Chapter 205 - She Recalls the Hero's Blade

She was so lost in thought that she almost ignored the signals her body was sending her until it was too late. She had slept an entire day; she had eaten; and now she was met with her third impending physical need: the need to use the bathroom.

Despite her muscle pain, she jumped up from her bed and dashed out of the room, making it just in time.

'Phew! That was close!' Robin thought as she walked the way she believed led back to her room. But the room she opened up on wasn't hers. The walls, blankets, and bedcurtains were all completely different.

"Huh? I was certain it was around here?" Robin muttered to herself, as she decided to check the rooms around her. But none of them were the one she had left.

"I suppose I'm lost?" Robin mumbled, before making the decision to look for someone who knew where her room was. The only problem was that...she couldn't find anyone. It was like everyone had disappeared.

"Hmmm...." Robin glared at the hallway which didn't seem to end. It was like she was stuck in a dream. But, was it a dream? An illusion? Or possibly...

Coming to a decision, Robin withdrew a small trinket she had been given by the dwarf children back in Ragnok. It was a wooden carving of Skye. Robin placed it on a nearby cabinet, then dashed headlong down the hallway.

She came to a stop at the next cabinet.

"As I suspected." She murmured. On that cabinet, placed exactly like how she had left it, stood the trinket. Picking it up, she looked at the bottom of the trinket. It had the same carver's mark, down to the last letter.

"It appears I've been caught in some sort of loop." Robin scratched her head, wondering what to do...

------

"Ha!? So Robin is actually..." Christian said, in genuine surprise.

"Yeah. Robin is my relative: the only one left alive." Keith nodded.

"Unbelievable." Christian muttered, before patting Keith on the shoulder. "Hey, isn't that great? You finally found one of your family! I guess you're not as much of a loser as you thought you were, huh?" He smiled, genuinely glad.

"Even I'm beginning to feel that I am incredibly lucky." Keith said, his voice quivering with overflowing emotion. Relief, joy, thankfullness: they all had filled his heart to the point that now they threatened to overflow as tears from his eyes.

"I'm glad for you." Christian patted him on the back. "So, are you going to tell the others? Should I have Ponzu make something special to celebrate?"

"Should we?" Keith asked. "I mean, I was going to tell the rest of the party, but is that okay?"

"From what I've seen, although I have my reserves, Bastian Lave would not be so petty as to begrudge you for it." Christian pointed out. "I'll let him know later."

"Thank you for that, but we're already at the kitchens, so I can tell him myself." Keith replied, walking ahead. But he paused and turned back when he realized Christian's pace slowed to a stop.

"Hey, Christian? What's wrong?" He asked.

"..So..." Christian began. "About that secret..." He stopped. "How did Robin respond?"

Keith's smile diminished for a moment before a mischievous grin lit up his face.

"Oh ho~ So you really want to know, huh? Heh heh heh~" He said, with an imitation of a wicked chuckle.

"Well, sorry about that~ An imm.a.t.u.r.e person like you grasping ahold of the hero's weakness...Nope! It cannot be done." Keith shook his head, playfully.

"Wait, weakness? That Robin's-?" Christian exclaimed, in surprise.

"While I can say it's nothing you should worry about, Yer gonna hafta ask my cute little nephew about that yourself~ For the time being, my lips are sealed." Keith replied, as he continued down the hallway.

Christian thought back to what he had overheard Robin saying earlier. 'So...that girl who died...his first love? Was that his secret?'

"Ah, but you would do best not to push the issue too much. Persistent men are not always well received. If you do things too forcefully, you will be hated~" Keith joked as he disappeared around the corner.

"It's not like that, get your head out of the gutter!" Christian called after him in annoyance. But Keith's playful joke confirmed it in his mind.

For some reason, Robin didn't want Christian to know about the girl who was his first love. Or, at least, Robin didn't want Christian to know that she's dead...But why?

(AN: While he is right about Robin's first love, he is also mistaken. *sigh* what am I gonna do about that boy...)

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"S-so speed isn't the key."

Robin bent over, gasping for breath. Her overworked muscles were screaming in pain at her sudden abuse of them. Even though Chelsea had healed them the day before, they still required a period of complete rest. Robin sat down in the hallway. No one was there to see her, anyways, so it didn't matter what she did.

Suddenly, an idea came to her, and she took out the hero's blade from her storage bracer.

"What were you thinking, shoving me in there!" Hikari's voice immediately sounded out from the sword, which shook in her grasp.

"You can talk?" Robin said, surprised.

"Of course I can talk!" Hikari hmmphed. "But no one can hear me unless I've been inside their mindscape. You remember that rune, right? That's my way of establishing a connection."

"Huh? Oh right. That did happen, didn't it?" Robin recalled.

"But, you...Didn't you know that placing me in that space immobilizes me? While I couldn't move, I had to wait all that time in that dark space...I couldn't see a thing; couldn't tell what was happening outside; and couldn't tell how long I spent in there....at least leave a night light in there." The voice tapered out towards the end.

"Ah...I'm sorry about that." Robin apologized. "It's just that I also couldn't move, and No one can lift you without your consent. I didn't want to leave you behind, so I had no choice. I've been passed out and only woke up a small while ago. I promise it won't happen again unless I have your permission."

"That...well...Hmph! I suppose it couldn't be helped." Hikari seemed to forgive her. "So? What made you remember me?"

"Ah, about that..." Robin sighed. "It seems I'm stuck inside some sort of spacial loop?"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Yeah, I keep walking and walking, but I always end up where I started from." Robin explained.

"...Sounds an awful lot like a trap from a certain trickster I know..." Hikaru muttered.

"Anyways, I was wondering if you might know a way to get out of it." Robin said.

"As for that, of course I know a way out! You can count on me!" Hikaru replied.

"Great! So? How are we gonna get out?" Robin asked.

"Pure Brute force." Hikaru replied.

"Eh? W're not gonna destroy the manor or anything, right?" Robin asked cautiously. She didn't want to damage such a nice mansion. Paying for the damages would be such a pain, after all.

"Nothing of the sort! We're just gonna break open the trap is all." Hikaru reassured. "Hold me out in front of you until the front end starts to disappear."

Robin did so, and was surprised to find the scabbard fading away into nothing not even one foot away from where she was standing.

"Now what?" Robin asked.

"Now, you need to supply me with a great burst of energy. We're gonna blow this spacial recall gate wide open." Hikaru instructed.

Robin readied herself, standing still for a moment before something shattered in the space before her.

-------

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Bastian asked, looking at his ever faithful butler, who had suddenly jumped and looked a bit pale. The two were in the master study, poring over a map of the city.

"Ah. I just recalled that I was supposed to meet an old friend, earlier. I forgot to give that one his key." The old man said.

"An old friend? You still have one or two living, huh? If it's important, you don't have to stay with me. I'll just be here for the time being." Bastian said.

"While usually I would do my utmost to refuse, this time I'm afraid I must thank you." The butler bowed and hurried quickly out of the room.

"Dash it all. How many of these are in between me and my room?" Robin g.r.o.a.n.e.d as she sat on a nearby ornamental chair to regain her stamina.

"Not much longer. He should show up soon." Hikaru noted.

"He?" Robin asked.

"Tha-that would be me."