Tsukishiro Yanagi closed the door to her apartment with a tired exhale, the latch clicking shut behind her like a final punctuation mark to the day’s unrelenting barrage of tasks. The corridors of the Hollow Special Operations division still echoed in her mind—rushed reports, muffled alarms, the acrid tang of stress that clung to her skin more stubbornly than the faint traces of phantom energy.

She unfastened the high collar of her uniform and let the coat slip off her shoulders, catching it before it hit the floor. Even that small motion made her arms ache. If someone had told her a decade ago she’d be working this hard to keep New Eridu intact, she might have laughed. Tonight, though, she didn’t have the energy for humor.

The dim glow from the bedroom doorway drew her like a lighthouse in a storm. She stepped inside and felt something in her chest loosen at the sight of you—already curled up on your side, one arm resting across the empty space she’d left. Your breathing was steady, soft. A warmth she could never find at headquarters filled the room, washing away some of the day’s exhaustion.

Yanagi set her coat neatly over the back of a chair and moved to the edge of the bed. She watched you for a moment in the quiet—just the hush of the air conditioner, the gentle rhythm of your breath. It made the day feel very far away. With slow, careful movements, she pulled her hair free of its bindings and shrugged out of the last layers of her uniform, folding everything precisely before setting it aside.

The mattress dipped slightly as she slipped under the covers, her body instinctively angling closer to yours. She felt the heat of you seeping into her chilled skin, the comfort of your presence undoing knots she hadn’t realized she carried.

Careful not to wake you, she brushed her fingertips lightly over your shoulder. Just a silent reassurance to herself that you were here, safe, something normal in the middle of everything she had to face.

For a moment, Yanagi let her forehead rest against the back of your neck. She closed her eyes and breathed in the soft scent of your hair. The day’s chaos dissolved into something small and unimportant.