Chapter 6

A full three days have passed since the incident with Shiro. I received an invitation to attend the geezer’s estate for dinner, but I had no intention of going. I had a craving for Mei-Lien’s cooking, but I really wanted to put things right with Shiro. I thought that I’d be encased in an eternal block of ice following what transpired, but Shiro pretended like it never happened. If anything, she’s been behaving like her usual self again, except she’s been really formal on the few occasions that we’ve spoken. Despite being appreciative of the fact that I won’t be an unearthed specimen, found encapsulated in a block of ice by future generations. I didn’t like the way Shiro was acting at all.

Since Seir pretty much said that he was going to handle the final summit clash before the semi finals, my mind was free to dwell on other matters and I realised that I hadn’t really spent much time with Shiro recently. I decided to finally do something about the current situation. I had been holding off doing this till after I defeated the first prince, but like Seir said a few days ago, plans change.

The sun was setting over the summit’s vicinity and it was almost the time when all the lights would embellish the sky with a picturesque rainbow hue, it was almost too perfect.

I began by preventing Morgana from snooping on what I was about to do. I wasn’t quite at the level where I could stop the old dragon’s aged eyes from peeping if he really wanted to, but I had no choice but to learn how to stop Morgana from doing so. There were certain, events, that forced me to master this ability…

I didn’t have to worry about Shiko though, because she was currently with Alessia. I felt Morgana begin to resist, the second I placed the veil over her pitch black eyes. She even tried to evoke herself, but I was preventing her from doing so. I mirrored the same process with the old man and didn’t get much of a reaction, I guess he would surface if something tickled his fancy. After confirming that everything was in order and that there would be no unnecessary interruptions, I made for Shiro’s room.

I arrived outside her door and took a deep breath, I knew that she was currently in her room because she normally spends this time of day regulating her spiritual power. I could feel cold air coming from behind the door, despite this, I knocked.

“*knock* *knock* Shiro, Shiro can I come in?”

“...”

I gave it a few seconds but got no response, just when I was about to enter uninvited, I spotted Eliza and Beth making their way toward me.

“Our Mistress is most likely in a trance at the moment Master Kuro.”

“Can we help in any way?”

“Oh um, no, any idea how long it will last?”

“We usually go in when we stop feeling cold air coming from behind the door.”

“R-right, I guess I’ll wait here then…”

I sat outside Shiro’s door and waited for her to awaken from her trance. I hope it was before the sun sets because if it was after, my plan would be ruined. I sat outside Shiro’s door. I could see Eliza and Beth whispering into each other’s ear and giggling from the corner of my eye. It seems Liz was the elder sister, because she would always speak first and Beth would always follow her lead.

Time passed and the sun was sinking further and further below the horizon. Just when I was about to give up on this mission for today, I felt the cold air cease. I leapt to my feet and shoved Shiro’s door open. I spotted Shiro sitting in seiza, in the middle of her room. She was transformed and was wearing a loosely bound, silver and baby blue haori. She had a surprised look on her face. Our eyes met and for a split second, we stared at each other.

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“Ku-Kuro?”

“No time!”

Before Shiro could regain her composure, I dashed to her and lifted her in a princess carry. I then opened her bedroom window and leapt out. She was startled at first but didn’t put up any resistance to me doing so. We were on the second floor, so began plummeting to the ground, the second that we emerged from her room’s window. Shiro flinched but I evoked the old dragon’s wings and barrel rolled into the air. I felt the old man’s wings eat away at my demonic energy and saw that the sun was almost done setting. I didn’t have much time before the sun would set and before I would run out of demonic energy, so I soared at full speed.

Shiro’s hair was tied behind her, but the wind pressure was crazy strong, so I flew backwards like a hummingbird to shield her from the pressure. We finally reached the middle of the summit’s vicinity. We floated high above the surrounding area and had a perfect birds eye view of everything. The sun finally set, it’s fading rays illuminated us, Shiro was about to speak but I singalled for her to stop and pointed toward the summit’s vicinity.

The moment the sun vanished, the entire surrounding area glittered. Shiro’s eyes widened and I saw the entire area’s afterglow reflected in them. We both absorbed the surrounding hue and hovered above the majesty of it all.

“I-its beautiful…”

“I know right, I’ve been waiting to show you this view since I got back from Lucifer’s burial site.”

“From where?”

“I-it a long story.”

“I see…”

Shiro was making a solemn expression, it’s like she was dwelling on something and it was causing her neverending strife.

“Sh-Shiro, whatever I’ve done to upset you, I’d like to apolo…”

“E-eh? You haven’t done anything Kuro.”

“Huh? W-what!? Then why have you been acting strangely ever since we defeated Alessia?”

Shiro looked at me. I think she was wondering how she was going to word her response to my question. Finally, she looked down and spoke.

“Its just, after you defeated Alessia, I realised how powerless I really am.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I had stepped forward and challenged her, then I would have most definitely lost. I speculated over how to defeat her over and over and I couldn't come up with any battle strategy against her. Plus we haven’t even reached the semi finals and I’m already outmatched, what chance will I have in the semi finals and beyond?”

Shiro looked up at me again. She was making a defeated expression and it seemed she wanted me to answer her question. The feeling of powerlessness and helplessness that she currently felt, were feelings that I was familiar with. I thought about how I was gonna respond and finally decided on how.

“Idiot.”

“E-eh?”

“There’s more to a battle than strength Shiro. Alessia is a monster, do you think I defeated her because I was stronger?”

“W-well...”

“I didn’t and I’m not. I learnt a lot from fighting Alessia. One of the things I learnt was that resolve plays a huge part in a battle. If you have weak resolve than you might as well give up and go home. The Shiro I know isn’t weak, her resolve is boundless and her desire for freedom is as strong as a caged bird’s.”

I don’t think Shiro expected me to give an answer like that because she had an amazed expression. She soon regained her lustrous smile and nestled her head in my chest. She looked up at me with upturned eyes and I felt like the Shiro of old had returned.

The roadblock that she hit won’t just go away that easily though. However, I was happy that I was at least able to snap her out of her negative mindset. Shiro started releasing spiritual power, this was an indication that she had lost control over it due to an intense change in emotion. She nuzzled closer to me and I decided that it was time to go home.

We glided across the night’s sky toward home. Shiro was really enjoying the flight now, she let her hair down and asked me to hold her in a way that she could spread her arms wide. The moon was high above us as we made our way back. Just before my demonic energy hit rock bottom, we flew through Shiro’s window. I put her down on her bed and breathed a sigh of relief.

We both gave each other reassuring smiles and I returned to my room for a well needed rest.

Before I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I realised that the clash with the Kimaris House was days away.