"Don't ignore me!" Nuna complained.
Clara had left the shelter and entered the reconstruction area, having avoided Nuna's previous question. It was clear however she interpreted it, she knew something she was willing to tell.
"Well don't follow me. I don't know what you mean with a vague question like that," Clara said.
"It's because it's so vague which makes your behavior all the more suspicious," Nuna said.
"That's because I feel like you're asking something personal. I don't think I'm in the position to tell any of his business to you. If you want to know so much, ask him yourself," Clara said.
"Clara… he's a wanted criminal. At this point, any one of us knowing what you know is our business,"
Clara's eyes darted back and forth. Technically she had a point. If people found out she had information on him she never divulged could spell trouble for them.
"Well… I know he's a good person," Clara said.
Nuna rolled her eyes. "Even I knew that. I'm talking about if he had any secrets," She said.
Clara rolled her eyes. They subconsciously looked in the direction the dragon flew towards. Nuna smacked the roof of her own mouth.
"The fact that you can't answer immediately shows me that there is an underlying secret you know about him. Spill it! I want to know the real reason for your sudden interest in him after ignoring him throughout the academy,"
"Nothing. I just seen what you saw in him. Is that so bad?"
"Ok, then answer me this. Given his situation, are you still on his side?" Nuna grabbed her hand this time. "No backing out of this answer,"
Clara hesitated. She couldn't even look her in the eyes.
"Are you kidding me? I'm mad that this should even be posed a question in the Skylands," It was a male voice this time. An all too familiar one. Diaga Sozuki came dressed in the Red Garb of the Dogs. As usual, he cast a scowl on his already hardened face. "Fuck no we're not wagging our little tails to that traitorous little cannon. You see how much of an omen that kid is,"
"Beat it Sozuki. This has nothing to do with you," Nuna said.
"Listen well miss dragon princess. Anything that has anything to do with Ryuma, has something to do with us now. It's our duty to kill him," Diaga said.
Nuna glared at him.
"What's with the stare tuts? Tell me I'm wrong about this," Diaga said.
"You are wrong. I'm sure Ryuma didn't…"
"Didn't what!? Didn't mean to get us all killed? Well I got news for you sweetheart, whether he meant to or not is irrelevant. Point is, he woke that thing up. I know it!"
"I must admit, I'm completely on your side for once. That boy is bad news. I suggest finding a new boy to like if I were you two," Wen Shiang came out of nowhere.
Two people who often didn't see eye to eye on anything, saw commonality in this.
"Though I'll say, talent aside, he's shown himself to be a disgrace to the White Dragons, and a complete disaster. Just look around you. Everyone seems to agree that one boy is the cause of all this. Whatever his circumstances are, he's clearly not worth going up against the edicts for. It's better to cut him loose here," Wen said.
Nuna's eyes stung as they watered. She wiped them as she refused to show weakness. Clara however glared death into Wen.
Wen smirked at her. "Careful. Those eyes seem serious right now. If you're that mad at me, then perhaps we should ask the opinions of our fellow classmates. We'll see who has the more normative opinion,"
Nuna clenched her fist. Of course the class is going to side against Ryuma. They're still biased against him for having spoken against the edict.
"Seeing you bunch together, there's only one topic I could assume you guys would be having," It was Binzo and his group that showed up. It looked like the whole class was helping with the reconstruction of the village.
"Great timing Binzo," Diaga said. "It seems we can't see eye to eye with the girls about our little, classmate problem,"
Binzo's bright demeaner instantly faded. "You mean Ryuma,"
"Right on target chump face. The girls here think we should spare him," Diaga said.
"We're of the opinion that he should be killed on sight," Wen said.
Binzo put his finger on his chin and pondered the question.
"Binzo!" Clara said.
"Clara, this isn't easy. Sure I can't for sure say that Ryuma did anything wrong, but we'd be going against the edict. That alone tells me we shouldn't delve in this subject longer than necessary… any longer than that and it could get dangerous," Binzo said.
Clara bit her lip.
Nuna stared at her with a confused expression. She was getting the feeling that this was more than just mere infatuation. Part of her wondered if she was even infatuated with him at all. As always, Clara was a complete mystery.
"Why beat around the bush Binzo? You run into Ryuma right now, you letting him go?" Diaga asked.
Binzo looked at Clara. She stared at him with irritation written all over her face. He sighed. "I'm not going to lie. If I see Ryuma, I'm turning him into the edict,"
Nuna clenched her fist even tighter.
"Nobody'll blame you. That's the normal response one would take," Diaga mocked. "What of you Krill?"
"To be honest, I respect the guy as a fellow duel wielding katana user, and I don't think he's a bad guy. If I see him down in the lower world, I'll just have to avoid him and pretend I didn't see anything," Krill said.
"Krill. You're just going to abandon him?" Clara said.
"Clara… I know you're upset, but let's be realistic. That's the best thing we could offer him. Think about it. Are we supposed to take him and hide him up in the Skylands? We've never been to the lower world, and we know nothing about it. He knows more about it than us right about now," Krill said.
Diaga chuckled. "You think about it from a logical perspective, Krill makes the most sense. You're a realist. Ya know what, I think I like that. Frez, Shio?"
The two wracked their brains on it. "Oh I don't know. In our hearts we know that Ryuma isn't a bad guy, but at the same time, he has a soured relationship with the edicts. Not to mention the accusations on him," Frez said.
"In other words, you two are fence sitters. Sadly enough, fence sitters always go the path of least resistance. Let's be real, you guys are defacto on our side. Now as far as I'm concerned with Talo, I can already guess which side that sis-con is taking," Diaga said.
Nuna couldn't even deny it. He was against Ryuma so long as it put her in danger.
"So far, on your side is Clara, Nuna, and Krill at best. Tell me again which side is in the wrong," Diaga said.
"The majority doesn't make it right," Clara said.
"No, but it makes it easy," Diaga said.
The three opposed to persecuting Ryuma couldn't really refute anything he said. They themselves weren't in any position to help him.
Clara sighed. "I have a question for you… Diaga,"
"Huhh?" Diaga raised an eyebrow.
"Why did you decide to become a priest?" Clara asked.
"Why did I become a priest?" Diaga repeated.
"What a foolish question," Wen stepped up. "We become priest because we have a duty to raise our families standing,"
Clara closed her eyes and turned around. "Nevermind… I expected as much," She walked away leaving Nuna alone with the group.
"I've no clue why you guys ever associate with that girl. She might have a nice body, but she was always a freak to me," Diaga said.
"Aye man watch it. She's still our friend," Binzo said.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just know that when we run into Ryuma, I'm letting you bastards know that I'm getting paid. Matter of fact, I'm glad this happened to the little cretin. More blow for me when I sell the twerp up the river,"
There was a loud smacking sound. Nuna's hand stung as it was raised across his face. Her palm was as red as Diaga's cheeks.
His eyes were wide with shock. Diaga immediately regained his composure. His face tensed with anger. "YOU BITCH!"
He tried to backhand her, but his wrist was caught by none other than Talo who appeared before he knew it.
"I don't know what beef you have with my sister, but I'll be damned if I just sit here and let you backhand her like that," Talo said.
Diaga shoved him off. "Piss off sissy boy. She slapped me first,"
"That's funny. You think I give a shit. Let me see you raise your hand to my sister again, and Ryuma will be the least of your worries,"
The two stared each other down. "Tch… I don't even know why I'm wasting my time up here. The sooner we fix these busted houses, the sooner I can start hunting your boyfriend,"
Diaga stormed off. The stern look Talo was giving her made her feel a bit guilty for her brash action, but she shoved those feelings away. The jerk deserved it anyway.
Still… she was going to have to find a way to help Ryuma. Even if that meant getting to the lower world.