Why?

-----Yui's POV

Yui: "Why? Why?!"

The moment I entered the mansion, Natalie flung herself at me, bringing me into a soft embrace. At first I wanted to just break free and run off to my room to vent all my frustrations, but Natalie held me tighter the more I tried to break free, eventually leading me to just accept it. I hate showing such a side of myself like this to people, especially Kaede. I can only imagine the pain she's feeling right now... But, I cannot stop these tears...

Natalie: "I'm sure she has her reasons, Ellen."

She gently comforts me, caressing my head as she holds me tight as my tears continue to stain her uniform.

Yui: "But why go so far? Does she think it's okay to go and die?"

I felt an overwhelming amount of happiness when I reunited with Kaede. I thought it was a dream, but when I woke up, there she was, right there by my side as if to say that this isn't a dream. I don't think we'll get a second chance at being together like this, which is why I don't want her to go.

Yui: "Does she not feel the same way I do?"

Natalie: "Do you honestly believe that?"

Yui: "..."

Natalie: "Back there, I could see clearly that Kaede didn't want to do this."

Yui: "Then!-"

Natalie: "But she feels this is necessary to do. And I can already imagine her eating herself out from making you storm off like this."

She continues to pat my head as we've now garnered the attention of the other maids and butlers, but none of them choose to interfere and just quietly watches from the sidelines.

Yui: "But I don't think it's necessary at all... It's not her fight to begin with. And if she's worried about my brother, then she shouldn't... He's safe, so-"

Natalie: "And maybe she thinks it'd be better to properly save him. He's your family, so of course she'd try and look out for your family. She has the strength to do so, you know that."

Yui: "I know that... But still. I don't want to lose her again."

Natalie: "Then talk to her. Say to her what you just said to me."

Yui: "...She'll still choose to go."

Natalie: "That's not the point. I'm sure she wants to talk as well. If she does plan to go and fight, I'll bet that she doesn't want to leave things the way they are now."

She's right. If I choose to just hide away and letting her go off, it'll feel all the more painful to lose her, having our last time spent together to be, "that." I end up exhaling a little heavier onto Natalie's chest as she in turn loosens her grasp around me, allowing me to pull my face away from her.

Natalie: "Okay?"

Yui: "Mm. I'll go and-"

Natalie: "Ah! Not right now. Give her a bit of time to process everything. Besides, we need to get your face cleaned up."

She then wipes a couple stray tears from my cheeks with her thumb as she gives me a bright smile.

Yui: "Thank you."

Natalie: "You're welcome, my lady."

Maybe she's right about waiting. She said to give Kaede time to process, but I feel like I need time to collect my thoughts. I want to talk to her, but I have no idea how to go about doing so. I'm afraid I'll just lash out again and make things worse, so maybe I'll try and cool off for now.

Iris: "Good work, Natalie."

Suddenly, mom barged in through the open door behind us, with Neri following suit.

Yui: "Mom?"

Iris: "I had a little chat with Kaede, everything will be fine."

Yui: "Did you convince her to stay?"

Iris: "Fufu. That's your job, honey. I just told her that I won't be notifying the queen until you two have sorted this out."

Yui: "T-thank you."

Iris: "Mhmm! Now go and clean yourself up. Dinner is right around the corner."

Natalie: "Yes, right this way."

I end up following Natalie to my bathroom as she helps me wash my face. I could've done it myself, but I let her do as she pleases. While she straightens out my hair, I end up looking down at my palms as the red marks from before are still visible, even stinging a bit. I guess I didn't know how angry I had gotten, but this only reminds me that I need to trim my nails, I could've easily drew blood back there and caused a whole new problem.

Natalie: "Calmed down a bit?"

Yui: "Mm."

Natalie: "Just don't think silly things like that again. Kaede would be pissed to hear that from you."

Yui: "I know."

It was rude of me to even try and say that she doesn't love me. I was just so heated that it nearly leaked out. Even now I feel sick to my stomach for even thinking such a thing.

Yui: "...I don't think I want to eat."

Natalie: "You've barely eaten all day. You have to."

Yui: "Mmmm."

She gets a bit more aggressive with the brushing of my hair, as if reprimanding me to not run away from dinner.

Yui: "Fine~ I'll eat."

Natalie: "Good."

I guess I understand how Nick feels a bit now. Alice is always busy helping my mom so their time together is quite limited. If Kaede does end up leaving to go and fight, then this pain I'm feeling might be similar to what Nick's feeling.

Natalie: "Okay! All done~"

She done my hair up in a pony tail, just like how I liked it; not too tight and at the perfect height.

Yui: "Thank you."

Natalie: "I'll go help out with dinner. I can call for you when it's ready."

Yui: "Mm."

And with that, we went our separate ways, with Natalie going down the stairs and with me entering my bedroom. I stare at the bed for a few moments as I felt the urge to cry into a pillow, but that'd only waste all the effort Natalie just did for me. Instead I walk out to the balcony to take in the evening sea breeze. I close my eyes, taking in a deep breath before exhaling slowly, trying to clear my mind. I open back my eyes as I stare out at the glistening sea as the sun is nearing the horizon.

Yui: "Please, don't go."

I'm probably saying this to both Kaede and the sun right now, as my mind quickly sees the sun as Kaede leaving me, it's warmth fading, only to bring about a cold winter night. She says that she won't die, but that only makes me worry even more. You can't tell me that isn't what you call a death flag, right? Or wait, maybe if I'm conscious about the death flag, then maybe it won't happen? Ah! But now I've double jinxed it! Cut it out, Yui! Yeah, I need to convince her to stay... But at the very least, I need her to know how I feel. If at the end she still decides to go along with it, then I'll just have to accept it. I love her after all, isn't that what partners should be like? Sticking with each other even through tough times like this? It sucks, but I can't let this hurt us.

And with a new found determination, I close the sliding door before exiting my room. Natalie hasn't called for me, but I'm done brooding over my thoughts, I know what I need to do.

-----Mai's POV

Erytheia: "Hmmm. Interesting."

Mai: "Right?"

Apparently, Erytheia got bored and came to chat with me, but with all this drama going on, I end up showing her what's taking place between Kaede and Yui.

Erytheia: "Mortals sure are fascinating at times. Not that I can understand that. Why worry about such a stupid thing in the first place?"

Mai: "Hehe. Might be stupid for us, but time is quite important to these creatures. And in turn, they value ones that take up that time."

Erytheia: "Hmmm. Yeah I still don't get it."

Mai: "Maybe you'll figure it out when you're older."

Erytheia: "Pfft! Like that will help, haha."

It's weird. Erytheia reminds me of when I was before all this happened. I had the same perspectives. But after being stuck with Kaede and Selene, I've grown to learn so many new things. Even know I can feel Kaede's pain, desperately wanting to run over to Yui, yet she's not.

Erytheia: "If I was Kaede, I'd just charge into Inasdale and wreck havoc!"

Mai: "Isn't that what you want to see?"

Erytheia: "Of course! It's the only thing we're fascinated by, right? We can't die, so watching them kill themselves in battle is quite entertaining to watch."

Mai: "You're sounding like quite the psychopath there."

Erytheia: "You're one to talk. Didn't you give magic to humans because you thought it'd be fun? You knew more blood would be shed because of it."

Mai: "You got me there, hehe."

It's true that I did it as a form of entertainment, and it did prove to be quite effective, but after being bound to Kaede and Selene, I know see death in a whole new light. Of course that doesn't change what I did in the past.

Mai: "But why don't you create your own source of entertainment if you're this bored?"

Erytheia: "Only you can manage this world. My powers are quite limited."

Mai: "I was talking about your world."

Erytheia: "Ughh. I don't even want to look at that world. The humans there are truly scum. It was fun after the first 14 or so centuries, but they've really disappointed me lately. The ones here are a lot more enjoyable to watch."

Mai: "Hey, I'm sure there's plenty of humans there that are interesting. Take these two for example. I took them from your world after all."

Erytheia: "Hmph. That's cheating though. Of course someone would react like that when they're thrown into a whole new world."

Mai: "Hehe. I guess you have a point."

It does make me jealous now that I think about it. They can experience so many things and when things get boring they don't need to wait around for an eternity and just die as they please. I still remember the last moments of Kaede's life back in Erytheia's world. The way she just quickly decided to end her life right then and there all for the sake of her time with Yui. I can only imagine what she felt like going through all that.