The next morning was nothing out of the ordinary. Loter was wearing his white hoodie; Hiroku had his white pullover and purple crop top; and Ramiron was in her green polo shirt. The three kids had their breakfast with Yotan, and Ramiron talked to him for the entire meal. Of course, Hiroku was the translator.

Despite all the boring greets and uninteresting affairs, they revealed one piece of information crucial to Loter: As the guest, they could ask the servants to prepare them food at any time they wanted.

After the meal, Ramiron headed to the treatment, and Hiroku went into the forest. Loter asked if he could follow Hiroku but received a firm rejection.

Loter lay on the tatami with a little too much fullness in his bloated belly. He yawned as he closed his eyes. It would be great if he could fall asleep right there, yet Loter slept pretty early last night and was not even two hours away from the time he woke up.

Thus, he lightly wiped his hands on the floor to find his phone and held it in the air. He had full faith in short videos and mobile games to kill time until something else happened to him.

His faith was not unreasonable. When Loter was finally unable to bear through another meaningless clip, two hours had already passed. He just needed to wait for two more hours for lunch time to come.

Maybe Hiroku's back.

Loter got up and shuffled his indolent body to Hiroku's door and knocked.

"..."

He knocked again.

"..."

Sighing, Loter returned to his room. He dropped to the ground and began whining in boredom.

Suddenly, Loter realized that he had not been thinking about his father for quite some time. He felt a rush of sadness just at the thought of that. Although R.O.S. did tell him not to think about his father all the time, the understanding that his father would no longer pop up in his head still dispirited Loter.

He closed his eyes and let himself sink into his memories. He still remembered the time when Kniton attended his elementary school graduation. Sarah never went to any of his school activities, and Kniton rarely did. That graduation was pretty significant to Loter. He could almost see the scene playing inside his eyelids.

First, Kniton was just sitting there. Then, he noticed other parents all had their phones and cameras out. He hesitated and stayed in his seat for a moment before looking up at the stage and seeing Loter watching him.

Immediately, Kniton bounced up from the chair and tugged out his phone from his pocket. He even stood on his chair, although the teachers had him stepping down instantly.

His father's clumsiness cracked Loter so hard that he began laughing on stage. The principal before him had to pause her speech and look over her shoulder to check on Loter. Yet, that was not the funniest part. It was way funnier when the entire class, standing beside Loter, was infected by the laughter. The principal's confusion was priceless.

Reminiscing, Loter smiled and giggled. It felt good to revisit old memories. Yet, the reassurance that he still remembered his father was the idea that truly cheered him up.

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The happiness was eventually dissolved by boredom. Loter still had to find something to do.

What can I do? Why don't I have any hobbies besides playing on my phone? How does Hiroku bear staring at plants for hours? If I were Key or Ramiron, I would be trying to play sports or meditate here. Thankfully, I'm neither of them. Mr. Dowii did give me homework on what movements and postures to practice, but I did not want to do that now. Maybe I should think about…

Oh, I know. I can use my invisible flying ability to spy on the Kayamas. It's not like they are going to notice, anyway.

Loter jumped up from the ground. He walked to the door and let out an "ah" sound. He put a hand on the door plank and touched the back of his head.

Isn't it unethical to spy on people? I should probably not be doing it… But it won't be spying if I restrict myself to public areas, right?

Getting his last concern out of his head, Loter slid open the door and activated his invisible flying ability. He ascended straight up into the air and looked downward with a bird's-eye view.

Loter stopped before he went too high so he could clearly see the entire estate below him without missing all the details. He could see servants with special wooden brooms combing those precious courtyards while stepping on the stones placed in between the grass. He could see smoke coming out of the kitchen. Beyond that, there was not much else in Yotan's estate.

Loter knew Ramiron was doing her treatment meditation in another estate. Maybe he could visit if he knew which one she was in. According to Hiroku, there were about thirty different estates and a lot more infrastructures on Cho-san Island. Finding Ramiron would be an impossible task, especially after Loter decided to stay outdoors for ethics.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Well, I don't need to visit Ramiron necessarily. I can check out other estates, too, but that may be a bit too much…

No one can see me, anyway, so it's fine.

Therefore, Loter descended to a height barely above the ground and flew along the pebble trail into the mountain forest.

If someone wanted to tour Cho-san Island, they would have to enter Yotan's estate first since it was directly connected to the entry harbor by the trail. However, the trail afterward had turns and junctions connecting different estates, so residents would not have to enter others' territory when passing by.

Loter soon met his first T-junction and made a turn to visit the estate right beside Yotan's. From the outer wall, there was almost no difference between the two. The stone bricks had timber planks fixed on them. Loter elevated into the sky and faced down.

The first detail he noticed was the wooden buildings being bigger yet fewer than in Yotan's. Then, he saw a stone-paved patio and four boys on it practicing with wooden swords. All the four and their old teacher were wearing the jordy blue kimono.

The teacher had both his hands behind and pressed against his back. The boys repeatedly slashed down their wooden swords from above their heads. Simultaneously, they shouted out a word that seemed to be a number for every swing. Two of the kids had a ponytail, one had an undercut, and the other's long hair was tucked behind his ears.

Somewhat interested in how the Kayamas train, Loter lowered a bit to inspect the sword lesson more closely. After about twenty more identical slashes, the old bald teacher said something in Habanese, and the boys changed to swinging horizontally. Just like the vertical swinging exercise, the horizontal one was also just performing the identical move several dozens of times.

The repetitiveness of the lesson made Loter bored fairly quickly. He changed from standing to lying in the air, although no part of his muscle was holding him up in either posture.

After about seven more identical slashes, Loter was completely bored and glanced away, spotting what was not expected.

By the wooden house before the patio, Tori stood on the veranda and gazed at Loter.

Wait, Tori is here? Can she see me?

Loter quickly turned around to make sure there was not a thing behind him. When he turned back, he pointed a finger at his own surprised face.

Tori quickly shifted her eyes around to ensure no others were looking at her and lightly nodded at Loter.

How can she see me?

Loter quickly flitted toward Tori. He touched the hand Tori put on the railing while Tori was staring at Loter in amazement. She had a subconscious movement of drawing back her hand, yet she canceled it immediately. Her hand remained in touch with Loter's.

The contact between the two allowed Loter to share his invisibility with Tori. Although none of them could see the other, they had a precise sensation of each other's existence, from location to posture to facial features and expressions.

For a moment, both of them gazed at the person before themselves, not seeing anybody yet sensing each other on a higher level. Loter gaped with his mouth completely opened, and Tori parted her lips. Eventually, one of them broke the silence.

"Why could you see me?" Loter asked in his normal voice, neither whispering nor murmuring. They just somehow knew others could not hear them.

"I perfected the Fox Transform spell. I can see smells of people even in my human form," Tori answered calmly, still staring blankly at Loter. She was not as energetic as they met last time. Loter could not tell if it was because of how their last encounter ended or the effect of his ability.

"Wow. It's the first time someone ever sees me when I'm invisible." Loter chuckled a bit at the end of his sentence. He was not sure why. He just did it, and his smile was wide.

"It's also the first time I see someone invisible."

"Cool."

"How did you learn this?"

"It's just my superpower. It sometimes gives me weird abilities."

"I'm." Tori finally grinned and looked into Loter's eyes with a sense of contentment. "So jealous of you."

Loter tittered at the sight of Tori's grin. "I don't think my superpower will ever turn me into a fox."

"Maybe you will."

Loter did not answer. He was mentally preparing himself to talk about a heavy topic. Tori, unannoyed, waited there, reading Loter's heart before any word had come out.

"Hey, I just want to say sorry for yesterday. I shouldn't have said those things to you. I'm sorry I made you sad." Loter's eyes kept dodging away and coming back. He passively sensed Tori's tranquility without seeing.

"It's okay, Loter. It is not your fault. You did not do anything to me. It is my family that blocked me from learning magic and made me learn about chores and how to please men. I am not sad. I'm glad you confirmed my feelings." Despite Tori's attempt to hide her sadness, it was crystal clear under the power of invisibility.

"Tori, I actually asked Hiroku about how we can help your situation." Loter's voice lowered as he detected Tori's true feelings.

A feeling of surprise sparked in Tori's despondency. Although the light died instantly by itself, she quietly listened to what Loter had to say.

"He said there is no way to help you, but maybe you know how we can help you." Loter held Tori's contacting hand by the fingers and slightly lifted it. His eyes gazed straight into hers, looking for an answer. Yet, Tori dodged her eyes away in hesitation.

Loter could sense the struggle with no blurriness. Tori opened her mouth and closed it. Eventually, she said with a great surge of regret, "No, there's nothing you can do about it."

Tori drew her hand back from Loter's soft grip. She ran away as her invisibility ended, and her body reappeared on the veranda.

Loter floated there, watching the girl running back into the wooden building.

Why?

He was disappointed in himself, yet, more importantly, he was confused. The conflicting feeling he sensed back when they were connected was certainly real. There was no denying that Tori knew the way for Loter to help her. Tori was hesitating about the method. She was hesitating about whether to tell Loter or not.

Why?

Losing all his interest in exploring Cho-san Island, Loter flew back to Yotan's estate. He stopped by his cottage, flew to his door, and turned off his ability.

Is it because Tori does not trust me enough? Does she have a way to set herself free but decide not to try because she does not trust me? Fuck.

Loter glided the door open.

I can show her. I will show her my other abilities, the running and the combat one. I will show her that I'm competent, and I will tell her I can do college-level math.

"Loter," Hiroku called him after coming out of his room. His hand was propped on the wall, and his visage was unnaturally expressionless.

"Hiro, what did you say?" Loter, pulled back from his thoughts, asked and turned around to face Hiroku.

"I haven't said it yet, but I want to ask you to come with me tomorrow."

"Do you feel lonely?"

"Hm? No, no." Hiroku did a quick, discernible inhalation and continued, "I have an arranged duel coming in two days with one of my cousins. I need you to spar with me."

"Wait, what, why?"

"I don't want to talk about it now, and don't tell Ramiron." Hiroku went back into his room, closing the door with some extra strength.