The afternoon light in the Old District was wrong. It did not fall correctly. It bent around the corners of the brick buildings. It pooled in the alleyways like liquid gold. It shimmered with a color that did not exist in the normal spectrum. It was pale violet. It was sad.
Kaito stood on the street corner. He held his phone in his hand. The camera app was open. He looked at the screen. The building across the street looked different on the display. On the screen, the bricks were weeping light. In reality, they were just old red brick. The dissonance made his eyes water.
Pedestrians walked past him. A man in a suit talked on his headset. A woman pushed a stroller. A group of students laughed about a video. They walked through the shimmering light. They did not see it. They did not feel it. They stepped over the pools of violet without breaking stride.
Kuro said: "They are blind."
Kaito said: "They are safe."
Kuro said: "Safety is an illusion."
