The morning had begun, but Serena hasn't even noticed. The outside looked as sad and dreary as ever, and out of her window, Serena saw a few disclipes dressed in white robes walking through the garden. They were obviously bickering, and one of them even started using his fists to fight the others. His companions, however, held him back before it could escale into a serious fight that would get all of them them punished. One rule of Ashin was: No fighting or brawling with others unless permitted.
Disappointed that there was nothing interested to see, Serena went back to her bed and sat down on the mattress. She was wondering when she was able to attend the lessons in Ashin. It has been two weeks already and she was bored out of her mind. More and more often she asked herself whether it had been a good idea to stay. It didn't boost her will to live, her modd never lifted although she pretended in Qiqi's presence to feel well. Once again, after that one night she couldn't sleep anymore. She felt dreadful.
The door to her bedroom opened, and Qiqi fly in, whistling cheerfully as always. However, something was different. Usually, she would come in with tablets of food and put them on the low table or the bed for Serena to eat. Yet today, her hands were empty and clasped behind her back, even her attire has changed. A violet robe instead of those comfortable and informal clothes.
"A-Xiang has come here from Quanbu last night and asks you to eat breakfast with him," she said.
Serena almost fell from the edge of her bed in bewilderment. Did she really not misheard the zacral?
"Please repeat," she whispered.
"He asks you to eat breakfast with him," repeated Qiqi.
"Why?"
With wary eyes, Serena stared at Qiqi, who was floating in front of her.
"How should I know. He's always onto something," said Qiqi, shrugging.
She was really good at covering up her true intentions, but Serena's wariness didn't waver away. Still and without any protest, Serena went with Qiqi to a double winged door. Qiqi opened the door with a kick which looked very bizarre, and entered.
Xuan Jixiang was already sitting at the table, his hands folded before him and his gaze lowered. He had yet taken no notice of the two in the room.
„A-Xiang," Qiqi spoke up.
Finally, the head of the executive shot up and turned to them. Whereas Qiqi was rolling her eyes, Serena lightly raised her brow. Despite being ranked number one of the best looking executives of Diabolus in this era, he was currently looking like a corpse. His skin was pale but in an unhealthy way, and his hair had a few strands of grey. He also seemed to have not slept the previous night and the several nights before.
"Sit down, Serena," he said, and gestured toward a chair at the opposite of him. Even though he looked dead, his voice still had the same firm, and commanding tone.
Serena walked over and a servant pushed the chiar in order for her to sit down easier.
"Thank you," said Serena quietly as she sat down.
Not long after, Qiqi came back into the dining room with multiple tablets floating behind her. The scent of delicious food rose to Serena's nose and she felt her stomach grumbling.
"Dig in," said Xuan Jixiang as the food was set on the table.
Hestitantly, Serena raised her chopsticks and took a bit of the food on her plate. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xuan Jixiang doing the same.
"I spoke with the zacral alpha. She said that you are allowed to attend Ashin tomorrow," said Xuan Jixiang.
"That is good to hear," replied Serena. She had no appetite although the food was smelling mouth-watering delicious.
It felt a bit akward to eat with someone as high ranked as him, and both of them had no idea how to start a proper conversation.
"I have no knowledge of this place," began Serena.
"I can arrange someone to guide you around," said Xuan Jixiang.
"Thank you."
They continued to eat in akward silence until Serena was done with her plate. She put down her chopsticks and looked out of the wide window. In far distance, she spotted a forest that went far until it vanished into the fog. Only how was she supposed to leave this place through the fog? Would someone actually grant her access to the outside, or was this all a cheap trick? Even someone as high ranked and admired as Xuan Jixiang couldn't be fully trusted.
"Have you finished?" the latter's voice sounded from the other end of the table.
Serena nodded silently.
"Very well." He nodded toward the zacral that had interrupted Serena's meditation session the night before, and the zacral left with a poof.
The door opened again, and a youth stepped into the dining room. He
immediately kneeled down as he stood before the executive. All Serena could see was his purple dyed hair, and jade white hands crossed in front his head. A few rings glistened on his finger, and they looked quite expensive.
"Good morning, Young Master Voronov," greeted Xuan Jixiang. "May I introduce to you one of my newest disciples. Her name is Serena. I would like you to could guide her around Ashin as you are quite familiar with interacting with people."
During the entire time, the youth named Voronov kept his head bowed, and didn't ask or talk. After Xuan Jixiang had finished talking and commanded him to stand up and face him, he complied.
Now Serena was able to take a closer look at his face. Just like Serena, he had his right eye covered by strands of hair. His eye color itself was yellow. His entire skin looked like it was jade, and he had quite some good looks.
"Serena, Young Master Voronov's courtesy name is Simon Voronov. I want you to treat him as he treats you," said Xuan Jixiang. With those words, he dismissed the two, and ordered a glass of wine for himself.
In silence, Simon and Serena walked beside each other. Their footsteps were the only thing to be heard inside the hallway.
"Caishen-daren seems to come to Ashin often as of late, and you are someone like Nile," said Simon suddenly. His voice sounded more matured for someone of his age, and his accent became recognizable as he rolled the „rs" in his sentence.
Serena raised her brow. He was right, Nile Archard was someone who was not only a disciple working under Xuan Jixiang but also personally trained by him. That meant that Nile was probably not living in Ashin Temple either.
"What is your katara?" asked Simon as she didn't reply.
"Fire Manipulation," answered Serena.
"And the name?"
"What makes you think that I would tell you? We met each other just a few moments ago," Serena eventually replied, successfully avoiding his question.
"Geez, at least you aren't as arrogant as him," Simon muttered under his breath. He seemed to hold a grudge against Nile, since he scowled every time he talked about him.
"Anyway, does it still sound personal if I ask you where you come from?" he asked.
"The Land of Quanbu," replied Serena softly.
"Hm, I'm from the Nation of Zmey," said Simon, looking in front of him the whole time. It felt more like he was talking to the wall.
"As I told you my katara, would you mind telling me yours?" asked Serena, the softness still remaining in her voice.
Simon looked a bit baffled at the sound of her voice, it was very soothing, almost enchanting, and yet, he felt a shiver running down his spine and his mouth becoming dry. He coughed lightly into his hand and closed his eyes. As he opened them again, he spoke calmly, "I can manipulate cards at will and also see into the future," he stated as if he was reading something out of a boring text. "It's called "Born to sacrifice"."
"Interesting," said Serena.
"You think so?" asked Simon.
"If you use it correctly, the combination of abilities you possess can be quite powerful. Can you also summon the symbols on the cards?"
Simon almost tripped at that question. It came too unexpectedly and too randomly. It was unlikely for anyone to ask him that right after he had introduced his ability, but Serena had picked up on that immediately. At first sight, she hadn't appeared too special to him. She had looked far too ordinary to be a disciple that deserved to be trained by Xuan Jixiang, but he now clearly doubted his previous opinion. He wouldn't say that she was astonishing smart or whatsoever, but she had something on her that made her intimidating. Perhaps it was the way she spoke, or the way her voice sounded. It definetly had something to do with her voice.
Serena walked beside him and outside into the garden. Many disciples were spending their free time here, reading, chatting, or doing whatever they pleased as long as they didn't break a rule. They were all dressed in white robes over black uniforms, and Serena stung out from the crowd.
"Hey, Voronov! What girl did you pick up this time? Aren't those rich ladies from Zmey enough for you?" shouted a disciple. He had quite a big mouth and Serena flashed him a gentle smile. The boy shut up, the words he wanted to say seemed to be stuck in his throat.
"Ignore him," Simon muttered from the side. His ears had a light shade of red, and his glare could kill anyone who dared to say another rude word to him.
Serena's soft expression didn't fade, and she didn't spare any glance for other disciples that started whispering. How could it be that gossiping still wasn't prohibited?
"Watch out. Most disciples here are from prominent families, and you be careful who you're befriending. Some of them really like to do shameless things," said Simon as they were out of overhearing reach.
"Who was the boy from before?" asked Serena.
„He is a descendant from the Water Master. He is an asshole," added Simon.
"Is there anyone who is not prominent?"
Simon tilted his head to the side, a few strands slipped away because of gravity, and revealed something of his other eye. Soft yellow light emitted from between his hairstrands.
Serena's eyes narrowed as she tried to look at it. On his jade white skin, she saw glowing yellow lines that went through his eye, up till his eyebrow. In that moment, Simon put the strands back into their place, obviously knowing that Serena had tried to look at his eye.
"That's nothing for outsiders," he said cooly.
If he thought that Serena was affected by the sudden change of tone, he was wrong. Serena looked back to the front, the serene expression remaining.
"Where are we going?" asked Serena after a while.
„Visiting a friend," said Simon, all coolness in his voice gone. "I think that I need to introduce you to people so that you don't end up in a dragon den."
After about twenty minutes of walking uphill, he stopped in front of a shoji[1]made out of a latticework wooden frame and covered by white, thick, translucent paper with drawings of tropical flowers. Two zacrals were floating in front of the door, guarding it.
"Your purpose, Young Master and Young Misstress?" asked one of them.
"Introducing an old friend to a new friend," replied Simon with a bored expression.
The zacral flew aside and opened the door for the two to enter.
The walls and the floor of the corridors were wooden and with a lot of paintings of different landscapes. Lanterns were levitating, bathing the corridor into warm light. It was completely different from where Serena was living. No marble floor, no chandeliers at the ceiling, no windows to let in „sunlight".
There corridor was completely empty, there were no doors and it seemed to be an endless tunnel of levitating lanterns. After another ten minutes of walking, Simon turned into another corridor were six zacrals, wearing attires fitting to Shikibana's tradition, floated.
Two zacrals were floating through the corridor and the other four were guarding a shoji. The odd thing about the corridor was that there were only two shojis - despite the large size of the corridor.
"Purpose, Young Master and Young Misstress?" asked a male zacral with white hair. It was the same question as before.
"She's with me," said Simon with a bow, rolling his eyes as his head faced the ground. "I'm here to see Ora."
The zacral nodded and flew aside while the other zacral opened the door. As Serena entered the room after Simon, she felt weak wind blowing against her face: a magical barrier. Just who was this person who lived alone and needed two guards and a magical barrier.
The room also had levitating lanterns, and walls that were covered with white sheets. Very often the paintings on those sheets resembled a phoenix or flames, or burning flowers. In the middle of the room stood a chabudai [2], a low wooden table, with four pillows around it. On one of the pillows sat a youth in the age of eighteen, holding a brush and writing something on blue pergament.
He didn't wear a uniform underneath his white robe, but a light green yukata [3]. His skin was light tanned and covered with bronze-colored marks that appeared like tattoos. He had them on his hands, his neck and one above his right eye. Probably he had them on all of his limbs. His dark brown hair was dyed orange by its tips, and tied to a high ponytail. In conclusion, the youth was dressed in the traditional style of Shikibana.
"Hello, Simon-kun [4]," spoke the youth. His voice was soft, smooth, and he spoke with the dialect a lot of people from Shikibana use: putting honorifics after a person's name depending on how familiar they were with one another. "Who did you bring with you?"
It seemed as if he had extraordinary senses because he didn't even looked up once as they had entered. He must have sensed two people inside his room.
"A disclipe who is trained by Caishen-daren," said Simon.
"My name is Senketsu Ora (courtesy name). May I ask for her name?" asked Ora, dipping his brush into golden ink.
"My name is Serena," replied Serena.
"Nice to meet you, Serena-san [5]," smiled Ora, finally looking up.
His eyes matched to color of the yukata underneath his robe. They were bright and kind, but sharp.
Suddenly, they heard the voice of a zacral cursing loudly, and sounds of restraining someone on the ground.
"What is happening?" asked Serena.
"My otouto[6]," replied Ora. He sounded faintly annoyed but also delighted.
The shoji flew open and hit the other side with a loud slam. Widely grinning stood a youth in the same age of Ora inside the latter's room. He also wore a yukata underneath his robe, although one in red. Serena was at a loss of words. The person Ora called his little brother didn't even look like someone related to the former. His skin was as white as porcelan, a big scar adorned the left side of his forehead, coming dangerous close to his eyebrows. His eyes were a mix between pink and red, and quite vivid, compared to the eyes of the rest inside of the room. It was hard to figure out whether his hair was dyed blue or natural; it looked either or.
"Simon-kun!" he called joyfully, walking past Simon and Serena, and settled down next to his brother.
Smiling like a toddler, he put an arm around his brother's shoulder, somehow almost knocking over the jar of ink.
"And who are you, Ojo-sama [7]?" asked the blue-haired youth.
„Serena," his brother answered for Serena.
"I see...Anyway, I'm Ronan, nice to meet you, Ojo-sama."
Ronan still wouldn't stop calling her that even though he knew Serena's name. However, it was not the teasing that was bothering Serena, but something else.
"Why do you two live alone in a corridor, and even have guards and magical barriers in front of your room?" she asked.
"Ahhh, that," laughed Ronan. "You see, this is a private matter between us and Xuan-sama[8]."
Serena looked at Simon, but his face told her that he didn't know what was going on with them either. He was apparently friends with them yet he knew little about their personal life.
"Why did you come here anyway?" asked Ora, changing the subject.
"Well, I was only going around, introducing Serena to people that are a good option in things of befriending. You know, not going with those," Simon made gag noise.
"Are you sure that your taste in friends fits the one of a girl?" asked Ora.
He meant not to insult which was why he sounded a bit like a robot. He was simply stating his question as polite and indifferent as possible.
"I haven't heard any objection yet," said Simon, eying Serena from the side as though he was expecting her to say anything.
"I have nothing to say against," said Serena.
"See."
"Woah, woah, woah, easy there, Ojo-sama," said Ronan. He jumped back to his feet, unwillingly pulling his brother's ponytail, and approached Serena with quick steps.
"Every girl that ever attempted to hang out with us lost her shit after a day," he said warningly.
Serena didn't even bat an eye. She simply looked Ronan into his eyes, and one would think she might be a statue. The staring contest went on for five more minutes until a pergament roll hit the back of Ronan's head.
"I told you to stop bothering people, especially girls, Fumetsu," snarled Ora. For the first time since Serena has seen him, his annoyed expression surfaced.
"Well, sorry, aniki[9]," pouted Ronan, whose birth name was Senketsu Fumetsu.
The two continued bickering for a while until they heard a knock at the door.
"Young Masters Senketsu. You must go to lunch now. Both, the Young Master and Young Misstress with you must not accompany you."
Ronan rolled his eyes while Ora let out a low sigh. Both brothers stood up, bowed toward Serena and Simon, and left the room. Outside four zacrals were stationing themselves in a square formation around the brothers and guided them away. The other two zacrals came in and stationed themselves right next to Serena and Simon and led them back to the corridor without any shojis. From that point on, Serena and Simon were allowed to continue their way alone.
"What was that?" asked Serena.
„It has been like that since forever," sighed Simon. "I tried to ask them but they always avoided answering. The zacrals wouldn't babble about it anyway since they can't tell secrets without permission, and finding out on my own is invading their privacy. I mean I was raised in the nation of spies and assassins, but I am not rude enough to do that. What I do know is that they don't have classes with anyone and always eat before the rest of the disciples."
"How did you meet them if they live secluded like this?" asked Serena.
"I was asked to see them. You know, I'm like the guy the alpha or sometimes Caishen-daren would order to help new disciples or those who return from seclusion. Usually it's the alpha zacral, though. Otherwise, I'm not entirely sure if someone else knows the two. The place where they're living is on a mountain, and nobody would waste twenty minutes just to walk up there. And another twenty minutes down because they get rejected by the guards. You cannot give a reason like: I wanna see who's living in that house."
Serena didn't immediately reply. There was certainly something going on with the Senketsu siblings but she wasn't interested in the situation.
I had never digged into family relationships even it was severely abusive. Not that it has ever happened in Xiao Meili to an extreme extend, but I always felt like I had no right in intervening. After all, I couldn't remember to have been in a family relationship, and therefore, I am clueless how to handle a family situation or to give any better option.
"So, is there anything you want to see in particular?" Simon interrupted Serena's monologue.
"Is there any place you suggest?" retorted Serena.
"There sure is," smirked Simon.
As they finally reached the bottom of the mountain, he knocked against an inconspicious wall three times. The wall slid aside, revealing a secret corridor with levitating lanterns; a sign that they were still in the „territory" of Shikibana.
"Ashin has a dozen of secret corridors. There are some that are commonly used while others are known by only a few disciples. Actually, it is prohibited to walk through secret tunnels because you could come across a tunnel that leads to the outside - which the zacrals want to prevent at all costs." Simon let out another exasperated sigh. He sounded more than done with his situation. "What's funny, they would never search for any secret tunnels even though disciples are caught using them."
"And despite using these tunnels is prohibited, you still do it? Aren't you afraid of being punished?" asked Serena.
She sounded more concerned about Simon's well-being than her own.
"Well, everyone else who is not from Zmey would probably get their ass whipped, but as for people like me, who can appear and disappear whenever they please and without any notice, will never get caught. And as long as you don't ignore my orders, you'll be spared from that gruesome fate, too."
He gave her a confident nod, and entered, pulling Serena after him. Those tunnels were as varied as the landscape of Diabolus. Some tunnels were spacious and looked very invitingly whereas others looked like a straight way to hell. However, the advantage of those tunnels were, put simply, a short-cut to all other places of Ashin. Often it was required to trigger a certain system, like knocking against the wall, or removing a certain picture, or doing whatever to gain entrance. The tunnels that were hidden in the floors would lead to the floor below; those hidden in the walls would usually be a short-cut to a classroom or to one's dorm; and the rare ones hidden in the ceiling would lead to the upper floor. It was as easy as that, but there were numerous floors and Simon told Serena that she would need either perfect memory or a map to navigate through those tunnels. In fact, it was no other than a maze of dark corridors.
"Watch your head," warned Simon. He was standing on a flat clover-shaped object, that looked like the bulk symbol of the card game.
Serena tilted her head to the side as a vase fell from above, almost shattering on the ground before it was caught on a large floating card. Gently, the card sailed down to the ground and as soon as it touched the stone floor, the card vanished and left the vase on the ground, undamaged.
Simon retreated his hand and raised to reach through a man-sized hole. His fingers searched for something, aimlessly wandering on grass until he finally came in touch with something wooden. It had taken him a while minutes to throw down a ladder.
"The last guy who used this will better prepare himself for a beating," he mumbled. "Oh, it was me."
He let Serena climb out of the tunnel, and followed her on the hovering bulk.
As Serena walked a few steps foward, she was greeted by a breathtaking view. They were on a cliff, but not the ever so green forest was so intriguing, but the bright sunlight that his Serena's face. A clear blue sky stretched before her eyes, reaching until the far horizont, above all mountain summits. Below her, she heard a soft rushing of a waterfall. It sounded soft although Serena had expected to hear a roar from the water as it beat down on the lake's surface. A few rocks were sticking out of the water, shimmering in the sunlight as if they were glaciers. It was one of the most idyllic and fascinating places Serena has ever seen. The wind felt fresh and not uneasy, and this place looked as if it was written out of a book.
"I thought you'd like it," said Simon, who had observed Serena's reaction.
In Serena's usual empty eyes, which became even darker and emptier the more time she had spent in Ashin, shimmered a little light. She was unable to control her expression that was genuine happiness, and Simon couldn't help but genuinely smile at that. A lot of disciples who had seen this place had reacted like that when he showed them. Frankly, his reaction had been exactly the same when he found this place.
"Are we outside?" asked Serena after a long while of admiring the scenery before her.
"Yes," replied Simon.
"You said that the zacrals didn't want any disciple to find a way out and still you managed it. How?" There was genuine curiousity in her voice.
"Coincidence, if my humble self could say so," said Simon. "When I found out about these tunnels, eight years ago, I was astonished. And it became my passion to discover them all during my free time. And very often during sunset, I would come here just to see it."
„And...friends?" Serena had hestitated with that question. As she herself had never had a friend, it felt shameless to even ask, but for the first time in her life, Serena had felt so overwhelmed that she thought that she was a little child again.
„Well, after the first five got into trouble because of that, I started going on my own. I mean I do hang out with people a lot but there are times where you want to be alone. However, in my past I once had a friend that meant everything to me. He was not talking to me because I was wealthy or viewed me as someone higher, he viewed me as a normal person."
„What happened to him?" asked Serena softly.
Simon looked into the sky, the wind was blowing the hair out of his face, but he stood next to Serena with his uncovered eye. „He disappeared."
„Are there any other tunnels that lead to this place?" Serena changed the topic, noticing how much grief it brought Simon.
Simon shrugged. The answer to that question was beyond him, since this was the only tunnel that lead to the outside - yet. If it really was the only one, he would consider to take a shovel and dig another way to it although he didn't like hard labor vey much.
Until the sun started to set, Serena and Simon sat by the cliff and talked to each other. Simon admitted a few things only a few people knew, and Serena told him from her journey through Quanbu. Only the fact that she had no memories and no strong will to live, she left out from her stories.
It was dinner time, and Simon showed her were the disciples ate. The dining hall was a huge place, it could be judged as a restaurant, and was set on a mountain that gave a great view over everything that laid below. Most tables that were outside were occupied, but the tables indoors weren't a bad option either. The dining hall had two buffets with the exact same food, on for those who ate outside, and one for those who ate inside. The buffetts itself already took in a lot of space, and the selection and amount of food seemed endless. The formal and strict temple was nowhere to be recognized. The disciples were loud and laughed, some had no eating manners. Nevertheless, there was no zacral to control their behavior and to put them in place.
Right in the middle of the dinner, a voice echoed through the hall, a high-pitched and cheerful voice.
"Greetings, disciples! Great news! Caishen-daren and Alpha Eulisches had an excellent idea to test your skills. Newcomers might not know the center of Ashin Temple while others are only itching to go back..."
There was a loud cheer, especially from the sides where the older disciples sat. Qiqi, the speaker, quickly shushed the crowd with a chuckle.
"A little special occasion that will be held tomorrow. For those who are unfamiliar how to get to the center, zacrals will help you, don't worry. For our beloved seniors, please do not bully the juniors, will you. That occasion tomorrow will start at sunrise. Those who are too late...no entry."
With that as her last word, Qiqi fell silent, probably cutting off the connection.
Only a few moments after that, the usual lighthearted atmosphere returned, and everyone started chatting again. However, most talks were about the special occasion, and the seniors, who were all between the age of seventeen and eighteen, looked at each other knowingly.
Serena didn't ask and Simon didn't elaborate. They simply finished their meal, wished good-night to each other, and went their seperate ways.
Sunrise came far too early. Qiqi needed all her strength, patience and determination to get Serena out of bed. In her opinion, the girl took too much time in getting ready and she even threw a glimpse on what Serena was doing. "Yet is not the time to check if you look pretty!" she called when she saw Serena looking at herself in the mirror. What the former didn't know was that Serena only looked at her neck and between her collarbones, right were the amulet had been for years. It felt so odd without that feeling of cold metal against her skin.
Impatient as she was, Qiqi shoved Serena through the corridors in an urging manner, huffing between her breaths until they finally reached a golden double winged door. It was quite noisy behind those doors. Divided in groups and all dressed in white robes, disciples stood together, talking to each other. Although Ashin didn't have as many disciples as schools would normally have, it was still loud.
The door opened ones again just after Serena had entered and a zacral flew in. She had big green eyes, gold brown feathers as sleeves and a headband with a Z symbol, the Alpha Zacral Eulisches. She didn't look like the other zacrals in Ashin; she had many ressemblances to an animal.
The volume of the students dropped to zero at once when she entered. Due to her rank within Ashin and her rumored powers, the disciples respected her a lot.
"Listen up, disciples! This will be a selection process and only the best five will be selected. It structured like a game. Let me explain the rules:
1. We have caught a bunch of low leveled katara devourers that you might face during your battle. Not only they are your opponents but the other disciples as well. Fight whoever is not your ally but you musn't kill, understood so far?
2. You're allowed to ally with others before and during the game. However, only with four others at most.
3. If you use an outside weapon, you will be disqualified as well as punished.
4. You have ten seconds time to divide yourself in the arena before the game begins. If you fight before the countdown has reached zero, you will be disqualified and punished as well.
5. If you knock your opponent unconscious for five seconds, they are out.
I wish all of you promising disciples the best luck!" said Eulisches and flew out of the room, the disciples following her in tensed silence.
The center of Ashin was a fighting arena. But not one with a metal floor and a small ring around it. No, the arena could be its own city with all types of landscapes. From deserts to forests, from villages to valleys, Serena could name everything and it would be there. On her right she spotted a mountain chain, to her left was a dense forest, head on were fields and meadows. The atmosphere was deceivingly beautiful and no one could imagine this to become a battlefield within the next seconds.
The countdown started.
10
Serena looked around calmly while other disciples, especially those in the higher grades, already dashed off in different directions.
9
Her gaze fixed upon the summits of mountains.
8
7
6
Serena walked one step, the air around her shifted until she has vanished within less than a heartbeat. As she set her foot down, she was on one of the mountain summits. Not even a milisecond has passed since then.
5
4
Serena dropped to the ground, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes. Until the countdown has reached zero, she would take her time to meditate.
3
2
1
0
Let the game begin!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
[1] A shoji is a Japanese sliding door or room divider
[2] A chabudai is a low, four-legged wooden table
[3] A Japanese robe, also a causual version of a kimono, that is usually made out of cotton and fastened with a sash
[4] The Japanese honorific "-kun" is common amongst friends and younger people
[5] The Japanese honorific "-san" can be broadly used to adress someone you don't know, regardless of status or age, or to adress equals of the same age
[6] "Otouto" means "little brother" in English
[7] Ojo-sama is used to adress a wealthy or high-classed female that has a higher rank than you
[8] The Japanese honorific "-sama"is a formal suffix, used to show great respect to individuals that are older or higher ranking than you
[9] "Aniki" in this case literally means "older brother".