“...Where are the others?”

  My voice came out dry with tension as I asked Mr. White.

  Even now, still wearing the café owner’s black hoodie, his face looked almost divine—otherworldly.

  “They said they were going to offer prayers in the cave. I came here ahead of them because I wanted to speak with you.”

  He walked briskly down the aisle between the long benches.

  No sound. That’s when I realized—he wasn’t wearing shoes.

  “What did you want to talk about?”

  I followed his broad back, calling out softly.

  Even though I meant to whisper, my voice echoed all across the cathedral.

  His voice, on the other hand, sounded just as it did outside.

  What was going on?

  “Please, just come with me.”

  This was the Cathedral of Darkness, and yet somehow he was taking the lead.

  I didn’t like that. But I couldn’t find a reason to object, so I followed silently.

  “Let’s sit here. The view of the altar is most beautiful from this spot.”

  He slipped into one of the seats near the center-right of the sanctuary, facing the altar.

  He shifted slightly, making room for me without a word.

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  I sat down next to him, as if drawn by some invisible pull.

  “You’re acting like a priest or something,” I joked.

  But he responded, completely serious: “I am a pastor of the Church of Medicine.”

  I fell silent, the weight of his words magnified by the sacred stillness of the place.

  “—You are the most beautiful surface-dweller I’ve ever met.”

  “...Is that why you wanted to be alone with me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Mr. White’s glowing green eyes locked onto mine. I instinctively tensed up.

  “Even if the truth is sadder than your imagination... could you still remain beautiful?”

  “What are you talking about? Do you know something?”

  He let out a sigh—

  and for a moment, I thought even his breath shimmered emerald, just like his eyes. It was absurd.

  “You will lose something very important to you.

  That is my prophecy.”

  His perfectly symmetrical face turned toward the altar,

  and his emerald eyes disappeared beneath closed lids.

  He was praying. For me? But he said he was a pastor of the Church of Medicine...

  A swirl of emotions kept me from speaking.

  All I could manage was a feeble: “...Why?”

  Pathetic.

  Mr. White was still praying.

  I heard him whispering something, but even seated beside him, I couldn’t make it out.

  I didn’t dare interrupt.

  As casually as we’d been talking, I suddenly remembered—

  this man was, in their world, a priest. Probably called “Sensei” or something like that underground.

  Then, his long eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes.

  “I can see the future.

  You’re free to laugh, if you like.”

  “Then use that power to find the Oblivion Drug already.”

  It came out as a reflex.

  If he was a prophet, then fix everything right now.

  “My prophecies are incomplete.

  But they always come true. That’s why people kept coming to the church to see me, even underground.”

  “I see... so I’m going to lose Akisumi, then.”

  It felt inevitable.

  He meant I wouldn’t find the Oblivion Drug, and my brother would vanish into the underground.

  That’s what I understood.

  Fine then—I’ll defy that prophecy with everything I’ve got.

  “Who knows,” he replied.

  “There any good prophecies?” I asked without thinking.

  Now I sounded like I believed him completely.

  “I don’t know if this counts as a good one,” he said gently.

  “But the Darkness will always save you.”