Naomi came out of her apartment, her roommate was still inside so she didn't lock the door, after experiencing her first defeat at the hands of Shiro. She went home to meditate, during the fight she thought she had gotten victory just because she had managed to force Shiro into a troublesome situation.
If only she had not let her guard down during that moment then just maybe she would have won that fight.
She smiled, defeat was good once in a while, and it helped to open her eyes and made her realize her flaws. Naomi was determined, she wanted to go to the arena so she could test herself and see if she learnt anything new from her fight with Shiro.
She got to the arena just in time to see Shiro taking on his thirteenth opponent, she watched him brutally annihilate his opponent without giving him time to even retaliate.
She watched Shiro come down from the arena and then check his records, she smiled. At least the person she lost to wasn't weak.
Shiro came out of the building and was surprised to see Naomi standing there, she smiled at him before getting closer.
"Did you think that if you came here today you will meet me?"
She teased,
"Yes, actually I did"
Naomi wasn't expecting Shiro's answer to be that straight forward and honest, her face became flushed as she tried her best to avert her eyes.
"O-oh, so what did you need?"
"Why do you use martial arts as a magic user?"
Shiro asked, he had noticed that Naomi was quite adept at close quarter combat.
Naomi smiled, she had studied martial arts for the same reasons Shiro had in the past, magic users had too many weaknesses and to cover them, martial arts was the only solution.
"I guess that's my little secret. Maybe I will tell you if you can tell me something about yourself that will interest me… Maybe"
Her reason for studying martial arts was not any type of big secret, she just wanted to use it as a way to know Shiro better.
Shiro nodded, he didn't know if it was that much of a big secret to hide but if she wanted to sell the information then there was nothing he could do, he could only go along with her to get what he needed.
The reason Shiro wanted to know her reason was to prove a theory he once made in the past, if her reason for learning close quarter combat was the same as his then his theory was right.
The two left Lydia to do her own things and went to a corner which was not filled with people, if they were going to trade secrets then it wouldn't help if someone else over heard them.
"Ok let's begin…"
"Hold! To make this more interesting, we will continue trading smaller secrets until we get to the secret we both want to hear. Is that okay?"
"Fine by me, let me start first…"
The two began exchanging secrets and chatting happily about them, Naomi was fascinated by how much Shiro had done in his thirteen years of living, she was a year older than him but even her didn't have that many secrets to tell.
Things were beginning to get heated up as they got deeper into their secrets.
"Hmm, you have so many secrets but from here on out, anything said should not leave this space, is that clear?"
"Sure, it's not like I will go around telling people your secrets, I am not stupid"
"Fine then, I… am the third princess of the Emperor"
Immediately Shiro heard her words, he regretted it. This was not his first time getting involved with royalty and he knew very well the troubles that came with it.
"…"
"…"
"Please don't tell anyone, people tend to change their character towards me when they learn of this"
"Since you had the courage to tell me that, I will share with you one of the things I didn't want anyone to know. I have double cultivations."
Now it was Naomi's turn to regret, if such a thing got out, Shiro's entire life could be ruined.
"Fine then, since you could tell me that, I will tell you what you wanted to know but in exchange, you will tell me how you were able to do so many things with only thirteen years of living, fine by you?"
"…"
"You don't have to tell me now if you don't want to, I just need you to tell me before it gets too late or before I figure it out myself"
"Fine, but it will take some time"
"Hmm, I studied martial arts because… when I was training in the imperial city, one of the heir to the throne always used my disadvantage at close range to bully me, there was nothing I could do after all it is a weakness I chose to have when I chose this cultivation part, and besides, the thought of competing with my siblings for something as useless as the throne didn't really excite me that much"
"I guess it is such a stupid reason, not really worth all the things you told me"
Naomi had on her face a smile that showed how much she had been through. Shiro knew that kind of smile way too well. Someone he knew who was in the same predicament as Naomi also had the same smile when she told him about her family.
Shiro gritted his teeth, he didn't care much about helping Naomi nor did fighting for the throne excite him in any way, all he knew was that he wanted to protect Naomi no matter what happened, he wanted to be by her side and guide her like he had failed to do in the past.
"It is worth it, at least to me"
Hearing Shiro's words made Naomi smile, she really didn't talk about her family much to anyone nor did she ever tell anyone her reason for studying martial arts, she was just happy that the first person she told accepted it like it was the normal reason for studying it.
Shiro's words made her incredibly happy, she rested her head on Shiro's shoulder as she closed her eyes.
"Thank you"
She said after a while.
Sometime later, she got up and began heading back, their discussion had taken a lot of time so it was already getting dark. Shiro was blind and she didn't want Lydia to get worried since the two of them were living together.
She led Shiro by the hand to where Lydia was waiting for them before going her own way.
On her way back to her apartment, a thought entered her head but she shook it off with a smile.
"I am just happy to have gotten to know him better"