(2 years later — The Midnight Banquet)
After that incident, Saya was working hard as the Kyouya Family's main wife.
She organised the Midnight Banquet, to repair relations among concubines. It was smart.
"Ayato, Kiara, you can go explore."
Saya said.
They nodded, walking off.
"Yato-chan, what do you think we can do here?"
"I don't know but we'll be able to eat, right?"
The 6-year-old boy asked.
"Yup, today is the first day."
They went to the elevator and called it. Ayato looked down at the floor with downcast eyes. Kiara smiled.
"Don't worry, Ayato. I'm sure your Magic Seal will become better. I mean, you can destroy pencils and reconstruct things like paper cuts, so that's good."
"That won't be enough."
He muttered.
The elevator door beeped and the door opened up. They entered.
"What floor? Let's say it at the same time, 3, 2, 1 and…"
""17th floor!""
The number 17 was their lucky number. Kiara clicked it and the doors closed. The elevator started moving.
Kiara and Ayato laid against the mirror.
"You have such a good Magic Seal, Kii-chan. You can control shadows."
"Not control, utilise."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
He asked with a chuckle.
"People are with Magic Seals at random. Not everyone has a Magic Seal but the people who do are supposedly people who can use it to its maximum capacity. Meaning that you're the only one who can use your Magic Seal the best. I'm sure it's something better than my Magic Seal."
"That won't cheer me up."
The boy pouted. Kiara patted him on the head. The elevator stopped and the doors opened.
"Hold it, this is the 10th floor."
Kiara held back Ayato. At the elevator doors was another boy. He was the same age as the two children. Kiara recognised him.
"Oh, Shoya."
"Kiara, you just arrived."
This boy was Shoya Kyouya, the son of Mumei. He entered the elevator.
"Where are you two going?"
Ayato thought he recognised him. He wasn't sure, so he kept his mouth shut.
"We're going to the 17th floor and from there, we're going to go explore the building. Want to come with us?"
She asked him. The boy shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure, I'll go with you guys. I have nothing to do, anyway."
He walked next to Ayato as the doors closed. Ayato was slightly taller than Shoya, although it was difficult to tell. Ayato realised this fact and steeled himself. He felt strange confidence whenever talking to other people if they were shorter than him. Otherwise, he would act shy like an anti-social child.
"Seeing as you're with Kiara, you must be Ayato, right?"
"Y-yeah... That's me..."
Ayato timidly said.
The slight height difference certainly did not boost his confidence.
"Don't you remember me? From 2 years ago?"
He asked. Ayato's face lit up.
"You're the one who invited me to play, right? I'm sorry I turned down your invitation at the time."
"It's understandable since every one of the other siblings hates you. Ah, not me though! They're just jealous and following their parent's will. Mother always told me to do whatever I want and to be nice to everyone and so I am."
The boy smiled.
"What an angel..."
Kiara whispered under her breath, sarcastically. The elevator stopped at the 17th floor. They got off the elevator.
"How do you know Kii-chan?"
"Kii-chan?"
Shoya looked forward at Kiara with an evil smug.
"I'll pound you into the ground, Shoya."
She warned him without even batting an eye. It seemed that she could sense his sneer. Shoya clicked his tongue.
"We train under the same master."
"Huh? You mean you train under Mae-ch—I mean, Maenis too?!"
"Come to think of it, don't you train with—"
"Ah, look, I see a vending machine! Ayato, go buy some drinks for us."
Kiara interrupted Shoya. She got out her wallet and gave Ayato a ¥10,000 bill.
"I don't see one. Plus, don't you have anything smaller, there's going to be a lot of change?"
"Nope, just go. Trust me, it's at the end of the corridor."
Ayato suspiciously narrowed his eyes but he started walking either way.
"Fine."
Kiara watched him until he was outside earshot. The girl glared at Shoya. The boy suspected something was going on.
"What is it? Why don't you want him to train with us?"
It would've been suitable to lie but Kiara decided not to. She grabbed her bangs while sighing.
"Remember the murder of Yuna Kyouya, 2 years ago?"
"Hm? Yeah? That gruesome one. I never actually saw it though because of my mother."
"Ayato did that."
"...!"
Shoya wasn't expecting that answer. He looked into her serious eyes, trying to determine whether she was lying or not.
"What the...? He was 3 years old back then. He shouldn't have had the ability to kill her."
"Yuna was a non-magician. There was also the fact that he caught her by surprise. Anyway, I love my little brother to death, so it hurts me when I say this but... he's a natural-born killer."
The boy didn't like what she was hinting at.
"What're you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that there are two reasons as to why he's training separately from us. The first is because of bloodlust. From what I've heard from Master, she says that he'll probably awaken when coming in contact with real danger."
"The second?"
"The Kyouya Family—namely, Saya Kyouya, Goto Kyouya, Kiara Kyouya and Maenis Aster—don't want Ayato Kyouya to grow any stronger."
Kiara said to him in a cold tone. Shoya narrowed his eyes in puzzlement. He clenched his fist.
"But that's wrong, I'm sure Ayato has dreams of becoming a magician."
"I know, but he's already killed someone at a premature age. Strangely enough, he adapts slowly. Maybe because he's not in danger. Magicians are known to mature quicker than normal humans, at least mentally. Ayato is smarter than the average 6-year-old but he still acts a lot like one."
Shoya put his hand on his face, trying to process the situation.
"You mean to say that you're limiting his potential. It's the opposite of that thing where they throw kids in the forest to grow stronger and survive. You're purposely keeping him in a safe place to restrict his growth."
"So far, it's gone according to plan. He's 6 years old and his Magic Seal isn't anything ridiculous. His ability to use mana is subpar too. The only thing he's good at is martial arts and swordsmanship."
Shoya grabbed Kiara's arm.
"That's not right though! He should be what he wants! You guys shouldn't have the right to restrict him like this!"
"Would you be saying this if you had a younger sister, Shoya?"
Kiara retorted, snatching her arm back.
"What?"
"If you had a little sister who killed someone at a premature age and didn't understand the weight of what they did, would you want to see them fight?"
The words couldn't exit Shoya's throat. In the first place, it was strange that Kiara was using hypothetical situations. She would only use such things if she was desperate to get a point across.
"I..."
"Don't say anything to him, Shoya. If he awakens, he'll be in a living hell for the coming years. I don't want to see my little brother in pain, which is why I agreed to this. The same can be said about my parents."
The boy struggled to give an answer. He couldn't. Shoya didn't want to say anything that would be insensitive or dumb.
"I'm back with drinks!"
Ayato shouted. He was holding a whole selection of drinks in his hand.
"I didn't know what you guys wanted so I brought a lot!"
"Can we drink all that?"
Shoya asked, looking at the boy.
"There really was a vending machine..."
The girl muttered.
"You mean you didn't know?!"
It was pure luck that Ayato managed to get drinks.