It's peaceful, the almost-empty silence that floats between them, if not for the white noise of quiet breaths and the faraway voices of the others.
It's peaceful, this calm before the storm.
Yui gave them all a week to rest, recover and prepare for the upcoming event-- a small mercy, to be honest, but a mercy nonetheless. They were grateful, Souhei especially so, when Yui allowed them to roam the Transparent City freely, as long as they kept within its boundaries.
His nerves had been on edge the entire time before they arrived, fraught with worry and anxiety. The previous battle with the so-called Heroes of Rain Shelter Street left deep, festering wounds in all of them, opening up scars and memories no one cared to recall. Souhei was one of the lucky ones, apparently; they didn't perceive him as a threat, and as a result, he was spared from their mental torture, in return for a slightly less painful physical one instead.
The bruises still haven't fully gone away, black and blue and ugly. Disgusting.
A proof of his weakness.
The black-haired boy leaning against him mumbles something incomprehensible, before yawning and stretching his back, wincing at the creaking sounds emitted by his stiff limbs.
"Had a nice nap?"
Souhei stiffles a chuckle at the way Hijiri sits up straighter and rubs at his face, trying his best to chase away the sleep still plaguing his tired eyes. The voices of two girls float over to them from somewhere behind them, most likely Riina showing Haruka around and showing off her parkour moves. The brunet moves to a more comfortable position before resuming his sky-watching, fascinated by the scraggly cracks in the reddened horizon, a reminder of the all-or-nothing fate that looms ahead of them all.
"Thinking again?"
Hijiri's voice is a welcome reprieve from the silence that had just started to become suffocating, a rough but gentle tone that's just a slightly lower pitch than his own. Souhei smiles, leaning back against Hijiri, who grumbles a threat but does nothing to push the brunet away.
"Maybe a little."
The response is short, but it satisfies Hijiri enough that he nods his head in approval. They spend a little more time like that, just staring into space and appreciating each other's company, before the sunset falls and the dark curtain of night starts to rise.
Yui's voice rings clear through the city, harsh and commanding, ordering them to return to their assigned houses.
Four days left.
Four days left before the end of the world as they know it.