I blinked, shaking my head as if trying to dispel the lingering fog that clung to my thoughts. My breath came in short, uneven gasps, my chest rising and falling with each desperate inhale. I turned my gaze back toward the dragon. It hadn’t moved, its massive form still bound in heavy chains, but something had changed. Its piercing gaze remained locked onto me, but the wild rage that had consumed it before had dulled.

  Yuzu’s tails fluffed up, and she pouted dramatically. “Nnai! Mashiro bery do dumdum again! No walking into scary undead dragon! No touchy-touchy cursed thing!”

  I exhaled shakily, shaking my head in an attempt to clear the lingering haze in my mind. “I-I don’t know what happened,” I admitted, gripping Ai’s hand tightly, as if anchoring myself in reality. “It was like… the dragon was calling me. My body moved on its own.”

  Ai furrowed her brows, her grip not loosening. “That’s not normal,” she murmured, her expression clouded with concern. “This shrine has secrets, yes, but even I don’t understand why it would react to you like that.”

  I swallowed hard, glancing back at the dragon. It had stopped its violent thrashing, its body now eerily still. The purple mist around its mouth pulsed faintly, rising in slow, hypnotic waves. But its eyes… those lifeless yet knowing eyes remained fixed on me.

  Yuzu’s ears twitched as she tapped a finger against her cheek, deep in thought. "Dragon bery weird act… Undead bery try to pain Yuzu people that bery notto dead yet," she muttered, her eyes flickering with confusion. Her tail swayed uneasily behind her, clearly sensing something was off.

  Ai folded her arms, her silver-white hair catching the dim light of the dungeon. "If by ‘pain Yuzu’ you meant ‘try to kill,’ then yes," she corrected with a sigh. "Undead creatures are usually remnants of souls that refuse to pass on. They’re driven by resentment, hatred, or regret, which causes them to lash out at the living. But this dragon..." Her gaze drifted back to the massive, chained beast before us. "...doesn’t seem to want to attack Miss Mashiro."

  Her words sent a shiver down my spine. That was true. Even though the dragon had been thrashing wildly moments ago, the moment our eyes met, everything had changed. It wasn’t acting purely on rage anymore, it was focused on me, its glowing eyes unwavering.

  Yuzu, however, seemed determined to test Ai’s theory. With a sudden burst of energy, she jumped back a step.

  “W-Wait, Yuzu, what are you—?!” I started, but it was too late.

  Yuzu had already begun moving.

  Her tiny hands waved in the air as she shifted into a series of fluid, familiar steps. I immediately recognized the routine, an idol dance straight from Luminous Dream. It was a simple but cute choreography, filled with twirls and dramatic poses meant to charm an audience. But right now, it had the opposite effect.

  The dragon's body tensed. Its massive head turned toward Yuzu, its gaze no longer calm but filled with fury.

  ROOOOAAAARRRR!

  A deafening roar exploded through the dungeon, shaking the very ground beneath our feet. Dust and loose pebbles rained down from the ceiling as the chains around the dragon’s legs and wings rattled violently. The moment the sound hit her ears, Yuzu froze mid-spin, her tail puffing up like a frightened cat. Her dark eyes went wide, her hands still awkwardly raised in the middle of a pose.

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  “Uuuh… Yuzu bery sorry?” she stammered, slowly lowering her arms.

  The dragon growled, nostrils flaring, its piercing gaze burning into her.

  The moment Yuzu stopped moving, though, its aggression faded almost instantly. The fire in its eyes dimmed slightly, and it turned its attention back toward me. Its stare was deep, as if peering into my very soul.

  I swallowed hard, my mind racing.

  "This… this felt familiar…" The thought echoed in my mind as I stood frozen in place, my eyes locked onto the massive, chained dragon before me. There was something unsettling, no, unnatural, about the way it looked at me. It wasn’t mindless aggression, nor was it the hunger for destruction that most undead creatures were known for. Instead, it felt… searching, as if it was trying to confirm something.

  I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as I struggled to piece together where I had felt this strange sensation before. The undead. Their presence. The way they reacted to me. Something wasn’t adding up. I had assumed that all undead creatures were hostile, that they existed only to bring ruin to the living, but… that wasn’t the case, was it?

  My mind rewound to my previous encounters.

  "The skeleton. The one I fought before." A vivid memory resurfaced. I had braced myself for an attack, expecting it to strike me down, yet… it didn’t. It had raised its bony arm, not in violence, but in something else, an action I hadn’t thought twice about at the time. "It didn’t attack me, either."

  A chill ran down my spine. The skeleton had approached me, its hollow eyes glowing faintly, but instead of hostility, there was… something else. A hesitation. A moment of silence.

  "It patted me."

  I sucked in a sharp breath. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I recalled that bizarre, out-of-place moment. The skeletal warrior, instead of swinging its bony arm at me, had simply rested its bony hand atop my head. It was a small, almost affectionate gesture, like a guardian acknowledging a child. At the time, I had brushed it off as some strange bug in the system, something I hadn’t fully understood.

  “Nnai, skeleton bery pat Mashiro?” Yuzu tilted her head, her fox ears twitching in confusion. She blinked up at me, as if trying to picture the scene in her mind. "That bery weird. Undead bery supposed to go bonk, not pat."

  Ai, who had been standing beside her, mirrored Yuzu’s tilt almost perfectly. Her expression was equally puzzled, her amber eyes scanning my face for any sort of explanation. “Does that mean the undead like Miss Mashiro?” she asked, placing a finger against her chin in thought.

  I opened my mouth, only to close it again. What kind of response was I supposed to give to that? Was it even possible for undead creatures to like someone? It wasn’t as if I had done anything special for them.

  “Not… exactly?” I finally managed, though I wasn't even sure if that was true. “It’s not like they’re friendly to me, but they’re also not attacking me.”

  I turned back to the dragon, its hulking form looming over us like an unshakable shadow. Chains clinked as it shifted slightly, its massive claws scraping against the stone floor. Its glowing purple eyes remained locked onto mine, unwavering, almost piercing. There was something in its gaze, something that sent an involuntary shiver down my spine. Recognition? Expectation? A silent plea?

  "But well," I muttered, my voice softer this time, "I guess the skeleton did listen to my worries back then. It wasn’t just standing there mindlessly. It was like it actually heard me.”

  My fingers curled inward as I recalled that moment. The way the skeleton had silently placed a bony hand on my head, as if offering reassurance. It wasn’t a gesture of hostility, nor was it the action of a mindless husk.

  “So maybe…” I hesitated, searching for the right words. “Maybe they care a little...?”

  “Maybe Mashiro is their queen!” Yuzu suddenly gasped, ears perking up as if she had just solved some grand mystery. “Mashiro is bery big boss of undeads!”

  Ai giggled, folding her arms. “Now that would be interesting. Miss Mashiro, the Undead Shrine Maiden.” She tilted her head with a teasing smile. “It does have a nice ring to it.”

  I sighed, rubbing my temple. “That’s not helping, you two.”