Though Shuichi and surprisingly, Natsume were some of the few who made it early for the opening of the mall where the bookstore was, they were still surprised to see many people lining up just to get a copy of the newest release of Hanasaki Kikue's novel for that quarter. Well, who wouldn't be hyped up for that? The said novelist was an incredible find in the writing world, and the two boys couldn't help agreeing.
"It's a good thing we left the house earlier, even though Hideoki-san was supposed to announce something about Tennouji-san and your training on Reikarajutsu," Natsume said as he returned his focus to the line ahead of him.
Shuichi spoke soon after. "It was about Helen going to teach us on Reikarajutsu since she appeared to have a fair knowledge about it."
"If you ask me, from the way Hideoki-san was treating Tennouji-san, she seems to be quite skillful about it that your mentor would allow her to teach you guys."
Not just skillful, but also powerful. But Shuichi decided not to voice out that thought since it was just his observation. He was able to feel quite a powerful flow of Hasureiki coming from her. It was the first time he felt something like that. If one would ask him, Helen seemed to be a person whom he shouldn't underestimate just because she had only arrived at the mansion.
As they were waiting for the bookstore to finally open, there was a certain boutique that caught Shuichi's attention. To be precise, a pink denim jacket with a six-winged figure design on both its arms. It was worn by a mannequin placed as a display among other similar denim jackets there, only different in color and design. He couldn't understand why he thought of Helen at the sight of that pink jacket.
Now that he remembered it, Helen appeared to have an affinity for the color pink when it comes to her clothes. At least, he was able to discern it during her last visit to the mansion--- the first time they met her.
"Is there something wrong, Shuichi-san?" Natsume asked, snapping Shuichi out of his musings in the process.
The biker shook his head and focused himself on waiting once again. "I wonder when will she finally make an appearance to the public."
"Hmm?"
"Hanasaki-sensei. She already debuted in the writing world four years ago and each of her novels was a hit every time they were released. But she never made an appearance to the public ever since then."
Natsume nodded. "That's true. I'm kind of sad because of that. Even though she takes time to answer most of the fan mails sent to her by hand, I still want to see her personally."
The same thing was also making Shuichi sad. It was a rare thing for a famous biker and racer like him to be interested in reading novels written by a female novelist. But the fantasy genre was something that had always interested him, even when he was a kid. It was his mother Hiwara Mai who introduced him to the works of the first-generation Hanasaki novelist--- Hanasaki Kaoru. They had truly made his imagination go wild at the time. That was why he even cried when he learned that Hanasaki Kaoru died and won't be able to continue writing anymore.
Even still, reading those works still managed to keep his sanity intact, especially after the fire that killed his parents. When Hanasaki Kikue debuted four years ago, Shuichi had to admit that he doubted the second-generation Hanasaki novelist's ability. For him, at the time, no one could surpass Hanasaki Kaoru. But it immediately disappeared when he read Hanasaki Kikue's debut novel, Phoenix Knight. Since then, he became a big fan of the second-generation Hanasaki novelist.
"We can't do anything about it. She still wasn't prepared to face the public, according to her agent and editor. So until the time comes that she finally appears to her fans, we just have to show her our support," Shuichi said and tapped Natsume's shoulder.
Natsume nodded. "You're right. We'll just have to keep supporting her so that she'll know how much we appreciate her work."
xxxxxx
In the Tareus Dimension, the Great Shadow Defenders were busy awaiting the result from the gathered human energy poured into the slumbering Emperor Darshao. But more than an hour had passed and the emperor remained asleep.
"Not enough... It's not yet enough," Siriso growled lowly before punching the pillar where he was leaning at.
"The Seitengers are interfering with our business. Who would've thought that those brats could truly give us a hard time even though they've been just awakened?" Nemia said as she put back the large jar where the gathered energy was placed before pouring it down to the emperor.
"As you said, Nemia, they're just brats. They won't last long if we keep up doing what we should do to revive the emperor and finally end everything related to the Vessels and the Hundred Heavens." This time, it was Karkino who said those words.
But Orcus only scoffed and left the room before Karkino could even retort to the degrading response coming from their strategist.
"It seems you're not bothered at all, Orcus. You look like you have something in mind about our situation," Alvre commented that only made Orcus stop in his tracks.
But he didn't bother facing his comrades and fellow Great Shadow Defenders when he spoke. "I don't think you'll like the idea of those brats, as you call them, to beat us up when they finally got a chance to strengthen their abilities." Before he could even allow the others to say something, he finally left the room and headed somewhere else.
Siriso snarled as he looked at the retreating figure of Orcus. "That Orcus! Who does he think he is for saying that?"
But the others remained silent as they find the strategist's words to be something quite bothersome, which only made them think that there was some truth behind it.
"For now, we just have to do everything we can to revive our emperor. He's the only one who can end those brats in one attack without us making any effort at all. Gathering energy from the human negative emotions and also from their hopelessness is our priority," Nemia said a few moments later which broke the tensed silence.
With that, Alvre faced one side of the room and spoke. "It seems you've finally arrived, my monster."
A Triske Monster whose features were based on the hybrid of motorcycle and automatic machine gun appeared before the remaining Great Shadow Defenders in that room.
"You called, Alvre-sama?"
"I don't have to explain things to you because I know that you're aware of what we should do. I'll give you the job to gather human energy this time. But prioritize gathering hopelessness. And if anyone gets in the way, finish them!"
The monster obliged and bowed before the female assassin.
xxxxxx
The other Vessels, together with Helen and the two elders, were just done eating breakfast and were about to wash the dishes and fix the table when Shuichi and Natsume had finally arrived together from the mall.
"Both of you! You're late," Eichirou started that only made the others laugh at that.
"Sorry about that. The line was long," Shuichi explained, complete with an apologetic look as he approached Eichirou and tapped the photographer's shoulder. "Here's a compensation." He gave a small paper bag to Eichirou who only eyed it suspiciously. Shuichi sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's the CD that you've been asking from me for weeks now."
With that, Eichirou's expression brightened, and immediately grabbed the paper bag from Shuichi that only making the latter smile. It wasn't just Eichirou who had a gift from Shuichi, though. Even the other Vessels got theirs and all of them were just the things that they were looking at in the shop weeks ago. Not long after, they soon noticed that Shuichi was carrying two more paper bags.
They were sure that the first one was the book that Shuichi was waiting for. But the other one was something that they didn't have any idea about the content. Shuichi looked around the dining room as if looking for someone. Then he faced Erika.
"Where's Helen?" he asked.
"Hmm... Probably in the garden. For some reason, she liked staying there."
Shuichi just nodded and headed to the garden, only confusing the others. When they looked at Erika, she just shrugged and continued piling the plates for her to be able to start washing them.
Just as the pianist had said, Helen was staying in the garden facing her laptop and seemed to be typing something down. Shuichi hesitated whether or not he would approach her when she appeared to be busy doing... something.
I'm just going to give this to her. Nothing more. Well, if this could start a proper conversation with Helen, then it was for the best. He really couldn't help feeling something mysterious about the girl but he wasn't mentioning anything to his friends as he didn't want to further thicken the tension that Itsuki was creating because of his blunt suspicion toward Helen.
Helen stopped typing when she noticed a shadow approaching her. Upon raising her head, she was surprised to see Shuichi carrying two paper bags.
"Hiwara-san? Do you need anything?" she asked as a start since she wasn't sure about the biker's purpose for approaching her, anyway.
He shook his head and smiled a bit. "You're isolating yourself from the others again. Is it about Itsuki?"
Helen chuckled and shook her head before closing her laptop. "No, even though I have to admit that his stare could suffocate anyone when he wants to," she joked before getting serious. "I just want to stay somewhere peaceful for a bit so that I could finish what I needed to do. Anyway, what made you come here? You should eat breakfast first since you've just arrived from the mall. Hideoki-san's cooking is very delicious. I've never tasted anything like that in my life."
"I know. We've known that ever since he decided to take care of us after... the fire." But before the atmosphere between Shuichi and Helen could become depressing, he handed the black paper bag to Helen. "I got this for you. I hope you like it."
Without a doubt, Helen was surprised to see that. She couldn't think of what to do for a while there and she was just looking at the paper bag being handed to her. Shuichi beckoned her to take it and after a few more moments, she finally took it--- albeit hesitatingly. "T-thank you. But... why are you giving this to me?"
"Well, you won't expect something like this from Itsuki, right? I know he's not exactly very welcoming ever since you came here. But I don't want to do that to you. You're Erika's friend. Trust me, I haven't met anyone that Erika would call like that besides us who had lived here with Eichirou and Hideoki-san for the past ten years. I just want to welcome you now that you're going to stay here."
Helen chose not to say anything at the moment. Instead, she had a look at the content of that paper bag. Her eyes widened when she finally took the item out, only to see a pink denim jacket with a six-winged figure design on the left arm. Even though she shouldn't feel it at the moment, she couldn't contain her happiness at the sight of it.
"This is amazing, Hiwara-san!" Moments later, she faced the biker with a wide smile. "Thank you! I like it so much!"
"That's good to know." For some reason, Shuichi could feel something warm rising from his chest at the sight of that grateful smile from Helen. It was a little different from the feeling he had whenever he would hand a gift to either Misae or Erika. "You like the color pink, huh?" he couldn't help commenting.
"Hmm... Pink makes me happy. Or at least it gives off that kind of vibe whenever I look at it. But the color that I like is---"
But she was soon cut off by the beeping coming from Shuichi's Celestial Shifter. The atmosphere became tense at that and the biker took the said device from the holster placed on his right side. When he looked at Helen, she just nodded once, indicating that she understood and that she was wishing him good luck.
With that, Shuichi turned around and almost immediately saw the rest of the team waiting for him.
"Let's go."
The other Vessels nodded and ran off to head to the site of another Tarean attack.
As for Helen, she stayed looking in the direction where the Vessels ran off to. Soon after, she shifted her focus to the pink denim jacket that Shuichi had just given to him. She smiled sadly as she ran her fingers on the embroidered six-winged figure design on its left arm.
"I guess pink and green was never a good color combination, huh? And to think green is the color that I like," she muttered, and then she took out the smaller cylindrical item from her right jacket pocket. "Don't worry, Mom. I'll protect them. I know I have to."
With that resolve she uttered, she removed the light pink cardigan that she was wearing and put on the denim jacket that Shuichi gave. After that, she placed her laptop on top of the table by the porch and headed off, with Kanako following her.