I gasped, my body quivering my eyes started twinkling like stars. My father died during a surgery for the Fire Moth? Why?

"And Kalpas is working for them," she condescendingly remarked. "The organization that ruthlessly annihilated your precious father."

Why would the Fire Moth do this to my father? What did he ever do? Why would Kalpas work for the Fire Moths? Maybe Kalpas isn't the one for me. He despised me the entire time. Spending time with him was futile.

Y/N... hope I'll never see you again.

All the times we spent together, hanging out at a bridge while eating delicious dango during a beautiful sunset, playing fun arcade games and winning cute plushies, eating at a bar, decorating pancakes together. Kalpas never reminisced them.

I ran from Isabella, my eyes filled with tears, trying to get away from the truth. "No, no. Why does it have to be like this?"

I swerved directions as fast as possible. But then I froze abruptly at the unexpected sight of a figure laid on a platform.

I stared at the unconscious figure. Just from observing, he was still breathing normally. But I swiftly kneeled beside him and checked his pulse. I wiped my eyes with my sleeves and gazed at his body with vague bitterness. There was clouds of dust on him, it looked like it rained chalk on him.

Should I wake him up or leave him there?
He must loathe me, but leaving someone to suffer would make me just as bad as him. I am an S-Rank Valkryja after all. So I shook him awake.

"Hey, wake up," I said, averagely shaking his arms. He showed no sign of awaking. Instead, I heard more snoring.

"There's a fire starting! Wake up!" I shook him harder. Again, no sign of awaking. I'd consider screaming, but I bet he'd sleep through a giant volcano loudly erupting. I screamed anyway.

"KALPAS. WAKE. UP!" I yelled from the top of my lungs, violently shaking him.

To my surprise, he woke up after my remark. "Ah...? Wha!" Kalpas regained his conscious and saw me annoyingly shaking him, "Schicksal Valkryja, stop!" He gripped my wrist tightly.

"What?" I uttered, turning my head away.

He turned his head away from me and released his tight hold of my wrist. "Nothing."

"What happened?" I asked.

Kalpas stayed silent. Then he scoffed and explained to me about a puppet draining his energy and he tried to attack her, but she swapped the gravity and he fell instead.

"I was falling too," I commented. "The puppets are capable of reversing gravity. There has to be something behind all of these puppets."

"Did a puppet drain your energy too?"

"No," I almost told him about the courtroom until my encounter with Isabella about my father's death came back to my mind.

Kalpas stood up on his feet. "I'm going to explore this stupid theatre," he roughly said, walking away from me. I felt disheartened as I sat still watching Kalpas' figure grow smaller and wondering if he'd just leave me here. Suddenly he stops.

"Are you coming or not?"

"My back hurts," I stated. I wasn't lying though. It's painful to fall flat on your back from high surfaces.

"Damfool valkryja, Why didn't you say so?" Kalpas moved towards me and picked me up from the marble floor. My shirt wrinkles against his charred shirt while he looped his arm under my thighs, slightly rubbing them and behind my back.

I panicked, staring at his arms around my thighs. My palms sweat profusely, "Kalpas, what're you doing?!"

He leaned in towards me, his scent and touch warming up my body. "Carrying you."

I opened my mouth to speak, but only silence remained. My mind.

"Come with me. I'm not leaving you here," 
Kalpas whispers smoothly in my ears, his hard mask almost touching them.

I stared at him in disbelief, wide-eyed. The feelings I had for him started bubbling up crazily like fizzy soda. Is this some sort of fairytale?!

I steadily wrapped my arms around his neck, reluctantly getting comfortable in this position. Kalpas tensed up at this, but he gradually seemed to get comfortable.

"Okay," I nodded my head. "Let's go."

                     
...
 
"Ah. Well if it isn't the reunited couple," said the puppet that stood beside a long red carpet staircase. She awkwardly stared at the position we were in.

"Couple?" Kalpas grunted as he looks away. "What the hell do you want?" He gravely asked. I felt his grip around me tighten a bit more.

"I just want to say, we don't need you two anymore! We have already achieved 1000 humans into puppets of sorrow, despair, madness, hatred, and the desire to be destroyed, imprisoned, and dominated."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "The puppets we saw throughout the theatre... they're... they-they're humans?"

"They were humans. But they've realized humanity's love and hope is good-for-nothing. So they gave up, and turned to resentment against the world. This is how each one of our stories end. Hopeless. Unloved. Lonely."

My heart started racing. I almost became one of these puppets. Dominated puppets that only have misery left in them.

"Why do you spotlight human trauma and pain? You choose to ignore the good times they had in their lives. You control humanity to give in, but you ignore their inner voice," Kalpas got up to the puppet's face, "I- We'll free mankind from you damn honkai minions by destroying this theatre!"

Huh?! Did Kalpas just... ?

"Hah, fine. The final stage has been set up. Come on! Up next... is the war between the heroic couple and the malicious!" The puppet waved to the staircase layered with a long red carpet with gold trims ahead of her. I half expected glitter to appear.

"Stop calling us a couple. I'm not even dating anyone!" Kalpas angrily spat. While he muttered, my mind lingered with thoughts of the puppets words. War?

I looked expectantly at the staircase, waiting to climb up in Kalpas' manly arms. But nothing happened. A single step hadn't been made forward until I noticed Kalpas hesitating to climb the staircase before of him.

"What are you waiting for?" The puppet glowered. "Hurry and walk. You don't want to miss the final stage! It will be so exciting to watch you both fail!"

Kalpas turned his head to the puppet and sent her a threatening scowl. It wasn't visible, but I could feel that it was there. Anyhow, he had not move an inch towards the polished staircase. Instead, he inspected the room, his head darting in all directions.

Is Kalpas scared? I've never seen him hesitate like this. He's never afraid, even when he should have been.

I leaned in and brushed his shoulder, "Kalpas, we should go. This might be our only chance," I softly soothed, my lips pressed against his visible ears.

Kalpas' ears were now painted cherry red.

"... No. I'm not stupid like you to make a move like that," he grumbled. My heart skipped twice as many beats as he leaned in so close until his mask touched my nose. "Something there is going to hurt you."

My heart fluttered despite his unnecessary comment. Kalpas has never been this close to me. Our motorcycle rides don't even come close.

A high pitched voice interrupted our moment and fixed a dirty look on us. "Can you two just wrap this up? The curtains will open soon, and arriving late is considered rude."

Kalpas let out an annoyed 'hmph'. "Let's go," and we finally walked up the stairs. With me still wrapped in his arms.

"Did your back recover?"

I guess I didn't need to check, or say yes/no, or move my head because Kalpas firmly touched my back.

And by firmly, I mean... he pushed against my back. Really hard.

I yelped in pain, "Ow, stop!"

He seems to be taken aback by my blaring remark, "I didn't even push you."

"I'm fine. I don't think my back can recover in such a short amount of time."

"What happened to your back?"

"I fell. And tripped."

"From where?"

"Skyscraper." I hope he doesn't ask if I can still walk.

"What?! That high?" I could trace a small hint of astonishment in his voice.

"No," I admitted. "I fell twice from the sky and a platform."

Kalpas directed his head at my body. I could feel his fiery gaze burning a hole in my stomach. "...can I check for...injuries?" The tone of his voice seemed suspiciously... unsteady. It sounded like he was confessing to me.

"...Sure?" I accepted his offer, unsure of his  real intentions.

THUD! I fell to the ground and landed hard on my bottom. Kalpas crouched beside me. His hand reaches the skin of my wrists, gently rubbing against them. He carefully (or at least tried to) rolled up my long white sleeves.

And then all hell broke loose.

On my forearm, was the tiniest scratch of a deep, bloody red line. And—well, the tiniest amount of blood was seeping from it. Which happened to leave a tiny, but noticeable stain on my sleeves.

But this scratch could be easily cured with some ointment cream and a bandage. Whether or not someone was a distance from me, by a hairs breadth nobody would detect it, except Kalpas.

"A scratch!?" Kalpas was enraged. "Who did this to you?!" The temperature in here grew hotter. Kalpas clenched his fist and intently gazed at it. "Do I need to punch someone—?"

"No, no, I'm fine! I only fell from high surfaces and came unscrat—"

"Tsk! You can die from a fall like that. And look, you're bleeding! These puppets will kill you if—!"

"Shh, shh," I softly hushed, lowering my palms at Kalpas to appease him. Surprisingly, he obediently hushed and crossed his arms, letting out a small 'what'. "Kalpas. Pull yourself together and listen to me. This is only a little scratch-"

He was now on the edge of panic. "This is not just a little scratch! An infection can grow when it's not aided, and you can get sick! I need to call that Doctor Su!" He began digging in his pockets.

"Wait, it's only a faint scratch I got from falling. No one here physically injured me. And besides, the scratch isn't that painful," I rubbed the scratch to show Kalpas, only to grimace from the sharp burn it reciprocated.

...

Kalpas paused searching for his phone. His breathing sounded heavier and heavier, but then it slowed down. My shoulders relax. Just when I thought he had calmed down, a long, long, hearty-laugh was pulled at my abject attempt.

"You... heh... you think I'm dumb?" I flinched back. As he laughed loudly enough for my ears to go deaf, his glare was also setting me on fire. I took deep breaths while he rambled. "I know what burns and what doesn't burn—"

He ceased his rambling just as quick as his body tensed up. Kalpas quickly looked down on his right hand, to find another smaller pair on top of it. "Hah?!"

"Huh?" I tilted my head, confused by his reaction. "I'll be okay, as long as you're with me," I squeezed his strong hand. It felt soft and less tense than the other times we touched. "So... can we go upstairs?"

...

...

...

"...Fine," Kalpas grumbled. The theatre was still the same before, and the puppet that was waiting below us seemed to have vanished.

Before I could move a step forward, I was forcefully pulled into someone's arms.

Sighing of relief from who it was, I wrapped my arms around his neck. His arms rubbed and looped around my legs and back.

"You said your back hurts," Kalpas stated. "And I'm not done checking," he smugly added. My eyebrows shot up. His smugness rubbed my face, and he could evidently see there was redness rising in my neck. My cheeks now burned as soon as I feel his metal gloves smoothly graze against my pants. "Can you still walk?"

Noooo! I don't want him to let go of me. When was the last time we had skinship like this? His touch feels so good. I simply lied, "N-No."

"So you want me to still carry you?" He leaned in again, his delicious cologne becoming my new oxygen, "to never let go of you?"

"Yes," I said, staring hard at him.
My eyes widen in realization. Wait—what am I doing?!

I looked away in embarrassment. I let my intrusive feelings overwhelm me, which caused me to act like this, as an S-Rank Schicksal Valkryja.

Kalpas seems to have realize what he'd said, because he quickly changed the subject. He grumbled. "Let's just go upstairs," his neck feels hotter against my arms.

None of us said a word during the rest of the awkward excursion.