Shomei stands with Keiji and Vicious in a forest that remained dimly lit by soft glowing crystal-like trees, emanating a gentle blue light from the trunk, yet still being able to block out the sun above them. “Are you sure of this?” Shomei asks in concern.
Keiji smiles warmly. “Is it not what you wanted?”
Shomei shoots a subtle gaze of accusation toward Vicious who nodded lightly.
“Chrystallium is the Shrine of healers; they’ll be able to assist us with medicines and a place to rest,” affirms Vicious.
Shomei looks toward Keiji suspiciously then turns and sees Kaori running up with Breeze, her expression softening to a smile at the sight of Kaori’s seemingly rushed demeanor.
“Sorry I’m late everyone. I guess I was more tired than I thought,” Kaori says slightly out of breath.
“No matter,” Keiji reassures, a casual shrug gracing his shoulders as he did so. “I believe you already know of our plan?”
Kaori nods once. “Yes. First to Aura Lake, and then to the Shrine before we reach the summit, right?”
“Correct,” Keiji replies, pleased at Kaori’s determination. “Let’s get going,” he turns with Kaori following after him obediently until Vicious caught up to her and held her back from Keiji at a small distance with a gentle touch.
“Everything okay?” Vicious asks Kaori lightly as he walked at her side.
“Yes I think so. Why do you ask?” she responds while avoiding eye contact awkwardly.
“I heard you were up late with Taiichiro... Did... I mean...”
Kaori blushes lightly and shakes her head keeping her gaze away from Vicious while looking embarrassed. “Uh... He was helping me learn how to use the Flame Soul, that’s all,” she says defensively. “He wasn’t very easy on me, though...”
“You know I could have helped you, right? You can always feel free to ask me.”
She nods a little. “I’ll remember that for the future.”
“You’re going to like Chrystallium. It’s a very quiet and secluded place,” Vicious says with a reminiscent smile.
“Oh yeah?” Kaori asks absentmindedly as they continued walking, her mind wandering. She notices the trees were glowing brighter and fading down as she walks past them, as if she herself made them light up. “How interesting. That happened in the cave too. I wonder why.” She looks at Vicious with wide, confused eyes, realizing he had said her name several times. “Huh? Sorry, what?”
He looks at her worriedly. “Are you still tired?”
“Kind of... Sorry I was just noticing the trees seem to light up when I walk by them.”
“They say it’s a reaction from Noroc,” Shomei says softly from behind Kaori. “It recognizes a being of purity is walking by and reacts as thanks for gracing them with your presence.”
Kaori looks at the wide trunks of the trees emitting their glow, her eyes as thoughtful as ever.
“Or it could be the forest is trying to drain her energy,” Breeze adds quietly. “I’ve heard many deities and even followers have fallen on their way to this particular shrine.”
Vicious starts to say something but stops as a memory came across him. “In any case, she has us here to protect her,” he looks at Keiji seriously. “On that note, I want to accompany her into the summit cavern.”
Breeze turns and walks backwards as she prepared to scold Vicious. “You know what—”
“It’s a wonderful idea,” Keiji interjects softly.
Breeze turns to Keiji quickly, her expression softening as if he had told her something important.
Vicious looks at Keiji suspiciously. “Huh?”
Keiji smiles knowingly. “It’s a very dangerous place for those of human blood, but if you think you can handle yourself, then by all means, go ahead and do so.”
“She’s of more importance than myself. I’ll always put her ahead of me,” Vicious says with determination.
“I imagine so,” Keiji says as he continues leading the path through the forest, each of them speaking quietly to one another until they reached a large, glowing lake with a small island in the center growing a single tree so large that it’s branches and leaves above reached out to cover the sky between the gaps of the other trees.
“It’s like it’s always night here huh?” Kaori asks quietly, addressing no one in particular.
Keiji looks around for a moment, not seeing Tai. “Hm. I suggest we clear the area. Breeze, Shomei, stay with Kaori?”
“No problem,” Says Breeze before hurrying to Kaori’s side lightly, Shomei nodding in agreement.
“Vicious take the southeast, and I will go up northwest. Make sure the area is safe,” Keiji says strictly.
Vicious glares at Keiji a little, not liking that he had to take orders from him, yet nods reluctantly and looks at Kaori with a calm smile. “Be right back.”
“Um... Okay?” Kaori replies in confusion then looks around a little as him and Keiji had hurried off into the dark woods. She sighs lightly after a moment, sitting down on a nearby fallen tree trunk.
“Is something troubling you?” Shomei asks with concern.
“It’s just... It’s nothing,” Kaori replies dryly.
“Thinking about the Emperor huh?” Breeze asks playfully.
Kaori smiles a little. “Something like that...” She turns to Breeze and Shomei curiously. “You two have met him before though haven’t you?”
Breeze places a finger on her chin thoughtfully as she tried to remember before answering. “Hm... I’ve seen him, but never really met him.”
Kaori shifts her focus to Shomei. “You have though, right? He seemed like he had back at the palace.”
Shomei nods lightly. “Yes. He requested Akiko, Vicious, and I to meet him. It was just after his father’s passing, and he wanted her blessing to be performed at the funeral to ensure his soul had a safe trip to the heavens.”
Kaori shifts her eyes to look down at her side nervously. “Did he... Um... I mean...”
“He had little interest in Akiko other than asking her to bring this world to peace,” Shomei says in an almost kind tone, understanding what Kaori wanted to ask. “I believe he only spoke with her a few times, but then again he was still grieving the loss of his father while taking on the responsibilities of running an empire at such a young age.”
Kaori places a hand on her arm. “That must have been hard on him...”
“But Akiko did say she could hear his prayers every day, asking to be blessed with a woman that holds the same kindness and capacity of unconditional love as his mother,” Shomei adds.
“Was he close to his mother?” Kaori says curiously, the thought not seeming to cross her mind before.
Shomei crosses her arms and looks out at the lake in deep thought. “His father was known to be a...” She hesitates for a moment, trying to find a kind way to describe him. “An unforgiving man, like his father before him. Yet Emperor Soujirou himself is a kind and gentle person, much like his mother. She was said to be a woman descendent of a martyr, which led to her having the kindness and compassion for all people. Her marriage to the previous emperor was one of political gain, yet it was well known that she doted on her child. After her passing, Akiko said in his prayers he would often ask for a love who mirrored those traits. He apparently wished his children to never live the experience he had with his own father, wanting them to have two loving parents.”
Kaori blushes, her face showing her embarrassment as she turned away. “He was serious about raising their new leader then,” she says quietly.
Shomei smiles warmly at Kaori’s reaction. “I’m sure his intentions aren’t solely based on that. He’s the type of man to be very open about what he wants and the reasons as to why. You should take him at his word if he says he loves you.”
“Even if he just met me?” Kaori responds with a hint of reluctance, prompting Breeze to chime in.
“No one is more kind and loving than a literal goddess,” Breeze says casually as she steps around Shomei and Kaori. “You’ll grow to love him, I’m sure of it,” she adds in a reassuring voice, almost as if reassuring herself rather than Kaori. “And if not then it’s okay to change your mind. If the emperor can’t deny you anything then he won’t deny your choice to no longer be married, right? Besides he doesn’t seem like the type to cage you up and force you to love him. He encouraged you to come with us after all.”
Kaori sighs softly, unable to hide the complexity she felt until they were interrupted by the sound of faint crying echoing around them, prompting their attention and causing Kaori to stand in anticipation.
Shomei positions herself protectively in front of Kaori, clutching several arrows from her holster as she readied herself for a potential threat.
“Kaori, if anything happens, run north toward Keiji as far and as fast as you can, okay?” Breeze whispers cautiously.
Kaori nods anxiously, her eyes scanning her surroundings as the crying grew louder before abruptly stopping.
A small boy can be heard sniffling before speaking sadly. “They’ve forgotten all about me. Left alone to die.”
“It sounds like a lost child. Shouldn’t we help?” Kaori says worriedly.
Breeze steps in front of Kaori protectively. “Don’t listen to it. That’s how he messes with people.”
Confused, Kaori turns her attention to a young boy who came into partial view from the distance. “What do you mean?” Her expression falls as a boy with bruised, bloodied, and sorrowful appearance comes into full view, only his hair obscuring his face as he continued to approach them.
The boy stops a few feet from them, his tearful voice pleading to them. “They left me... Never returned... But you’re here now. Will you play with me?” he asks while reaching out a battered hand toward them.
Kaori feels an uneasiness circulate throughout her entire body, only able to shake her head out of fear as a response.
The boy looks up, his sinister smile deepening as he did so. “Too bad.” His hair parts, revealing pitch black eyes with red pupils that instilled so much fear into Kaori that she stumbled backward in surprise, falling to edge of the lake. His grin widens, staring directly down at her. “Didn’t you want to help me? Or will you continue to ignore my existence now that you can see what you’ve created?”
“What I created? What is he talking about? Did I do this?” Kaori shakes her head in confusion at his statement.
Breeze clenches her fists angrily. “Go away you!” She takes out a red sphere from her side pouch and hurls it at the boy, the ground near him exploding.
His evil grin remains the same as the smoke cleared around him. “My turn now.” He steps forward, the ground starting to shake with the sound of trees snapping and falling in the distance. “You’ll get to play with me forever. Just like we were supposed to.”
Shomei rushes to Kaori’s side and pulls her up to her feet. “Get ready to run,” she says cautiously.
Kaori nods hesitantly. “Right.”
Breeze readies her gun, loading it with small spheres in rapid succession, her annoyance tangible as she scanned her surroundings. “Where the hell is Tai when you need him?” she mutters in frustration, her eyes darting around for any sign of his presence.
“I have met so many new friends on their way toward the Shrine,” he focuses his attention on Breeze. “You’ll get to play with them first,” Large, black boar like demons run out of the tree line in the hundreds and start swarming over to Breeze and the others.
“Go Kaori now!” Breeze shouts, shooting at each one that drew close.
Kaori scrambles through the trees, the boy’s haunting laughter following her every step. “Just find Keiji... Just run until you find him!”
“Don’t run! Come play with the others!” His voice echoes through the woods, drawing closer toward Kaori.
She jumps over a tree branch only to trip and fall in a hole in the ground, her ankle twisting with a sharp snap. “Ouch...” She gets up slowly, wincing in pain until the boy’s face suddenly comes in close to hers. His wide dark eyes stare at her intensely, causing her to freeze in fear once more.
“Looks like you’ll be joining my friends, lady goddess.” He lunges toward her with a boar tusk in hand, Kaori breaking eye contact with him for a moment and holding up her hands, instantly engulfing him in flames. “Try harder.” He aims to strike, stopping mid movement and looks down slowly seeing the blade of a sword going through his chest from behind as the flames died down.
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Her eyes widen as she noticed the blade as well and uses the boy’s lack of movement to her advantage and backs away while still on the ground injured. Her eyes turn focus behind the boy, her emotions slowly settling as she saw Tai standing behind him angrily. “He looks injured. Was he fighting something before he got here too? Is that why he wasn’t there?” Her eyes seem to hold a sense of guilt as she looked away with confliction.
Tai pulls the sword out from the boy and watches him fall to the ground, then hurries toward Kaori. “Did he hurt you at all?” he asks seriously as he knelt down to her level seeing her on the verge of tears. “Seriously, are you hurt?” He attempts to look over her for injuries, his attention suddenly pulled away from her as he heard the boy stand back up, causing him to stand himself and position himself in front of Kaori, ready to attack the boy once more.
The boy laughs, taunting Tai as he spoke. “I can’t tell if you’ve gotten stronger or if you’ve finally embraced your own suffering.” With a menacing gesture, he holds out the tusk he still grasped in his hand, crushing it with ease. The resulting dust from its remains merge in the air before moving turning into a massive boar with white fur and glowing red eyes.
Tai reacts quickly, driving his sword into the hoof of the boar, attempting to pin it down. With the creature momentarily subdued, he rushes towards the boy, delivering a powerful punch that sent him crashing to the ground. Tai then presses the boy's face into the earth, his expression filled with contempt and fury as a familiar purple glyph began to glow beneath them.
Kaori watches the hands of demons appear from the ground and grab onto the boy, dragging him down into the deep depths below the purple symbol as Tai moved away. She looks up as the boar shook off Tai’s sword from its foot and charged at her. “No, stop!!” She holds up her hands fearfully, a blue flame quickly surrounding the boar and burning it to the point of ashes, her eyes in a deep trance as she did so.
Tai hurries over to Kaori as the glyph faded along with the boy then places his hands on her shoulders lightly, trying to get her attention. “Are you okay?”
Kaori snaps out of a fearful daze and finally sees Tai in front of her, tears falling down her face as she looked up at him.
“Kaori?” He looks at her intently, not seeming to notice the blood on his face or how tired his body language had become once their surroundings became still and silent.
“I can’t do this!” she yells suddenly, the silence around them heavy as she cried into her hands. “I can’t.” She shakes her head.
He pulls Kaori’s hands from her face suddenly, despite the pain it causes him, and looks down at her sternly, staring into her eyes. “Don’t discredit yourself right now alright? You did what you could, and it was more than enough.” Tai looks into her eyes, noticing how brightly they glowed through her tears after letting her hands go once he could no longer comfortably ignore the pain it caused him. “You can do this.”
“I couldn’t hurt that boy though... If you hadn’t come when you did, I’d be dead.”
“You’re not doing this alone you idiot,” he says tapping her head lightly with his knuckles. “Yaban were meant to protect the gods on Noroc, so let us do our job and help you.”
Kaori shakes her head seriously then moves to embrace Tai tightly, a sense of gratitude washing over her.
He stays motionless as Kaori held him, a sharp pain starting to make itself known, causing him to push her away unintentionally hard.
“Sorry, I forgot-.” She stops and looks behind Tai as she heard footsteps approaching.
He turns his attention away from her forcefully, focusing on Keiji and the others who walked out of the woods tiredly.
“There you are,” Keiji says relieved to see Kaori safe.
Breeze’s accusatory tone cuts through the air as she stared down at Tai. “Where were you?!”
Tai stands, meeting her gaze with indifference. “That little brat had his demons try to keep me busy while he went after the rest of you.”
Keiji glances around cautiously. “Good thing we checked the area.”
Vicious clenches his fists angrily, directing his gaze toward Keiji. “Not good enough. We should have accepted the help of the Emperor.”
“Where is he at now?” Keiji asks Tai calmly, intentionally ignoring Vicious.
Tai dusts off his clothes, speaking distractedly. “I took care of him, but he’ll be back. If you want to avoid it we better get going.”
Kaori tries to stand, falling forward from the pain in her ankle, groaning as a grimace of pain washed over her face even as she tried to refrain from doing so.
Vicious’s eyes widen as he saw her. “Careful.” He hurries over, catching Kaori in his arms gently. “You okay?”
“My ankle kind of hurts...” Kaori replies, wincing.
Vicious picks Kaori up in his arms with ease and looks at Keiji. “We need to go to Chrystallium now.”
Keiji nods in agreement, looking at Kaori. “We’ll stay there to recuperate. On our way down we’ll also stop by the lake again. We may need to spend some time there.”
“Alright,” Kaori says with a nod, then looks up at Vicious. “I’d rather try and walk.”
“Nonsense, it’ll be faster this way,” Vicious insists with a gentle smile, oblivious to Tai’s hateful glare toward him as he surpassed everyone else.
Uncomfortable in Vicious’s arms, Kaori remains silent as he engaged with Shomei in quiet conversation while they walked. “This is weird... I hope we arrive to the Shrine soon.”
“Uhhggg!! Tai! You’re walking too fast,” Breeze groans tiredly.
“You’re moving slow, hurry up,” Tai retorts irritably.
Breeze sighs tiredly and hurries up to him, pushing him lightly. “Hey you!” She creates a distance between her and Tai from the others. “Great job fighting off the Child of Sorrows like that.”
“What do you want?” he asks hatefully.
“I just wanted to ask you a bit about what went on last night,” she says innocently. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Not with you,” he replies coldly.
“Really? You upset Kaori a little, you know.”
“Who cares, she’s always upset,” he says carelessly.
“You should care about it. She cares about you after all.”
He looks ahead grimly as they walked. “She shouldn’t.”
“Don’t you think that’s a good thing?” Breeze asks with concern.
“It isn’t, and you know it.”
“But things could really work out now you know,” she says hopefully. “At least give it a chance.”
“The only things I need to worry about is opening the caverns for her, and that’s it.”
Breeze pouts as they reached snow-covered ground. “You don’t have to feel that way,” she says softly, her eyes lowered with pity.
Vicious hurries forward closer to Breeze and Tai. “We’re close!” He speeds up the snowy path, holding Kaori in his arms securely.
Tai watches Vicious run ahead of him with exasperation, as they all climbed up a snow-covered hill. Eventually, they to see a large ice platform holding up the shrine in the center of a wide canyon, and a single path of ice leading toward the building from solid ground.
Keiji stands atop the hill, looking out at the large piece of ice missing from one side of the platform holding up the shrine. “It seems to be in the same shape as the Temple,” he says softly while standing at Tai’s side.
“It’ll fall soon too. Just like most others did before,” Tai says tonelessly as he crossed his arms.
“Possibly,” Keiji says with a slight shrug of his shoulders and walks head after Vicious. All of them tread carefully across the ice walkway until they reached the building, where a young shrine maiden who wore white and light blue robes were awaiting them.
The shine maiden hurries up with a smile. “Lady Akiko!” She starts to welcome everyone until she saw Tai, Breeze, and Keiji. “Uh-...” She hesitates, slowing her steps as Vicious approached her with Kaori in his arms.
Kaori moves away from Vicious forcefully, standing weakly on her own. “My name is Kaori,” she says seriously. “And I will not continue into this shrine until I know that everyone here can enter,” she says with an unwavering tone.
The shrine maiden looks at Kaori worriedly. “But my lady... Yaban—”
Kaori shakes her head, quickly interrupting the young woman. “Are people I trust with my life. If I am welcome here then so are they.”
“Very well...” replies the shrine maiden worriedly with a defeated bow. “Please follow me to the Holy Room to see Master Izol.”
Vicious looks at Kaori worriedly. “You don’t have to feel sorry for them you know,” he says as Shomei, and the others passed them.
“I don’t pity anyone. I truly do trust them,” Kaori says, intentionally avoiding eye contact with Vicious.
Vicious sighs lightly, seeming to believe otherwise. “You can walk okay now?”
Kaori nods in response. “Yes,”
“Well, hurry inside before you get sick, alright?” Vicious says with a weak smile, hurrying after the Shrine Maiden.
Kaori looks up lightly, looking confused as she noticed Tai walk up next to her and stop at her side.
“You’re a horrible liar,” he says quietly.
Kaori looks at him with a saddened smile. “I meant it. I really do trust Yaban. That includes you.”
“I was talking about you walking,” he replies simply.
“Uh- Yeah...” she says, blushing as she looked down and takes a step forward, falling down on her hands and knees in pain.
He looks down at her with an empty expression as he watched her fall to the cold ground. “Good luck with that.”
She gets up slowly, not expecting to see Tai standing in front of her. “What?”
He looks at her with an indifferently, moving off to the side. “After you.”
She staggers forward slowly, with Tai walking at the same pace at her side until they reached the others who were standing outside a large room where an old man dressed in heavy silk robes of light blue, showing he was the master of the shrine; Izol.
Izol looks at Kaori up and down carefully. “My lady, are you injured?” he asks with a calm concern.
Kaori nods in response as she spoke. “I think my ankle hurts more than I thought it did...”
Izol looks at Vicious and Shomei. “Bring her to the healing room; our Shrine workers will care for her there.”
“Yes sir,” Vicious says obediently, soon after he and Shomei attending to help Kaori walk toward the back of the Shrine.
Izol turns his gaze to Keiji, before looking at Tai. “Your work here is done. She is in our hands now.”
Keiji smiles kindly, speaking firmly yet calmly. “I’m sorry, but we are only passing through. You see, we have been trusted with the young Empress’s life as of late, and we cannot return to the palace without her. So, she is staying with us, lest she return home to the palace as the terms we agreed upon with His Majesty.”
“Is she now,” Izol’s eyes stay stuck on Tai suspiciously. “Of her own free will?”
Tai glares at the old man hatefully. “Perhaps you should keep your suspicions to yourself. The last man accusing me of something met a tragic end.”
Izol stares at Tai with an amused look in his eyes. “So we have heard many a time... But her choices now will not change the minds of the temple and its followers in regard to trusting you. Especially if she is not truly the one making them.”
“I don’t need your trust,” Tai says darkly.
Keiji smiles casually as he spoke, his eyes never moving from Izol. “It is indeed of her own free will. No tricks, no manipulations, just Miss Kaori running her own show. We are, of course, her servants, are we not?”
Izol returns Keiji’s stare. “If you do intend on leaving, then where would you be heading to? Rumor has it your life is of the sky.”
Keiji shrugs his shoulders. “Yaban have just as many secrets from the Temple as the Temple keeps from its people.”
“Stay as long as Lady Akiko wishes,” Izol says, turning away. He stops with his back turned to them as Tai spoke hatefully.
Tai glares at Izol, revulsion in his eyes. “Her name is Kaori.”
Izol looks over his shoulder lightly. “Is it now? I’m sure you find it particularly useful to remember,” he replies in an empty tone, walking away from them carelessly.
“That asshole,” Tai says, starting to go after him, but stopping as Breeze grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Don’t start anything here, Kaori might get upset,” Breeze says cautiously.
“We shouldn’t have come here,” Tai says pulling away from her hard and staring at Keiji. “Why would you allow something so stupid?”
“There’s a reason for everything. You know that,” Keiji says quietly.
❀
Vicious helps Kaori sit down in the room and looks at her with a kind smile. “You need anything?”
“I’m fine thank you,” Kaori says politely.
Shomei looks at Kaori with a smile before speaking. “I’ll go help the workers gather supplies for you in the altar room. There will be some gifts they will want to give you to aid in our journey.”
Kaori nods lightly. “Thank you Shomei.”
Shomei nods a bit walks out of the room calmly, leaving Vicious alone with Kaori.
“I heard that one of the strongest warriors lived here, you know. After he died in the first revolution his son came here to visit and was able to unite the Shrine workers with a healer who secluded himself. It was something Tinder was known for since he was from there,” Vicious says in a forced tone of positivity.
“That’s nice,” Kaori says, looking uninterested.
He sighs silently in dissatisfaction. “You really... Don’t like the teachings, do you?”
“Hm?” She looks at Vicious blankly, now realizing he was trying hard to get her to understand something. “Oh... I just don’t think I need the teachings to show me the way.”
“But you trust Taiichiro to do so?”
“It’s not that I’m trusting and relying on him or even Breeze or Keiji. I just feel like I can trust them and their opinions to help me make my own choices since they’ve only told me the truth from the beginning.” She looks down thoughtfully, her voice continuing to speak gently as she spoke from her heart. “As soon as I came here and without my knowing, I became a part of something bigger, something I had no choice in or knowledge of for whatever reason. And though I might not love and understand this world like Akiko before me, I do understand what is right. If I defeat Aduro with Yaban by my side, their lives, and the lives of all their people will become better. They can be treated as equals and no longer need to live in fear.”
Vicious lowers his gaze, hesitant with what he wanted to say next. “This might be a strange question but...” He stops, trying to find the right way to ask. “Do you happen to have any memories of Akiko?”
“I’ve had dreams. Dreams I can only remember the feelings of, not so much the memory itself. I know they’re not my emotions, so there might be something more to it.”
“How is that?”
“I feel so much regret and sadness,” she says looking down at her hands uneasily. “It’s painful yet there’s an overwhelming feeling of unconditional love. I haven’t experienced such feelings on my own that I can remember myself, and there’s only one person who might have that I know of. It’s complicated, and overwhelming but at the same time, in a way, that feeling of hope and love makes that pain bearable.”
He stands up reluctantly. “You really can’t be her, can you?”
“I’m not, and I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. Just promise me something?”
She tears her gaze from her hands and looks up at Vicious worriedly. “Yes?”
“I won’t ask you to be with me, or to love me even... Just... Don’t pity Taiichiro okay?”
“Why is it so important?”
“Because he... He just... He doesn’t talk a lot, so things get left out. Just don’t give him anything he can’t give back to you, okay?”
“What could he possibly want from me?” She asks quietly.
“It’s hard to say right now. Just be careful,” he looks at her with a sad smile before changing his tone. “Right. Well, I think I’ll go help Shomei with the stuff and see what’s taking the workers so long,” he bows as if it were something he had been conditioned to do and was a force of habit. “See ya in a bit, get some rest, okay?”
“I will.” She watches Vicious leave then looks down thoughtfully. “I can’t imagine what anyone would want from someone who can’t even protect herself.” Her demeanor relaxes only slightly, yet her expression remaining conflicted as Breeze walked in, causing her to look up in her direction.
“Hey kiddo, what’s got you looking so down?” Breeze asks curiously, crouching down in front of her.
Kaori shakes her head a bit, her eyes gliding back downward.
She moves to sit down in front of Kaori lightly, looking at her with interest. “I’m here to listen if you wanna talk, you know.”
“I just don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I feel like an inconvenience, especially toward...” Her voice trails off as she thought of Tai, her eyes full of apprehension.
She looks at Kaori with a furrowed brow of concern. “Really now...”
“Being saved more than once at this point is disheartening.”
“This is our honor, I promise, even with Tai. You’ll get to a point where you’ll be able to handle your own, but until then don’t even sweat it. We’re here for you as long as you need us and even when you don’t. Okay?”
Kaori smiles sadly and nods in response.
She smiles back, satisfied with Kaori’s agreement. “So! How’s your ankle doing?” she asks light heartedly as she changed the subject. “Wanna see if I can treat it faster than them? I don’t have any potions on me, but I bet I can do something useful,” she says with a lighthearted giggle.
❀
Tai looks at Keiji angrily as the two stood outside on the walkway, servants passing them every so often. “So, what is you big plan here?”
“I won’t tell so easily,” Keiji replies cunningly.
He sighs as he crossed his arms and looked away. “How is it you don’t feel the least bit irritated by these ungrateful people?”
“Their only mistake was being human.”
“That’s been their excuse for too long. It can’t always be that way.”
“True... But it is all they have going for them.”
He rolls his eyes sarcastically and turns away.
“For now, just try to let your reservations go and relax a little, hm?” He says with the same casual tone before walking off in the opposite direction from Tai.