After returning to his own room, Finn didn't bother closing the door behind him. After all, he knew Iris would enter right after he did.

Iris realized this and hesitated before stepping inside. "… You knew I wanted to talk to you?"

"It wasn't exactly hard to figure out," Finn replied. "I could smell food inside your bowl, yet you still left the table and headed for the elevator right after I began walking up the stairs."

"… Hehe, your senses are quite sharp, huh?" She giggled softly, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Just come in."

Iris did as told, shutting the door tight as she rolled her wheelchair into Finn's room. She set up a sound-blocking barrier enchantment around the room so that no one else could hear their conversation inside.

"So? What did you want to talk to me about?" Finn asked, sitting in his own chair and facing the direction of Iris's voice.

"I was just… somewhat skeptical after hearing your explanation of your powers," she replied after some thought. "For example, how did you find out about this power you had, and how to actually use it?"

"From when I first obtained the Oculus Angelica from you," Finn explained briskly.

"But at the time, you didn't even know what Angelicas were. For all you knew, you could've simply awakened the same Angelica as me by chance… unless you were only pretending to not know anything about the paranormal?"

At this, Finn fell silent for a brief moment. This girl… she was sharp. He managed to fool everyone else with his lie, but Iris saw the flaw.

Luckily, he had already expected this beforehand and prepared a Plan B in case someone confronted him about this.

"When you first told me I also awakened the Oculus Angelica, I was already skeptical. I never really believed in luck or coincidences, so I found it weird how both of us just happened to have the same Angelica. My theory was confirmed when I patted Archon's shoulders one day to comfort him — inadvertently gaining his Angelica as well. It was then that I finally figured it out."

Iris seemed to still be suspicious, but she couldn't really argue back against this statement he made. Finn, knowing this, decided that it was finally his turn.

"Now that you've asked your question… I have some of my own for you."

"Huh?" Iris blinked several times in surprise and confusion.

"Firstly, you claim to have been saved by this squadron in a dire situation, just like me. But if that's the case… how do you know so much about Angelicas and such already, even to the point where you are able to help someone else awaken theirs?"

"E-Eh? Well… er, I read a lot of the books in this house. They have a lot about Angelicas and Abilities written in them…"

'Trying to take advantage of my blindness? Nice try,' Finn thought triumphantly.

"Is that so?" He tapped his finger on the desk. "If that's the case… why didn't Archon say anything about that when I asked him about learning new Abilities?"

"U-Um… that's…"

"… You're a horrible liar, Iris."

Sure, Finn was one to talk, but at least he couldn't get exposed like this.

"…" Iris fell silent, realizing any attempts to cover it up now would only lead to Finn being more suspicious of her.

"Back when you first introduced yourself to me, you were surprised when I didn't recognize your real name. Why is that?"

"That's because my bloodline… it's somewhat special. I was planning on telling you the truth when we first met, since I saw many similarities between us, but after seeing that your hatred was directed solely towards Ghosts, I changed my mind."

"… Are you a Ghost or something?"

Iris looked away and clutched her wheelchair's armrests uncomfortably. "Before I go any further, promise me one thing — you won't get mad, no matter what."

"So you're a Ghost."

"I-I haven't even said anything yet!"

"Your response was enough to confirm it," Finn replied calmly. "But if you're worried about me trying to kill you, don't be. You don't seem the same as the ones I hate."

Iris smiled sadly. "I'm grateful. But once you hear my story… I'm not certain you'll feel the same way."

"Let's test that theory."

Rather than being angry, her words only served to make Finn even more curious and intrigued.

"Tell me about your past, Iris."

*****

(Iris's POV)

My name is Iris Sylvoir. My bloodline was formed of both human and Ghost — though we were liked by neither side.

Thousands of years ago, before the First Expungement, a single intelligent Ghost came forward to our world. She was my ancestor, and had tried to alert humanity of the impending threat — tried protecting it against the calamity that was to come.

Unfortunately, the escape from the paracausal plane to this one had injured her greatly and used up nearly all of her power. She was found washed ashore at a village, picked up by a common young fisherman. He had never before seen a girl so beautiful, so pure. Her snow-white skin and similarly-colored hair were more than enough to entrance anyone, along with two dazzling turquoise eyes that reflected the ocean in them.

The man was utterly charmed. He soon realized the girl was in a dire state and quickly brought her back to the village doctor to be cured. Unfortunately, she was of no help, and claimed that she had no idea what was wrong with the girl. The fisherman was dejected, but he did not give up. He took her back to his home and slowly nursed her back to health.

He didn't know any medical skills, but he did know how to take care of someone. Everyday, he spoonfed the girl food, water, and respectfully had the doctor wash her body and change her clothes rather than doing it himself. Since there was only bed in his humble home, he let the girl sleep on it; himself only sleeping on a rug on the floor.

As the weeks gone by with no sign of her recovering, however, everyone else in the village — even the doctor — began to get tired of this. They tried convincing the fisherman that it was of no use, but he didn't listen and continued treating the girl with utmost care every single day.

His heart was kind, devoted — and that devotion paid off one day.

Unbeknownst to everyone in the village, the Ghost-girl fed on kindness — not human food. The more dedication the man poured into her, the faster she could recover. And that she did.

As the sun rose one day, the girl at last opened her eyes. Her powers had completely recovered, and her energy was fully restored. She turned her head and saw the fisherman who had taken care of her for the past few months, laying on the rug while sleeping peacefully.

Before she knew it, a tear had streaked out of her eye, falling on the blanket and staining it wet. Although she was unconscious, she was well aware of all the kindness she was being fed. Without a doubt, the source of all that was this man.

In that instant, the girl fell in love. To think a human could be so kind-hearted to someone of a foreign race…

… But that hope was soon shattered as she realized the fisherman didn't know she wasn't human.

After the fisherman woke up that day, the two embraced and shared their love. They began strolling around the village, laughing and having as much fun as one could. But as the Ghost-girl did so, she began hearing stories from the villagers.

Stories of the paranormal, used to scare away children. Stories that painted Ghosts as evil creatures who wanted to devour anything and everything. The girl soon realized that if the fisherman ever found out she was a Ghost, their relationship — their love — would be shattered. But if she didn't reveal she was a Ghost herself, no one would believe her about the nearing apocalypse.

Torn between saving humanity and her own love, she was forced to make a decision.

But alas, she just couldn't. She tried and tried to tell herself that this selfish love of hers was nothing compared to all the lives that would be lost should the Ghosts come through, but every time she made up her mind to tell her husband the truth, that warm, friendly smile of his always made her swallow the words right back down.

And before she knew it, the calamity she had tried so hard to warn humanity about was already here.

By this time, she was already pregnant with the fisherman's child. But unfortunately, the child would grow up never knowing his father.

The Perfect Outbreak — the First Expungement — wiped out the entire planet in the matter of a few days. But for the village, it didn't take that long.

After all, they were right where the Outbreak occurred.

The villagers tried to fight, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the paranormal attributes of the Ghosts and their sheer numbers. Their useless pitchforks and knives couldn't even hit the Ghosts, much less kill them. The humans were slaughtered, one after another.

As the Ghost-girl watched her dear friends and family fall, one by one, the realization sank in that this was all her fault. It was as if there was a whisper in her head, speaking horror to her.

'This wouldn't have happened if you just warned them beforehand.'

'As long as they went underground, the Ghosts wouldn't have been able to reach them.'

'This is all your fault.'

'All… your… fault.'

The girl's body began to shake. She lost vision of what was happening around her as she succumbed to her dark emotions, leaving her along with the baby vulnerable amidst the chaos. A Ghost, seeing this, leaped towards her with its sharp claws, preparing to tear her apart.

But in that moment, a single man jumped out between the two, blocking the attack instead. The creature's claws sank into the man's fragile body, piercing through effortlessly.

The Ghost-girl's frightful eyes widened even further as she saw this scene, and all time seemed to stop as the man slowly turned his head around. Despite the blood dripping out the corner of his mouth and his imminent death, he smiled at his wife.

"… Live."

The Ghost-girl snapped out of her trance and scrambled to her feet, dashing in the opposite direction as she wiped the tears off her face, vanishing into the forest.

The fisherman, seeing this, gently closed his eyes and accepted his death.