After the grueling, never ending night, a bitter sweet day began. IA lost everything, but she now has a new family. They're not blood related, but they saved her.
The purge was over.
"IA..." Teto quietly said as they walked out of the alley.
She remained quiet.
"There's something you must know."
Silence.
"IA, listen," Yuma spoke up.
She took a deep breath. "Okay, what is it?"
Yuma cleared his throat. "People in the purge usually don't kill without having a reason. Your parents..."
"Spit it out, Yuma."
"Your parents were loan sharks."
IA stopped walking. "Uhm. What?!"
"That's how your parents were rich, darling," Teto said. "They made people give them money in such horrible ways.. However, you didn't know. You had nothing to do with what they did. We knew about your family, and we were going to come kill them but they beat us to it. By they I mean the people who had someone they loved killed by your parents little business," Teto explained.
IA just looked down at her shoes. She felt numbness. No emotion. What was there even to feel after this? Pain? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?
After the group stood there in mere silence, IA finally was able to say something. "For how long. For how long have my parents been doing this?"
"Years," Teto said.
It made sense to IA. No wonder they were gone a lot. She never really had a full understanding of what job they had. No wonder they sometimes would be gone for days, leaving IA all alone at home. Suddenly, she walked towards Yuma, wrapping her arms around him.
He looked a bit shocked at first but quickly recovered and hugged her back. "Thank you for saving me," she said, digging her face into his shirt. "All of you."
The embrace left a warm, bittersweet feeling lingering in the air.