"By the way, Astrid..."
In the quiet bedroom, as she breathed in the clean fragrance that slowly spread the moment the person beside her sat down, Lyra straightened her legs.
"Back then... what did you think of... coming to hug me...?"
She had clearly already lost the ability to think, like a fragile raft adrift on a raging sea, helpless against the lash of wind and storm, able only to drift with the waves.
As the one linked to her spiritually, Astrid should have been able to feel that same powerless, hazy sensation.
Astrid didn't speak at once. She merely kept her long black-stockinged legs crossed, slowly folded her fair arms over her chest, propped her cheek with one hand, and only after a moment did she open her mouth.
"To be honest, I didn't think that much."
