After ordering for the coffee, I went back to the table Kaori was sitting at and sat down opposite her.
She looked tired but she was stable.
"Are you okay?" I went with the usual question one would ask in this situation.
Kaori gave a short nod, "Yes."
She wasn't looking up at me. She sat with her head bent down, her eyes locked at her hands on her lap.
In only one year, she had changed so much. I couldn't tell if it was the effect of the death of her parents or it was just her who was slowly growing up.
"I'm sorry," I tried to pick up a conversation again, "That I couldn't arrive earlier."
Kaori looked up to meet my eyes. Her eyes bored into mine as she replied calmly, "It surprised me that you arrived this early. I didn't expect you so soon."
"I see," As I nodded, another silence fell upon us.
The coffee and desserts were served soon. I sipped my latte while she slurped her pineapple juice attentively.
I was thinking about something for a while. So I put my cup down to speak it out, "Do you want to come live with me?"
"Huh?" She said, looking up at me. "Are you asking me to leave my house to stay with you? What about Dona and Lin then?" She asked of me.
I replied to her thoughtfully as I observed her, "You should let them go now though they might be better off to stay and take care of your house."
"They're not caretakers," She told me sternly. "Mom and dad treated them like family."
"I know," I sighed, "I personally have connections with Lin and Dona, too." Then I grinned, "Everyone likes me since I'm friendly."
Kaori scoffed, "You're so full of yourself. But why did you call out mom's name back there?"
I smiled. I was expecting this question from her so I replied dramatically, "Oh, you grew so much that I couldn't recognize you among the crowd of those people. So I ended up calling Kariu's name. That helped, huh? Your reaction was priceless."
"Ugh," Kaori punched my arm lightly in annoyance.
"But..." She asked slowly, "Why didn't they come?"
I stopped, daring not to look at her. Because I knew deep down, what she was questioning about.
"Your mother and father," It was as if she was aiming her target and then she shot the arrow, "Why didn't they come with you?"
I gulped as it hit me critically.
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.
I was ashamed to look up because I didn't have any answer to her question. But I had to answer it, no matter what.
I said, "They felt too guilty to come. It was only after a single day when they would be able to turn everything back to the way it was, but they lost their chance that it made them not want to show their faces here."
She asked me in bewilderment, "What are you talking about?"
"Your parents didn't tell you?" I asked back.
"Tell me what?" She threw the question back at me.
"That the Sakagami family would have had a reconciling meeting with Kariu and Ren today."
Kaori commented quietly after a moment of silence, "I didn't hear anything about it."
"I see," I concluded, trying to change the subject, "So? What do you think about coming to live with me?"
"Don't you live in Sakagami mansion?" She asked carefully.
My hesitation while answering turned the answer into something more like a question, "Yeah?"
"I'm not going there," She said firmly, "Never."
**********************************************
In the end, I convinced Kaori to come live with me. It was better this way, anyway since I was the only relative who could be by her side now.
But her strong refusal on not to go live in the Sakagami mansion resulted me into buying a new house elsewhere.
Then on the certain day, I went over to pick her up from her old home - Sanemi resindence.
**********************************************
Mr. Lin took the handle of the last luggage and pulled it outside the house.
The Sanemi resindence looked empty and ghostly without the usual residents. But as Kaori took one last look at her now deserted house, the old memories of her parents started to flood her mind. No tears came, but the lumpy feeling in her throat made it really painful.
She let out a sigh and stepped outside the main door to be greeted by a car waiting on the roadway while Kazuma was helping Mr. Lin put the baggages in the back of the car and Dona was waiting for Kaori beside the doorway.
Kaori smiled at Dona who smiled back softly and gave her a warm parting hug.
The warmth of Dona made Kaori miss her mother that she didn't want to let go.
After about a minute, Kaori let go of Dona and told her quietly but surely, "Aunt, both of you can stay here. I'll try to come by and check on you, is that okay?"
However, Dona gave her a sad smile, "Young mistress, we were here to work for master and his mistress. Our duty was to take care of you. But young miss will stay with master Kazuma from now so we don't need to worry about you. Miss and master has also- has also left us," She broke, "With that, we don't have anyone else to serve. Miss, if it's okay, we want to leave. Our prayers will always have you, master and mistress in them."
Kaori watched Dona weep before her and let out a sigh, "It's okay. If that's what you want, so be it." Then she reached out to her pocket of the dress she was wearing.
"Aunt Dona, you have always treated me like your own daughter even though you're so young. I also have seen you as my mother figure although I call you my aunt. You don't know how much relieved I feel when I know that you are by my side even if mom left. I'm sad that I have to let you go. But we have our own life to chase," Her eyes finally turned moist.
"I made this for my mother but I couldn't have the chance to give it to her," She took Dona's hand and shoved something in her palm, "So I want to give this to you, aunt Dona. Please keep it with you. I'll be really, really happy."
Dona was surprised and tried to check what it was that Kaori had given her but Kaori pressed her palm into fists and turned around to walk towards the car.
As she got into the car - the belongings had already been picked up - Kazuma shook hands with Mr. Lin and nodded at Dona - saying thanks to them for everything they've done for the family.
Then he got on the car and started the engine. Kaori glanced back at the buttler and maid to see them watching her with tears in their eyes.
They waved goodbye as the car speeded up and left the area soon.
Dona quietly opened the small piece of clothing that was shoved into her hand by the little girl to see that it was a beautifully embroidered handkerchief. There was written in very small letters at the hem of the kerchief, that were also embroidered - "Thank you for everything."
A small smile made its way to Dona's lips as Lin also peeped over to take a look at the handkerchief given to her by Kaori.
"𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴," She looked back at the way Kaori had left for good.
**********************************************
"Hya!" Kaori whooshed her hand that was holding a knife over Kazuma's head which missed and cut some of his hair.
Kazuma punched Kaori on the abdomen, making her take a few sluggish steps back.
"Too slow," Kazuma remarked, walking over to Kaori who was out of breath.
But as he neared enough, she flipped her body and kicked Kazuma's chest hardly but he barely wavered.
"Too weak," Kazuma hovered over Kaori and whacked her head with his hand, "You loose."
"Argh!" Kaori threw away the pocket knives Kazuma gifted her for practice, "It's not my fault that you are too good!"
"I'm not too good," Kazuma said indifferently, "You are just too bad. Very bad, at that one."
Kaori scoffed, "Whatever."
"Run 50 laps for today."
"What?!"
"Come on," Kazuma smirked, "You have to do at least that much."
"Hey! I run 30 laps each day from the crack of dawn until late in the day, why increase the amount?" She demanded angrily, "Besides, running doesn't even help me in any way! Why should I run that much?"
"Izumi Kaori," Kazuma said coldly, "Not only did you talk back to me disrespectfully, you also decline my orders? Run 60 laps from tomorrow morning. Your training sessions will be increased by one more hours each."
"Hey.."
Kazuma didn't pay any heeds to her, "That's your punishment for the rest of the month. If you argue any more," He towered over Kaori, making her gulp, "It'll increase in double the amount. Got it?"
"Y-yes sir," Kaori stuttered.
After Kazuma left the training ground, Kaori let out a sigh and lied down straight on the grass. The sky looked so big and infinite. And there were bits of cotton like clouds which were floating around the sky while the sun dazzled along. It was a bright and tiring day.
"Why did I even agree to be trained by him?" Kaori huffed, "He's so rough."
She remembered the starting of all this.
𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘥, 𝘵𝘰𝘰. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴.
After going to live with Kazuma, she faced a lot of hardships. The number one was, the talks of Sakagami family members and other gossipers of the town. Everything about the second daughter of Sakagami family got disclosed to public soon and Kaori became famous. But there were good talks as well as bad talks going around all over.
However, Kaori never set foot inside Sakagami residence like she had vowed not to. Kazuma was her protector who hid her from all kinds of harm but soon he had been assigned by Mr. Sakagami Karuma to be the new headmaster of the Power Clan. This made him more busy and unable to look after Kaori.
Then, this idea clicked into his head that since Kaori was supposed to have abilities too, though she had still not awaken it, she should also become a resident of the clan. When Kaori moved here, Kaori faced a lot of bullies and some new hardships of life which had went into Kazuma's ears. It was then that he had decided to make her his disciple to which Kaori did not strongly refuse.
Thus, Kaori was now lying here.
"𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥," Kaori thought as she started to feel droopy.
She didn't know when she had fallen into a slumber.
**********************************************
I scoffed, watching Kaori closing her eyes while lying on the enormous bed of soft grass.
"I thought I told her to run 60 laps," I mumbled.
"Kuruha."
"Yes, master," A man of fourty, appeared behind me.
I jumped down from the branch of the tree, "Watch over her. Wake her up after 10 minutes and remind her to run 60 laps."
I turned around to leave but Kuruha called me so I looked at him in enquiry.
"Master, miss Kaori works really hard and she looks exhausted these days. I think it would be good if she could get a small break from her training. Or maybe do some lighter trainings?"
I stared at Kuruha for a long time, reading his face. "Forget it," I said, turning around, "You don't have to watch over her. It seems she has cooed up to you pretty well that you have come to like her enough to speak up for her."
Kuruha tried to object, "Mast-"
"Send for Suzuka," I ordered. "Kaori can't slack off nor have anyone to help her slack off," I said sternly.
Kuruha lowered his head, "Yes, master."
I added, "Suzuka will watch over her progress temporarily."
"As you wish, master."
"I have to find someone permanent, someone who's trustworthy of the job," I left, speaking to myself.
**********************************************
Kaori peeked at Kuruha through one eye, "You got caught."
Kuruha sighed, "I was being obvious."
"It's okay!" Kaori jumped up to her feet and grinned at Kuruha, "Thanks for helping me out all this time!"
Kuruha smiled gently at the little girl, "It was fun to work with you, miss."
Kaori nodded, humming. "Actually, I shouldn't slack off when uncle is working so hard on me. But I can't really help it you know? I don't want to slack off but I can't help slacking off. Do you get it?" She asked sheepishly.
"No," Kuruha laughed, "I always carry out everything given on my shoulders so I don't know how it feels to do that."
"It's addicting," Kaori winked, "You know you'll regret, but you always end up doing it."
"Anyway," Kaori reached out her hand for a shake, "Good work."
Kuruha held her hand, "Let's work together again one day, miss."
"Call me Kaori," Kaori requested.
𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.
"Okay, Kaori."
*Hum hum*
Kaori snapped her head around in the direction she heard it from. But the sound had stopped.
*Hum hum*
𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯!
She looked around to comprehend where it was exactly coming from.
"Kaori?"
Kaori looked up at Kuruha who was looking at her in confusion, "Is everything ok?"
Kaori's mouth was slightly open, "Oh..." "Ah, right, did you hear that?" She snapped out of her daze.
"Hear what?"
"That humming. Didn't you hear it? It was calling. It called my name."
**********************************************
"Come in!" I called when a few knocks landed on my office door.
I was checking the progress papers on the students of the clan and it disappointed me much when I saw Kaori's. Every student in the clan already obtained themselves a shinki - personal spirits which can transform into weapons as a holder of special abilities wishes. However, Kaori was yet to have any.
I looked up as the door opened to see a young boy with messy jet black hair all over his head. He had beautiful blue eyes which made me remember Kariu, who also had astonishing blue eyes and flaming red hair.
The boy showed courtesy towards me and introduced himself, "Hello, my name is Houtarou Haru. I am here to apply as a student in the Power Clan."
I studied him quietly for a moment before saying, "What is your ability?"
The boy named Haru took a glance at the glass full of water that was put beside my hand and then he stretched his hand towards it. He moved his wrists upwards and the water inside the glass turned into bubbles of water and flowed out of the glass, not spilling anywhere.
"It's this," He said, "I'm a user of the ability of water."
My eyes narrowed in thoughts, "𝘈 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵? 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭."
"Fill this form up," I forwarded him a form of application to sign up for the clan's school after getting it out from a file.
He quietly sat down and took a pen from my pen holder and started filling the form up.
As he did so, I watched him carefully, my pen twirling between my fingers while I was deep in thought.
Within two minutes, he finished filling it up and pushed the paper towards me along with the pen.
I glanced at the paper then looked back at the boy, not bothering to check it. A long silence followed until I decided to break it by speaking out what was surrounding my mind.
"Houtarou Haru," I called.
He raised an eyebrow in question, "Yes?"
"I have a request for you. A post for a job, you could say," I told him, "You may have heard that I have a disciple. She is quite troublesome and doesn't always complete the tasks I give her. You could say in one word, she's a slacker. For the lack of battle skills and a shinki, she doesn't often get to go to missions. She also haven't awoken her abilities yet. "
"What is there for me to do with these informations?" Haru went straight to point.
I couldn't help smiling at his smartenss, "You have to be her guardian. Judging by your appearance and personality, you must be one or two years older than her. And so, I think that you will be capable of taking care of her properly since you are around her age. That's why I'm asking this of you."
Haru's eyes narrowed, "What do you imply on taking care of her? I can't just be her guardian, can I?"
𝘏𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵.
"No, my boy," I concluded, "That is why you are being requested to be her shinki and take her responsibility as her guardian. Now, what is your answer?"
Haru's face tightened as he heard what I said. I wonder what'll be his reply?
**********************************************
It was the time of dusk. The sun was setting at the horizon, spreading a mixture of flaming red and orange colour all over the sky. The two colours combined and created a polychromatic scenery above the earth. If one would look up, they would be mesmerized by the unbelievable beauty.
At that time, Kaori huffed as she finished her 60th lap on the running tracks. Bending down on her knees, she took in heavy breaths of the clean air. She brushed her fringes up and gave her long ponytail a shake, heaving out a sigh.
"𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥!" She thought, remembering her teacher all of a sudden. "Kazuma-sensei! You'll pay for this!" She yelled angrily, throwing a fist up in the air.
"If he hears you, I don't think it'll be of anything good."
Kaori turned around to see Haru who was handing a bottle of cold water over to her.
"Who are you?" Kaori didn't take the bottle.
"Me?" Haru chuckled, "I'm just a friendly neighborhood."
"What?"
"Just take it," He shoved the bottle into her hand, "You are sweating all over, gosh." He threw a towel over her head, "Use this."
Kaori was bewildered by the unknown boy's behaviour, "Just who are you?"
"I'm Haru," He smiled gently, "Houtarou Haru, who is a new student here. Nice to meet you."
Haru had about a sparkling appearance which blinded Kaori as he gave his gentle smile.
"Oh, hi..."
"Introduce yourself properly, Haru," I entered the scene, snatching away both of their attention.
"What do you mean?" Kaori enquired.
I smiled over at Haru who looked flustered. "He'll be your shinki and your guardian from now on. Name him."
"What?" Kaori said, taken aback, "I can feel that he's not a spirit. How can I use him?"
I looked at her, "Human can be turned into shinki. They just need to sacrifice themselves for the master."
"And you're saying that so casually? Did you agree to this?" She looked at Haru, who nodded in reply. "Are you crazy?! Why would you agree to that? You don't even know me and you are okay to be stuck with me for the rest of your life?" Kaori yelled.
"We.." Haru stated softly, "Can get to know each other in the process."
"No!" Kaori snapped, "I'm not taking away someone else's life to make him my servant!"
"Kaori, listen-" I started.
"I won't!" Kaori looked at me in rage, "Who told you to do this without my consent? I don't need a shinki nor a guardian. I'm fine on my own and that's it."
"Kaori-" I tried to call in vain as she strode off the place.
I sighed, "I'm sorry that I pulled you into this, Haru."
Haru just smiled at me, "I'll get her to agree with this, don't worry, headmaster." He slightly bowed at me and left the place as well.
I was stunned at Haru's composure.
"𝘏𝘦'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴," Was all I could think, watching him leave.
**********************************************
The next day.
In class, I appointed every students in my class with a mission to catch corrupted spirits in town and help normal people from being disrupted in their daily life work. Since Kaori didn't have a shinki nor her abilities were awoken, I didn't give her any task and dismissed the class.
Later in my office room, Kaori had bursted in and roared at me to give her a mission, too. I couldn't risk her being in danger, so I decided to give her a small mission since she was determined.
I told her to enter the forest at the back of the school ground. I thought that there were much weaker corrupted spirits that dwelled within the forest which could be taken down by Kaori with her beginner fighting skills.
However, I seemed to have been wrong. Because I didn't know that that place was crawling with corrupted spirits.
**********************************************
As soon as Kaori entered the forest, she was grasped by the silence that surrounded her.
She looked around the big trees that each seemed like a giant to her.
"This place is unbelievable," She remarked.
*𝘏𝘶𝘮 𝘩𝘶𝘮*
Kaori quickly turned her head towards the direction the sound was coming from but she got confused the next second.
*𝘏𝘶𝘮 𝘩𝘶𝘮*
*𝘏𝘶𝘮 𝘩𝘶𝘮*
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴!
!SSK!
Knives came out to Kaori's hands and she held them tightly.
"Who's there?" She asked loudly, gathering up the courage.
But no one came out. It was one gigantic, dark, forest.
"𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?" She thought as she shuddered at the cold silence.
Suddenly she could hear sounds of dried leaves being crushed under someone's feet. She became more alert.
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱-
"Smells-nice."
Kaori yelped in shock and turned around to see a creepy looking something over her shoulder. It had droopy eyes that seemed almost about to pop right out. It looked like a monster but also like a hallucination.
Kaori gaped at the creature and murmured, "What is this thing-?"
"Smells-nice."
𝘏𝘶𝘩? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦?
It grabbed Kaori by the shoulders and kept saying, "Smells-nice. Smells-nice. Smells-nice! Smells-nice!! SMELLS-NICE!!!"
As it started to zoom into her face, Kaori screamed loudly, "Eek!" She kicked it's chest and jumped away from the creature, moving her knives at the same time which went through the thing that had grabbed her.
"Pow-er."
Kaori snapped her head around in fear to find out that she had been encircled by those things.
She tried to talk things through, "Y-you guys.." But she changed her mind right after she saw their disgusting faces.
She swung her knives but it didn't do anything to the creatures. As another one caught her by the hair, she used her knife to slice her long hair strands off short and jumped up on the top branch of a tree.
All of the attackers started to swarm over the tree now.
𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘴? 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐? 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?
Kaori shut her eyes off as she saw the corrupted spirits trying to reach her.
𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘪𝘵!
Kaori's eyes jerked open when she felt something wrap around her leg and yank her down. As soon as she felt wind on her face, she knew she was doomed.
𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨!
"Ah!" Kaori yelled, shutting her eyes off again. She didn't want to feel those disgusting corrupted spirits all over her, but she was done for now.
But she wouldn't give up like this.
𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦!
Then she called out the name that came first to her mind desperately.
"Haru!"
!SLASH!
**********************************************
I was smiling ear to ear as I watched the people who were standing before me.
Haru and Kaori had come to my office together the next day after the mission I had given her. I heard the story from them and now I couldn't hide my reaction.
"It was utterly a relief that Haru had a shinki of his own," I said, "If not, how would he have been able to save you from that situation?"
"Yes, it was," Kaori agreed.
I leaned forward, "Nevertheless, I'm really curious how he knew you needed him. It must be a mind connection now, is it?" I looked at Haru who didn't answer my question but smiled softly.
"𝘏𝘦𝘩, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦," I smirked in my mind.
I looked back at Kaori, "So what do you say about taking him in?"
Kaori weakly showed objection, "He's a student here.. He also has a shinki of his own already.."
"He can still continue his studies since he won't loose his abilities. Rather, the shinki abilities will add to them. He can study about both the abilities. And the shinki of his, he can release her to serve someone else as she wishes. His life won't change much, Kaori. He'll just look after you and work for you. Think about it."
Kaori bit the inner part of her bottom lip, "Okay, I'll give it a thought."
⭐❤❤⭐🌟❤🌟⭐❤❤⭐🌟❤🌟⭐❤❤⭐