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now, the three girls sat in yujin's kitchen, the atmosphere awkward, considering the circumstances. yujin had equipped the silver-haired girl with a thick, fluffy towel and a mug of steaming hot chocolate, like she had done to yeseo years ago. the silver-haired girl sipped the beverage carefully, water dripping all over the counter. yeseo, too, accepted a mug of cocoa which sat untouched on the countertop in front of her. the younger girl stared at the newcomer her eyes wide with wonder.

"so, what's your name... stranger?" yujin went about fixing herself a quick cup of coffee, the kitchen knife sitting an arms length away. she knew none of them would be sleeping that night and soyoung had always preferred to pull all-nighters caffeinated.

"I- I would tell you if I knew, I promise." the tall girl gulped down her drink before setting down her mug. "I'm harmless, I just... can't remember anything."

studying the girl carefully, yeseo saw that she was quite a mess. patches of mud stuck to her pink shirt, which now bore tears all over. there was blood seeping down the side of the girl's neck, which yeseo saw came from a bloody gash in her forehead. her hair was adorned with small twigs and an occasional leaf, leaving yeseo all the more curious about this mystery girl's origins.

"I guess our first step would be to find out who you are then." yujin refilled the girl's mug, which she accepted again gratefully. "you poor thing, you really are in no condition to be sitting out in the rain..."

the girl traced yujin's glance to her own forehead. she stuck up her hand and brushed it against her forehead, wincing as she pulled it away, laced with blood. "oww, how did I not notice I was bleeding?"

yujin smiled sympathetically before calling over to yeseo, who was still sitting there in awe. "yeseo, dear, can you grab the first aid kit from the upstairs bathroom?" yeseo replied with a quick nod and sped off. whilst waiting, yujin directed the girl to search her pockets. "do you have your phone? or an ID card? or anything which could possibly bear your name?"

the silver-haired girl quickly scanned her own pockets, returning with nothing to bear.

yujin sighed, visibly disappointed. she really didn't know what she'd been expecting.

a soft patter of footsteps echoed from the stairs as yeseo returned quickly, holding a large white box. growing terribly curious by where the silver-haired girl had come from, yeseo turned to yujin. "unnie, I'm going outside for a moment, can you pass the the torch and the knife?" seeing yujin's concerned face, she quickly added, "I'm just going to the front yard, it won't be a minute, I promise."

her elder sister nodded reluctantly, passing over the supplies, listening to yeseo's slippers patter across the wooden floor as she rushed out the door. "grab the umbrella too!" she called after yeseo.

turning her attention back to the injured girl, yujin opened the box and quickly got to work.

wincing between words as yujin applied antibacterial liquid to her wound, the silver girl grinned. "she sure is an energetic kid; how old is she?"

smiling at the compliment, yujin replied, "17 years, she'll be 18 in two months." she retrieved a roll of bandages from the first aid box before she continued. "I haven't properly introduced myself either, have I? I'm choi yujin, 26 years old, nice to meet you and sorry about waving a knife at you."

the silver girl shook her head stiffly as yujin wrapped bandages around her forehead. "nah, it's my bad for showing up like that. I'd tell you who I am if I knew, but..."

the two shared a chuckle before the kitchen reverted back to silence. watching the silver girl carefully, yujin could tell she was itching to ask something and nodded softly, encouraging her.

"so... If you don't mind me asking... where are your parents? " hearing the question, yujin immediately tensed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, you don't have to answer, I know that was a bit out of hand, I-" 

yujin grimaced, and shook her head, leading the flustered girl to quieten down. "no, that's a reasonable question. they, well... they're gone. have been since 2013. my younger sister too."

the silver girl mouthed a silent 'oh'. "I'm assuming you're wondering about yeseo then?" which was responded to with a nod by the stranger who gathered yeseo had been the energetic girl from before. "she's not actually my sister. she showed up at my front step the same day my parents... died." yujin choked out the last word but continued. "her parents were killed too, so I took her in and she's been living here ever since."

"oh... I'm sorry for bringing that up..."

yujin shook her head again at the apology. "no, no, it's alright, you didn't know. besides, I'm glad the universe sent yeseo to me... she's basically my new younger sister now, haha, and I'm really glad she's been with me since..."

"I- I think I have a sister too, maybe a brother, but I don't remember." the silver-haired girl said in reply, to which yujin nodded solemnly.

"it'll be hard remembering under this sort of circumstances, but yeseo and I will try our best to help."

as if on cue, yeseo rushed back in the house, dripping wet from the rain, despite having taken with her an umbrella. the youngest girl's eyes shone excitedly as she held something in her hand. "unnie unnie, look what I found in the yard!"

cautiously, yujin poked the small black shape, to which she discovered was a wallet.

"I found this under the tree, where she was sitting." yeseo explained, nodding towards the stranger.

"oh! this is good! do you think I have my ID in there?" yujin shrugged at the sudden excitement shown by the two younger girls. she opened the soaking wallet and sifted through the cards, pouring the cash and coins out onto the counter as she did so.

"wow... that's a lot of cash..." yeseo's eyes gleamed as she stared at the pile.

the silver girl giggled. "I just hope I didn't steal all of that."

ignoring the younger girls' antics, yujin pulled out a black credit card, her eyes wide open in shock. "a-a black card... i've never even seen one of these before, let alone touch one..."

the stranger showed just as much surprise as the elder choi sister did.

yeseo groaned at the two older girls and hopped back onto a chair by the counter. "c'mon you two, weren't you looking for her identity?" yujin quickly shook herself back into reality and continued sifting through the wallet.

"aha!" she finally exclaimed, her fingers tightly grasping a small, white card. "I found your school ID." soyoung paused for a moment, scanning her eyes over the card. "hanlim arts high... of course it's for a prestigious school. good to know you're probably not a thief."

she then handed the ID over to the silver-haired girl who grinned at the discovery. "good to know. I really look fancy don't I?"

"your nameee." yejin said, spinning her chair around in boredom. "what's your name? age? why are you here?"

"ah, right!" the girl peered closely at the card. "hue-ning ba-hi-yyih," she read aloud, squinting to read the small print on the card. "wow that's a long name... I think I'd rather just be called hiyyih."

"what about your birthday then, hiyyih?"

"july 27th, 2004." all three of them paused a moment, quickly doing the maths. 

"so you're 18." yujin spoke up. 

"yessir, it seems so." was the reply. "although that didn't seem to do much help for the remembering part..."

yujin stopped and thought for a moment. "let's go down to the pharmacist or the supermarket - maybe they sell medication for memory loss?"

yeseo silently cheered, happy that they get to do something. "yes! can you buy me ramyeon while we're there? I'm hungry..."

"me too," the newly discovered hiyyih grinned. "yujin unnie, will you buy your new friend and your dear sister ramyeon to eat?" 

yujin held her breath to stop herself from laughing as yeseo proceeded to join bahiyyih in pouting, making puppy eyes at yujin in hopes of earning food. she pretended to roll her eyes and pouted. "fine, but our rich friend hiyyih here can pay." 

the two younger girls cheered and high-fived as yujin began gathering her keys and phone. 

"come on, let's go before things start to get more dangerous."

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before she could figure out her own intentions, dayeon was speeding out of the door, in a direction she knew too well. their old school was within ten minutes walk from their dorm - if she ran fast enough, dayeon knew she could get there before 1 am, where things would inevitably become dangerous. blinded by hatred and longing for revenge, dayeon failed to notice the two girls following behind her. 

chaehyun was breathing heavily, cold air and rail pelting down at her as she cried silently. beside her, youngeun kept a steady pace, silent as the midnight moon. chaehyun couldn't help but question how the younger girl managed to keep her stamina up while practically locking herself in her room all day, only ever leaving to visit their friends in the dorm upstairs.

"ah shit." youngeun collapsed onto the ground, chaehyun halting immediately. she fumbled for her flashlight, worried the younger girl had gotten injured.

in the dark, chaehyun could faintly make out the younger girl's outline and stumbled towards her. "oh my god, youngeun, are you ok?"

her concern was quickly brushed off by youngeun who stood up and dusted herself off. "I just tripped, don't worry." chaehyun held a hand to her chest, relieved. "which way did dayeon-unnie go though?"

at the realisation that they had lost dayeon, chaehyun couldn't help but groan. "ugh, of course we get split up at a fork in the road." 

youngeun shook her head in apology then pointed to the street to their left. "I hear footsteps coming from this way, let's go."

as the two girls quickly rushed off, dayeon was continuing towards the direction of their old school, a place none of the girls had visited since suyeon had died. panting, dayeon stopped at where she and her friends would meet before heading into the school, before everything went wrong. glancing further beyond the school gates, dayeon's breath hitched.

the three had changed schools promptly after that night in 2021 as the memories were just too much for the girls, but dayeon hadn't expected that the buildings were never re-built. 

ashes and dust had settled after the bombing and now covered the campus. dayeon couldn't help but wonder if anyone else had passed on these grounds. the school buildings which once stood tall across the pristine, cerulean sky, now sat in ruins. 

clearly the gang which now occupied these grounds hadn't left the school after just one attack.

a sudden thought hit her.

if the school grounds were never fixed, suyeon was probably still in there. or at least, her body would still be in there. dayeon held her breath, feeling tears urging to run at the mere thought. they'd left her, that night. maybe if they'd stayed, if they'd taken her with them, suyeon would still be with them. 

behind her, further along the street, dayeon heard people approaching, laughing as they talked amongst each other. 

before dayeon could decide whether to run or hide, the footsteps grew louder, approaching where she stood.