'It's just a case, isn't it?' Aki said, the words feeling hollow even to him. He knew, with a certainty that chilled him to the bone, that it was far more than just a case, but he couldn't articulate the suffocating sense of wrongness it radiated.
Siya turned him gently to face her, her grip firm on his shoulders. 'Tell me what you really think, Aki. Don't tell me what your mind says. Tell me what you feel.'
He looked at the case again, a shiver tracing its way down his spine. He saw the beautiful shell, but he felt the emptiness within. 'It's sad,' he answered, the words escaping before he could stop them. He felt a strange, empathetic ache just looking at it. 'It seems like it's crying.'
'That's right. It's sad,' Siya said, her voice soft but firm, as if acknowledging the case's sorrow was the most natural thing in the world.
