The door creaked open and Mizuki stepped inside.
There was blood on her sleeve again. Dried. Brown-black. Not hers.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, glancing at Zai's makeshift map, then Vale pacing with that same nervous energy he always carried.
"We were talking about the city," Takeshi muttered. "Maybe trying to head that way or look for something."
Mizuki tossed a rag onto the table. It landed with a wet slap. "If you go to the city, you'll die."
"I've already killed seven," she said. "In the forest, by the river. Not like before. These ones, they watch. They wait. Like they remember what it was like to be human."
Zai lifted his head slightly. "So you've seen them too?"
She didn't respond. Her eyes were already locked on me.
"And one on the main road," she continued. "Driver's seat. Woman with a cracked windshield. Her spine was bent the wrong way but she moved. I didn't hesitate."
I froze. My throat tightened. "You what?"
"She was gone," Mizuki said, calm like she was reading from a grocery list. "Her eyes were wrong. Her voice didn't match her mouth."
"You don't know that," I said. It came out shakier than I wanted. "You're not a doctor. What if there's a cure?"
She looked at me like I'd asked something stupid. "There's not."
"You can't say that."
"I just did."
Something in my chest flared. I stepped forward. "You don't know everything. What if they're still aware, some part of them still in there, trapped? Waiting?"
"They're not."
"How do you know?"
"Stop asking."
"Why do you keep leaving me behind?" I said. "Why do you act like I'm not even part of this?"
"Because you're weak."
"I'm not," I whispered.
"You are."
It wasn't just her words. It was the way she said it. Not cruel. Not mocking. Just like it was a fact I hadn't accepted yet.
But I'd survived this long, hadn't I?
Even when my parents were dragged into the dark. Even when I found Hiyori, cold, gone, forever. I was still here. Still breathing.
"Maybe I panic," I muttered. "But I care. That doesn't make me useless."
"No," she said. "It makes you dangerous. You'll hesitate when it counts. You'll try to save someone who's already dead. And I won't die because you made the wrong call."
I hated more that she never even gave me the chance.
"So what then?" I said. "I just stay here? While you keep killing people who might be cured? Might still be themselves?"
"They're not people anymore."
"They were," I snapped. "They were someone's daughter. Someone's friend. Someone's girlfriend."
"They still are," she said. "but it doesn't matter."
We stood in silence. Me and her. Everyone else faded.
Outside, there was a thud. Something scraped against the gate like it was feeling for the edge of metal.
Mizuki didn't even blink. She turned toward the door again.
"Sleep," she said. "If you're still alive by morning, maybe I'll let you carry a knife."
Then she was gone.
Just like that.
I stared down at the bloodied rag she left behind. It stuck to the table like skin.
She was right. I did hesitate. I did care. Maybe that was weakness but maybe that was also the only thing keeping me human and if she wasn't going to save me—then I'd have to learn how to save myself.
Even if I didn't know who I'd be on the other side of it.