Time -??, Space- ???
"Yeah, so I won't give you the full details as it's boring, but long story short, I got manhandled by that guy—who is a spy without his grimoire. He didn't kill me and instead knocked me out. I escaped after waking up as I didn't see any signs of him and didn't have any intention to catch him."
"I see, that does seem like an ordeal. I am happy that you survived," Takuma flashed a genuine smile. "So, did you get hurt somewhere?"
Rudra's wry smile from the beginning grew sadder as tears started flowing from his eyes.
He clutched his heart. "It hurts... Though I haven't known her for long, she guided me in water magic since last year, even before I became a magic knight."
"I know." Takuma didn't know exactly how to comfort him, so he just patted his back and decided to be a good listener.
He had known Rudra for a long while too, and as his senior, Rudra had grown on him. So even though he was happy that Miko rejected him, he still felt sad seeing Rudra in such a condition.
Rudra expressed more of his frustrations as Takuma listened to him for three minutes straight.
Rudra was reduced to a crying mess with his tears wetting Takuma's shoulder as they were currently in a half-hug.
"Also..."
"Yes?"
"It hurts here too." Rudra pointed at his crotch.
"Wait, what?" Takuma was dumbfounded as he hadn't foreseen this change in conversation or what Rudra actually meant.
"I think that spy stomped on this when I was unconscious."
"Ohh..." Takuma's face showed understanding followed by a grim expression.
Nobody likes to get hit there.
"You should get it checked. Let's go to the infirmary."
---
A few months later:
"What is it? What did you want to talk about?" Miko asked while her fingers played with her hair.
"Well... I was going to say that today's weather is really nice." All of Takuma's courage evaporated as he came face to face with Miko.
"It really is, as it's rare for it to snow in this area. Though, I hope you didn't call me here just to tell me that, right?" Miko said while narrowing her eyes.
She really wasn't in the mood to get wet due to snow melting from her body heat.
"Well, no..." Takuma said while fidgeting.
He was looking everywhere but at her, seemingly more interested in the snow piling on the ground.
'Fuck, is this how Rudra felt? I am really scared of what would happen next,' Takuma was seriously entertaining the idea of backing out at the last moment by saying something along the lines of seeing suspicious people here last night in the forest.
He was already piecing together the reasons why he couldn't tell the captain or anybody else.
"Oh, that reminds me, I got proposed to by Clay of all people this morning," Miko suddenly said in a hushed tone with shock written on her face.
"No way! That stoic guy likes you?" Takuma was shocked at her statement.
However, he was feeling a different emotion at that time too.
"Yeah, his face didn't change expression even after getting rejected. I guess he really can hide his emotions."
"Miko-san, that reminds me, do you have somebody that you like, since you continue to reject everybody?" Takuma asked as normally as he could while maintaining his expression.
"Well, yeah, I do have one. I'm waiting for that guy to propose to me, and I feel like that time is coming sooner than I expected," Miko said with a grin.
"Is that so?" Takuma didn't really care if his disappointment showed on his face or not.
'Well, let's get this over with. I would at least have no regrets,' Takuma took a deep breath, readying himself for the rejection he would get.
However, one part of him did cling to the hope that he was the person Miko mentioned.
"PLEASE MARRY ME!"
A second later, Takuma realized his blunder as he blushed, internally hoping that it wasn't visible outwardly.
"Ara, aren't you jumping the gun? Weren't you supposed to ask me out first?" Miko's teasing smile made Takuma's embarrassment skyrocket.
He turned around, readying to bolt.
"I am sorry," he said as mana started building up in the soles of his feet.
However, before he could run, a hand was placed on his shoulder.
"Aren't you running away before taking my answer?" Takuma shivered as he heard Miko's voice right in his ear.
All of the built-up mana was disrupted due to that.
"It-It's fine, I was expecting rejection anyway, I understand." At this point, Takuma just wanted to run away and hide under a stone.
"Heh, you don't need to do that. My answer to your previous question is YES—you were the one I was waiting for." Takuma felt himself hugged from behind.
He was in disbelief.
That day was the best one in his life.
---
'Fuck, should I take this guy as hostage?' Akeru entertained the idea of using Broccos to get to Erza.
'No, these guys are crazy. Unlike me, they don't care about their allies' lives. I would rather not sacrifice my subordinates even if I could get a grand magic knight,' Akeru thought while grabbing Broccos's arm and tilting his body.
This led to Akeru now being on top and Broccos being down.
"Take this!" Akeru said while momentarily floating in the air and then delivering an axe kick directly at Broccos' face.
"Such a feeble kick won—" Broccos' words were cut short as the kick connected, making him momentarily lose consciousness as he felt his brain rattle.
He plummeted toward the ground at breakneck speed, unable to stop. By the time his consciousness returned, he was a few inches above the ground.
BOOM.
'My mana-enhanced kicks do hurt now,' Akeru thought with a smirk as he reached the top floor instantly.
He saw Erza, who was now clothed, using a machine gun as she fired multiple shots. However, a fluid was around her opponent, preventing him from getting hit.
Akeru almost mistook it for water until he realized the identity of the other person.
'That must be Yagos, and that magic is Mucous magic or something. No wonder Erza has that disgusted look on her face,' Akeru hummed as he bolted towards Erza.
He easily took care of the mucous bullets coming at him by sending water bullets behind him.
"Boss, you're final—" Erza's words were cut short as Akeru didn't stop moving.
A water hand materialized near Erza and almost instantly grabbed her as it started moving with Akeru.
"We have no time to talk; we have two captain-level individuals trailing us," Akeru said with urgency in his tone.
'Should I meet with the other two or not? No, their existence shouldn't be known to the other two. Anyway, let me leave a message for the other two to hide for now,' Akeru thought instantly and sent the message through the bracelet he had.
"Haven't you heard of the saying to be gentle with a lady?"
Akeru only rolled his eyes at her words.
He was currently flying through the air at breakneck speed.
'I would be much faster if I were on the ground as I would have something to push against, but that could lead to casualties among common people, and I would rather not have that,' Akeru thought while his purple robe disappeared.
It was useless as it didn't increase his speed.
"Are we leaving the city?"
"Yup," Akeru briefly replied.
Though he did prevent any sound from leaving his zone, he hadn't taken any precautions against people who would use spells to read their lips.
Despite being in the Grand Magic Knight realm, his caution was very high.
"You... You were acting under her control from the start, weren't you?" Erza's sudden words almost made Akeru stop moving.
***
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