Later that afternoon, Akari and I sit together in front of a small television, playing an old game featuring a particular plumber. The TV and game were both relics my dad had brought with him when he’d left America to come to Shinara. He’d liked to play the old games whenever he had a particularly hard day at work, and my mother would often join him to play together before she died. Once I’d grown old enough, I’d also begun to play the games with him. It had become something of a ritual to do when you were sick or having a bad day. There was no problem a little platforming couldn’t fix, and the happy music of the old games gave me a sense of joy that rivaled my love of archery.

Dad had spent most of the morning with Akari and me, constantly worrying and fussing over the both of us. Eventually, though, we’d managed to convince him that we were fine enough that he could use the day off he’d taken to get some shopping done.

Once alone, I’d discovered that Akari also enjoyed playing old video games when she’d seen the box of them, leading quickly to our current situation.

“How did you get so good at this?” I complain after Akari hands me back the controller. We’d been taking turns doing levels, and she’d just easily cleared one that I always get stuck on.

Akari smiles softly, her eyes watching the screen but seeming to see something entirely different. “When I was a little girl, before coming to Shinara, I had a friend named Candice. We lived near the outskirts of Nagano, and she lived nearby. She was my only friend. We met at school, and on days when life at home became too hard, I would go over to her house and play old video games like these. Every time, she would beg me to stay over for the night, and I often would. She kept me sane, and my parents have never cared if I left for a day or two.”

Akari glances towards me, “You remind me of her a lot. Not in looks, you look more American than Japanese, but in how you act. If she became a sentinel, she would definitely be a blue like you are.”

I pause the game, turning to my new friend and gently touching her hand. “What happened?” I ask. Akari had avoided talking about her past or her family at all until now. I hadn’t wanted to broach the subject because I knew it was painful for her, but I also know that sometimes you just have to tell someone your problems to start getting through them.

Akari sighs, “My uncle has always been obsessed with incursion zones and the Volcora. He started getting caught up with this weird group. They called themselves the Reavers. I guess he got in pretty early, and the group got big fast. He ended up making lots of money and basically forced the entire family to move to Shinara. He has this vision of us as a high-class, influential family — as if we weren’t dirt poor just a few years ago. Anyway, my parents will do anything my uncle says, so I didn’t have a choice but to leave Candice in Nagano. We still texted for a while, but…”

Akari shakes her head, “Sorry. You don’t care about my sob story.”

My eyes are a touch wide at the end of her explanation. No wonder she had a hard life. With an uncle involved with the Reavers… well, nothing I’d heard about them had been particularly good. However, it also hadn’t been very clear either. I guess it’s hard to learn their core doctrine unless you are a reaver yourself.

At least the rumors about Akari and her family make sense now. If her uncle — and, by association, her entire family — are caught up with the Reavers, then I can see how everyone got the idea that they were a crime family.

I blink and force myself to focus. Akari needs me, and if I can get her away from a group like that, then all the better. Akari is in a very vulnerable position, and I’m not about to let her slip back towards the darkness she’d just started moving away from.

“I do care, Akari,” I correct gently, giving her hand a squeeze. “And I think you need to tell it. You don’t have to, of course. I’m not here to poke.”

Akari lets out a heavy breath but continues. “Before we moved here, everything was so much better. Not good, but better. My parents have never cared what I do. As long as I didn’t cause trouble or make them more work, they just acted like I didn’t exist. After we moved here though…” her eyes fall.

“Like I said, Uncle Shiro has these notions that we would be a high-class, famous family. He had the money and wanted to force all of us to fit the mold. Wanted me and my cousins to go to an expensive private school. Wanted us to attend networking functions and be up-and-coming youths in the city. If that was all he did, it would have been fine, but… Do you know what a stygis scar is, Serena?” Akari asks.

I shake my head, my eyes wide. “No, I’ve never heard of them,” I say, but my mind immediately goes back to the eerie black mark on Akari’s back.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Well… it’s what you saw… when you helped me in the locker room. It happens near incursion events, when regular people get too close for too long. Us sentinels use mana to fight, but the volcora use stygis or stygian mana. When an incursion event happens, it leaks out into the surrounding area and can cause stygis scarring,” Akari says, her eyes down and her voice ashamed. “It mostly happens to GDF soldiers, but…”

“That’s what the black mark is on your back?” I ask softly. “A stygis scar?”

Akari nods, “I got it shortly after we moved here, when my uncle forced my cousins and I to see an incursion zone aperture in person. The scars aren’t harmful and don’t actually do anything. It’s like a birthmark, but my uncle has always thought that it made me… corrupted. He started calling me things like demon child, and my parents would never contradict it. I think… I think they believe it too,” Akari continues.

I don’t want to stop her explanation, but I feel like I have to interject. “You know that they are wrong? Right?” I ask gently.

Akari stays silent, her head bowed.

“Akari, I have seen people with tainted or corrupted life forces,” I continue, my mind drifting back to that man I’d seen in the skyway. “Yours isn’t corrupted at all, though. Your life force is pure and beautiful. You are pure and beautiful. No mark on your back can take that away from you. It’s like you said earlier. It’s cosmetic. It doesn’t affect you at all.”

Akari closes her eyes for a moment and smiles softly, “Thanks.”

I give her hand another squeeze. “You never have to thank me for telling the truth. You mentioned your uncle earlier as well. Was… was he the one who gave you your other scars?”

“Him and my cousins,” Akari says softly. “I’m the black sheep of the family now, the demon child, the odd one out. Nothing I do is ever good enough, and when he decides I’ve failed, he hurts me, so I learn my lesson.”

Tears leak out of Akari’s eyes as she continues, “My cousins are worse, though. They don’t need a reason. They attack me at school and… whenever they see a chance.”

“In… in the locker room? That was them?” I ask, immediately knowing that I’m right. I’d seen her own cousins attacking her so viciously.

Akari just nods, as if unable to force the words out. Tears still stream down her cheeks. I immediately feel horrible for making her cry, but I know that she has to get these things out for her to heal.

Leaning forward, I wrap my arms around Akari and hold her to me, gently stroking her hair as she cries. “Your uncle and your cousins are wrong,” I whisper gently to her. “You are beautiful and perfect. No mark on your back gets to define who and what you are. You are not a demon; you are a person. A person who deserves love. A person who matters. You have been hurt, and now it’s time for you to heal.”

I feel a strange magic moving through me, not nearly so intense as when I’d gotten my title, but more like when I use my mists. As I hold Akari, I feel my desire to see her healed and whole leaking out of me and into her. It’s strange, but it seems to be helping, so I allow it to continue.

Akari and I stay like that for a long time, with me just holding her as she remembers her pain, her emotions. I know that I still don’t know half of what she had gone through, but it isn’t important that I know. What’s important is that she remembers, then lets it go. That Akari can understand that what happened doesn’t define her.

Finally, Akari looks up at me, a strange note of pleading in her eyes. “A-Are you really sure… I-I can stay here? I don’t have to go b-back?” there is fear in her words, and I understand it fully. She is finally beginning to heal, and if she went back now, all of that progress could be undone so easily.

I look Akari in the eyes and nod. “You will never be called a demon again. Your uncle and cousins will never hurt you again. That part of your life is over now. You can stay here as long as you want, and you are the one that gets to decide when or if you ever see your family again.”

Akari nods slowly, seeming to slowly come to understand. It’s hard to comprehend after all; one night changed everything. Even I have trouble understanding it. I’d always dreamed about doing something like this for someone, but now I feel as if I’d actually managed to really help.

Eventually, we unpause the game and continue playing in silence. Passing the controller back and forth until we eventually beat the last level. When we do, Akari turns back to me. Her eyes are dry now, but her expression has taken on that hard, serious look from earlier.

“Okay… I want to stay. But… you have to let me do something for you in return,” Akari says.

I blink in surprise. I’d never expected anything in return. In fact, I still think that it was selfish of me to insert myself into Akari’s life as much as I have. Even if it does seem like it had turned out for the better, I had tried so hard to help her because I wanted to, not for any reward.

“You don’t have to do anything!” I exclaim. “There is no price tag.”

Akari nods, “Maybe not, but this is something I need to do. You’ve already done so much for me, and I… You lost the ability to heal yourself while helping me. I want to make sure that never becomes a problem.”

“W-What do you mean?” I ask, bewildered at what she’s saying.

“What I told your dad this morning is true. You not being able to heal yourself will never become a problem because I’m not going to let anything hurt you,” Akari proclaims.

“You want to be my bodyguard?” I question.

Akari nods, “Only if you’ll have me, but… yes. Don’t think of this as me repaying you; think of me doing this because I want to do it. You’ve done so much for me and… I just need to make sure you are safe. I know what the world is like, and I won’t let someone hurt you or take advantage of you.”

I offer Akari my most brilliant smile, “I’ll always have you. I’ve loved spending time with you today. If you feel like you want to protect me, you are always welcome with me.”

Akari offers me her hand, “It’s a deal then?” she asks.

I look at her hand before grabbing it and shaking. “It’s a deal.”