After the apology, Kaori and Xeno were walking back towards the main building.
The night sky was clear today as the moon was out. Everything looked so alight that it didn't feel like it was night time.
When Xeno suddenly stopped in his tracks, Kaori looked back at him - being the one who was walking faster than the latter.
"What's the matter?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow.
Xeno said, "I haven't gone to meet the headmaster yet."
It took Kaori a moment to grasp his words and then a suppressed smile appeared on her lips.
"Ah, is that so?" She said, trying to hide her smile, "That's not right, you should've gone as soon as you came back. He must've been waiting."
Xeno made an expression of regret, "Isn't that so? I think he'll be mad at me, too."
"Are you going to go to the office room now?" Asked Kaori.
"Yes, I should," Xeno replied.
Kaori nodded, "Then let's head over there," She took a step towards the new destination but Xeno stopped her.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
Kaori replied obviously, "With you to the office room of course. I'll come with you, so let's go."
"Oh, okay," Xeno nodded and then they both walked at the direction of the main building.
*************************************************
The office room.
A knock fell on the door at the time Kazuma was going through his phone in boredom.
"Come in!" He stretched his legs, lying straight on the sofa.
When he heard the sound of the door opening and someone entering the room and then the door closing again, he raised his eyebrow in question and held his head a little high to see who it was. The next moment, he rushed up from his position.
Coming forwards, he exclaimed, "Xeno! I see you've arrived safely."
Xeno bowed to his long respected teacher and smiled brightly, "Yes, headmaster, we've made our return."
Kazuma looked at Kaori questionably, "Where's Zenna?"
"Zenna was tired so she went to bed early, headmaster," Xeno answered courteously.
Kazuma frowned at Xeno, "Why are you speaking so formally to me?" Then he looked at Kaori who was still holding back her laughter, "You haven't told him yet?"
Kaori didn't say anything but Kazuma had gotten his answer seeing the mischievous look in her eyes.
The poorly confused Xeno looked at one face to the other, "Tell me what, headmaster?"
"Don't call me by that title anymore," Kazuma objected as he let out a small laugh, "I'm not the real headmaster so you don't need to be so courteous as before and speak so formally like this."
Xeno was shocked, "What? What do you mean?"
"The person you should be greeting like this, isn't me anymore, Xeno," Kazuma smiled, "I'm not the leader of this clan anymore."
"Then who is?" Xeno demanded, "Did we miss out that much? The headmaster changed? What is going on here?"
Kazuma's smile grew hearing Xeno's questions. He answered calmly, "The current headmaster is not me, but the person standing beside you."
Both Kazuma and Xeno's eyes landed on Kaori who was quietly enjoying the show. She smiled softly at Xeno who's eyes looked ready to pop out of shock.
"Now, the leader of Power Clan is Kaori," Kazuma announced to Xeno, "My disciple has succeeded me."
Xeno was so awestruck that he couldn't think of what to do for a moment. He stood there and looked at Kaori in shock before suddenly kneeling in front of her.
"Please forgive me for my rdeness, headmaster," He greeted Kaori, "I was totally unaware of this news. I, Xeno Xin, greet the new headmaster Kaori with my outmost respect and devotion. Long live, our new leader."
Kaori breathed out deeply, "Raise your head, and stand up. This is why I wanted to hide my identity, I can't stand stuff like this."
Xeno tried apologize immediately again, "My apologies, headmast—" Kaori covered his mouth with her hand before he could finish.
"Auf, you are making me mad. Stop it," Kaori scolded, "Just be casual. Forget my status!"
"I wouldn't dare to—"
Kaori whined at Kazuma, "Did you have to tell him, sensei?"
Kazuma shrugged with a wide smile plastered on his face.
And thus went their greetings to the headmaster.
*************************************************
After Willia and the girls informed Wood and the boys about Kaori's waking up and going out, they all came straight back to the dormitory flat of the Mixed Blood section.
When all of them had gathered in the dining room, Wood was the one to speak first. He looked at the brown haired boy, "Robin, did you find anything?"
Robin replied promptly, "Yes, I did." Then he took out his pocket notebook and started reporting, "Before going into the main topic, I would like to say some things as the introduction. So I had talked to some students of the clan and they informed me that two old senior students have returned to the headquarters after their long mission. They also mentioned that those two are returning after 11 years."
Tom whistled, "Whoa, nice catch, Robin. You do your job so neatly."
Robin flashed a smile at his friend.
"Continue," Wood urged.
Robin looked back at his notebook, "I gathered some other intel on the newcomers because it interested me. And my investigation didn't disappoint me."
"Both of the two were members of the school group 'Team Black'. One of them is Xeno Xin, half Chinese and half Korean. He's the Wind section's true hero. He was known to be cute, good-looking, a nice and good guy in people's eyes until recently. Please note that he's much powerful as well. He was the first student to be able to control his ability and handle it his way in such young age. He is also the second person who became a senior student in the shortest time."
"Who's the first?" Melissa asked out of curiosity.
"Kaori," Robin replied shortly and went back to his story, "Now, I mentioned that until recently, everyone had thought of Xeno in one way. But do you want to know something that's even more interesting?"
"What?" The others asked all at once.
"This Xeno Xin has changed completely over the past 11 years. It's like he went back like this, and then came back like that," Robin gestured, "They said he looked totally the polar opposite to what he was. They described the new him to be tall, handsome and masculine."
Melissa and Dylanthy gasped quietly while Willia asked in confusion, "Isn't it unbelievable that someone could really change that much?"
"I don't know, I disagree," Tom shrugged, "11 years is too long of a time. Anything could happen."
Wood agreed with him, "Yeah, I also think the same. Robin, continue please. But I don't get the point of stating all of this. How is it linked to Kaori in any way?"
Robin smirked, "This is linked to Kaori in the most ways possible. Just keep listening."
"So the other one of the two is named Zenna Hayako. She's from the earth section. Just like Xeno, she's the hero of the Earth. The resident of that section basically puts her in the highest position possible. Do you know why? Because she adds new dimensions to the powers of the Earth. This girl has invented many new powers of her ability that people think that it'd be the most tough to fight against her as she could create a total new section of the ability of Earth in just one second."
Willia ran her fingers through her long, copper hair, "Do these people really exist or am I just dreaming? Isn't it really fascinating that they exist?"
"Yeah, it is," Said Dylanthy, "But we can't deny the fact that they do exist as we can see the examples that lay in this world."
Wood turned at Robin impatiently, "Will you stop beating around the bush and get to the point?"
Robin laughed, "I'm already there."
Then he continued, "So, after gathering informations on the new two out of pure curiosity, I set off to my main course. For this, I reached out to the person whom I could only think of as to be easily helpful. It was Saki and I surprisingly but also not surprisingly enough, ran into her while I was out. Then I had a long talk with her, where I questioned and she answered."
All the friends of Robin's remained quiet and put their entire attention toward the next parts that were going to come out of Robin.
"Saki told me the story of how Xeno and Zenna were related to Kaori. Apparently, all the years of this clan's school are divided into groups of 10 students in total. Likewise, Kaori's year had gone through the same process. Guess which group Kaori belonged to?" Robin asked his friends in amusement.
All except Wood asked back, "Which one?"
Robin's lips went up to a mischievous smile and he looked at Wood for an answer.
"Team Black," Wood said confidently.
"Bingo," Robin clapped his hands, "Our little detective never fails to amaze us. Yes, Kaori was a part of team Black. She was in fact, the soul of team Black as she was the person of head on action in the battlefields. And you will be even more surprised to know another thing into this. Not just Kaori, but also all the highlighting people we know here were all a part of team Black."
Willia exclaimed in disbelief, "No way!"
"Not just that," Robin went on, "Remember the two I mentioned? Along with Haru, Xeno and Zenna, Kaori use to rule all the missions by taking down thousands of corrupted spirits all alone by themselves. Stories of their capabilities had boomed all among the residents of the Power Clan and people started indicating them as the 'Famous Four'. But the Four, had finally broken apart and people were hurt by it. They loved those four though they were intimidated by their presence as well. Although team Black still exists, ignoring its cracked existence, it lays incomplete without its main leader."
Wood raised his eyebrow, "Haru was team Black's leader?"
"Yes," Robin nodded.
He then gave a smooth finishing to his report, "As you can all guess as much now, the incident went this way – since Xeno and Zenna are back, team Black's members had called themselves for a reunion and gathered at the lounge room. Not seeing the remaining member Haru, Xeno raised a question and Kaori couldn't hold it in so she ran out of the suffocating situation. Running into Willia, she couldn't back out and ended up letting her tears go."
"Kaori..." Willia muttered worriedly.
Robin looked at Wood who seemed to have drowned in thoughts.
"Wood," He called his friend, "What do you think?"
Wood's eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened as he shared his speculations, "Kaori's team was called Black and she had nine more members with her—"
"Eight," Robin cut in, "It's nine, counting her. Team Black was the only team that had a member short because there was an odd number of students in their year."
"I see," Wood touched his chin, "So the team consisted of nine members, along with Kaori. All the members were tied to the same story. This is rather making me curious—"
Melissa cut in, "Isn't that normal? Even we are dying out of curiosity. Why wouldn't you be? Your curiosity should be double than ours. That's only natural."
Wood's eyes and lips formed into a thin line and he said curtly, "I know. But do you want to soothe that curiosity of yours?"
"Me?" Melissa asked blankly.
"All of you," Said Wood, looking at his mates one by one.
"Do we have to say it out loud?" Willia asked back, letting out a light laugh.
Robin nodded, "The answer would always be – of course."
*************************************************
The next day.
Kaori had met up with her friends when she went back to her dorm room at night and apologized to them.
"Why? What happened?" Melissa had asked.
Kaori had said with a sorrowful expression, "I'm not spending much time with you. You guys must feel very bad and lonely. And I was thinking of returning back to America today but you heard, right? Two of my old friends returned to the headquarters after 11 years. I had told them that we needed to leave in a hurry but they cut me off saying that we should at least stay one more day. I couldn't reject them. Please, don't hate me."
At this, both Robin and Melissa had laughed out at the same time. Tom and Dylanthy on the other hand, had held themselves back, resulting to shiver in suppressed laughter while Wood's lips had slightly went up to a smile.
"You're silly," Willia had said in disbelief, "Why would we hate you? Have you lost that thing that holds your brain together?"
"Hey!" Kaori said defensively.
"So?" Willia had rolled her eyes, "Don't talk like a five year old! Of course your old friends would want to spend some time with you after all these years, so it's okay for them to want something like that. And one day isn't going to make any difference. You don't have to think about our entertainment also. We are having enough fun here. Right, guys?" She had looked at the others for support.
And as expected, they had supported her words.
And so, Kaori and her friends decided to stay that day in the Power Clan's headquarters and then return back to America the next day in the morning.
As usually, Kaori went out to run some errands she had all over the headquarters. Her friends decided to take a stroll around the ground and came out of the dormitory.
Another busy day in the headquarters had begun.
*************************************************
Kaori was asked to fill in a class when the acting headmaster had come to know that the teacher for the training class that day wasn't present. So Kaori went straight to the training ground to take the class of the juniors.
There she had run into her friends - Wood and the others. So being playful, she told them to join the class since she'd be teaching.
Wood and Robin found it amusing, while Tom thought it'd be helpful, so the three boys actually joined the class. The girls, however, laughed seeing this and told Kaori that they were okay and would like to watch from the sidelines.
Saki, Gin and Aoi were pasisng by that way and when they saw this, they burst out laughing. The seniors then thought that they should join this fun class and ended up taking the class with the juniors and Kaori's friends.
Ultimately, Kaori's training class was knowledgeable as well as a source of entertainment to all the juniors, seniors and Kaori's friends.
While some were having fun in the day, some were reminiscing old memories and shedding tears in silence and dark.
That's how the days rolled on – parts in the dark, parts in the light. Who were thinking of what – it was hard to tell.
*************************************************
Yamaken walked out of the library of the headquarters, the wind flapping past him. He ran his fingers swiftly through his hair, leaving it messy and letting it cover his forehead.
He was taking long steps through the corridor when he heard sounds of sobs and then he stopped in his tracks.
𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯? 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦?
He had come past the sound, so he walked backwards in curiosity, following the sound.
Yamaken stopped before the slightly ajar door of the hallroom. With eyebrows frowned as he heard the soft sound of sniffling, he peeped through the crack.
His eyes widened at the sight when he saw that it was Xeno who was quietly crying inside the hallroom. The white haired boy was leaning against the wall and wiping his tears that were pouring down nonstop.
Yamaken watched the scene while his brain started asking tons of questions to himself. For a few moments, Yamaken kept watching Xeno who cried in the hallroom alone.
And then suddenly, Xeno wiped his tears for the last time and patted his face and eyes firmly, trying to erase all the evidence of tears.
Then he satrted to walk towards the door. At this, Yamaken startled and quickly moved away from the door, hiding himself behind the wall.
Xeno came out of the hallroom and closed the door off. Then without sparing a glance at anything, he let out a huge sigh and began to walk away.
Yamaken popped his head out behind the wall and peeped over his shoulder to check on Xeno who was walking away.
But then, Kaori came out of nowhere.
Kaori was walking down the corridor with Saki after the trianing class. She had glanced ahead, talking with Saki about something and spotted Xeno, who was walking towards them.
Kaori smiled brightly and waved at him, to which, he didn't do anything in reply.
When the gap had closed enough, Kaori spoke up, "Hey, Xeno! Where are you coming from? Anyway, listen!" She quickly grabbed Xeno's hand and said with great enthusiasm, "You won't believe what just happened in the last period! It's still cracking me up whenever I think of that class. The kids had fun, too—" Kaori started talking without restraints and this made Saki smile at her friend.
But the person Kaori was talking to did not look pleased because he spoke up the next moment with an uninterested gesture.
Snatching his hand out of Kaori's hold, he snapped with a very distant and cold tone, laced with resentment, "Don't touch me!"
Noticing everything from a distance, Yamaken's eyes widened in surprise.
Kaori had gone speechless, too. So did Saki, who was flabbergasted at the sudden change of the atmosphere between Kaori and Xeno and at Xeno's change of behaviour.
Kaori's eyes widened in horror as she realized something. Her hands were still half raised in the air – as she had taken Xeno's arm – she called, slightly trembling, "Xeno...?"
"Shut up," He said again, "I don't want to hear you so leave me alone."
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