Chapter 60 - Vol. 2 - 25

Keiko

On the back of Haruna's horse, Keiko watched the landscape as she and her teacher traveled to the east. The distant lands looked so beautiful that Keiko's jaw dragged against the ground as they moved. She watched everything around her with awe. The world was so much more amazing than she could have imagined it to be. 

If she was heading for certain death because this whole plan was foolhardy at best, then she could at least appreciate the wondrous views. Eventually, she started to daydream, her mind momentarily empty enough to allow her to sift through old memories. One came up, and Keiko could remember it as though it had happened yesterday. 

She had been sitting in a small garden-like area in the Zayama Compound. Here, members of her clan were gathered to celebrate the Festival of Blades. It was a Zayama-specific tradition, though one that the rest of Jade often chose to participate in, where old warriors and their deeds would be presented through large works of art. Songs, small statues, plays, reenactments, these things were the highlights of the events. 

Of course, because Keiko had yet to unlock her Spirit Eye, she could only witness the proceedings by way of sound. And, she hated that. Ordinarily, she could pick out different sounds and identify them with ease, but here, when everyone was gathered up and the sounds were all mixed together, that made doing so much harder than normal. 

So, she sat by the stairs leading back into the building, with her knees huddled up to her chest. And although she couldn't hear much clearly, she did note someone sitting down beside her. 

"Hey, liking the show so far?" 

She recognized the voice almost instantly. It belonged to someone who she'd met just a few months ago. 

"U-Uh... Yeah," Keiko replied. 

"Cool, what's been your favorite part?" 

"Uhm... I-It's all good." Keiko responded and Honoka laughed boisterously. 

"Well, if you don't make it as a fighter, you can sure as shit be a politician. I'm sure the Royal Council would have loved to hear that answer." 

Keiko sighed as the girl chuckled a little more. 

"I... What am I even doing here?" Keiko wondered aloud. 

"Aw, cheer up. Look on the bright side, now, you've got me with you!" 

"Uh r-right." 

"Pfft." Honoka laughed again. "Well, shit. Way to hurt my ego." 

"N-No, I didn't mean it like that, just..." 

"I'm just fucking with you," Honoka quickly stepped in as Keiko tried to explain herself. "Anyway, here, I got you something. They were giving this out in one of the stalls. Supposedly, it's some special candy from Amber, down south." 

"Oh?" A stick of sorts was placed in her hands. It was like a lollypop. She put it in her mouth and tasted a delicious, albeit strange, kind of chocolate. "Wow, that's good!" 

"Yeah, it's pretty awesome," Honoka responded. 

For a moment, a silence spread between them. All around them, Keiko could hear everyone enjoying themselves, laughing, and partying as the festival went on. Someone walked up to them though, and Keiko heard Honoka's voice take on a different, almost shyer tone. 

"Hey, babe." A boy said. "Come on, the fireworks are about to start!" 

"O-Oh," Honoka replied. "Right, be there in a sec." 

She then heard what she assumed to be the boy's footsteps as he walked away after the short exchange. 

The question she asked after that came automatically.

"Uh, was that your boyfriend?" 

"Yep, name's Lin," Honoka replied happily. "Really nice guy, maybe after the festival you could meet him. I'm sure you'd love him." 

"Um, yeah. Of course." 

As Keiko said that, she felt a wind of disappointment go through her heart, though she didn't understand why. She should have guessed after all, that of course a cool, confident girl like Honoka would be taken. It made sense. 

"You might want to put something over your ears in a few minutes though," Honoka said. "I heard the fireworks can be pretty harsh on unawakened Zayamas." 

"Oh, you're right. Uh, let me go get something." 

"Need me to come with?" Honoka asked. 

"No, no. I uh, know the way." 

"Alright. Talk to you later, then." 

Honoka left and Keiko stood up. As of course, she had the entire Compound's layout memorized, she didn't need help to get back to her room. And, yes, she was going back to her room. She wasn't getting anything for her ears, at this point, she was pretty much done with the night. 

Her path took her through the Elder's office though, where her grandmother operated. And it was while she was walking past it that she heard a pair of voices coming from within, arguing about something. 

"I said no, and that's final." She heard her grandmother say. 

"Even if the girl still hasn't unlocked her Spirit Eye, this could prove to be a valuable experience for her." Someone else replied. 

Wait, are they talking about me?  Keiko asked herself. 

"If it's a valuable trip then give the spot to someone else, someone who could actually use it, not someone who was born into a family they don't deserve." 

The other person sighed as Keiko's head lowered sadly. 

"I see. Very well then, siya." 

And so, footsteps came out and walked away from Keiko as she stood frozen nearby. "A family she didn't deserve," was how her grandmother put it, and Keiko couldn't agree more. Keiko's parents had been two of the most accomplished Zayama's of the past century, and yet it looked like they had birthed a talentless child. 

"Keiko?" Haruna asked. 

"H-Huh?" Keiko shook her head, the memories dissipating. "What?" 

"I just said that we'd be arriving in a few hours. So, we'll be taking a break for now." 

"Oh. Okay."

Hm...  Keiko thought.  Geez, even though I finally got my Spirit Eye, I guess I can't just make those days fade away from my mind, huh? 

---

Kaori

Personally, Kaori saw the small trip she took with Kasumi as an absolute victory. 

Sure, the older Savior had gone through a somewhat embarrassing moment, but in doing so, she'd surely be more willing to go with her on the next trip. She had to have had some small amount of fun, right? 

Currently, though, the both of them were back at the Savior House, with Kaori laying on a couch and humming a song to herself. Now that the illusion spell had worn off and Kasumi didn't look like she would be coming back out of her room for several hours, things were probably going to be boring around here for quite a bit. 

At least, that had been Kaori's assumption, until she heard a knock at the front door. 

As no one else was currently here to answer, since Metsumi was still out buying things for them all, she got up and walked over to it. Upon opening the door, she found two Saviors standing outside. Mizaki and Akiven were both there, the girl closer to the door than the other. 

"Hey!" Mizaki greeted her energetically and Kaori grinned. 

"Oh my gosh, hi! Come on in," Kaori greeted her and the two hugged. 

"What? Don't I get a hug?" Akiven asked. 

"Ignore him, listen," Mizaki said, "can you call Kasumi over?" 

"What? Why?" 

"We've got a little proposition for the both of you." 

Hearing that, Kaori nodded. 

"Alright, sure." 

So, she walked up to the second floor and found Kasumi's room. Knocking on it, she said:

"Hey, Kasumi? The other Saviors are here and they wanna talk!" 

Promptly, the door was opened. 

The crimson-haired woman stood in front of Kaori, topless, and absolutely shameless. The blonde blushed and Kasumi narrowed her eyes, a frown forming on her face.

"What is it?" She asked with a voice that screamed, "how dare you interrupt me from my sleep?" 

Kaori gulped, looking away and coughing. 

"Uh, I, um, don't know. They just..." 

Kasumi heard that, sighed, and nodded. She closed the door, Kaori waited a few minutes and then Kasumi walked back out, fully dressed. 

"Fine, fine." She muttered. "Let's just get this over with." 

A few moments later, all of the Saviors were gathered up at the living room, each one sitting opposite each other as Kasumi crossed one leg over another and asked:

"So, what do you want?"

"Okay, here's the thing," Mizaki said, leaning in. "I was walking around the city, right, looking for a new dress because there are these super, and I mean SUPER cute dresses that they only make in Jade with these little golden buttons just below the shoulder straps, so, I was trying to find the dress and an old man stepped on a pile of dog poop on the side of the street. I laughed a little and..." 

"Uh, Mizaki, maybe you should skip ahead in the story, sweetheart," Akiven suggested and Mizaki nodded. 

"Right. Okay, so, I ran into Akiven in a restaurant, and he was trying to flirt with this couple, this one guy and a girl who were both, like, WAY out of his league, right? I think he was trying to get a threesome, can you imagine that!? And..." 

"Okay, just let me say it," Akiven put a hand on Mizaki's shoulder and the girl nodded. "Basically, we started talking about the monsters around Jade at some point and we both figured that, well, listen, let's be honest, we're all a bit underpowered right now, aren't we?" He asked around. "Hell, Kasumi, you haven't been fighting in years. And you, you just started." He gestured at Kaori. "So, in moments like these, there's only one thing we can do." 

"Uh, and what's that?" Kaori asked. 

"It's time for some good old-fashioned farming," Akiven stated. "Basically, we should go out, hunt down some monsters, get our levels up, and come back a little more ready for the next fight." 

"Yeah!" Mizaki said. "Honestly, I think it's a great idea. What do you guys think?" She asked Kasumi and Kaori. 

"Hm... Well, sure, but... You guys are a lot stronger than me, so what kind of monsters would we be fighting?" Kaori asked. 

"We'll help you with every single one, don't worry about it." Akiven waved her concern off. "And we'll only do so in the day, so you don't have to deal with any of the nighttime monsters." 

"Nighttime monsters?" Kaori asked. 

"Mhm. In some regions, the areas around Jade being one of them, special, way more dangerous monsters roam the lands at night. So, what do you guys think? Sounds good, right?" 

Naturally, as Kaori had slightly agreed already, all eyes fell on Kasumi. 

She looked back and forth between them and then, she closed her eyes, sighing. 

"Fine." 

"Yay!" Mizaki raised her hands. "You won't regret it!" 

With that, the Saviors had a plan for the near future.