Chapter LXXIII (73)- The Festival of Light’s End

Thankfully, while several people screamed and shouted after Anata’s abrupt arrival, the mages in the crowd got everyone under control before it could transform into a scared stampede. Constable Kimaru immediately took command of the people, while beside him Anata stared up at Headmaster Ballarfulur who was crouched down beside her. Thankfully, the headmaster didn’t look in pain or even angry, just curious. He twirled his mustache in a finger.

Kizu had to fight not to be carried along with the stream of people. He considered casting a spell to split the crowd open for himself but discarded the idea almost as soon as it occurred to him. Overhead, Kimaru began to float above the crowd, giving orders and occasionally plucking out any fallen people with weaves of wind.

“Come on,” Emilia said, exasperated. “Let’s go back to the beer garden and get another drink. Nothing else is going on here tonight. Just a little scare.”

For the briefest moment, Kizu actually considered the proposal. He could just leave with Emilia. Not get involved with whatever trouble Anata just caused. But of course, he couldn’t.

“That’s my niece,” he bluntly said instead.

Emilia let go of his hand. Her slitted yellow eyes narrowed at him, as if trying to place in the new information. In just a couple seconds, the crowd separated them, and she disappeared into the undulating throng while Kizu stayed steadfastly in place.

After about a minute, the crowd thinned enough for Kizu to make his way up to the stage. Anata still gaped up at the headmaster, seeming oblivious of Kizu. The headmaster looked over at him with a sly smile. But he spared Kizu a glance as he approached them.

“Kaga Kizu, I presume?”

That gave Kizu pause. “Yes. How-”

“My secretary told me,” he interrupted with a wave of his hand. “Now, is this a friend of yours? Or are you simply a disquisitive bystander?”

“She’s a…friend,” Kizu said, as if testing out the word. “Her name is Anata. She can’t speak.”

“Can’t speak? Oh! And here I thought I scared the poor girl to silence. I really am quite interested in that technique she used to get herself up here. If you’re here now, is it safe to assume it was to get a better vantage point to find you in the crowd? However, if she can’t tell me how she performed the feat, perhaps you can?”

Kizu hesitated. Then he decided there probably wouldn’t be any harm in explaining the process.

“She sends her soul out of her body and then summons her body to her placement.”

The headmaster continued to twirl his mustache as he considered for a minute, eyeing the girl with keen interest.

“Yes,” he finally said. “I believe that checks out. Theoretically it should be possible. But using astral projection in that way would be equal parts exceptionally reckless and difficult. If used extensively, a human body wouldn’t be able to handle the strain.”

“Um, sir?”

“Yes?”

Kizu decided to hedge his bets on this man. He seemed more curious than anything else. “Would it be possible for you to keep her identity to yourself?’

“You’re increasing my intrigue in your friend by the second. Why shouldn’t I mention her? People will certainly ask about her after this stunt.”

“Because…well, I lied to you. She’s my niece, not my friend.”

Headmaster Ballarfulur barked a laugh. Then, grinning under his mustache, he waved for Kizu to continue.

“My parents want to keep her hidden away,” Kizu explained. For some reason, he decided to just be honest with the strange man. “I had to fight my mother to keep Anata here with me. I’m worried about what they’ll do if more people discover her.”

Ballarfulur nodded sagely. Then he looked over Anata with more scrutiny. “I understand. I will even cover her identity for you so she can walk in the open. But, first, answer me this- why is it that she had to come find you tonight?”

“What do you mean?” Kizu asked, confused.

“For the Festival of Light, everyone should be spending the evening with the people that matter the most. If you fought so hard to keep your niece here with you, why did she have to seek you out?”

Kizu felt a wave of shame over himself, causing him to slump and look away. He tried to splutter something out about the necessity of keeping her hidden. But Ballarfulur dismissed that with a roll of his eyes.

“Value those who love you. True love doesn't come from pretty girls. It comes from somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“Oh, you’ll figure it out. You’ve got plenty of years.”

And then, mid conversation, Ballarfulur jumped away. He left behind the scent of oranges in his wake.

Kizu stood there for a long minute, thinking about what the headmaster had just said to him while staring up at the stars above. Then he took a knee, leveling himself to Anata’s eye level but she looked down at her feet. Kizu noted they were still covered in wrapped cloth. Her big toe stuck out. He had never bought her boots.

In that moment, he finally admitted to himself he had mostly accepted the responsibility of taking care of her to spite his parents. Anata had shown him nothing but affection, and he’d spent the last two weeks treating her like a nuisance to lock up on the boat. He fed her scraps from the dining hall and kept her sealed away from sight with only a monkey for company. He thought back to that moment in the World Dungeon when he had brazenly claimed to Ione that he would look for Finn just as hard as he looked for Anna. What a joke. When push came to shove, his priorities had been an ocean away from caring about his family.

“Are you okay?” he asked Anata.

She nodded her head but didn’t meet his eyes.

“Here, this is a gift for you.” He took out the silver circlet from his uniform’s interior pocket and set it on top of her head. It was a bit big on her, resting on her ears rather than her brow, but he figured she’d grow into it.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been a very good uncle to you. I’ve been expecting a monkey to raise you instead of doing it myself. I can’t promise I’ll be perfect. I’ve never done a lot of things in my life and I’ll likely screw more stuff up. But I can promise to do better.”

She hugged him. Kizu didn’t quite understand why. Though, he got the impression she was equally clueless as to why he’d just apologized. They didn’t really understand each other right now. But he wrapped his arms around her and promised himself that he would eventually.

“Now then,” he said, lifting her up onto his shoulders and walking down from the stage. “I think I saw some carnival games over there. And I still have a plump sack of coins.”

—

Anata turned out to be terrible at every carnival game they encountered. And, unfortunately, so was Kizu.

He hurled another dart at a target, only to have it bounce off the edge of the dart board.

“I swear this is rigged,” he grumbled as he passed the next dart to Anata.

Her throw was so weak, it stuck in the dirt. Right next to where Kizu’s had fallen. Kizu sighed and traded the vendor a coin for another set of darts. This time, he boosted Anata up, to give her a better vantage point the throw from. And, amazingly, the strategy actually worked. It was the second worst placement on the board, but he whooped, set her back on the ground and gave her a high-five.

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She beamed up at him, her eyes full of excitement as she picked out a lesser prize.

“So, this is where you disappeared to?” Emilia’s voice said behind him.

Kizu turned around, his heart jittering as if drugged. He returned her smile. Great. If she was smiling, that meant things couldn’t be that bad. It was a salvageable night.

“I thought you went home for the night,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“And I thought you’d come find me,” she said. Only then did Kizu realize how forced her smile looked.

“Sorry,” he said. He was apologizing a lot tonight. “I had a family thing come up.”

Emilia nodded slowly, examining Anata, who had finally decided on a colorful wooden top as her prize.

Anata seemed undisturbed by Emilia’s presence. If anything, Anata seemed more comfortable among the loud crowded streets of the town, than she had when meeting people alone. He supposed that likely spending as much time wandering around the town and academy as a spirit, she’d desensitized herself to being around people. Interacting with and being acknowledged by them, on the other hand, proved to be something else entirely as she locked up completely when Emilia started asking her questions.

“She’s mute,” Kizu said, interjecting himself. “She can’t speak.” Then he crouched down next to her. “Anata, this is my friend, Emilia.”

Emilia frowned. “Can she read and write?”

Kizu looked over to Anata. She met his eyes and gave the tiniest shake of her head. That led Kizu down a different route of thinking. Despite promising to look after her, Kizu still wouldn’t be able to be with her always. Just his academy lessons alone would keep them apart for large chunks of the day. Obviously, Anata needed to learn more independence if he expected her to survive on her own while separated. Not speaking created a massive hurdle for her, but if she could write…that opened up avenues for them.

“Not yet,” Kizu answered for Anata. “But she actually starts learning how tomorrow.”

Emilia nodded. Her frown became more neutral. “So, she’s not….” She paused, as if looking for the right word, before saying, “Simpleminded?”

“No,” Kizu said bluntly.

“Oh good, so her odd appearance is just cosmetic. Nothing wrong with her brain. That’s excellent news.” As the conversation went on, Emilia’s mood appeared to improve. But, meanwhile, Kizu’s happy mood deteriorated.

Emilia was gorgeous and intelligent. She understood how society functioned and knew how to manipulate it. And yet, every word she said made him feel a bit dirtier. It took him a while to understand why. She spoke around Anata, not quite as if she wasn’t there, but as if the girl was a pet which couldn’t comprehend her.

“We’re going to go get some paper lanterns, if you want to join,” Kizu said, changing the subject from Anata.

“Oh, together?” she said, her disappointment obvious. “I thought your brother or parent would be coming by for the girl.”

“No. Anata’s with me for the night.” He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret as well, but he pushed it aside. Anata deserved better.

As they made their way over to a stall with lanterns, Kizu noticed the adjacent one sold dango. Remembering that Emilia wasn’t fond of it, he bought some for only himself and Anata. Anata looked ecstatic by the sweets and ripped into them, stretching the rice flour as she bit into hers. Emilia, on the other hand, gave the sweets an irritated glance as they ate them in front of her.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” Kizu asked.

“Maybe once we go back to the pub,” Emilia said.

Kizu blinked. He hadn’t been planning to return to the beer garden. Not with Anata along with him. He might not be a brilliant expert on children, but even he knew not to bring them to pubs late at night. But he kept the thought to himself as they approached a stall with paper lanterns.

“Kaga Kizu?” the large student running the stall asked. It took Kizu a moment to recognize him. When he did, his insides filled with dread.

Kizu recalled he had the odd name, Tip. This had been one of the friends of Ulrich. They had spoken briefly before the fighting competition. One of the things that initially set Ulrich off was the fact he wouldn’t be allowed to fight Tip, and instead got stuck with Kizu in the fighting ring. However, the half-troll sounded almost chipper though, as if greeting a friend as he spoke to Kizu. That changed as he focused on Emilia.

“Hello, Tip,” Emilia said, her tone venomous.

“Oh, Emilia. I heard you were chasing Kaga. Looks like you got him. Good for you.”

“Please explain to Ulrich and that cousin of mine that it’s not any of their business who I choose to date.”

Tip raised his hands, palms forward. “I’m not explaining anything to anyone. If you want to buy a lantern, I can help. Anything else, you’re out of luck.”

“Yes,” Kizu cut in. “Three, please.”

Tip nodded and passed them their paper lanterns.

“Do you know what to do with them?”

“Of course, we do,” Emilia said back. “Don’t patronize me.”

Kizu did not know exactly what to do with them, so he wished she hadn’t been so eager to be rid of the older student. Despite being friends with the student who had shattered his leg, Tip appeared surprisingly helpful. Tip gave him a sympathetic nod, then passed him a slip of paper with instructions on how to ritually light the lanterns.

“He wants you to revert Ulrich’s ban,” Emilia said as she stalked off.

“What do you mean?”

“Ulrich can’t fight because he once again brutalized another student. Last time, he had to wait until after the student graduated to join again. This time, he doesn’t have the chance to do that. He’s a short-sighted idiot. So, Tip over there is trying to butter you up to let his buddy back in the contests.”

“Why is he so eager to fight?” Kizu asked.

“Because the brute isn’t intelligent enough for anything else. If you look at Ulrich’s scores, you’ll see he’s failing almost every subject. And he’s almost out of time. After next semester, he’s gone one way or another. The only career path open to someone like him, is mercenary work. But you need a reputation to get into that.”

That surprisingly made sense to Kizu. Of course, he had no intention of allowing Ulrich to fight again. Even if Kizu himself never fought the older student again in one of the competitions, he couldn't in good conscience let him loose on other students. Ulrich obviously hadn't learned his lesson after the first time he was banned.

“I'm actually signed up to compete again tomorrow," Kizu said.

Emilia nodded. "I approve. It's best to make a comeback. Especially since you're so lowly ranked, you should be able to dominate the competition with how far your other subject rankings have advanced. Try to do it in a really flashy way, to get people talking."

Kizu was about to respond when he felt a tug at his uniform's sleeve. He looked down to see Anata looking up at him with worried wide eyes.

"What's the matter?" he asked. Then he connected what she must be thinking. "Don't worry about me. Tomorrow will be completely safe. Like Emilia just said, I'm a lot more skilled than the others near my rank."

Anata still looked ill at ease.

"Do you want to come along?" he offered. "You can watch from the stands like you did last week. I won't be able to be up there with you though."

He glanced over at Emilia who was no longer paying attention to the conversation now that his focus had shifted to Anata. Asking her to watch over Anata probably wouldn't work. Instead, he pulled out his scrying orb and sent a message to Basil. Then, as a back-up, he sent a message to Ione as well.

"Ready to head back to the pub?" Emilia asked.

Kizu lifted his paper lantern. "We've got to do this first, right?"

Emilia pursed her lips. "Usually, families set off their lanterns earlier and couples release theirs later in the night."

"Is there a place we should go?" Kizu asked.

Emilia paused, as if processing the question. Then she closed her eyes and let out a tiny sigh. "We can go to the beach near my villa.”

Kizu followed her out of the town and down the familiar path to her villa, with Anata in tow. Anata appeared fascinated by everything they passed by, constantly slowing to a stop as different people and things caught her attention. After a group of very drunk students passed by, randomly dressed in a multi-person hydra costume, Kizu decided it might be more efficient to just carry Anata on his back the rest of the way.

Once at the beach, they found a nice large piece of driftwood to settle down at. Unlike the beach earlier, this one was far more sparsely populated, though different families could be spotted from afar by their clusters of paper lanterns. It looked like hundreds of fireflies illuminating the beach.

Kizu set up his and Anata’s paper lantern according to the instructions. He decided to entrust Anata’s to her. Though she couldn’t inscribe it without knowing the Universal Script, Kizu instructed that when her wish was ready, to release the lantern. After all, if any gods were watching, they should be able to figure out the wish.

On his own, he decided to inscribe the word safety. It was broad enough that it should work perfectly. Safety for him, Anna, and Anata. After finishing up his handiwork, he looked over to Emilia’s lantern. Like him, she’d already finished, and she held her lantern with one hand, ready for release.

"What did you wish for?" Kizu asked Emilia while Anata still pondered her own wish. "Wait, let me guess. You're going to wish for luck in your future trading endeavors."

"Why would I wish for good fortune there?" she asked. "I believe in skill. Fortunes are created by properly navigating social climates, taking calculated risks, and building relationships. The only place luck is required is at my birth. And since that was decided long ago, there's no point in wishing for something like that to be different."

Kizu blinked. She had obviously put more thought into the subject than Kizu.

“Okay, so if not good fortune, then what?”

She smiled at him. “Can you keep a secret? It won’t come true if everyone knows about it.”

“Of course,” Kizu readily agreed. He had more than his fair share of secrets. His niece right beside him being perhaps one of the biggest ones. Keeping one more secret for someone seemed a pretty easy payment for learning it.

She leaned in close, with her arm wrapped around him, to whisper in his ear.

“Another date.”

A breeze rippled across the water, sending a shiver down Kizu’s spine.

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined as Anata finally released her paper lantern, having finally decided on her wish. The breeze picked it up and the edge of the paper lantern smacked Emilia in the eye.