Chapter 5

After the roof adventure, Lily eventually descended back into the manor, where the golden hues of the Central District sunset poured through her bedroom window. She had changed into a comfy oversized hoodie—one she may or may not have “borrowed” from Shizuku—and collapsed onto her bed, the mattress bouncing lightly under her.

She sighed with satisfaction, picked up her sleek, floating hologram-phone from her bedside, and flopped onto her stomach.

LILY (thinking):
Let’s see who’s online...

After swiping through a few chat threads (including a group one labeled “The Captain Kids” featuring Sanguinella, and Astera), she stopped on a contact glowing faintly:

🩸 Sanguinella Blutschwert 🩸
[Status: Online – “listening to classical battle scores”]

Lily smirked. She tapped open the chat.

Lily 🖤🌌
yo Sanny u alive??

Sanguinella 🩸
um hi yes! i’m alive lol
what’s up?

Lily 🖤🌌
just chillin, had a weird day
my ancestor ghosted into my room last

night and was like “i’m ur bloodline” lol

Sanny 🩸
WH-WHAT
like ghost ghost or like
spiritual apparition bc of shizuku-tier mana resonance???

Lily 🖤🌌
exactly the second one 😭
he was actually chill tho, old guy wisdom and all

Sanny 🩸
that’s…
kinda scary
kinda cool
i’d probably faint 😭

Lily 🖤🌌
u would not lol
ur literally berwick’s daughter
ur built different

Sanny 🩸
shut up 😭😭😭
i got his eyes but like 0% of his confidence
and i still panic ordering tea 🥀

Lily 🖤🌌
honestly same
last week i told a waiter i wanted to adopt the soup
(i panicked ok)

Sanny 🩸
STOP 😭😭😭
wait did u actually

Lily 🖤🌌
…yeah
alto won’t let me live it down

Lily laughed to herself as she sent a string of reaction emojis. Sanguinella might have been shy and way more reserved than her infamous father, but the two girls shared

something rare: mutual understanding, and space to breathe.

She rolled onto her back, eyes flickering with amusement as the messages continued.

Sanny🩸
u wanna hang sometime this week?
we could go to gastran or smth
i think i wanna try ur version of the berwitto

Lily 🖤🌌
bet
i’ll even name it the sanguinella slayer or somethin

Sanny 🩸
that sounds illegal
i’m in

The soft sound of Alto’s humming echoed faintly from the kitchen. Shizuku’s aura had returned to the manor as well, his presence like a gentle pulse through the halls.

Lily set her phone down, smiling.

Lily (thinking): Yeah… this new chapter might be weird. But I’ve got people.