Youya's POV:
Hina-san decided to take action as she walked toward them and put her hand on Ayane-san's shoulder.
It seemed that Ayane-san didn't have the intention to let him go, but she eventually calmed herself down and realised her grip with a shove.
Rin stumbled back a few steps, his maddening grin never fading.
"Rin-san, If you know something about this situation, I believe that it's not an option not to tell us" Hina-san decided to handle the talk instead. "And I would prefer not to get it by force" She added almost threatening, in a very serious tone. That was the first time I've ever seen the usually kind woman talking to someone like that. And her usually soft, warm aura gave a threatening vibe that froze everyone in the room in their spots.
However, Rin seemed unfazed by that. The only difference was that he made it too obvious that he was SO willing to endure that fight.
Threats don't work on the likes of Rin. He loves to fight, so it was not possible to make him give up before it happened by using that exact method. I knew that much.
"You think I wouldn't dare to fight you? Haha! You're making me laugh!" He snapped, bursting out in laughter.
"No, I'm not stupid. Even though it was for a short period of time, but we all got to know each other through our journey together" Hina-san responded as calmly as ever. "And I had come to understand your reasons as to why you joined us in the first place" she continued her reasoning as Rin's grin faded and was replaced by a glare with a slightly remarkable trace of ire.
"You want to fight powerful magicians, right? I will give you the battle that you want. But not now. So if yo-" Hina-san offered but got eventually interrupted by a certain fighting maniac laughing his lungs out.
"Hahah, I think you got it wrong, buttercup! I said I wanted to fight the alleged strongest magician who is laying right there. Not you, daddy's little girl, who-"
In a blink of an eye, Hina-san was not standing beside Ayane-san anymore. And Rin has been shut up before he could say anything else. I blinked a few times to register what had just happened as I felt the dash of air around us. And I swear I was able to see a quick flash for a second.
Rin was staring wide eyed as he found himself pinned down to the floor. He looked at the woman sitting on top of him with a few aura-ish blue blades spiraling around her.
Then he suddenly bursted out in laughter. Again.
"Haha, ii yo~! Very well, I accept your challenge" he said as he formed a short aura-ish black dagger in hand.
"Hina!" Ayane-san interrupted the heating quarrel before it developed into a chaos. "Not here!" She yelled as she glanced worriedly at the unconscious magician.
Hina-san sighed and stood up, releasing Rin and making the daggers disappear. Rin did the same with his dagger and stood up.
"Fine" Rin said. "I'll tell you what I know" the deceleration got everyone's attention and utter silence prevailed the room. I heared Ayane-san inhale a breath and holding it in pure tension.
"Once when I was still living in the underground basement with my shishou, he brought a boy around my age with him after one of his usual visits to the surface" he started telling a story from nowhere as he took a seat on the sofa a bit away from the bed we all were gathered around.
"I think I was about 14, and I was so desperate to get to know the outside world, let alone fight powerful magicians. Because after all, the only one I was able to fight was my shishou during our training. So practically, that was the first human I met beside shishou" Rin continued talking with a slight bored expression.
He stood up and walked closer to the bed where we stood.
"But unfortunately he was in a very poor shape, I didn't get the chance to fight him then" he said as he stopped walking right beside the bed and looked down at the unconscious magician.
"Poor shape? Who are you talki-" I questioned, but got interrupted by Rin.
"For a start..." he said as he reached out for the half-mask on Kuro-san's face to remove it. Ayane-san immediately jumped up, marking the chair she was sitting on lose balance and hit the floor with a loud crack, and held Rin's wrist from the other side of the bed. She glared at him with heartbreaking sad features and pleading eyes.
"D-don't" she stumbled as her grip tightened around his wrist.
Hina-san was looking at her with sympathy and a bit of wonder. She put her hand on Ayane-san's shoulder.
When Ayane-san felt that there was no other choice. She gave up and let Rin's hand go. She looked away and closed her eyes shut.
Once Rin's hand was free, it continued its was to take off the mask and reveal what lays underneath.
"...he was missing an eye. Along with a malformation around that eye" he said as his description along with the sight started to slowly permeate into me and Hina-san. I glanced at her with disbelief when I saw her wide eyed too. She put her hand to her mouth in horror and looked away from the sight.
I couldn't make myself look away so I kept staring at the pinkish flesh. A few deep cuts littered the cheek and right under the eye. The eyelid was almost fully torn and a hollow eyestock was almost visible.
Rin layed the mask back before I could see anything more. But I didn't need to. I was still in a shock and a daze so I couldn't progress what Rin said next. But I shook myself out of that state because now I really needed to hear what he knew.
"-nd some other injuries. But most importantly were those symptoms you've just witnessed a while ago" I catched the last part of his explanation.
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"Shishou said it was a curse"
(Shishou=master)