LIGHT 08: Becoming Used to It

LIGHT 08: Becoming Used to It

Lumira moved through the outer edge passage while supporting Elia.

The passage had not completely collapsed. The stone walls were cracked in places, and fine fractures remained across the floor. Even so, people came and went through it as if it were an ordinary road.

Small distortions occurred intermittently.

The outline of a wall shifted sideways for a single instant, and the shadow cast on the floor followed later than the feet that made it. A pillar that should have been at the far end of the passage looked close for the span of a blink.

But no one avoided them.

No one stopped walking.

Residents carried their belongings, continued their conversations, and passed beside the distortions as if it were only natural.

Lumira tightened her hand slightly around Elia’s shoulder.

Something was wrong.

So many distortions still remained.

And yet the response around them was far too quiet.

Elia’s steps were still unstable. Even when she seemed to be walking, the axis of her body lagged faintly behind. Her breathing was shallow, and her gaze wavered as if being drawn toward the distortions around her.

She was looking again.

Lumira quickened her pace just a little.

The three guardian bodies walked as if surrounding them.

One watched ahead.

One watched behind.

The last one spread its gaze across the entire passage.

The luminous patterns running over their dark garments blinked faintly.

Then, one of the passersby walking ahead suddenly stopped.

Still holding the bundle in their hands, they looked right. Then left. It seemed, for one brief moment, as though they had lost the direction they were supposed to go.

The footsteps around them did not stop.

After a few seconds, that person blinked softly and began walking again as if nothing had happened.

No one called out.

No one looked back.

They were used to it.

That sensation spread thinly through the entire passage.

A display device beside the passage glowed faintly.

Minor recognition fluctuation.

The words appeared for only a few seconds, then began to waver. The display shifted into automatic correction processing and returned to its normal state with a pale glow.

A facility administrator nearby had confirmed the display.

But they took no special action.

Pale light flowed across the record board in their hands, and the event was quietly sorted into the processed column.

They would not stop it.

Lumira let out a short breath while still looking at the display.

One of the guardian bodies slowly raised its face.

The light pattern across its chest strengthened slightly.

Near the bodies of the surrounding residents, very faint light reactions were scattered. They were not strong. But there was more than one.

Several.

Farther ahead, too.

Among the people moving through the passage, weak abnormal light reactions were spreading.

The people themselves did not notice.

The guardian body turned its gaze toward the processing records on the wall. The number reflected in the records was clearly lower than the actual number of reactions.

Too slow.

The processing was not keeping up.

Or were they being cut away from the beginning?

Lumira tried to move Elia a little closer to the edge of the passage.

But Elia’s gaze was fixed on a small distortion trembling nearby.

The distortion lifted a few white particles into the air for a single instant, then disappeared.

That was all it was.

And still, it took Elia time to look away.

She was being drawn in.

Lumira pulled her body closer.

Elia’s response came slightly late.

Her body moved.

But only her gaze remained with the distortion.

Near the passage, two residents were standing in conversation.

One of them said something.

The other was about to nod when their words stopped.

Their mouth remained slightly open.

Only their eyes drifted through empty air for several seconds.

It seemed as though they had lost, halfway through, what they had been talking about.

A brief silence fell.

But the other person pointed nothing out.

The one who had stopped did not look troubled either. In the next moment, they shifted to a completely different topic, and the conversation continued as if nothing had happened.

No one picked up the unease.

That was the strangest part of all.

The management record display updated.

Minor fluctuation.

Normal processing.

Observation only.

That was all.

Farther down the passage, another small distortion was born.

The air beside the wall caved in thinly, and several white particles floated up. A resident walking nearby did not even try to avoid the distortion. They only shifted their footing slightly and passed by as if stepping over an ordinary bump in the road.

The number of distortions was increasing.

One.

Two.

Farther ahead as well.

Even so, people continued living.

Someone carried a load.

Someone walked holding a child.

Someone kept talking.

No one ran.

No one fled.

Lumira looked around.

The abnormalities had not disappeared.

People had simply stopped stopping for them.

In the middle of it.

Deep within Elia’s eyes, white light trembled for one brief instant.

The reaction was far too short.

But the three guardian bodies responded at the same time.

It was coming.

One turned its gaze forward.

One looked at Elia.

The last spread its vigilance across the whole passage.

Lumira adjusted her hold on Elia.

In the next instant, space at the far end of the passage warped quietly.

There was no sound.

No scream from anyone.

Only the scenery that should have been there slowly shifted into another position.

A new small distortion had appeared as if nothing at all had happened.

One resident crossed in front of that distortion without stopping.

Space was trembling.

White particles were floating.

Even so, that person did not even turn their eyes toward it.

And immediately after passing through.

Only their back returned to its original position one beat late.

— Lumi 🪄💕

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