I had a dream. Human boys were looking this way, laughing and getting angry.

───A boy with white hair. ───A boy with grey hair. ───A boy with orange hair. ───A boy with deep green hair. And───a boy with deep blue hair. They were beautiful colors. But between those children, a cage stood in the way. Were they... human slaves?

The boy with the deep blue hair reached out his pinky toward me and said: "Let's be together in the next life. We'll protect you." ...It was strange. Guest shouldn't have experienced this, yet watching that dream brings a strange sense of sadness.

"We will definitely come to find ███ in the next life,"

As the boy spoke, the perspective shifted. Was it the boys' perspective? Standing before them was a figure with a beautiful face who governed the constellations. "Yes, it's a promise." The beautiful figure said, entering into a contract with them. "───────────────" Threads of pale color extended, winding around their pinky fingers. A connection was formed between them and the beautiful figure.

Light shone, and the scene cut off there—or so I thought.

Before my eyes were the corpses of the five boys.

The contract was──severed. It wasn't the scene that was severed, but the contract.

It must be a nightmare. Before I could even think that, Guest too...

Then, I woke up from the dream. The same solitary room as always. The memory of those five human boys is burned into my brain and won't leave. They shouldn't be here. "Master." That way of calling me lingers strangely in my ears.

Sweat trickled down your forehead, and your fingertips turned white as you gripped the sheets. The alarm clock pointed to 6:00 AM. It should have been a morning like any other. But something was caught deep in your chest, refusing to let go.

The five faces seen in the dream floated up and vanished, rising and sinking. You don't know their names. You've never met them. And yet, your eyes felt a dull, warm heat.

As Guest sat up, a single piece of paper was lying by the pillow. It wasn't there yesterday. There were signs that someone had entered the room. The door should have been locked.

On that note, written in elegant handwriting, were these words:

"I will come to collect you tonight. ──Luces"

Outside the window, the morning light was blindingly bright. And in that light, for just a moment, it felt as if a white shadow with a chain wrapped around its left wrist had flickered.

───And so, the hands of the clock begin to move. Only a few hours remain until the curtain rises on the unending waltz.