Chapter 119: Ferris Wheel
Kurumi sat quietly by the cabin window, her gaze fixed on the vast scenery of Tengu City stretched beneath them. The golden hues of the sunset gently bathed her figure, softening the usual intensity in her eyes.
From up here, everything looked so small, buildings stacked like toy blocks, roads winding like quiet streams, and people bustling below like little dots, unaware they were being watched from above.
It looked peaceful.
So peaceful that one would never guess this city had been a battleground, where Spirits appeared, where Wizards fought, and where Spatial Quakes had turned lives upside down.
For a long moment, Kurumi simply stared in silence.
Across from her, Shido sat with his hands resting loosely on his lap, watching her instead of the view. The warm light lit her profile in a way that made her seem almost... devine. But what caught his attention wasn't just her beauty.
It was the look in her eyes.
Despite the smile that still lingered faintly on her lips, there was something else hiding beneath her calm exterior, relief, loneliness and even nostalgia.
"Say, Shido-san." Kurumi suddenly spoke, her voice was soft but clear, cutting through the quiet hum of the Ferris wheel cabin.
Shido turned his attention to her immediately. "Yes?"
She was smiling. But not in her usual playful, teasing way. Nor was it the eerie or the perfect smile she usually wore like a mask. No, this smile was... fragile and bitter and maybe a little tired.