-Near the Towers of Iselma-
"You were smart to provoke him like that", Assassin acknowledged that fact.
"Hah. Like it was as easy as that", but Waver just shook his head sitting on a stone. His boots were dirty due to the fact that he had to walk through mud to get here.
Earlier Waver decided to take care of the situation. Although he did not apologize for the assassination attempt Toru was planning to make, he was able to bring about a situation where Reines would not be so affected. He now only had one day to resolve this whole imbroglio because of the deal he made with Byron. Seeing that Reines was in the guilty position, he had no choice but to negotiate that. Although they partly made the deal because Waver got to tell all the secrets of Byron's magecraft, who was forced to accept the deal.
Waver has already reviewed all the clues in the case and is now thinking about what he should do.
"That woman. Aozaki Touko...", Toru looked into the void remembering a recent event. Waver saw it and felt the same way. This had all been confusing and fast. Right after Byron left, she appeared saying mysterious things.
"She was there too. It seems she saw you use your Noble Phantasm."
Toru shook his head. "Although I was in the past, that fragment of me no longer exists. I may have fought to the death, and it's even likely that I was willing to win to get the wish. It even seemed that I still had some hope to move forward; to fight. Today I am very different from that supposed version of me. It no longer matters who I was, only how I am me now."
"But everything you did...," Gray leaned closer to him. "Everything you did in the past had repercussions in the present."
That was a good way to think. Toru nodded in response. "Waver-sensei. You told me earlier that I was the one who asked you to take Sakura-sama to London. What would have happened to her if she stayed in Fuyuki?"
Although no one would have any way of knowing, the fate that awaited Sakura was horrible. A lonely and painful fate, but thanks to the change Toru made in the past, Sakura now has a caring father and has studied enough to be considered a magecraft prodigy. Her life is much better than it could have been in Fuyuki.
"I don't know...", Waver replied despite knowing what would have happened.
"Well. We're getting off topic. We'd better let the detective do his job."
Reines smiled complacently as she saw what Waver began to draw on the floor. To get a better understanding of everything, the man in the coat and long hair mumbled a few things about the case. Interrupting him now that he had begun his work was not the best option. That, however, was going to happen anyway.
Toru suddenly staggered, touched his head in pain and, from one moment to the next, his body stopped moving, which consequently made him fall face first to the ground.
"Assassin!"
Gray was the first to come to his aid. She knelt down and took him in her arms. Waver came to as he saw what was happening. Toru's body wanted to vanish into black particles. This one made him frown.
"Can't you move?"
"Yes I can. I don't know what happened to me", Toru replied to Waver.
"We obviously know what's happening to you. We told you before", Reines interjected. She bent down and looked Toru in the eyes. "You ran out of mana. Is it because you activated Bounded Field at that time? It seems you were very reckless, no, you were more than that."
"We saw him do the same thing before."
Toru sighed at Gray's words. It was true that she had been by his side at the top of the tower and when they fought the puppet. The two girls saw the moment when Toru was trying to resist disappearing.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I didn't need to", he replied curtly. He stood up from the ground and looked at the two towers that, together, formed a Lunar and Solar clock.
"No. You definitely need to."
Waver was right. No one present understood Toru's stubbornness. It was like talking to a deaf old man. For Gray, that was very frustrating. If Toru doesn't accept someone's mana, he will inevitably return to the Throne of Heroes. When Sakura wakes up, she will realize that her only love was gone forever. That would be too sad to allow it to happen.
"You yourself say that returning to the Throne of Heroes is a bummer."
But before all the drama, Add's voice echoed from Gray's cloak. She pulled the cage out of her cloak for all to see Add. The Mystic Code spoke in an authoritative tone.
"You have a strange and unbearable habit of contradicting yourself, what is it you want to do, make up your mind at once! You're frustrating, boy. If this were one of those novels this silly girl reads, readers would be tired of seeing you do the same thing. Let me put it to you in a different way so the information will stick in your tiny brain. Your attitude, kid, will be what creates great suffering for you in the future, if it's not making you suffer right now."
Toru this time said nothing. The wind blew gently as he stared at the ground while he pondered.
"Well, it will take someone to supply Assassin with mana, won't it, I volunteer!"
Waver touched his forehead painfully. Hearing Reines say that by raising her hand so enthusiastically brought him to a new level of stress.
"I already said that-"
"Boy, shut the fuck up..."
This was unheard of. At least from Gray's point of view, everyone was denigrating poor Toru. Add made Toru shut up, and what was even stranger was that Toru was allowing this when before he would have shut them all up without hesitation. If this had anything to do with what happened at the top of the tower, Gray wanted to know what it all meant.
"Look. Let's do this. I'll share mana with you with a kiss. It will be good enough for you."
"Lady, what you're saying..."
Yes. It's like Reines says. She wants to kiss Toru to transfer some mana. The idea, in a world full of magus, wouldn't be a rare thing. It's more common than it seems. However, this suggestion somehow made Gray nervous. Just imagining the scene made the blood in her face heat up, giving her that typical flushed color.
"I know what I'm saying, are you okay with this, Assassin?"
Even if Reines had asked that, Toru had no say in the matter at the moment. Perhaps he was overthinking Add's words, as he was staring into nothingness with a grim expression.
"Do you agree, Assassin?"
She asked again as she clung to Toru's arm. The boy looked at her silently and sighed wearily. There was no way out of this one.
"Maybe-"
"I don't think that's right."
Gray this time intervened by approaching the two teenagers. While this was odd to everyone, Add nodded, somewhat strangely, at her master's action.
"Assassin has the right to choose what he wants. If he doesn't want to receive mana from someone, that's his decision. We can't force him to choose. It's not right. Even if it brings him back to the Throne of Heroes."
Toru nodded. For the first time, he showed himself accepting something in front of the others. At least, with such a calm and understanding expression.
"I thank you for understanding a little of what I think. You're very sensible, even if you really like to meddle in what's none of your business."
"Huh?", Gray thought about earlier.
At the same time, Reines let go of Toru after those words. She secretly smiled due to the fact that this is what she wanted to accomplish. Now all that was left was to make Gray take one more step.
"I just wanted to help..."
"You help people who don't ask for your help. That's a normal thing to do, but there will be people who will resent that kind of attitude. Keep that in mind."
She hid more in her hood as she understood that she was just being a nuisance to Toru.
"You're right. However," she would still be a nuisance. "I could help you like at the beginning of all this..."
Everything is always so weird between the two of them, but it's inevitable. Both of them act in such a way that they always end up in strange situations.
"Let me help you, Asahi Toru."
The words that had sealed the pact between the two. Toru maintained his silence. He looked at Gray and then nodded.
"It's not like I have any other way out either."
"Wow... I'm a little disappointed. Even though I offer you my help, you instantly turn me down, but not Gray? I can tell you see something in her that you like."
"What, huh?"
"Perhaps you are right, Reines El-Melloi Archisorte. Unlike you, who, when I look into your face, I feel something I dislike. It reminds me of something I never lived through."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Even I don't know. My mind is so damaged that sometimes I mix up my experiences with someone else's."
"Hah. If someone was able to damage your mind, I'd like to meet that person. Was it a girl?"
Toru looked at Gray. He closed his eyes and remembered as he replied, "You could say it was a woman", he turned around and left the place. Before disappearing from the eyes of the others, he stopped to say a few more things. "I'll wait for you later. It's better when there's no one watching us."
Those words were directed at Gray.
When the servant left, Waver shook his head. This teenage drama was strange. Perhaps he felt jealous that he hadn't experienced something similar in his youth. He stood up to withdraw as well.
"I'll go investigate the crime scenes. We'll meet right here in an hour."
"Fare thee well, my little brother?"
"Uh- That you're not trying to follow me around to spite me is something new."
"Well, I guess I have someone else to screw with."
"Haha...", this man smiled. He turned around waving goodbye.
"Now that we're alone, let me give you a recommendation. To help Assassin it takes more than a little bit of spit and blood", she turned to Gray. She put her hand on his shoulder, "Kiss him passionately and you can save him from disintegrating forever", and held up her thumb in approval.
It's rather hypocritical to approve of your own decision. Gray turned red at hearing that. She didn't want to do that. A while ago she thought about giving mana to Toru as she always usually does. Well, she's given mana to the servant a few times, it's not as casual as it seemed right off the bat.
"I couldn't do that."
"Why, are you embarrassed?"
"Even if I'm embarrassed, it's not right."
Reines smiled. "It's not the right thing to do? Who cares about that? You're just making cheap excuses to run away from something you decided yourself. What's not right is doing what you do. Maybe, in that respect, you're similar to Assassin. Have you ever thought about why you're the only one Assassin accepts without hesitation? When you ask him personal questions, he usually answers almost without hesitation, as if his mind is on autopilot."
"Don't tell me you..."
"Last night. Now you know I'm a light sleeper."
"I see... I... I've thought about it a lot, but I don't know."
"Well, now it's your job to find out. Finish what you started, only then can you know what you want. So kiss the boy and keep him from disappearing, because if you don't, I will."
"I... I'll think about it", she said as she followed Toru.
Reines stared at her as she walked away. She understood that shame wasn't something that stopped Gray. There was something deeper to this. She felt at ease at the thought. This lovely gray-haired girl is a bundle of depression. The same goes for Assassin. The thought that her words were making two equally sick people together thrilled her greatly.
"I hope with this they stop being so distant and can give me a good show."
Because even though she won't be watching the scene in the front row, she will be able to see the result of the performance of these two characters.
***
His back was resting against a tree. His empty gaze was directed at the light passing through the leaves of the trees. His eyes were undoubtedly more special than anyone else's, but he downplayed that.
As he waited, he leapt to the top of the tree and surveyed the landscape from above. He was alone and calm, but Gray's coordinated footsteps sounded over the damp earth of this forest.
Almost as if she had sensed his presence, Gray appeared taking a powerful leap that brought her to stand at the top of the tree in front of Toru.
"You really like high places, don't you?"
Toru looked up at the sky before answering. "You could say yes, but you could also say no", he pulled off his hood so Gray could see his face.
She's seen him many times before. Toru is a very handsome boy, but if Reines were seeing him, she would most likely say that the boy's expression ruins the beauty of his face.
"There are things about me that even I don't know or understand. Human beings tend to make life very complicated by thinking about things. Maybe that's what still keeps me as a human rather than a heroic spirit."
"I... I wouldn't know what to answer. I think I'm the same way too. Thinking is something I do too much of."
"Although I said before that without recklessness there is no progress, the truth is that I thought about my every action. I usually don't usually do things guided by my emotions because, when I do, things will always go wrong. A cool mind with calm thinking is the best thing someone can use in critical moments."
"Why do emotions cloud judgment?"
"Yes. Indeed. You, who like to get inside my mind and feel what I feel, what do you think I'm feeling right now?"
Gray was surprised. Toru is asking her to try to feel what he feels. "I've never felt a ghost's emotions on my own. I don't know if I can, but...", looking at Assassin, she decided to give it a try. She stared at him and... "...Nothing?"
She felt nothing.
"How is it possible? Simply shutting down the heart and mind is something I used to be very good at. Remembering and practicing. Easy, isn't it?"
This disappointed Gray. She used to think that she could understand more of Toru by feeling the same way he feels, but that may not be possible anymore. It seemed that Toru can stop feeling emotions when he tries.
"I understand..."
"... Maybe we should do what we came here to do. Getting lost in such an unproductive conversation is not something we should indulge in, at least not in a situation like this."
"Uh, well. That's true."
Toru took a step and his feet touched the air. With another step, he approached Gray. He literally standing up in the air. That was pretty amazing.
"I'm ready, are you ready?"
She didn't know how to respond to that no matter how easy it might have been to answer. She thought about what Reines said earlier. Toru is always so approachable when it comes to her. When Gray is around Toru, this guy seems to be a different person.
The secret behind this was quite complicated. Considering the disorders Toru suffers from, it would be very difficult to know how his mind works. But there was one thing she understood. Toru is an extremely lonely person. He may always be surrounded by people, but he always has this aura of loneliness around him.
Feeling lonely even though you are together with the people who cherish you the most. She could understand that. Her trauma is in how her life is going to end. Although she wants to make the most of every second she has left, thinking about how she will be replaced by the King of Knights, she feels sad to know that there will be nothing left of her but what will be Arthur Pendragon.
As she thought, Toru took her by the hand. She looked into his eyes at that moment.
"Why are you so different when you are with me?"
The question was sudden. Toru had an answer, but he wasn't sure to say it in front of Gray. She maybe felt like this boy didn't want to tell her so, with a look, as if she won't need words to express herself, she just kept her silence. He answered the question.
"You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago."
That person is none other than Toru himself.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, well talking to myself is always going to be more comfortable than talking to other people."
"..."
It was like having had an epiphany. Toru had literally told her that he sees himself reflected in her. Now he understood it in a better way. Now she understood that the two of them were somehow connected by the way they feel.
All the pain and loneliness they both have faced. While Gray has been alone her whole life since her face changed in front of the mirror, Asahi Toru was not alone. He had friends, he had family, and most of that was destroyed in front of his eyes. Someone who knows the pain of loneliness, compared to someone who knows the pain of loss, was a very depressing thing.
They are two broken people who instinctively try to heal each other, but they don't know that they are only going to end up hurting each other even more.
She closed her eyes and placed both hands on Toru's chest. Doing this didn't make her feel ashamed. Oddly enough, rather than feeling embarrassed, she felt lonely even though this boy was in front of her.
There was one person who understood her. If this was a pathetic way to understand what was going on, then Gray was just being emotionally dependent on this servant.
There was still a lot about him that she didn't understand. If she thought of it that way, it was hilarious how she is about to kiss a person she practically doesn't know. Well, it was Reines who made the suggestion to her. It would have been enough to give her some spit and blood, but after Reines was so insistent, that idea wouldn't leave her mind.
She had read many books in which the protagonist gives her first kiss to the hero of the story. She was pretty sure that Toru doesn't consider himself a hero, and also that she is no protagonist. This moment was nothing more than a whim of two mentally ill people.
"I'm sorry...", she said. She brought her face closer to Toru's.
His eyes widened in confusion. He hadn't expected Gray to be willing to kiss him. A kiss might be a good way to share fluids and thus mana, but somehow this felt awkward.
On her side, Gray stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against Toru's. Their kiss was very innocent, as if it was just child's play. She obviously realized this. Just touching lips was not enough to share mana. She had to be even more aggressive in that regard. This time, however, she did get a little embarrassed. Her face turned red and, still with her lips close to Toru's, she closed her eyes with all her might.
It seems that this girl regretted it.
However, Toru is an eccentric and unpredictable person. From one moment to the next, just like in Adra Castle, he grabbed her waist and intertwined the fingers of his right hand with Gray's left hand. She opened her eyes parting her lips from his immediately.
"Is this your first time?"
"Yeah... I'm sorry I'm not good at this..."
Toru was silent for a second. Then he whispered into the girl's ear.
"Then, should I teach you?"
To answer him, she only nodded. His face was still expressionless. His heart had closed before her. It had become more mysterious than ever. At that moment, Gray knew that Toru was not being himself. He changes his personality depending on the scenario, as if desperately trying to adapt to the life he was living.
That, in this instance, was too sad. She felt it was that way, but she didn't reject him. She initially wanted to help him. Besides, if her first kiss is with a ghost, she might try to laugh about it in the future.
Toru had said those words as if he were an adult. At least, in Gray's eyes, they are both the same age. They are just teenagers and, in the eyes of society, children lost in life.
This was Gray's first experience with this sort of thing.
When she least expected it, Toru literally stuck his tongue inside her mouth. Gray's eyes widened at how strange that had been. She tried to breathe, tried to run away, but Toru wouldn't let her do that. He moved his tongue inside Gray's mouth, taking all the saliva she had in her mouth.
She clenched her legs because she felt something very strange surge inside her belly. Her flushed face was proof that her body temperature had risen in reaction to the adult kiss she was feeling.
'Hot... wet...', choking on the kiss, she felt her body lose its strength. She closed her eyes as tightly as she could, squeezed Toru's hand as hard as she could and felt tears streaming down her face.
She's not sad enough to cry, but for some reason tears fell down her face.
'Ah... that's right...'
Even though Toru closed her heart, she could feel what he felt. Maybe it was because they are 'connected' somehow.
Her muffled moans echoed with the wind from the heights. She had already given up. She wanted to run away before, but now she was clinging to Toru as tightly as she could.
'This... it's so strange...', she felt a memory in the form of sadness. 'I guess you're sad right now'
After this is over, she thought about talking to him. Never mind the embarrassment of this moment. She wanted to know this boy's story.
This country girl, so innocent and inexperienced, felt differently towards this boy. You could call her naive for being attracted to a boy just for a kiss, but she had never felt this way before. It was the first time she kissed someone, and it was the first time she felt her body so hot from such an indecent act.
The moment seemed to last an eternity, but only a few seconds had passed.
Toru pulled his face away from Gray's, licked his lips and let out a hot sigh.
She looked up at him. The way she looked at him had changed.
"Are you okay?"
No, she wasn't okay. Her lips were wet with saliva and her breathing had become heavy and discontinuous. Her flushed face was very noticeable against her pale skin.
She suddenly ducked her gaze, covering her face with her hood. She noticed that Toru was still holding her waist. She touched her forehead to his chest and said, "Let's stay like this for a while longer."
If anyone knew the hearts of these two people, they could only think of the tragedy that the union of these two teenagers would bring. A girl emotionally dependent on someone else, a girl lost in her own life and a servant, a soul who no longer believed in his own salvation.
The story of this couple had begun....
-London-
As Toru and Gray's relationship unfolded at Windermere, Sakura was still lying on her bed. Her breathing was steady and the color of her white skin showed pink in some parts of her body. Although she was sweating, a maid was wiping away her sweat.
The maid had never seen such a beautiful Asian girl. She felt somewhat guilty for taking care of her without her noticing.
At the same time, inside Sakura's mind, the second tragedy of this story was beginning.
To be continued...