying. He listened to the frustrated sighs of his best friends. He looked at his own bloody hands again.

  And very slowly, something deep inside Erwin's mind began to fundamentally shift.

  Up until this exact moment, Erwin had always tried to be the good guy. He had spent his entire life running away from his family's dark legacy. He hated his father, Klaus von Stahlberg, because Klaus was a ruthless, manipulative corporate monster who used his massive wealth to crush anyone who got in his way.

  Erwin had always sworn that he would never be like his father. He wanted to be a clean, honest lawyer. He wanted to do things the right way. That is why he went to the university rector this morning. That is why he asked the federal police for help. He tried to use the normal, legal system to save Aoi.

  But looking at his bloody shirt, Erwin realized a terrifying truth.

  The normal, legal system was completely useless. The police were too slow. The rules were too strict. Because he played by the rules and waited for search warrants and tactical teams, Aoi was left alone in a freezing cage with a monster who sliced her beautiful face open with a hunting knife.

  If he had just acted like a Stahlberg from the very beginning, if he had just used his family's terrifying underground connections and unlimited money to find her last night, she would not be in that operating room right now.

  Erwin closed his eyes. He remembered the exact way Aoi looked when he found her on that concrete floor. He remembered her weak, raspy voice telling him that she didn't give up.

  A sudden, terrifyingly cold sense of absolute clarity washed over his entire brain.

  He didn't feel sad anymore. He didn't feel panicked, or frantic, or scared.

  He felt completely, entirely empty. And in that dark emptiness, a monster finally woke up.

  It was the exact same ruthless, cold-blooded monster that lived inside his father. It was the genetic legacy of the Stahlberg bloodline, the ancient cruelty that his ancestors had used to conquer their enemies. Erwin finally stopped fighting it. He finally stopped trying to be a good man, because a good man could not protect the woman he loved.

  Only a monster could protect her now.

  Erwin slowly opened his eyes. The warm, emotional vulnerability was completely gone from his dark pupils. They were now as cold and dead as a frozen lake in the middle of winter.

  He pushed himself off the wall and stood up perfectly straight.

  "Samuel," Erwin said.

  His voice was so incredibly different that everyone in the hallway instantly stopped talking and looked at him. It wasn't loud, and he wasn't yelling. But it was so cold, so incredibly smooth and chilling, that it literally made the hair on the back of Kana's neck stand up.

  Samuel turned around, sensing the massive shift in his friend's energy. "Yeah, Erwin? What do you need?"

  "Give me your phone," Erwin ordered calmly, holding his hand out. "Mine is completely dead."

  Samuel didn't ask any questions. He pulled his smartphone out of his pocket, unlocked the screen, and placed it directly into Erwin's bloody palm.

  Erwin took the phone. He didn't even bother trying to wipe the dried blood off his fingers before tapping the screen.

  "Who are you calling right now?" Marek asked, looking a bit confused by how intensely calm Erwin suddenly looked. "Are you calling Captain Farlaine to get an update on the van?"

  Erwin slowly turned his head to look at Marek.

  "No," Erwin replied, his voice completely devoid of any normal human emotion. "I am absolutely done relying on Captain Farlaine and his incompetent federal police officers. They lost the guy because they have to follow strict city laws. They have to ask for permission to cross district lines. They have rules."

  Erwin looked back down at the phone screen, quickly dialing a very specific, highly encrypted international phone number he had memorized years ago but promised himself he would never actually use.

  "I am not playing by the rules anymore," Erwin stated softly, pressing the phone to his ear.

  "Erwin, what exactly are you doing?" Kana asked nervously, standing up from her plastic chair. She wiped her eyes, looking at him with genuine concern. "You are scaring me a little bit. You look totally different."

  Erwin looked at Kana. He saw the fear in her eyes, but he didn't try to comfort her. He needed her to understand exactly what was about to happen.

  "I am making sure that the man who put her in this hospital never sees the sun rise again," Erwin told her, his tone completely flat and serious.

  Samuel took a step forward, his eyes narrowing as he finally realized exactly what his friend was doing.

  "Erwin, stop," Samuel warned him, his deep voice filled with real caution. "Think about this for a second. If you make that phone call, you are crossing a line you can never come back from. You are opening a door you swore to keep locked forever. You are inviting your father's world back into your life."

  "My father's world is the only thing that can fix this," Erwin replied coldly, not lowering the phone. "I tried to be normal, Samuel. I tried to be just a simple law student. And because I was weak, Aoi almost died."

  Erwin looked around at all of his friends standing in the hallway.

  "Whoever hired that mercenary made a massive mistake," Erwin explained calmly, though the words were incredibly venomous. "They thought they were attacking a vulnerable college girl to scare away a rebellious rich kid. But they forgot exactly who my family is. They forgot what my last name actually means in this city."

  The phone line clicked connected in his ear.

  "Yes, Mr. von Stahlberg?" a very smooth, highly professional voice answered on the other end of the line. It was the private security director for the Stahlberg corporate empire, a man who basically ran a private, highly illegal intelligence agency just for Erwin's father.

  "This is Erwin," he spoke into the phone, his voice carrying the absolute, arrogant, and terrifying authority of a billionaire heir who was finally accepting his crown.

  There was a brief pause on the other end of the line. The security director was clearly shocked to be hearing from the rebellious son who had cut off all contact months ago.

  "Young master Erwin," the director replied quickly, his tone instantly becoming extremely respectful. "It is an absolute honor to hear from you. How can the family security division assist you today?"

  "I need you to activate the entire shadow network," Erwin ordered smoothly, pacing slowly down the hallway away from his friends. "I do not care how much money it costs. I do not care who you have to bribe, threaten, or physically hurt to get the information."

  "What exactly are we looking for, sir?" the director asked professionally, ready to deploy his resources.

  "A mercenary driving a black unmarked van with a partial plate of E 1193," Erwin instructed, his cold eyes staring blankly at the hospital wall. "He operates somewhere in the western outskirts of the city. He is a professional."

  "Consider it done, sir," the director promised confidently. "My men will have eyes on every street corner within the hour. The federal police will look like amateurs compared to us."

  "There is one more thing," Erwin added, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly dark whisper.

  "Yes, sir?"

  "When your men finally locate this mercenary," Erwin commanded ruthlessly, entirely stripping away the last remaining shreds of his own morality. "Do not involve the police. Do not call the authorities. I want your men to capture him quietly. Take him to one of our secure warehouses, tie him to a chair, and call me. I want to handle him personally."

  "Understood, young master," the director replied without any hesitation. "We will bring him to you."

  Erwin hung up the phone.

  He stood there for a moment, listening to the quiet beep of the disconnected call. He had just set an entire underground army loose on the city of Justenau. The full, terrifying weight of the Stahlberg corporate wealth was now focused entirely on finding a single man.

  He slowly turned around and walked back to his friends.

  He handed the smartphone back to Samuel. Samuel took it silently, looking at Erwin with a mixture of deep respect and genuine fear. Samuel knew that his best friend had just permanently changed.

  "It is done," Erwin told the group quietly.

  Felix swallowed hard, looking a bit nervous. "So, what do we do now, Erwin?"

  "Now, we wait for Aoi to wake up," Erwin replied softly, finally letting a tiny bit of warmth back into his voice when he mentioned her name.

  He walked over to the plastic chairs and sat down heavily right next to Kana. He leaned his head back against the cold concrete wall, closing his eyes.

  "And when she wakes up," Erwin continued, speaking more to himself than to anyone else in the room. "I am going to sit by her bed and hold her hand until she feels safe again."

  Kana looked at the blood drying on Erwin's face and shirt. She slowly reached out her small, trembling hand and gently rested it on his arm. It was a silent gesture of support. She might be terrified of the dark side he just showed them, but she also knew that nobody in the entire world loved her best friend as much as he did.

  "And what happens to the guy in the van?" Marek asked quietly from the other side of the hallway, cracking his knuckles out of habit.

  Erwin did not open his eyes. He just sat there in the quiet hospital corridor, his bloody hands resting calmly in his lap.

  "When my people find him," Erwin whispered, his smooth voice echoing with a dark, chilling promise of absolute violence. "I am going to make him beg for the police to save him. But nobody is going to come."

  The friends stood around him in total silence. They all looked at the swinging doors of the emergency room, praying for Aoi to be okay. But they also knew that a massive, dark storm had just been unleashed on their city, and Erwin von Stahlberg was the one controlling the lightning.

  The waiting game had begun. And the people responsible for hurting Aoi had absolutely no idea that a monster was coming for them.

  That single phone call completely changed the atmosphere around Erwin.

  He was standing near the wall of the hospital waiting area, looking like a completely different person. Usually, Erwin hated his family. He despised their endless wealth, their arrogant privilege, and their dark connections. He always tried to be just a normal university student.

  But tonight, he had crossed a line. He had just contacted his family's private, shady security division to hunt down the monster who hurt his girlfriend.

  He slowly walked back to the row of uncomfortable plastic chairs outside the emergency room. He sat down heavily. He covered his face with both of his hands, his elbows resting on his knees.

  He was drowning in a massive ocean of guilt.

  The dried, dark red blood belonging to Aoi was still heavily stained all over his white shirt. Every time he looked down, those awful red stains felt like a sick, twisted message from the universe. It felt like the stains were telling him that if he stubbornly continued his relationship with a normal girl like Aoi, much worse things were going to happen to her.

  A few chairs away, the girls were dealing with their own terrible guilt.

  Kana was crying softly, her head resting on Yuri's shoulder. Kana kept wiping her eyes, looking totally exhausted and miserable.

  "This is all my fault, Yuri," Kana whispered, her voice shaking. "I should have just gone with her. I should not have let her walk out of that dorm room alone to buy food. I am a terrible friend."

  Yuri immediately hugged Kana tighter, shaking her head firmly.

  "Do not ever say that, Kana," Yuri said, her voice gentle but very serious. "This is absolutely not your fault. None of us could have ever predicted that something this crazy and violent would happen right next to our campus. You did not do this. A bad person did this."

  Mei, Hina, and Nana nodded in agreement, rubbing Kana's back to give her some comfort. They were all just trying to stay strong for each other.

  Meanwhile, Samuel was sitting right next to Erwin on the plastic chairs.

  Sam looked at his best friend. He saw how Erwin was hiding his face, shaking slightly from the heavy stress. Sam knew Erwin better than anyone else in the world. He knew exactly how Erwin's brain worked.

  Sam reached out and placed a large, comforting hand gently on Erwin's back. He rubbed his friend's back slowly, trying to offer some grounding support.

  "You need to stop doing this to yourself, man," Sam said in a very soft, calm voice. "You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened."

  Erwin did not uncover his face. He just sat there, his voice muffled by his hands.

  "I do not know what you are talking about, Sam," Erwin muttered defensively.

  But Sam was definitely not stupid. He saw right through the lie.

  "Come on, Erwin," Sam replied patiently. "I know you. I can literally see the guilt eating you alive right now. You are sitting here convincing yourself that you pulled the trigger on this whole mess. I am telling you, as your friend, you need to stop. It will drive you crazy."

  Those simple, caring words were suddenly too much for Erwin to handle. The heavy stress, the fear, and the anger inside him finally boiled over.

  Erwin aggressively pulled his hands away from his face and stood up from the chair really fast.

  "How can I not blame myself?" Erwin asked, his voice suddenly loud, stressed, and full of angry tears. He turned around to face Sam, throwing his hands up in the air.

  "Look at my shirt, Samuel!" Erwin practically yelled, his chest heaving. "Because of me, she was tortured! Because she chose to be with me, some psychopath beat her until she was almost dead! So tell me, why the hell should I listen to your advice right now?"

  Sam did not flinch. He did not get angry back.

  Sam simply stood up slowly, matching Erwin's height. He looked at his highly stressed friend with a totally calm, steady expression. He didn't say a word, just letting Erwin let out his frustration.

  But Marek and Jonas, who were standing nearby, instantly panicked.

  They thought a physical fight was about to break out. Marek quickly jumped in, grabbing Erwin by the shoulders and pulling him back a step. Jonas moved to stand in front of Sam, acting as a human shield.

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  "Hey, hey, easy now!" Marek said quickly, trying to calm Erwin down. "You need to take a deep breath, Erwin. We are in the middle of a hospital hallway. There are nurses watching us. If you keep yelling like this, they are going to kick us all out into the street."

  Sam gently reached out and pushed Jonas out of the way. Sam raised his hand, gesturing for Marek to relax.

  "It is okay, Marek. Let him go," Sam said in a very peaceful tone. "Let him talk. He has the right to be angry right now. He has the right to let it out, doesn't he?"

  Marek looked at Sam, then looked at Erwin. Marek slowly let go of Erwin's shoulders and took a step back.

  Erwin just stood there, breathing heavily. He looked at Sam's forgiving face, and all the angry energy just completely drained out of him. He felt so stupid for yelling at his friend. He could not even find the words to argue anymore. He just dropped his head, looking at his bloody shoes in total defeat.

  Kana, Yuri, Mei, Hina, and Nana sat quietly on their chairs. They watched the boys interact, their hearts breaking for Erwin. They could clearly see how much this young man loved their best friend. He truly felt that Aoi's safety was his absolute, personal responsibility.

  Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the emergency room finally swung open.

  A tired-looking doctor wearing green surgical scrubs walked out into the hallway. He pulled his medical mask down, letting out a long sigh.

  Erwin instantly rushed forward, closing the distance between them in two large steps.

  "How is she, doctor?" Erwin asked desperately, his dark eyes begging for some good news. "Is Aoi okay?"

  The doctor looked at Erwin, noticing the bloody clothes. The doctor sighed again, looking very serious and a bit sad.

  "I am going to be completely honest with you," the doctor explained in a steady, professional voice. "She took a very severe beating. She received multiple heavy, blunt-force punches directly to her face. She has deep, painful bruises all over her ribs and her body from being thrown around."

  The girls behind Erwin gasped. Kana started crying harder, burying her face in her hands.

  "Furthermore," the doctor continued, looking down at his medical chart. "We had to stitch up several deep knife cuts. There is a major laceration on her right arm, and another sharp cut across her left cheek. The physical torture she went through has clearly caused her massive psychological trauma."

  Erwin felt his knees go weak. Hearing the actual list of injuries made the nightmare feel so incredibly real.

  "But," the doctor added quickly, trying to offer some comfort. "We managed to stop the bleeding. We warmed up her core body temperature. Her vital signs are finally stable. She is incredibly tough. We are moving her up to the intensive care unit right now to keep a close eye on her."

  "Can I see her?" Erwin asked instantly, taking a step closer to the doctor.

  "There are very strict rules for the intensive care unit," the doctor warned him. "During her initial recovery, only one person is allowed to visit her at a time. And you can only stay in the room for a maximum of five minutes. She needs complete, uninterrupted rest to heal."

  "I understand," Erwin nodded quickly, agreeing to anything just to see her face. "Five minutes. I promise."

  A few moments later, a pair of nurses pushed a hospital bed out of the emergency room.

  Aoi was lying on the bed, covered by a thick white blanket. Her eyes were closed. Erwin tried to quickly step forward and touch her hand as they rolled her past, but a female nurse gently blocked his path.

  "Please wait, sir," the nurse reminded him kindly. "We need to get her hooked up to the monitors in her new room first. You will get to see her in just a few minutes."

  Erwin reluctantly stepped back, watching them push her down the hallway until they disappeared into the elevator.

  Finally, after what felt like hours of agonizing waiting, Erwin was allowed to go up to the intensive care floor.

  He had to put on a light blue, sterile hospital gown over his bloody clothes. He wore a surgical mask and completely washed his hands. He walked very slowly and quietly down the sterile white hallway until he reached her specific room.

  He took a deep breath, gently pushed the door open, and stepped inside.

  The room was quiet, except for the rhythmic, steady beeping of the heart monitor next to the bed. Aoi was lying there, looking so small and fragile against the big white pillows.

  There was an IV drip attached to the back of her hand, pumping clear fluids into her veins. Her right eye was covered by a soft white bandage. There were fresh, dark black stitches visible on her cheek and running down her exposed forearm. She had a clear plastic breathing tube resting under her nose, helping her get enough oxygen.

  Erwin walked over to the chair sitting right next to her bed. He sat down incredibly slowly, trying not to make any sudden noises.

  He didn't want to wake her up if she was resting, but he just needed her to know he was there. He reached out with his trembling hand and very gently took hold of her uninjured hand.

  He rubbed his thumb softly across her knuckles. He held her hand like she was made of the most delicate glass in the world. He held her like she was the absolute most important person he had ever known.

  "Aoi," Erwin whispered very softly, his voice cracking behind his surgical mask.

  She did not respond. Her eyes stayed closed, her chest rising and falling slowly with the help of the oxygen tube.

  Outside the room, looking through the large glass window facing the hallway, Samuel, Kana, and the rest of their friends stood quietly. They just watched the heartbreaking scene unfold, wiping away their own tears.

  Erwin refused to give up. He leaned a little bit closer to her ear. He tried his best to force a warm, comforting smile behind his mask, even though his heart was breaking.

  "I am right here, Aoi," Erwin said in a gentle, soothing tone. "I am not going anywhere. You do not have to worry about anything anymore. You are totally safe now."

  Unexpectedly, those soft words seemed to reach her in the dark.

  Aoi's fingers twitched slightly inside his grip. Erwin instantly noticed the tiny movement. He held his breath, leaning closer.

  Very slowly, Aoi fluttered her good eye open. The bright lights of the hospital room bothered her for a second, but then her vision cleared. She slowly turned her head and looked right at Erwin sitting beside her bed.

  Erwin's forced smile completely broke. The second he saw her looking at him, warm tears immediately spilled out of his dark eyes and rolled down his face, soaking into the top of his surgical mask. He was just so incredibly happy to see her awake.

  Because of the clear breathing tube resting over her mouth, it was very hard for her to speak.

  "Erwin," Aoi whispered, her voice incredibly weak and raspy.

  "I am here," Erwin answered instantly, squeezing her hand a little bit tighter. "I promise you, I am not going anywhere. I am staying right here with you."

  He used his free hand to gently brush a piece of dark hair away from her bruised forehead.

  "You just need to fight to get healthy again," Erwin told her, crying softly. "I promise I will stay by your side through the entire recovery. Every single day."

  But Aoi just kept looking at him with her one good eye. She didn't seem to hear his promises.

  "Erwin," she whispered his name again, her tone so soft and fragile. It was like calling his name was the only thing her exhausted brain could manage to do.

  "I am here, Aoi. I am right here," Erwin repeated, nodding his head quickly. "I swear it."

  Aoi swallowed hard. A single tear escaped from the corner of her eye and slid down into her dark hair.

  "I am scared," Aoi said, her voice shaking with lingering terror. "I am so scared."

  Erwin nodded his head, his tears falling freely now. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second. He knew exactly what kind of horrific, terrifying things she had experienced in that dark warehouse.

  "I know, baby," Erwin cried quietly, letting his guard down completely. "I know."

  Aoi looked up at his crying face. Even though she was the one covered in stitches and bruises, she felt bad seeing him so upset.

  "Why are you crying so much?" Aoi asked gently, her voice barely a whisper above the sound of the heart monitor.

  Erwin looked down at their connected hands. He just could not hold the heavy, dark truth inside his chest anymore. He needed to confess his sins to her.

  "Because I feel like a complete failure," Erwin admitted honestly, his voice thick with deep sadness. "I feel like I do not deserve to have you in my life. I failed to protect you."

  He looked back up at her, his eyes full of crushing regret.

  "I just keep blaming myself for all of this," Erwin explained, his voice breaking. "My cruel father told me to break up with you. He warned me that if I stayed with you, you would become a target in his dangerous world. But I was so stubborn. I wanted to keep you. And because I was so selfish, they hurt you."

  Aoi slowly, weakly shook her head against the hospital pillow.

  "No," Aoi stated, her voice very weak but very firm. "It is not anyone's fault."

  She squeezed his hand back, using whatever tiny bit of strength she had left.

  "I do not like it when you blame yourself for this," Aoi told him, looking right into his eyes. "You did not hurt me. You found me."

  Before Erwin could argue with her beautiful, forgiving logic, the door to the room opened quietly.

  A nurse stepped inside, looking at the clock on the wall.

  "I am so sorry, sir," the nurse said kindly. "But your five minutes are completely up. She really needs to sleep now."

  Erwin nodded his head, knowing he had to follow the rules for her sake. He stood up slowly from the chair. He leaned over the hospital bed, carefully avoiding the tubes and wires.

  He gently pressed a long, soft kiss against her forehead. It was a silent promise that he was going to fix this, and that he would be right outside the door waiting for her.

  He let go of her hand, turned around, and walked quietly out of the room.

  Exactly two hours later, the quiet atmosphere of the hospital hallway was completely shattered.

  The heavy elevator doors at the end of the hall opened up, and Aoi's parents came rushing out. Hiroshi and Emi looked incredibly panicked. The aura of pure worry surrounding them was incredibly intense. They had driven straight to the hospital the second the university administration called them about their daughter.

  Erwin was standing in the hallway, talking quietly with Samuel. When he saw Hiroshi and Emi running toward him, he immediately stepped forward to meet them.

  Hiroshi didn't even say hello. He marched right up to Erwin, his face red with a mix of fear and intense anger.

  "Where is my daughter?" Hiroshi demanded loudly, his voice echoing down the hall.

  "She is in the intensive care room right behind me, sir," Erwin explained quickly, trying to sound calm and respectful. "She is currently stable and resting. The doctors are helping her recover, but—"

  Before Erwin could even finish his sentence, Hiroshi lunged forward.

  The older man grabbed two massive handfuls of the blue surgical gown and the bloody white shirt Erwin was wearing underneath. With a surprising amount of fatherly strength, Hiroshi violently shoved Erwin backward.

  Erwin's back hit the hard hospital wall with a loud thud.

  "Hiroshi, stop it!" Emi cried out in shock, rushing forward and grabbing her husband's arm. "Please, stop!"

  But Hiroshi didn't care. He was absolutely furious. How could this horrific nightmare happen to his only child?

  He glared right into Erwin's face. He remembered the winter holiday back in January. He remembered welcoming this rich, polite boy into his simple home in Altkanz. He had treated Erwin like his own son.

  "You promised me!" Hiroshi yelled, his voice shaking with absolute rage. "During the holiday in January, you sat in my house and you promised me that you would always protect my daughter! You told me she would be safe with you!"

  Hiroshi pushed Erwin a little harder against the wall. Erwin didn't fight back at all. He just let it happen. He felt like he deserved every single ounce of this man's anger.

  "And now I get a phone call saying my little girl was tortured by a psychopath!" Hiroshi continued, tears of anger forming in his eyes. "The doctors said she has knife wounds on her face! She might be permanently scarred for the rest of her life because of you!"

  "I am so incredibly sorry, sir," Erwin whispered, keeping his hands down at his sides. He looked directly into the angry father's eyes. "You are completely right. I failed you. This is entirely my fault."

  "Hiroshi, please!" Emi begged loudly, pulling harder on his arm. "Let him go! We are in the middle of a hospital! Aoi needs us to be calm right now!"

  Hearing his wife's desperate voice finally broke through Hiroshi's blinding anger.

  He looked at Erwin's completely defeated, guilty face. Hiroshi slowly let go of Erwin's shirt, stepping back and taking a deep, shaking breath to calm his racing heart.

  Hiroshi looked Erwin up and down, shaking his head in total disgust.

  "You lied to me," Hiroshi said, his voice dropping into a cold, deeply disappointed tone. "You acted like you were different. But at the end of the day, you are absolutely no different from your greedy, destructive father."

  Hiroshi turned his back on Erwin, grabbing his wife's hand. Together, they walked quickly toward the intensive care room to see their daughter.

  Erwin stood frozen against the wall.

  Those final words felt like a sharp, freezing knife sliding directly into his chest. Being compared to the cruel, heartless monster that was Klaus von Stahlberg was the absolute worst insult Erwin could ever imagine.

  He slowly looked down at his bloody hands. The terrible, dark truth was that Hiroshi was completely right. Erwin was no longer the good, innocent guy who visited Altkanz. To protect Aoi now, he had to become exactly like his father. He had to become the monster. And that realization pierced his soul deeper than any physical wound ever could.

  The atmosphere inside the intensive care unit was incredibly quiet and completely freezing.

  The only sound breaking the heavy silence was the slow, rhythmic beep of the heart monitor standing right next to the hospital bed.

  The heavy glass door slid open very slowly. It was like the people opening it were terrified that even the smallest noise would hurt the girl lying inside.

  Hiroshi walked into the room with heavy, shaking steps.

  Emi followed right behind him, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her chest.

  They had just traveled a really long way from their quiet mountain village of Altkanz. The trip was filled with sickening panic, and now the nightmare was completely real right in front of their eyes.

  Hiroshi stopped walking when he reached the side of the bed.

  His eyes, which normally looked so strict and strong, went completely wide. They immediately filled up with a massive pool of tears.

  He looked at his daughter.

  Aoi was always smiling. She was always the bright, happy light in their simple home. But now, she was lying there looking so incredibly weak, and it completely shattered his heart.

  Hiroshi saw the clear plastic oxygen tube resting right under her nose.

  He saw the dark, ugly purple bruises covering a large part of her beautiful face.

  And the thing that broke him the most was the fresh black stitches. They ran across her left cheek and down her exposed right arm. Someone had actually used a hunting knife to torture his little girl.

  Hiroshi's legs completely lost all of their strength.

  The older man fell hard onto his knees on the cold linoleum floor, right next to Aoi's bed.

  He reached out and grabbed her uninjured left hand. He held her small fingers inside his rough, calloused hands, and he just lowered his head.

  Hiroshi started to cry.

  It was a heavy, agonizing sound. The loud, broken sobs of a father drowning in guilt echoed through the quiet hospital room.

  Emi walked up behind him.

  As a mother, her heart was equally broken into a million pieces. But she was trying her absolute best to hold her tears back.

  She stood behind her crying husband, resting one hand gently on his shaking shoulder. With her other hand, she softly stroked Aoi's messy dark hair.

  "I am so sorry, Aoi," Hiroshi cried out, his voice incredibly raspy. He kissed the back of her hand over and over again. "I am so sorry. I completely failed you."

  Aoi had her eyes closed, trying to rest. But she slowly felt the warm tears dropping onto her hand. She heard that heartbreaking, heavy crying.

  With a lot of effort, because the painkillers and sedatives were making her feel incredibly heavy, Aoi slowly fluttered her good eye open.

  Her vision was a little bit blurry at first, but then she saw her parents right next to her.

  "Dad," Aoi whispered. Her voice sounded super weak and scratchy.

  Hearing his daughter speak, Hiroshi immediately lifted his head. He wiped his face quickly, trying to see her clearly through his own tears.

  "I am right here, sweetie," Hiroshi answered fast, his voice shaking terribly. "Your mom is here too. We are not going anywhere."

  Aoi forced a very tiny, weak smile onto her pale lips.

  She tried to move her fingers a little bit, squeezing his hand back just to give him some comfort.

  "Do not cry, dad," Aoi whispered softly, looking at him with so much love. "I am safe now. I am going to be okay."

  Those words actually made Hiroshi cry even harder.

  How could she possibly say she was okay when her body was covered in terrifying knife wounds and bruises?

  Hiroshi shook his head aggressively. The guilt and anger about this whole situation completely took over his brain. He felt like he had to protect her right now.

  "I should never have let you move to this massive city, Aoi," Hiroshi said, sounding so incredibly regretful. "I knew from the very beginning that the Stahlberg family world was way too dark and dangerous for normal people like us. I thought that boy could actually keep you safe, but I was wrong. I was so incredibly wrong."

  Hiroshi looked right into Aoi's eyes with a desperate, pleading expression.

  "Aoi, you need to listen to me right now," Hiroshi begged her, his tone super serious and urgent. "You have to end this. You need to break up with Erwin von Stahlberg today."

  Hearing that sudden demand, the tiny smile completely vanished from Aoi's lips.

  Emi looked a bit surprised too, but she stayed quiet, just listening to her husband.

  "I do not care how much money his family has, or how smart he is," Hiroshi continued rapidly, breathing heavily because he was just so terrified of losing her. "Their world is not our world, Aoi. His father is a total monster, and the people they deal with do not have a conscience. If you stay with him, next time they might not just hurt you. They might actually kill you. I cannot lose you."

  Aoi stayed quiet for a long moment.

  The room just filled with the sound of the heart monitor again.

  Aoi understood exactly why her dad was so scared. She knew he was saying these things purely because he loved her and wanted her to stay alive. It was the most normal reaction a parent could have.

  But even though her body was totally broken and she had barely any energy left, her heart and her mind did not shift a single inch.

  Aoi took a slow, deep breath.

  She looked at her crying father with a look that was incredibly calm, very mature, and completely unshakable.

  "No, dad," Aoi answered. Her voice was quiet, but the absolute determination in her tone was impossible to argue with.

  Hiroshi froze. He stared at his daughter like he could not believe what he was hearing.

  "Aoi, please do not be stubborn right now," Hiroshi begged. "I am pleading with you to save your own life."

  Aoi shook her head slowly against the white hospital pillow.

  "I am not trying to be stubborn, dad," Aoi explained super gently, really wanting him to understand how she felt. "But we have fought way too hard and for way too long to just give up and walk away right now."

  Aoi thought about everything she and Erwin had survived together.

  She remembered the quiet winter holiday in the mountains. She remembered the scary moments dealing with Klaus von Stahlberg's corporate spies. She thought about how much of his own peace of mind Erwin had sacrificed just to make sure she felt loved and safe.

  "Erwin is absolutely nothing like his cruel father," Aoi continued. Tears started to pool in her own eyes as she talked about her boyfriend. "You did not see how totally destroyed he was when he found me tonight. He blames himself for every single scratch on my body. He is willing to fight his entire massive family, give up all his rich privileges, just to protect our relationship."

  Aoi squeezed her dad's hand a little tighter, using all her remaining strength to make him see the truth.

  "If I leave him right now, when things are super scary and dark, then how am I any different from all the selfish, greedy people in his world who only use him?" Aoi asked quietly, her tears finally dropping onto the pillow. "I will not leave him alone in the dark, dad. We are going to face this storm together. I am never going to break up with him."

  Hiroshi completely ran out of words.

  He stared at his daughter, feeling like he was looking at a totally different person. She wasn't the naive little girl from the mountain village anymore. She had grown up into a remarkably strong woman who was entirely willing to risk her own life for true love.

  Hiroshi just lowered his head again and cried silently. He felt defeated by her stubborn heart, but he was also terrified for whatever was coming next.

  That was when Emi finally stepped in.

  As a mother, Emi's instincts were incredibly sharp. She saw the bright, undeniable fire burning right inside her daughter's eyes. She knew that trying to force Aoi to leave Erwin would only push her away and break her spirit completely.

  Emi walked forward and gently touched her husband's shoulder.

  "Let it go, Hiroshi," Emi said. Her voice was very warm, maternal, and incredibly calming. "Can you not see the look in her eyes? Stop trying to force her."

  Hiroshi looked up at his wife, looking super confused and desperate. "Emi, how can you just let this happen? She could get killed."

  "I am her mother, of course I am absolutely terrified," Emi answered honestly, looking at her husband with total understanding. "But Hiroshi, our little girl is a grown adult now. She has chosen her own path, and she has decided to stand by that boy through the darkest times."

  Emi leaned down and used her thumb to gently wipe a tear off Aoi's cheek.

  Emi smiled softly. It was a really proud smile from a mom who was watching her daughter become an incredibly brave person.

  "Real love sometimes demands sacrifices that hurt a lot, Hiroshi," Emi explained to him. "If we force her to abandon the man she deeply loves right now, we might save her physical body, but we will completely kill her soul and her happiness forever. As her parents, our only job right now is to support her, pray for her, and make sure she knows that we will always be right behind her whenever she needs a safe place to land."

  Hearing his wife's wise, deeply sincere words finally broke through Hiroshi's stubborn, protective anger.

  Hiroshi looked at Aoi again.

  He saw the way Aoi was looking at her mom with so much deep gratitude. Hiroshi finally realized that he just could not win a fight against the pure strength of their love.

  Hiroshi nodded slowly, still sniffling quietly.

  He leaned forward and kissed Aoi on the forehead. He was super careful not to touch any of the terrible bruises on her face.

  "Alright," Hiroshi whispered, sounding defeated but still full of love. "If this is your absolute final decision, I will not force you anymore. But you have to promise me something. You have to be strong. You have to survive this."

  "I promise, dad," Aoi answered, smiling in pure relief. Happy tears rolled down her face because her parents finally understood her heart.

  Meanwhile, not too far away from that emotional, intense family moment inside the room, a completely different kind of scene was happening outside the hospital building.

  It was well past midnight. The spring wind was blowing really cold, sweeping across the empty, open-air balcony on the third floor of the hospital.

  Erwin von Stahlberg was standing completely alone near the metal railing.

  He was standing perfectly still, staring straight out at the dark night sky and the massive sea of city lights stretching across Justenau down below.

  The city view was supposed to be beautiful, but to Erwin tonight, it just looked like a disgusting, dirty warzone.

  Erwin was still wearing his long-sleeved white dress shirt. But the shirt was definitely not white anymore.

  The wet blood from Aoi had completely dried up. It turned into a dark, rusty brown color. The dried blood made the fabric feel super stiff and sticky against his skin. It smelled terrible too, like a mix of copper and deep panic.

  The cold night wind hit his face and blew his messy dark hair all over the place.

  But Erwin did not feel the freezing air at all. His chest felt incredibly hot, filled with a massive, dark tornado of anger and endless guilt.

  His brain just kept repeating the harsh words that Aoi's dad had yelled at him in the hallway earlier.

  You are absolutely no different from your greedy father.

  That sentence echoed inside his skull like a curse he could not scrub away.

  His entire life, Erwin had tried so hard to be the anomaly in the Stahlberg family. He wanted to be a normal human being with real empathy. He wanted to uphold the law and refused to use his massive wealth to crush regular people.

  But what did all that trying actually get him?

  His pathetic attempt at being the good guy just ended up putting the girl he loved most in a hospital bed with a knife wound across her face.

  And when he hit a dead end tonight, what did he do? He immediately called his family's private, illegal security division to do the dirty work for him. He used his father's terrifying power without hesitating.

  Maybe Hiroshi was completely right. Maybe the Stahlberg bloodline was just genetically wired to be monsters who destroy anyone that gets too close to them.

  Suddenly, the loud squeak of a heavy metal door hinge broke the quiet night air on the balcony.

  Samuel stepped out from the hospital building.

  He closed the heavy metal door gently behind him so it wouldn't make a loud banging noise. Samuel walked over with a really casual, relaxed stride. He was carrying a white plastic bag with the logo of a twenty-four-hour convenience store printed on it.

  "You know, Erwin," Samuel started talking, his voice super casual and a little bit teasing. "A couple of the nurses downstairs were starting to whisper and look at you like you were a total psycho. You look exactly like an amateur hitman who just ran away from a murder scene. You stand out here looking like that for another five minutes, and the hospital security guards are going to pull their guns on you."

  Samuel stopped a few feet away from where Erwin was standing.

  He lifted the white plastic bag and tossed it straight at his best friend's chest.

  Erwin instinctively caught the bag with his hands. He stared down at it with a totally blank, empty look in his eyes.

  "I ran down to the convenience store across the main highway," Samuel explained, leaning his back comfortably against the metal railing and looking away from the city view. "I bought you some basic black sweatpants and a clean cotton t-shirt. They are probably going to be a little baggy since you are a lot skinnier than I am, but at least they do not have blood all over them. Go into the bathroom and change your clothes, man. You smell like a butcher shop, and it is freezing out here. Aoi is going to be super mad if she wakes up and sees you catching a cold."

  Erwin looked at the plastic bag in his hands.

  Without saying a single word, he ripped the bag open. He did not even bother walking inside to find a hospital bathroom.

  Erwin just started unbuttoning his stiff, bloody shirt right there on the balcony. He took off the ruined white shirt and threw it carelessly onto the dirty concrete floor, acting like it was the most disgusting piece of garbage in the world.

  He quickly pulled the clean black cotton t-shirt over his head.

  The feeling of clean, dry fabric against his skin gave him a tiny bit of physical relief. But changing his clothes definitely did not wash away the heavy guilt stuck inside his soul.

  Erwin stepped forward and leaned against the metal railing right next to his best friend.

  They both stayed quiet for a few minutes, just listening to the distant, muffled sounds of the late-night traffic far below them.

  "Samuel," Erwin called out quietly, breaking the silence with a super tired, gloomy voice. "Aoi's dad really hates me."

  Samuel snorted softly, crossing his large arms over his chest.

  "Let me be totally honest with you, buddy," Samuel replied, using his usual blunt, straightforward logic. "Do you actually blame the guy for being furious with you? Put yourself in his shoes for a second. He lives in a super quiet, peaceful village. He sends his only daughter to the big city for college with high hopes. But after just a few months of dating you, she is lying in an intensive care unit with her face sliced open by a professional psychopath. If I was her dad, I would not have just pushed you against the wall. I would have broken your nose right there in the hallway."

  Erwin swallowed hard. Samuel's words were always rough, but it was the absolute truth, and Erwin could not argue with it.

  "He literally screamed right in my face, Samuel," Erwin continued, his voice shaking as he tried to hold back his emotions. "He looked at me with pure disgust. And he told me that I am absolutely no different from my father. He called me a monster who ruined his daughter's life."

  Samuel slowly turned his head. He looked at the side of Erwin's completely exhausted face under the dim moonlight.

  "And?" Samuel asked, his tone suddenly dropping into a very serious register. "Do you actually believe what he said? Do you really think you are a monster just like your old man?"

  Erwin gripped the metal railing so hard that his knuckles turned completely white.

  "I do not know anymore, Sam," Erwin confessed desperately, staring blankly at the city lights. "A few hours ago, when I saw Aoi covered in her own blood, I called my dad's shadow security director. I ordered them to deploy their entire underground army. I told them to hunt down the guy in the black van illegally. And the worst part is, I told them to tie the guy up in a secret warehouse so I could deal with him myself without the police getting involved."

  Erwin lowered his head, breathing heavily as he revealed his darkest thoughts to his friend.

  "When I gave that terrifying order on the phone, I didn't feel a single ounce of regret, Sam," Erwin whispered, sounding horrified by himself. "I didn't care about the law. I didn't care about human rights. I just want to physically and mentally destroy that man until he begs me to let him die. Is that not exactly how my father runs his corporate empire? Is that not the purest definition of being a monster?"

  Hearing that incredibly dark, heavy confession, Samuel stayed quiet for a second.

  Then, completely unexpectedly, the big guy just let out a short chuckle. It wasn't a mean laugh; it was a genuine, totally relaxed laugh.

  "You really are a massive idiot, Erwin," Samuel said, shaking his head slowly.

  Erwin frowned deeply. He turned to look at his friend, feeling confused and a little bit offended. "What are you talking about?"

  "I said you are an idiot," Samuel repeated casually. He turned his body so he was facing Erwin directly.

  Samuel looked right into Erwin's dark eyes with a super sharp, unwavering stare.

  "Listen to me, we have been friends and roommates for a while now," Samuel started explaining in his typical straightforward style. "We are two very different guys. We argue about stupid stuff all the time. Sometimes I think you are a stiff, arrogant rich kid who complains way too much about small things. And I know you think I am a loud, uncultured idiot who lacks basic manners."

  Erwin let out a long breath. A very tiny, barely visible smile finally cracked on his lips. "You are incredibly loud, Sam."

  "Exactly," Samuel smiled widely back at him. "But because we argue so much, I know exactly who you are, inside and out."

  Samuel raised his hand and pointed a thick finger straight at the left side of Erwin's chest.

  "Klaus von Stahlberg destroys people's lives because it gives him more money, more power, and absolute control," Samuel explained firmly, his voice full of energy as he tried to smash the doubts in his friend's head. "Your dad is a monster because he hurts people just to satisfy his own sick, greedy ego."

  Samuel stepped a little closer, locking eyes with Erwin.

  "But you are completely different, Erwin," Samuel stated with total confidence. "That scary order you gave on the phone tonight was not about making money or gaining power. You broke your own moral rules tonight purely because the girl you love more than anything was tortured and left bleeding on a freezing concrete floor. You are acting out of deep love and total desperation to protect her, not out of greed."

  Samuel patted Erwin's chest pretty hard.

  "Having a dark side that you use to protect the people you love does not magically turn you into your father," Samuel added wisely. "It just proves that you are a normal human being who got pushed way past his breaking point."

  Erwin stood totally frozen. He stared at Samuel without blinking.

  Those simple, straightforward words from his best friend hit him like a massive wave, completely washing away the dark, suffocating clouds inside his brain. He really needed to hear that validation. He needed someone to remind him that he wasn't totally lost to the darkness yet.

  Erwin took a really deep breath. He felt the heavy, crushing weight on his chest lift just a little bit. He turned his gaze back out toward the city lights.

  "But Sam," Erwin said quietly, his voice shifting back into a cold, terrifyingly calm tone. "The things I am going to do to that bastard when my guys finally track him down. It is really not going to be pretty to look at. I am not going to show him any mercy."

  Samuel chuckled softly.

  He stepped forward and threw his massive, muscular arm right around Erwin's shoulders. He pulled his best friend into a rough, brotherly hug that was full of solid loyalty.

  "Of course it is not going to be pretty to look at, you stupid rich kid," Samuel said casually, looking out at the city view right alongside his friend.

  Samuel turned his head slightly, giving Erwin a look that was deadly serious and completely impossible to buy with money.

  "Like I said earlier, we argue a lot," Samuel reminded Erwin, his tone completely sincere. "But at the end of the day, we are brothers. When your shadow security guys finally call your phone and tell you they have the van driver tied up in some warehouse..."

  Samuel smiled slightly. It was a dangerous smile that showed he was totally ready to jump into the darkest warzone imaginable.

  "Make sure you text me the exact address of that warehouse, buddy," Samuel promised him. "Because you are not going out there alone. You do not have to carry all that darkness by yourself. I am coming with you to finish him."

  Erwin turned his head and looked at his best friend.

  The spring night did not feel quite as cold or as lonely anymore. Erwin didn't feel like he was facing his dark destiny all by himself. He had Aoi fighting to recover inside the hospital, and he had a loyal brother standing right beside him, completely ready to face whatever crazy storm hit them tomorrow.

  "Thank you so much, Samuel," Erwin said sincerely, his voice almost a whisper lost in the night wind.

  "Do not thank me," Samuel replied casually, slapping Erwin hard on the back. "Now, stop acting all dramatic and depressing out here. Let's go back inside. The girls are probably wondering where we went, and Aoi is definitely going to need both of us when she finally wakes up."

  Together, standing under the dark sky of Justenau, the two friends turned around. They walked away from the railing and headed back into the warm hospital building, leaving their fears behind them, completely ready to face a new day filled with cold, calculated revenge.