“Dredger?” Sora asked with a confusion written all his face. Sora seemed to recollect one of the soldiers in Feladonia had called him that …but what the heck is a dredger?

“A sort of an undead….” Mizuki replied while covering her smile with a handheld paper fan.

“I already knew she was an undead….Could you be more specific?”

“A special sort of an undead…” Mizuki continued to reply in riddles – very Yuko like.

“How are they special?” Sora asked impatiently – he strongly disliked those who spoke in riddles. ‘If you are going to just tell me then tell it to me up straight, don’t speak in riddles.’

“Unlike the other undead they fall into the grey area…” Mizuki replied as she watched Sora intently.

“Grey area?”

“If distinctions can be made and distinctions will be made. Then, you must think of dredgers amongst the unique creatures who bide their time in the grey area.”

Sora sighed in an irritated manner – way too cryptic.

“What distinctions?” He asked whilst being extremely cheesed.

“Why of course, the distinctions of everything! Is that not how the realm of humans work? To make distinctions and categories. To classify and to reclassify. To create branches and sub branches….”

“Stop…” Sora said raising his left hand up in the air.  He used his other hand to massage his skull – just listening to her was giving him a headache.

Sora was pretty much at his wits end. Firstly, Mizuki’s attack felt like a meteorite that had struck him. For two whole days Sora was absorbed in complete pain. Even now his body was aching. Then, there was the problem of the strange new power coursing through him. Although, Mizuki provided artefacts to counterbalance the effects – it was still insufficient to lighten Sora’s burden. Third, as Sora had been knocked out , he had entered the realms of dream….in particular a certain nightmare seemed to have continued.

“Keep her.” Sora finally said. It was not like Sora had known that Ai was a dredger to begin with. He never had any plans to make use of Ai. Tecnically speaking, he had already given up Ai once when he handed her over to the vampire. Sora never really expected to see Ai thereafter so even if now learnt she was special Sora treated her as a discarded pawn – nothing more. Further, despite Mizuki’s hints conveying Ai is special, Sora considered Ai completely useless. Even if she had high battle potential, it would take a while to unlock it. Right now there was something more important for Sora to do – find his precious.

He was desperate to find it but not desperate enough to involve himself with Mizuki. If he relied on Mizuki he would know of its location right away but then being involved with a person like Mizuki is the same as dooming yourself for all eternity. At least that is how it worked out for Watanuki in the anime. Sora wasn’t certain if Mizuki was based on the anime character Yuko but the degree of resemblance went far beyond physical appearances – even her personality was just as rotten; coming from Sora that is an insult.

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There were several reasons why Sora didn’t trust Mizuki. Firstly, didn’t she say she had the all-seeing eyes to discern truth from lies? Then, why did she not catch on to Sora’s lie about Yuko? Secondly, if her eyes can only discern the truth then how does she know about his lost precious? Third, Sora never told her the location of her sister yet she was willing to grant him a wish?

Any ordinary person would find that suspicious. But for Sora who had trust issues? He would run away from a person such as Mizuki – a master of manipulation.

“Keep her.” Sora replied as he tried to get up – but was being weighed down by the iron balls cuffed to his hands.

A look of concern furrowed Mizuki’s brows – Sora’s reply, once again, was not the reply she expected. “You really are too heartless…to discard her so easily…do you know she was the one who wished that you be saved…do you feel nothing? If it were a normal skeleton I would understand but you are an adventurer…”

Sora stopped whatever he was doing and looked up at Mizuki. It was true, Sora was cold and uncaring towards NPCs and strangers. However, for those whom he cared – he would not hold back. Isn’t that why he stepped into this game? Sure, there were plenty of selfish reasons Sora gave to mask the truth that he cared about Enma.

“Mizuki, do you wish to help me? Or yourself?” Sora asked.

“…” Mizuki was startled with Sora’s abrupt frankness.

“I find it strange…that in a vast desert that spans the size of a large empire….I run into an undead girl. I don’t just run into her – I step on her. Isn’t that too convenient? It is the equivalent of finding a single needle in a mountain of hay stack. No matter how many times I ditch her, she seems to keep coming back to me…I am starting to suspect as if someone were toying with my fate. ”

Mizuki’s eyes were bulging out – where did that come from? Mizuki recovered and hid her expressions behind the paper fan.

“Whatever makes you say that?” Mizuki asked in a calm voice – though beneath it she was panicking.

“Because I don’t believe in coincidence.” Sora replied as he stared into Mizuki’s eyes.

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Author's Note:

1. Argh! So sorry for one boring chapter after another! I know you all want some action or the story pace to pick up, but these details are needed to build up the mood.

2. Thank you for reading!