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--donation bonus (day #12, post 1/5)--
Hector’s expression faltered. He shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “She... I... I’ve never been sure if she actually, um... if she actually cared about me. But... I’ve always known that she loved my dad. The two of them were--” He shook his head. “--They tried really hard to stay together. Their entire lives revolved around one another. And... now...”

Garovel frowned.

“Mom doesn’t have any siblings. And her parents died years ago. So I’m... I mean... I think I’m the only family she has left...”

‘You don’t want to abandon her. I understand. But even still--’

“It’s not just that. I... I get that we shouldn’t stay. I do. School is... I can’t just... go back there... and I can’t go home, either... But I don’t want her to think that I... that I... did all those horrible things... If she thinks I killed Dad, then... agh...” He sighed.

‘You want a proper goodbye.’

“Y-yeah...”

Garovel was briefly quiet. ‘I still think it’s a bad idea. But alright. I’ll take you to her.’

“Thank you.”

Hector destroyed the needle tower, and once night fell, Garovel guided him back into the city. They stopped by the cemetery along the way and picked up the five remaining bags of money. There wasn’t much room on the bike, so Hector dropped four of them on the steps of the nearby police precinct. He tried to keep to the shadows as much as possible, prepared to flee again if someone spotted him, but no one did.

They arrived at the hotel next. It stood fifteen stories tall and had no balconies to climb.

‘Her room is on the seventh floor,’ said Garovel. ‘There are four cops in the adjacent rooms and two more in the lobby. If you go through the front door, you’ll alert them and have to fight your way to her. So please don’t do that.’