"!!!" Ayaka's body shook when she heard that.
Kai looked at her carefully. After a while, he slowly approached her again. But this time, she didn't shout. He slowly removed the rope on her hands and feet.
"Can I explain it now?" Kai asked.
Ayaka didn't say anything. Although she was still vigilant against him, she still nodded.
"Firstly, why do you think the magical beasts were chasing us? Who's their target?" Kai asked.
Ayaka looked down, weighing something in her mind. She shook her head, telling him she didn't know.
"Then, do you remember that someone wanted to kill me back in our practice class, specifically two weeks ago, where we did our training?" Kai changed his question.
"!!!" Ayaka certainly remembered about that incident. Back then, she wanted to help him, but Kai rejected her idea. And the next Monday, Kai didn't come to school for a 'family trip.' She suddenly realized why Kai suddenly brought up this topic, and she muttered, "Are you their target?"
"I'm not certain, but the probability is high." Kai nodded. He continued, "Then, even though I'm the one who should be chased, why do you think when we changed our direction, the magical beasts kept coming toward Chitose and Carmina?
"It might be a bit impossible for a person to control those magical beasts. So, let just assume no one is controlling them. They should have been chasing us since we used your Firebirds to make a distraction. And with our low altitude, we were still surrounded by woods, making it impossible for them to know our position.
"But have you noticed their movement? You might not notice it since I pressured you to make you not think about it.
"I'll tell you this. They didn't flinch at all and kept chasing them. Why do you think they did so?" Kai asked her again and again as he explained his reason.
Ayaka was tongue-tied in front of those questions. She couldn't answer a single thing.
"Do you remember when I asked you to stop for three seconds?"
Ayaka nodded. It was one of the most confusing decisions Kai made her do.
"Within those three seconds, we were separated by almost a hundred meter. And with that distance, the magical beasts kept shifting their direction toward Chitose and Carmina, not us. And when we caught up with them again, why didn't they ask about that decision of mine?" Kai asked.
At this point, Ayaka realized why Kai made all these decisions. She couldn't help but speak for the first time after Kai started explaining to her, "They're… moles? They have something that can give out our position?"
"I also assume the same thing. That's why I made that decision. And if they're killed, the magical beasts shouldn't come toward us. In fact, to see a few hundred flying magical beasts at this time, you should be able to realize how fishy it is," Kai sighed.
Ayaka's body shook. She��� She could only grit her teeth as she knew she had done him wrong. Guilt started to enter her heart.
Of course, Kai purposely didn't say anything about Fujino Chitose. After all, with her heartbeat, he could safely assume that she wasn't related to this. But he was afraid that she would flare up again because of that, so he decided to brand her as a 'mole' together with the real one, Carmina.
He knew that he had done something wrong. But he wasn't perfect. Even a good human would sometimes lie if they had to… They called these lies white lies.
He knew he had done her wrong. This was also why he felt this guilty. He wouldn't forget the name of Fujino Chitose. If their fates aligned, he would try to help the Fujino family in the future to atone for this.
It was different from Ayaka, who didn't know the full truth. Her heart wrenched in pain. Even though she said she trusted Kai, in the end, she didn't believe him that much. She couldn't keep her calm and accused him.
She kneeled in front of him and lowered her head until it touched the ground. She then said with a hoarse voice. "I'm sorry. I've wronged you too much. You can hit me if it can soothe your heart. Please forgive me."
Kai was a bit startled when she did this. He could only sigh as he helped her up and told her not to do this and that it would only make the matter worse. He approached her head and stretched his hand.
Ayaka had prepared herself to be hit. But when that hand touched her, it wasn't a painful hit that came. What she felt was the warm hand that slowly patted her head.
"We were in a situation where everything could go wrong, so you don't need to feel guilty about this," Kai reassured. He also added in his heart, 'I will be the only one who shoulders the blame for Fujino Chitose.'
"But, I… I…"
"It's all right. I never blamed you for that. It's normal for you to think that way. Instead, if you actually kept following me despite the strange situation back then, I would actually question what's in that head of yours," Kai said half-jokingly.
She didn't know why, but his warm words felt so painful. She unconsciously cried.
However, when he wanted to comfort her once more, he suddenly felt something wrong. His instinct was tingling, and when he checked it with his ears, he could hear that someone was coming toward this cave.
Kai frowned as he immediately helped her up. He said, "Extinguish your fire now. Someone's coming to this cave."
She was bewildered by his request, but she immediately followed his instruction. She secretly swore to never doubt Kai again.
After a few more seconds, she finally heard footsteps echoing through the cave. Kai immediately covered her mouth to make sure she did not say anything.
"Tch, those b*tches. Young Lord ordered me to kill that bastard, Kai Carter, but he must've known about the tracker Young Lord gave that slut. Those teachers from the Genesis Magical Academy even saw those many magical beasts and started killing the magical beasts I spent so long to gather.
"Luckily, I killed both of those b*tches. This way, no one should know about it. I thought even that bastard wouldn't know that this was a scheme. Sadly, I couldn't kill him this time. I'll hide in this cave first until the situation calms down then go back to the Young Lord.
"I'll need to atone this failure," The man's rumbling echoed inside the cave and reached Kai's and Ayaka's ears.
Ayaka was so shocked when she knew it was true. She never expected that Chitose and Carmina were actually moles, and their target was Kai. She was so angry at this man and herself. If Kai hadn't covered her mouth, she might have already shouted and rushed to fight this bastard. It was a different matter if she could kill him or not though.
Using the darkness, Kai made a Sound Insulation Room. He then said, "We're going to get out of this place."
"Why? We can kill him here." Noticing that Kai decided to speak, she asked.
Kai shook his head. His instinct was telling him that the man in front of them was strong. At first, he had two plans to kill him, but when his instinct told him that, all of his plans immediately vanished.
His first plan was to ambush him with a Sound Insulation Room. That way, he wouldn't hear him approaching. He would then use this darkness to land a surprise attack on him.
The second plan was to ambush him with Ayaka's Fire Wings or other skills. Her Fire Wings would be able to make them reach the man swiftly and silently. Sadly, her wings would be very visible in this darkness, so it would be impossible to ambush him.
As for her fire magic, he didn't know whether her fire magic would be able to kill this man or not. He didn't want to take the risk.
Of course, there was an option where they fought him from head-on like when he and Tasha fought Ikeda Kenzo. But he didn't know whether they could beat him or not. After all, Ayaka's strength wasn't the same as Tasha's. If he were with Tasha, he would surely kill this man even if he needed to fight him head-on, because he was confident they would be able to kill him.
Because of those thoughts, he decided not to risk it and flee from the cave.
"I'll make a Sound Insulation Room and trap him in there. After that, we'll immediately get out of here," Kai explained his plan.
"We should attack him. That guy wants to kill you... And that young lord of his… I'll kill him if I find out about his identity." Ayaka was mad. She almost hated Kai to the core because of them.
"Of course, I want to pay him back. Which is why, when we're outside, I want you to blow up the entrance with your Scarlet Explosion. And with my Sound Insulation Room, he shouldn't be able to hear a single thing.
"In other words, he'll be trapped without knowing anything. He would have to look for the entrance for a long time unless he could blast this cave away, though that might be a little hard," Kai explained.
When she heard that, she nodded her head. Kai then waited for the man to stop at one position before he made a Sound Insulation Room. He made it as big as possible to make sure the man didn't notice it was there. Of course, Kai and Ayaka were outside the Sound Insulation Room.
After that, they sneaked out of the cave. He then signaled Ayaka to start as he maintained his Sound Insulation Room.
Ayaka nodded. She prepared this skill while pouring all of her frustration and wrath. She roared,
"Scarlet Explosion!"