Chapter 222 - Vol. 4 - 21

Keiko

Waking up next to Kaori's still sleeping body, disappointed that she hadn't magically come back, was something Keiko had gotten used to, over the last couple of weeks. Another thing she'd grown accustomed to was the stomach pain that would sometimes follow. 

"Agh..." She moaned softly as she sat up on her bed, looking down at her hands. Her skin was covered in violet lines. Sighing, Keiko looked around. 

The thing, the... thing, where is it?  She wondered as she looked for the potion Vyl had given her, to combat these symptoms. She'd need more of it soon, so she made a mental note to remind herself to tell Satsuhiro about it. Hopefully, he could send another letter to her. 

Keiko got up, out of bed, after gulping down a couple of sips of that potion, and she watched the violet lines fade. Looking back at Kaori, Keiko briefly spoke to the girl in her thoughts. 

Wish me luck today, Kaori,  Keiko thought as she walked over to her and placed ran a hand through her hair. I need to talk to Ash about... yeah.

After a quick bath and a change of clothes, Keiko was walking out into the halls dressed in a white shirt and a skirt of the same color, with no shoes. As cold as she felt, she wanted to feel the warmth of the earth under her. She moved past a few rooms, walking by some quiet servants who mostly ignored her, though a few did give her a few sideways glances, but Keiko didn't mind that too much. 

She saw a couple of men walking together, who wore white robes like Zafir had when the group had first arrived here. She couldn't quite hear what they were talking about, though she did catch them mentioning Jade, for some reason but she disregarded it. 

So... Where's Ash?  Keiko wondered, continuing to walk around the Arcane's Manor. She exited out the front door, only to be met with nothing more than a pair of guards, and then, she tried the opposite strategy, walking all the way to the back. 

Only once she walked out onto the large space behind the Manor, where she and Ash had talked earlier about Yumi, did she find them. 

Ash was standing in the middle of the area, punching the air, for some reason. Behind her was standing Yumi and... 

Keiko tilted her head. 

Who is that?  She wondered as she looked at an exceptionally tall, and almost naked, woman with black scales around her body and a tail, watching Ash intently. 

"So, is this literally all I do?" Ash asked. 

"Yes," the woman replied. "As you continue training, you will naturally unlock more parts of the Divine Arts. The first of which comes once you reach proficiency 2. You will understand." 

Keiko walked up as she heard that. A message then popped up over Ash's head, but Ash looked over at her, instead of reading it, as she noticed Keiko approaching. 

"Oh, hey," she stopped, taking a deep breath and walking over to her. Keiko smiled as the half-demon got closer. The kiss she went for, standing on the tips of her toes so that her lips could reach Ash's, felt natural. 

"Hm?" The strange woman said behind them. "What technique was that? I haven't seen it before," she told Yumi and the Zayama sighed. 

Ash's violet eyes fell on hers warmly as Keiko cleared her throat. 

"I... see you've been hard at work," Keiko said. 

"Yeah," Ash shrugged. "While I was away after... You know," she paused awkwardly, "stuff happened and I ended up running into her," Ash said, as she pointed at the woman Keiko didn't know. "Her name's Sinneah. Long story short, we came to a little agreement and she's going to be teaching me some stuff for a bit." 

"Oh?" Keiko put her hands together as she spoke. "What stuff?" 

"Well, right when you got here I picked something up. So, uh, let me see if I can show you." 

Ash then took a step back. She took a couple of seconds to read the message that had appeared for her and nodded to herself. Then, she stepped back and held up a hand. 

Suddenly, a beam of light formed in her hands, and both she and Keiko gasped. 

"Holy shit," Ash muttered before she threw the beam forwards, and it was like a spear had shot out from her palm, crashing into a stone railing up ahead, just as some servants were coming around the corner. The beam exploded, breaking the stone and making the servants scream as they clutched each other out of fright. 

"... What was that?" Keiko asked. 

"I... don't really understand all of it myself just yet," Ash shrugged, as she looked down at her hands. "But, it's something like Light magic, so it's useful for me." 

"Good work," Sinneah said, walking up to them, as did Yumi. 

"It's weird, but I think I'm starting to get how this works, even if it's still confusing as shit," Ash said before gesturing at Keiko. "Anyway, this is Keiko." 

"... Hello," Sinneah said with a firm, borderline deadpan expression. 

"... Hi," Keiko replied as she bowed to her. Looks meant nothing in a world like this, but Keiko was still fairly put off by how she looked like she could break her in half with one hand. 

Actually, how strong... 

She checked Sinneah's level then. 

Level 65

MP: 500/500

...  Oh. 

"Hm. She also smells good," Sinneah told Yumi and Ash raised a brow. 

"I let you stay with us so you could train me, not so you can go around smelling people. Stop it." 

"I will do with my nose whatever I please," Sinneah replied, and Ash rolled her eyes. 

"Whatever. Anyway, yeah, that's what I'm doing for a bit. What about you?" Ash asked. "Have been you been feeling okay?" 

"Yeah, yeah, I just... Can I talk to you for a second?" Keiko asked. 

"Sure," Ash said walking over to the stone railing so that they could be relatively alone. Yumi stayed with Sinneah, by the backdoors of the Manor. Even though Keiko hadn't even gotten any breakfast yet, she wanted to get this out of the way. 

Still, being here, with Ash standing right next to her, she didn't really know how to start. 

Thankfully, Ash pushed her a little to do so. 

"So, what's up?" Ash asked. "Is... Is this about the Yumi thing?" 

"N-No, not exactly." 

"Oh?" She sounded surprised. "So, what is it then?"

Keiko took a deep breath, looking away. 

"... Well, since we came here," she started, "I've been thinking about something." Keiko's heart went cold then, as she tried to force as much temporary confidence as she could into herself, just to get through this. "The longer I've gone in this... state, the more I've come to understand that I don't want it." 

She took slow breaths, calming herself down. 

"I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready at all. I only just left my family's clutches and, this happened. So," she turned toward Ash, "I asked around." 

"What do you mean?" 

"I asked around for a way to... end this," she gestured at her body. "I wanted to see if it was even an option. Just, anything, at all, that could allow me to go back to the fighter I was. That's what I would like to do, after all. Fight alongside you, both against the demons, and for Kaori's sake, whenever that happens," Keiko explained. 

Ash didn't appear to be mad, only confused. Keiko took it as a good sign, so she kept going. 

"I first asked the sorcerer, the one you'll be learning from, and he mentioned an alchemist in town who could help. So, I went to her shop and I found out that there actually is such a method. Something that could do away with this," again, she gestured at herself. 

"Oh. Damn," Ash looked away. "So... What is it?" 

"Well," feeling a little more courageous, she continued, "I need only get her three different ingredients. And, if I get them, then she can make the potion and... I'll be done with this." 

"... Okay, what are they?" Ash asked. 

"Uh," Keiko stopped to remember them. "A sand reaver's claw, a dragon's eye, and a flower from a place called the Mist Realm, if I'm not mistaken." 

Ash nodded, looking away momentarily. 

"So, yes, if I get those things, I can do this." Keiko let out a deep breath that had both some relief and anxiety in it. Ash looked like she was taking this well so far, but still, she was also very bad at communicating her emotions. Something that Keiko knew well, so she waited. 

"W-What do you think?" Keiko asked. 

"... Uh, I dunno," Ash shrugged. "I guess I never even stopped to think if this was possible. But, yeah, I mean... It's up to you. If you want to do that, then, sure, we can try," Ash said.

And Keiko nearly shed a tear when she heard that. 

"R-Really?" 

"... Sure," Ash shrugged. "I mean, this whole thing didn't exactly happen intentionally... If there's a way out then, yeah. Let's go for it." 

To Keiko's ears, Ash's tone wasn't as firm as one would expect, considering the words that came out of her mouth, and she wasn't looking at Keiko as she said that, but still, Keiko couldn't be more relieved to hear this. She hugged Ash tightly, catching the half-demon off-guard. 

"... Thank you." 

"Yeah," Ash muttered. "It's okay." 

Keiko was almost certain there was more on Ash's mind, but for now, she was fine with this.