Chapter 17 – Paper, Codes, and Petals

The sky over Laterano was gray from the start.

Rain fell softly—not the heavy kind, but enough to wet the streets and keep the children indoors.

The sound of droplets from the rooftops made a quiet rhythm, like a gentle soundtrack for a lazy day.

Exu sat by the window, chin resting on her knees, staring out at the empty street.

Her small wings fluttered a little every time she shifted.

"Today I am officially bored," she muttered.

From the living room, Lemuen's voice answered,

"It's only nine in the morning, Exu."

"Yeah, and I've already spent fifteen minutes staring at nothing."

Mostima, lounging on the sofa with a comic book, just shrugged.

"If you need entertainment, try the attic. Dusty places usually hide little treasures."

"Treasures?"

"If you're lucky," Mostima said with a cryptic tone. "If not, maybe just old bills."

Exu immediately jumped down from the window.

"I choose to believe in the treasure version."

The wooden stairs to the attic creaked slightly.

The air smelled of old wood and damp paper.

The room was dim and cramped, but not frightening.

Light from a tiny window spilled across floating dust like golden powder.

She opened an old wooden chest and found a broken doll and a music box that no longer played.

In another corner, she found a pile of old books, some covered with thin cloth.

One of them caught her eye—a small notebook with a dark leather cover and a black ribbon tied around the middle.

She opened it carefully.

The first page held a scribbled date: Anno 1047 – Laterano.

Its contents were a strange mix.

Some pages detailed complicated notes on "halo resonance with Originium flow," anatomical sketches of wings, equations she didn't understand, and hastily written lines like:

"Deviation effects intensify near the fourth Altare zone."

"Spiritual factor = unstable variable."

"They say we're angels. But what does it mean, if we can break like humans?"

Exu closed the book slowly, brows furrowed.

Footsteps creaked up the stairs.

"What did you find?" Lemuen asked, appearing with a small flashlight in hand.

"A book," Exu replied, hiding it half behind her back.

"But... the contents are weird. Like some kind of experiment journal."

Lemuen stopped a few steps short. Her expression shifted slightly.

"Whose journal?"

"No name. But it looks really old."

Lemuen sighed. "What you found... might belong to no one. Or someone who was meant to be forgotten."

"Why forgotten?"

"Because not all questions are meant to be answered, Exu."

They went back downstairs.

Lemuen didn't mention the book again, but Exu tucked it into her desk drawer, hidden beneath comic books and colored pencils.

That afternoon, the rain hadn't stopped.

Mostima sat at the doorway, watching water drip from the roof tiles.

Exu sat beside her.

"If you found an old book full of strange notes, would you read it?"

"Of course," Mostima answered without hesitation.

"That's what curiosity feeds on."

"But what if adults said 'don't open it'?"

"Then I'd definitely read it."

Exu laughed. "Aren't you scared?"

"Scared? Fear comes after knowing, not before. Before knowing, there's only... curiosity."

"Is that wise?"

Mostima turned to her.

Her eyes shimmered faintly under the gray afternoon light.

"Exu... the world isn't about being wise or not.

It's about choosing which things you want to understand, and which things you want to protect."

"Hm?"

"If you only know one and not the other, you'll either be very strong... or very hollow."

They sat quietly.

Then Exu asked,

"If you had to choose… would you rather know everything, or protect someone?"

Mostima didn't answer right away.

She looked out at the rain, then raised her hand and caught a raindrop on her fingertip.

"I want to know… but I want someone to keep smiling, even if it means I have to stay ignorant."

Night came slowly.

The rain only stopped after dinner.

The scent of wet earth lingered in the air.

Before bed, Exu secretly opened the journal again.

This time, she found the very last page—nearly torn from the binding.

One sentence was written diagonally, like it had been scribbled in haste:

"A halo can break. Not by force. But by choice."

Exu stared at the words for a long time.

Then she closed the book gently and tucked it back into its hiding place.

She looked at the ceiling of her room, then at the window, where the moonlight reflected back faintly.

And in her mind, a small question began to grow.

Not out of curiosity.

But because she knew—

That from this day on, she no longer saw Laterano merely as home.

But as something she quietly, deeply wanted to understand.