Three days had passed since their return from Inazuma, Mondstadt's familiar routines—morning drills, afternoon patrols, evening reports. Jean watching Klee like a hawk, of whispered conversations that stopped when Klee entered a room, of knights who smiled too brightly and spoke too carefully.
But today was Saturday, and Saturdays meant freedom.
"Race you to the tree!" Klee shouted, already running.
Amber laughed and gave chase, her longer legs eating up the ground, but she deliberately slowed to let Klee win. They collapsed at the base of the great tree at Windrise, breathless and grinning, the ancient bark warm against their backs.
The tree's canopy stretched overhead like a cathedral ceiling, leaves whispering secrets to the wind. Lamp grass dotted the surrounding meadow in pools of blue-white light. A statue of Barbatos stood nearby, weathered and wise, wings spread in eternal blessing.
This place was sacred.
This place was safe.
"I win!" Klee threw her arms up in victory.
"You absolutely did." Amber wiped sweat from her forehead, still catching her breath. "You're getting faster, you know that? Soon I won't have to let you win anymore."
"You were LETTING me?" Klee's outrage was immediate and adorable.
"Maybe." Amber's grin was unrepentant. "But only a little bit. Mostly you're just actually fast."
Klee humphed, but she was smiling. She leaned back against the tree, letting the afternoon sun warm her face. Dodoco sat in her lap, as always. The crystal necklace rested against her chest beneath her shirt—she never took it off anymore, not even to sleep.
Amber pulled out a canteen, took a long drink, then offered it to Klee. "So. Three days back and you still haven't told me everything about Inazuma. I want details! What was it like? Was it as mysterious and closed-off as everyone says?"
"Not anymore!" Klee accepted the canteen, took a sip. "The Sakoku Decree is over, so people can come and go now. But you still have to get permission at Ritou Port first. That's where the Kanjou Commission checks everyone."
"The what commission?"
"Kanjou! They're like... um..." Klee scrunched up her face, trying to remember. "Brother Albedo said they're in charge of money and trade and borders. Thoma—he works for the Kamisato family—he said they used to be really strict, but they're better now."
"Kamisatos?" Amber settled more comfortably against the tree, invested now. "Who are they?"
"Ayaka and Ayato! They're from the Yashiro Commission. That's the culture one. They're really nice and really important." Klee's hands moved as she talked, animated. "Ayaka is super elegant and she dances with a fan and she has a Cryo vision just like Eula! And Ayato is her brother and he's really smart but also kind of sneaky? But in a good way, I think."
Amber laughed. "Sounds like they're Inazuma's version of Kaeya."
"Maybe!" Klee giggled. "But Ayato doesn't tease as much. He just smiles and you can't tell what he's thinking."
"Terrifying." Amber stretched her legs out, crossed at the ankles. A butterfly landed on her boot, opened and closed its wings twice, then flew off. "What about the festivals? You went during the Irodori Festival, right? What was that like?"
And just like that, Klee lit up like a lamp grass at midnight.
"It was AMAZING!" She bounced forward, nearly dropping Dodoco. "There were so many events! Poetry and theater and light novels and ikebana—that's flower arranging—and Xingqiu was there too, representing Liyue with the Feiyun Commerce Guild, and he did poetry readings, and there were food stalls everywhere, and—"
"Breathe, Klee."
"—and the FIREWORKS!" Klee gasped for air, then plowed ahead. "Amber, the fireworks were the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Better than my bombs! Well, different from my bombs. My bombs are for fishing and fighting, but fireworks are for beauty and happiness and—"
"Slow down!" Amber was grinning now, caught up in Klee's enthusiasm. "Who organized the fireworks? That's a big responsibility."
"Yoimiya did!" And there it was—Klee's entire face transformed when she said the name. Her red eyes went soft and bright at the same time. "She's the owner of Naganohara Fireworks in Hanamizaka. That's a neighborhood in Inazuma City. She's the Queen of the Summer Festival! That's what everyone calls her!"
"Queen of the Summer Festival," Amber repeated, thoughtful. "Sounds impressive."
"She IS impressive!" Klee was on her knees now, gesturing wildly. "She makes all her own fireworks, and she knows exactly which colors will look best together, and she can calculate the timing so that three different fireworks explode at exactly the same time to make patterns in the sky! And she taught me how to help! She let me light the fuses for some of the big ones!"
Amber's eyebrows climbed. "She let you light them? Wasn't that... dangerous?"
"Nuh-uh!" Klee shook her head emphatically. "Well, maybe a little. But Yoimiya showed me how to do it safe! She said—" Klee's voice shifted, taking on a different cadence, mimicking, "—'Okay Klee, explosions are awesome, but you gotta respect them, yeah? Respect means understanding what they can do. Understand them, and they'll never hurt you.' And she was right! We didn't get hurt even once!"
"She sounds responsible," Amber said, and she meant it. "And like someone who gets you."
"She does!" Klee's voice dropped, becoming almost reverent. "She didn't treat me like a baby.
Everyone always treats me like a baby. 'Klee, that's too dangerous.' 'Klee, you're too young.' 'Klee, go to solitary confinement.'" She counted them off on her fingers. "But Yoimiya just... listened. And then she showed me how to do things the right way instead of telling me not to do them at all."
Amber felt something twist in her chest. "That's... that's really special, Klee."
"Yeah." Klee's smile was soft now, distant. "She's my best friend. My BEST best friend. Not like how everyone in the Knights is my friend. But like... like someone who really understands."
"What else did you do together?"
And Klee was off again, stories tumbling out one after another. How Yoimiya had taken her to meet the neighborhood kids—Saika and Matsuzaka and Iwao—and they'd played games on Narukami Shores, building sand castles and looking for sea shells. How Yoimiya had let her try goldfish scooping at a festival stall and hadn't gotten mad when Klee had gotten too excited and splashed water everywhere. How they'd stayed up late one night on Yoimiya's roof, looking at stars and talking about their biggest dreams.
"She wants to make a firework that can be seen from every island in Inazuma at once," Klee said, wonder in her voice. "Can you imagine? That would take SO MUCH gunpowder!"
"Sounds like your kind of person," Amber said warmly.
"She is! She really is!" Klee hugged Dodoco tight. "I miss her so much, Amber. Is that weird? I only knew her for a few days, but I miss her like... like..."
"Like she's important," Amber finished gently. "That's not weird at all, Klee. That's called connection. Some people you just... click with. Instantly. And it doesn't matter if you've known them for five days or five years—they matter."
Klee nodded, blinking rapidly. "We promised to write letters. I've sent three already! But it takes so long for mail to get to Inazuma. Two weeks at least. So I won't get a reply for ages."
"But you will get one," Amber pointed out. "And it'll be worth the wait."
"I hope so." Klee touched her chest, where the necklace rested under her shirt. "She gave me this. Well, Yae Miko gave us both one. Matching necklaces. Mine and Yoimiya's."
"Oh yeah?" Amber's curiosity was immediate. "Can I see?"
"Sure!" Klee reached for the chain, pulling it out from under her shirt. The heart-shaped crystal caught the dappled sunlight, glowing deep red-gold, those internal sparks dancing like trapped embers. "See? It's really pretty!"
"Wow." Amber leaned closer, genuinely impressed. "That's beautiful craftsmanship. The crystal looks almost alive. Like it has its own light source."
"I know, right?" Klee held it up proudly. "Yae Miko said they're a matched set. Yoimiya has one exactly the same. So even though we're far apart, we both have—"
"Can I?" Amber reached out, fingers extended toward the crystal.
Everything happened at once.
A sound like glass breaking across the sky ripped through the clearing as crimson lightning exploded outward from the necklace.
Not a spark. Not a flash.
A violent eruption.
"AHH—!"
Amber's scream tore out of her throat the instant the lightning slammed into her hand. The red electricity didn't stop there. It surged up her arm like a living thing, crawling beneath her skin, racing through muscle and bone until it struck her chest with the force of a hammer.
Klee screamed too.
"AMBER?!"
The crystal blazed.
Forks of scarlet lightning burst outward in branching arcs, wrapping around both of them like a cage. The air snapped and cracked with violent energy, each bolt striking with the sound of tearing metal.
Amber tried to pull back.
She couldn't.
Her fingers were locked around the crystal as if the necklace had grown claws inside her palm.
"Let—go—!" Amber gasped, her voice breaking as another surge blasted through her arm. "I can't—!"
The lightning intensified.
A violent tremor rolled through the ground beneath them.
The great tree of Windrise groaned.
Its ancient trunk shuddered violently as the earth lurched like something enormous had slammed into it from below. Bark split with sharp cracks and leaves cascaded from the canopy in a storm of green and gold.
The ground bucked again.
Harder.
Klee staggered, but the lightning wrapped around her small body before she could fall.
"Amber it hurts!" she cried, her voice shrill with panic. "It hurts inside—!"
Another surge detonated from the crystal.
Amber's back arched violently as the electricity tore through her chest.
Her boots lifted off the ground.
She floated several feet into the air, suspended by a raging cyclone of red lightning.
"A—AAHHH—!"
The pain wasn't just burning.
It was deeper.
It felt like something had reached inside her ribs and was pulling her apart from the inside.
Her muscles seized uncontrollably. Her fingers clawed at empty air as electricity crawled across her skin in glowing veins of dark crimson.
"Klee—!" Amber choked out. "Don't touch it—!"
Too late.
Lightning struck Klee next.
A violent bolt slammed from the necklace into her chest, and the small girl jerked as though yanked upward by invisible strings.
"AAAAAAH—!"
Her scream cracked across Windrise as her body convulsed. Red light erupted from her skin, glowing beneath it like molten cracks in stone.
The earth roared.
A second tremor hit.
Then a third.
The ground heaved violently beneath the tree, rocks shifting and dirt splitting open as the quake rolled outward through the plains.
It felt like a magnitude tearing through Mondstadt itself.
The statue of Barbatos in the distance groaned. Stone cracked. A thin fracture raced up its base like a spiderweb.
Amber barely saw it. Her vision had turned red.
Lightning surged again. Stronger. Her body jerked as another wave blasted through her bones.
"MAKE IT STOP—!" she screamed, her voice hoarse with raw pain.
"I CAN'T—!" Klee sobbed. Red lightning wrapped around her tiny frame like chains.
She kicked helplessly in the air, her small hands clutching her chest as electricity tore through her.
"Amber it's inside me—!"
Another quake slammed through the ground. Windrise shook violently, roots groaning beneath the soil as the great tree swayed like a ship in a storm. Leaves poured down around them. Amber's entire body trembled violently as the lightning surged again.
Her teeth clenched.
Her back arched.
"AAHH—!"
It felt like her bones were splintering.
Like every nerve had been pulled out and set on fire.
"Klee!" she gasped through the agony. "Hold on—!"
"I don't want this!" Klee cried, tears streaming down her face as the lightning wrapped tighter around her glowing body. "Make it go away—!"
Amber tried to reach her.
Her arm barely moved before another bolt detonated through her chest.
The air exploded with a deafening crack.
The earthquake reached its peak.
The ground convulsed so violently that chunks of dirt split apart, small stones bouncing across the clearing as if gravity itself had lost its grip.
Then—
Silence.
The lightning vanished.
Instantly.
Amber dropped from the air.
She hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs. Her entire body shook uncontrollably as the aftershocks rippled through her muscles.
The ground stilled.
Leaves drifted slowly down through the quiet.
Klee collapsed.
Her small body folded in on itself like a puppet with its strings cut, Dodoco slipping from her hands and landing softly in the grass.
The crystal necklace still glowed against her chest.
But the light had changed.
It pulsed slowly now.
Dark.
Angry.
Wrong.
Amber tried to push herself up.
Her arms trembled violently beneath her weight.
"Klee…" she rasped.
She dragged herself forward through the grass, fingers digging into the soil as her body refused to cooperate.
"Klee!" Amber reached for her, panic rising in her voice. "Klee, wake up—!"
Klee didn't move.
The crystal pulsed again.
Red.
Amber's chest tightened.
"I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely, her shaking hand hovering above the glowing necklace.
"I didn't know… I didn't know it would—"
Her voice broke as she looked at Klee's motionless form.
"Klee… please wake up."
"AMBER!"
Lisa appeared first, sprinting across the meadow with her hat flying off behind her. Eula was right behind her, sword drawn like she expected an attack.
They skidded to a stop at the scene: Amber on her hands and knees, trembling. Klee unconscious, too pale, barely breathing. The great tree groaning, wounded. The statue of Barbatos cracked and listing.
"What happened?" Eula's voice was sharp. "We felt the earthquake from the main road—"
"I touched it." Amber's voice was raw. "I touched her necklace and it—it—"
Lisa was already kneeling beside Klee, fingers against her throat, checking for a pulse. Her expression was tight. Controlled. But her hands were shaking.
"She's alive," Lisa said. "Barely. Her heart's racing. Too fast. Cutie, what did you do?"
"I didn't mean to!" Amber was crying now, couldn't stop. "She was showing me and I just wanted to look closer and I touched it and—Lisa, there was lightning. Red lightning. It came from the necklace. It went through both of us and I couldn't let go, I couldn't—"
"Calm down." Eula's hand landed on Amber's shoulder, firm.
Amber tried. Failed. Tried again.
Lisa had scooped Klee into her arms, cradling her like she weighed nothing. The little girl's head lolled against Lisa's shoulder. Her lips were tinged blue.
"We need to get her to headquarters," Lisa said. "Now. Eula—"
"I'll carry Amber." Eula sheathed her sword and hauled Amber to her feet with one arm around her waist. "Can you walk?"
"I think so. I don't know. Eula, I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
"Save it." Eula's tone was harsh, but her grip was gentle. "Right now we move. Explanations later."
They ran.
Lisa led the way, Klee held tight against her chest, moving faster than Amber had ever seen her move. Eula half-carried, half-dragged Amber, who was still shaking too badly to run properly.
Behind them, the great tree at Windrise continued to creak and groan. A branch snapped and fell with a sound like thunder.
They burst through Mondstadt's gates, past startled guards, through streets where people stopped and stared. Lisa took the stairs to the Knights' headquarters three at a time.
"Out of the way!" Eula barked at a cluster of knights in the hallway. They scattered.
Lisa kicked open the door to Klee's room—the "solitary confinement" that was really just her bedroom—and laid her on the bed. She pressed two fingers to Klee's throat again, timing the pulse against her own heartbeat.
"Still too fast," Lisa muttered. She looked up at Eula. "Get Barbara. Don't tell her what happened, just say Klee collapsed. Medical emergency."
"And Jean?" Eula asked quietly.
Lisa hesitated. "Not yet."
"Lisa—"
"Not. Yet." Lisa's eyes were hard. "We don't know what this is. We don't know what triggered it. Until we do, we don't panic the Acting Grand Master. Understood?"
Eula's jaw worked. "Understood."
She left at a run.
Amber slumped against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. Her whole body felt like one giant bruise. Her right hand—the one that had touched the necklace—was covered in strange red marks, like branching burns, like lightning scars.
Lisa sat on the edge of Klee's bed, one hand on the little girl's forehead. She was still too pale. Still breathing too shallow.
"Amber," Lisa said quietly. "What exactly did you touch?"
"The necklace." Amber's voice was hoarse. "She was showing me. She pulled it out to show me, and I asked if I could see it closer, and I just—I just touched the crystal. That's all. Just touched it."
"And it reacted."
"It EXPLODED." Amber's hands were fists. "It was like touching a live wire. Red lightning, Lisa. Actual lightning, coming from a piece of jewelry. That's not normal. That's not—what kind of necklace DOES that?"
Lisa said nothing. She just stared at Klee's unconscious form, her expression unreadable.
The crystal pendant still glowed against Klee's chest. Pulsing. Steady. Unrepentant.
"We need to take it off," Amber said suddenly. "Whatever it is, it's dangerous. We need to remove it before—"
"No."
"Lisa—"
"No." Lisa's voice was flat. Final. "We're not touching it again. Not until we understand what it is and what it does. You touching it put Klee in a coma. I'm not taking that risk."
"But it's hurting her!"
"We don't know that." Lisa's fingers traced the air above the crystal, not quite touching. "Her heart rate is elevated, but stable. She's unconscious, but breathing. The necklace might be the problem, or it might be the only thing keeping her alive right now. We. Don't. Know."
Amber wanted to argue. Wanted to scream. But Lisa was right—she was always right about these things—and all Amber could do was sit there and shake and hate herself.
Minutes crawled past. Klee didn't wake.
Barbara arrived in a rush, her Hydro vision already glowing, healing energy pooling in her hands. "What happened? Eula said—oh, Archons."
She took in Klee's state and immediately moved to the bed, hands hovering over the little girl's body, diagnostic magic flowing.
"Her heart's racing," Barbara said after a moment. "And there's some kind of residual energy—Electro, maybe? But wrong. Corrupted." She looked at Lisa. "What caused this?"
"An accident," Lisa said simply. "Can you stabilize her?"
Barbara bit her lip. "I can try to calm her heart rate. But whatever this energy is, it's foreign. My healing can't purge it, only... soothe around it." She began to sing, soft and sweet, her Hydro energy washing over Klee in gentle waves.
Slowly, painfully slowly, color began to return to Klee's face. Her breathing deepened. The frightening rapid-fire pulse slowed to something more normal.
But she didn't wake.
"That's all I can do," Barbara said quietly. "She needs rest. And we need to figure out what caused this before it happens again."
"It won't," Amber said, vehement. "I won't let it. I'll never touch that thing again. I'll make sure no one does."
Lisa looked at her, something sad in her eyes. "Cutie, I don't think it's that simple."
"Why not?"
"Because Klee's been wearing that necklace for three days. And this is the first time it's reacted." Lisa stood, moved to the window, looked out at the city. "Which means either the necklace has a specific trigger we don't understand, or—"
"Or what?"
"Or someone just activated it."
The room fell silent.
Eula appeared in the doorway. "Jean's in a meeting with the Church. She won't be done for at least an hour. Do we wait?"
Lisa was quiet for a long moment, weighing options. "No," she finally said. "We keep this contained. Just us, for now. Eula, guard this door. No one gets in. Barbara, stay with Klee. Monitor her vitals. Amber—" She turned. "You're going to tell me everything about that necklace. Who gave it to Klee. Where it came from. Everything."
Amber said immediately. "I don't know... maybe... The one who gave klee that thing... perhaps... She gave matching necklaces to Klee and—"
She stopped.
Went pale.
"Oh no," Amber whispered. "Oh no, no, no."
"What?" Lisa was sharp now.
---
Half a world away, Yoimiya was having the best kind of afternoon.
The tide was low at Narukami Shores, exposing tide pools full of tiny fish and clusters of sea shells. The sun was warm but not too hot, and the wind smelled like salt and freedom. And best of all, she had her favorite audience: the neighborhood kids.
"Miss Yoimiya! Miss Yoimiya, look!" Saika, the little girl with pigtails, was waving a starfish. "I found a pink one!"
"That's so cool!" Yoimiya jogged over, crouching down to admire the discovery properly. "Pink ones are rare! You're super lucky!"
Matsuzaka, slightly older and convinced he was very sophisticated, was building an elaborate sand fortress. "Mine's going to have four towers and a moat and everything. It's going to be the best sand castle in all of Inazuma."
"Ambitious!" Yoimiya grinned. "I like it! What about you, Iwao? What are you—oh wow, that's a big crab!"
Iwao, the quiet one, was carefully holding a crab that was definitely too large for his small hands. The crab looked unimpressed with the situation.
"Be careful with the pinchers!" Yoimiya cautioned. "Those guys can—"
The crab pinched.
Iwao yelped and dropped it. The crab scuttled away, victorious.
"You okay?" Yoimiya checked his finger—red but not bleeding. "There we go, you're fine! That's a badge of honor, you know. Getting pinched by a crab means you're officially a beach explorer now!"
Iwao perked up. "Really?"
"Absolutely! I got pinched at least five times when I was your age. Probably more. Maybe ten times." She was absolutely making this up, but it made him smile, so it counted.
They played for another hour—racing across the sand, splashing in shallow water, telling stories. Yoimiya taught them a game from her own childhood, involving throwing smooth stones to skip across the water. Saika managed three skips and acted like she'd just won a Vision.
Eventually, they collapsed in a pile at the base of the beach, panting and happy. Yoimiya lay on her back, arms spread, looking up at the sky.
The crystal necklace rested against her collarbone, warm as always. She'd worn it every day since Klee left. Couldn't really explain why, except that it made her feel... connected. Like Klee wasn't quite so far away.
"Miss Yoimiya?" Saika had rolled onto her stomach, chin in her hands. "Do you miss Klee?"
Yoimiya's chest tightened. "Yeah," she said honestly. "Yeah, I do."
"She was really nice," Matsuzaka offered. "And loud. But nice-loud."
"She WAS loud!" Yoimiya laughed. "But that's part of her charm. She's got enthusiasm. That's important."
"Are you going to see her again?" Iwao asked quietly.
"I hope so." Yoimiya touched the crystal at her throat. "Someday. When she can visit again, or when I can—"
One heartbeat she was standing on the warm sand, laughing as the children argued over whose sandcastle tower was taller, the sea breeze tugging at her ponytail and carrying the sharp salt smell of the ocean—
The next heartbeat the crystal against her chest exploded with crimson lightning.
"—Ah?!"
The sound that tore out of Yoimiya's throat wasn't even a word.
Red electricity burst from the necklace like a detonating firework. It slammed straight into her chest, streaking across her skin in branching arcs that crawled over her shoulders and down her arms.
The world turned white with pain.
"A—AAAH!"
Her knees buckled.
She collapsed onto the sand so hard the impact knocked the breath from her lungs, both hands flying to the necklace as if she could rip it away.
She couldn't.
The crystal burned against her skin.
Not warm.
Not hot.
Burning.
It felt like someone had pressed molten metal against the center of her chest.
Lightning erupted again.
CRACK—
The bolt tore through her body like a spear of living fire.
Yoimiya screamed.
"Yoimiya!" Matsuzaka shouted.
Another pulse detonated from the crystal.
Yoimiya's back arched violently as the electricity ripped through her ribs, through her spine, through every nerve in her body.
"AAAAAAH—!"
The beach shook. The sand beneath them lurched like the ground had suddenly become water.
A violent tremor ripped through the shore, the earth convulsing as though something enormous had slammed into it from below.
Sand erupted upward in sudden geysers.
Buckets toppled.
Toy shovels skidded across the beach.
Matsuzaka's carefully sculpted sandcastle collapsed in an instant, its towers crumbling into a useless pile of grains.
"EARTHQUAKE!" Iwao cried.
Saika stumbled backward, staring at Yoimiya in horror.
"Yoimiya—?!"
Another bolt of red lightning erupted from the necklace.
It lashed across Yoimiya's shoulders and slammed down her arms, crackling across the sand with violent snaps.
She clawed at the necklace.
"Ghh—!"
Her fingers shook violently.
The crystal pulsed again.
Pulse.
Pulse.
Pulse.
Each wave sent fresh agony tearing through her body.
It wasn't just pain.
It felt like something inside her chest was being pulled apart, stretched in opposite directions until it might snap.
She doubled over in the sand, arms wrapped tightly around her middle.
"I—can't—!" she gasped.
Another tremor rolled through the beach.
The ground heaved so violently that the tide pools sloshed over their rocky edges, seawater spilling across the sand in rushing streams.
"Everyone back!" Matsuzaka shouted, grabbing one of the younger children by the arm. "Move away from her!"
"But Yoimiya—!" Saika cried.
A violent crack of lightning exploded from the necklace again.
Yoimiya screamed.
Her entire body convulsed as red electricity crawled across her skin in jagged glowing lines.
The air smelled sharp.
Burnt.
Like fireworks after they exploded.
"Make it stop—!" Yoimiya choked, her voice breaking.
The crystal flared brighter.
Then the pain changed.
For a moment, Yoimiya thought she was imagining it.
Because the agony inside her chest suddenly echoed.
Not weaker.
Not fading.
Echoing.
Layered beneath her own pain was another.
Someone else's scream.
Someone else's body tearing apart under the same red lightning.
Yoimiya's breath hitched.
"Wh—what…?"
Another pulse slammed through her ribs.
"AAH—!"
But this time the scream wasn't only hers.
Somewhere far away—
A child's voice cried out.
Not on the beach.
Not nearby.
Distant.
So distant it felt impossible.
But Yoimiya felt it.
The same lightning.
The same agony ripping through small bones and nerves and lungs struggling to breathe.
And suddenly she knew.
But the knowledge hit her like a bolt straight through her heart.
Her fingers tightened weakly in the sand.
"Klee—?"
Another tremor rolled through the shore.
The waterline rippled violently, waves shuddering outward as the earthquake continued to rumble beneath the island.
Yoimiya lifted her head slightly, her vision swimming with red and black spots.
The necklace pulsed again.
The pain surged again.
And somewhere across the ocean—
Klee screamed.
Yoimiya's voice cracked.
"Klee stop—!"
Another lightning pulse exploded through her chest.
"AAAAAH—!"
The ground shook once more.
Then—
Silence.
The lightning vanished.
The red glow died instantly.
Yoimiya collapsed face-first into the sand.
"Miss Yoimiya!" Matsuzaka was shaking her shoulder. "Miss Yoimiya, wake up! Please wake up!"
She tried to push herself up. Managed to get to her hands and knees. Her arms gave out and she fell again.
"I'm okay," she croaked. "I'm okay, I'm—"
She wasn't okay. Nothing was okay.
"What happened?" Saika was still crying, cradling her hand against her chest. "What was that?"
"I don't know." Yoimiya rolled onto her back, chest heaving. The sky above was too blue, too bright, too normal for what had just happened. "I don't—"
Yoimiya's hands was covered in red marks, branching patterns like lightning scars. Like Lichtenberg figures. They were already starting to fade, but they'd been there. Real.
She touched the necklace at her throat. It was still warm. Still glowing. Innocent as could be.
"We need to go home," Matsuzaka said, his voice shaky. "We need to tell someone. A grown-up. The police. Someone."
"No!" Yoimiya sat up too fast, her head spinning. "No, we can't—"
"But Miss Yoimiya—"
"Please." She looked at each of them, desperate. "Please don't tell anyone. Not yet. I need to figure out what this is first. If we tell the Tenryou Commission, they'll take the necklace, and if it's connected to—" She stopped. Swallowed hard. "I need to figure this out. Please. Trust me."
The kids looked at each other. Some silent communication passed between them.
"Okay," Saika said finally, small voice. "But you have to promise to tell us what's going on. Promise?"
"I promise." Yoimiya held out her pinky. Saika hooked hers around it. "I'll figure this out. I just need time."
They helped her stand. She was still shaking, but she could walk. They gathered their things—abandoned buckets, forgotten shells—and made their way off the beach.
Yoimiya looked back once. The sand was still disturbed where they'd been sitting, scorch marks in a rough circle around the spot where she'd collapsed.
The necklace pulsed against her chest. Warm. Steady. Alive.
And somewhere, far away, Klee was hurting too.
"I'm sorry," Yoimiya whispered to the wind. "Whatever this is, I'm so sorry."
The wind didn't answer.