In contrary to the stories I’ve been told, the legendary Wall of Gaia offered no resistance. I passed through the seemingly endless tunnel connecting the outside world and Gaia without trouble. There was no invisible barrier to prevent me from taking the first step or were there guardians to hunt me down once I force my way in. There was just silence, one brought upon a secret I had to reveal. If I didn’t tell my friend who I truly was, he would stubbornly roam the world in search of a man who no longer exists.

Before that we talked about our past experiences. I told him my misadventures from the land of monsters to the land of miserable fools, while he told me about our class’ role to seek and eliminate the source of shades – hideous beasts that spawn randomly all over Gaia. The source turned out to be the same goddess protecting Gaia, and the one who summoned us was the goddess’ good heart; I doubt that though. She did send me away for a stupid reason after all.

The fight lasted for nine years, and by the end of it only four out of the original thirty students survived – five if I include myself. The goddess was defeated and turned into a self-sustaining array to keep the wall’s defenses running. As for the so-called ‘good heart’, she was resurrected as a high spirit and married the former prince of Tokyo Middle School, Kaname Tojo, who then proceeded to marry the two remaining girls of our class. The land prospered afterward, but Hayato wasn’t satisfied with the results.

I was still missing so he confronted the ‘good heart’ named Akasha. While the false saint pinned her crime on a non-existent foreign power, she gave him a head’s up to where I might be. He then went on a journey to find me and you know the rest.

After I proved that I was indeed Amano Shun, Hayato asked for some time to accept the truth and hasn’t said a word since. He just ran back to Gaia, and I followed behind him wondering if that was the right thing to do. Perhaps I should’ve stayed quiet and accompanied him to the outside world.

I didn’t plan to hide it forever. I just didn’t want to ruin our reunion because of a secret I could’ve told him at a later date. But I guess it’s too late for regrets. I can only hope he forgives me before the day ends so we can talk about nonsensical stuff like in the past.

“Hey, Shun- no, Lucina. Why did you save me back then?” he asked out of the blue.

I stared at him for a while before saying “shouldn’t it be clear to you now that you know everything? You’re my friend, why wouldn’t I save you?” I also have a grudge on that damn fox. He teases me whenever he’s around. He also spouts bullshit like being my fiancé or whatnot in the supernatural world. Didn’t he know how much trouble that causes me?

I’m a half-breed while he’s a pure-blood and a royalty at that. Even if no one has the guts to mess with the Eternal Witch of Frost and the Grand Elder of the Onmyōji Council, there were young ladies and youkai extremists who weren’t happy with our supposed relationship and made my life a living hell.

I’m just exaggerating of course, but that doesn’t make their actions any less irritating. It was already hard balancing my youkai and human life and they just had to add to my problems. If I could, I would’ve frozen their annoying lives for the rest of eternity.

Hayato looked at the starry night sky with a blank expression. Wind blew past us as I waited for his response, carrying specks of sand from the vast desert we found ourselves in after leaving the tunnel. “I see,” a smile made its way to his face. “I know I already said this, but thank you for saving me, Lucina.”

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I could tell there was something else in his mind. However his words were sincere so I decided to let it go and sent him a smile of my own. “No problem. That aside, you’re finally talking to me. Does that mean you forgive me for keeping a secret?”

“Forgive you for what secret?” He shook his head. “Even a guy ignorant to the supernatural like me can guess that the secrecy of your true identity means life and death. I’ll never take it against you for hiding it from me. I also feel bad that you risked having your identity known to help me.”

“That’s surprisingly... mature of you.” He always projected himself as an adult so I should’ve expected that from him.

His eyes widened at the word “mature, huh?” He went into deep thought, and then said “thanks, Lucina, I nearly acted on impulse. I shouldn’t rush. I should work on my wish slowly without complicating the other party. It’s clear what I should do, but I guess the frustration is starting to affect to me.”

“Care to explain what you’re talking about?” cause I don’t get it. What aren’t you rushing? Who’s the other party? None of it makes sense at all!

“It’s nothing you need to know at the moment. I let you keep a secret for years. I believe it should be fine for me to keep one myself for a year or two.” It is, if you didn’t get me this curious.

“Fine, I won’t ask.” I heaved a sigh. “I’m just happy the worst didn’t happen. It wouldn’t be cool to have you hate me first day into our reunion, Hayato.”

“Trust me. That will never happen.” His eyes told me that he meant each and every word.

“I’m glad to hear that,” and with that out of the way it was time to revert to my usual self. “Where do we go now, captain? Is there a city nearby? Does it have a sweets shop? It’s been forever since I got my hands on anything sweet. I need sugar!”

“I remember Galfort City having a sweets shop, but that’s around two weeks away by foot even if we keep our current pace. Sorry, Lucina, it looks like you’ll have to endure for a while.”

“Pshhh, two weeks, that’s nothing to me!” I let a few seconds pass before dramatically kneeling on the ground. “Who am I kidding, I can’t wait that long! I’ll die of old age before that! I need my sweets and I need them now! Someone, anyone, help me!”

It was a bit later when a brilliant idea came to mind, “I know!” I turned to Hayato and suggested “how about I carry you all the way to Galthot City? With my speed we’ll be there in a flash.”

“It’s Galfort and no, you won’t be c-”

“Oh don’t be like that. It’ll be fun! You can even choose between piggyback and princess carry. Heck, I can even carry you over my shoulder. It’ll be a great experience! Let’s do it, Hayato!”

“No way,” he said as he started running again.

I followed him shortly saying “this is a one time offer, dude. You won’t get this chance in the future even if you beg me so I suggest taking the offer. I’ll even give you discount for future products.”

“Sorry, I don’t like your product.”

“Okay fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. You only have yourself to blame.”

“Trust me, Lucina,” he smirked. “I won’t.”

It was refreshing to chat with my closest friend so I kept bringing up random and trivial topics until it was time to rest. With a spell, he gathered sand in one place and transformed them into a room of stone. It was big enough for the both of us so I didn’t bother creating my own through ice magic.

Laying down the floor, I began recalling the events that occurred since I became a devil. I went through a lot, lost many things, and gained others in return. But despite all the changes, I still feel comfortable in the presence of my first and best friend.

“I’m back,” contained all of my emotions. Those were the words I didn’t know I wanted to say, and I finally managed to say them. My parents weren’t there to hear it, but one of the people important to me did and that was more than enough for me. All that’s left was to hear the magic words.

“Welcome back, Lucina” thank you, Hayato...