The night:
After the hour passed, the train came to full at the 'Star Unit Center.' We walked back to the back side of the bus, our visit there was to pick up our belongings. We crossed the lines that separated the main train parts and got to the far back side. "Two black bags, with red stars at the bottoms." I murmured to Aishia.
Immediately, she used her spirit and scanned the train using her pure vision senses.
"It's below the bags down there." She said.
"Thanks."
Using my hands I pulled the bags from the surface and grabbed ours. That should do the trick. After that we walked back to the main door and visited the train. In total, I only spent about $20 big silver coins, which is about $20,000 yen and $131 Dollars.
"Won! I never expected to spend so much on one trip, even then, after this mission we would have to go to the spirit village." I muttered deep in my head.
"Did you say something?" Aishia asked curiously.
"Naa, I am good."
Once again, I picked up my phone and searched for the Night's mansion. Area 23, 7th house to the left. I then turn on my hair colour changing artifact, within the same time a shining light hit my head and changed it forever.
"Wow! I looked so attractive with this colour." Said Aishai.
"Does white and brown suit me."
Suddenly, the aura around me seems to have changed, instead of my usual blue aura, it was replaced by a red one.
"Hhmmmhhhh!"
"Your energy seems to have changed due to the hair colour change." Aishia said with a little smile on her face.
"Yeah good. And from until we finish you have to call me Ryah."
"Okay."
We continued on our journey, moving from blocks to blocks, made the districts visually clear. About 30 more minutes, plus it is already sundown at 6 pm. This mission should ease, right about now guards are the break, which means an easy breakthrough should be available if we wanted to. We continuously moved at the speed of sound, since, if we moved in 'MFTS' it burns a lot more energy than anticipated.
Around 30 minutes later, we finally reached the Night's mansion. And to be honest, it was hunting as they come. The ceilings were painted with white reflective paint, the glasses there were 4 layered glass. Making it impossible to see through it, either in or out. Even the floor seemed to make noise, the fences were also covered with mana detectors, making it impossible to infiltrate.
"Wow! This comes as a hell of a surprise." Aishia said amusingly.
"Yeah. It's like they are keeping a secret treasure here!" I exclaimed.
"It isn't what they are doing. There are mana detectors everywhere, they even kidnap little children. This place is no different than the Black Asylum, Max told you about." Aishia shouted out.
"Yeah."
After that, we formed a plan and began to conceal our charkra signatures, which directly blocks our flow of mana.
"There were fore guards patrolling the inner walls." Aishia said as she used her spirit form to search around the area.
"Thanks. I am going to knock them out."
With that I moved swiftly around the fence, using arms to walk on the fence, seems to be as easy as walking but a little challenging. I aimed for their necks, using my concealed pure eyes, aimed for their pressure points. A place where they should be unconscious after the hit. I threw the shirenkin at the two of the real guards around me, while Aishia blocked the other two out with the shirenkin we bought.
"We are unconscious now." Aishia said. "Another six at the gate, but they are around different areas."
"That will make it complicated, but we should knock them out before anyone can announce them of our presence."
"Leave it to me."
Aishia took off into the wind, using her rolling sword, she transformed back into her spirit form. She moved at an insane speed even faster than my own speed and pace, she used her sword to slice at the first guard, which broke his bones, causing severe body pain. The guard quickly fell after that, the second one didn't get a second to breathe either, even without making contact with the fresh. The pure pressure and sharpness of the blade was enough to slice through the surface of her skin.
Aishia then concentrated her mana at the tip of her blade and manifested it there, using the pressure, she pierced the blade to the skin with it. Causing it seems like a bullet shot. She repeated the same process with the next guard too.
"Three down, three more to go." She said as calmly as I did.
This time, using magic she created 5 fire balls, filled with massively concentrated mana energy. Whoever that hit will have a very hard time recovering from that. Aishia dashed off with her insane speed and hit the other three guards with the fire balls.
"Good job."
We ran inside the mansion searching for the way to the floor of the basement. It is inside a secret library, near a book shelf. We ran past all the secret detectors and mana detectors. But as we opened it, I was meant with a surprise I didn't expect.
"So, who do we have here? My lovely little guests."
How did he know that we were coming?
"I am that girl's elder brother."
"Oh! Do you mean Eva here?" He asked
"Yeah."
"We came to rescue her but it seems that you released it before we even set foot into the country. Didn't you." Aishia with her quick analysis managed to read his mind.
"Hmm. Really now! Maybe or maybe not, I guess we will never know."
So, he is planning to kill that older man over there. Behind Mary, an older woman about the age of 60 to 70 stood beside Mary. I presume, maybe she took care of her when she was little, her posture even showed it.
"So. Who is that woman near her?"
"She is Granny Chio. The same person who helped her to escape once before but we luckily got there in time."
"Why can't you let them live their lives as they please?"
"Because, that would be boring at least for me. These children are my property, ah! the good old days. Let me tell you a heart breaking story: Imagine a boy, being born from highly poor parents and right from his birth, he was already been thrown away. They threw his out of his own home, due to the cost of food. They never loved him and so they threw him under the gutter!"
With the emotions, he spoke with, it must have been his own childhood. Even I can't lie, it's generally sad but even still that doesn't give him the power to used children.
"I am sorry! Aruhe, I am so sorry! I don't know how much I should tell you but I am so sorry for leaving you alone as a child!" The granny behind Mary, began to sob uncontrollably.
So, that was what happened.
"I am sorry woman, but Arehe is dead, he died a long time ago!"
Even without explanation, I see where he is going. In fact, Riah Amakawa would have said the same thing to his earth mother. This was the same treatment they gave him, when they took everything from him. With knowing I said: "I know how it feels. I know the pain of losing your childhood, being treated like an outcast. I have known this feeling ever since I was born! But Mr. treating your mother like a germ won't fix the past mistake she had made. My advice is to reconcile with her." I said, as I spoke what I knew of that pain.
Mr. Night seemed to have changed, but not in a good way, quickly spotting a knife at the table, he grabbed the knife and walked straight threw to her.
"Do not!" Mary said with disgust all over her face.
I moved as quickly as I possibly could, but fate seems to have already made its decision. The granny smiled at him and said: " I hope you find peace after this!" The granny with a heavy heart, hugged her son, blood spilled everywhere.
"What the?" He said as he looked at his own mother's bead corpse.
I moved quickly to her dead body, manipulating my astral arts I attempted to heal with wounds but it still led to nowhere. But it did give her a few minutes to live.
"Before I go, I want you to say you love me, just once is enough?" This was the second time I was exposed to a dead mother. The first time was my own mother's death but this time the roles were reversed. A boy who chased the darkness, seems to have made the wrong decision.
The man with a saddened face looked at his mother and said no words, but his action next said everything.
He grabbed the keys to Mary's prison and threw them at us.
"You have five minutes to leave."
"Big- brother!" Mary with a heavy heart hugged me. And I hugged her back.
Even the stars seem to have been celebrating, it shined brightly than ever. The beauty of the stars and moons filled the empty space we stood. With tears all over her face she screamed at how much she misses me.
"I missed you so much!" Mary said.
But at the same time, she still remembered the death of her figure, she used me as a replacement. Or she was the replacement but the original owner had come.
If than! Why do I feel nothing in my heart. At first, I thought if I saved her, I would successfully complete the desire in my heart. Or maybe, if I continue to do my obligation as a big brother, that feeling would come again.
Life is full of surprises, today I learned that; treating your enemies the way they treated you makes you the main villain. Because, whatever evil may have been done to you, I think we should respond with forgiveness and kindness. These are the main lessons I learned today.
"I did too." Said Aishia.
Aishia grabbed the keys and unlocked the chains from Mary's hand. A moment later we teleported ourselves from there.
"I finally made it out!" She began crying again. "This is the first time I ever made it this far out!"
So, she had to spend all her life in that prison. I held her face gently and said: "From now onward, you are free to chase whatever you like."
"No. I want to be with you!" She said as she cried out.
I knew I couldn't be there forever with her so I kept quiet, lying to a child to see as a little sister seems to be shameful to me.
"So. I guess now we are going to the spirit village. Huh!" Ashia said tiredly.
"I guess so then."
"Wait, aren't you the girl who spoke to me before."
"Huh! Me, I don't think so."
"Really. I could have sworn it was you. You know the most important thing is that I am free and big brother is also back."
"Yeah, we really are back together again."
With that we hugged one more time before continuing with our journey to the Spirit Village.
~~~~~~~~~
The Village Exam:(An upcoming special exam that will focus on solving a certain problem at a certain village. Rial will not have any appearance in this arc whatsoever, the only main characters will be Max, Eigi, Kakashi and Rui.)
Max's perspective:
It has been a week since Rial left the academy institution, and there are only 1 and half year left for us to graduate. Things in the academy are going smoothly I excepted at first.
Tsubaki and Lee are now talking care of class B, since Rial can't help them any more, they had to take the responsibilities of leading the class. Eigi and Ai, are also taking care of their class; class S.
Since, the shift to class A, the class trust in it's leaders seems to have shifted towards themselves. In short terms, they are choosing to trust themselves and their intuition, instead of their class leaders. But in way, it is not like I particularly care about class ranks. For me, they are just senseless nonsense.
"How can I class rank determine your future. Can't we decide for ourselves!" I murmured to myself.
In any case, I should perhaps get already for the next special exam announcement, maybe this one will be about studying instead of surviving. Then when I think about it, "what really happened back in that forest?"
Even if a monster, struck down at us, there wouldn't be a reason for them to hide it. That means, what ever attacked us, had an ability that could erase memories or someone purposefully used an ancient ability that could erase memories. This is the only logical answers, I can think of.
"Rial. What the hell is going on?"
Well! Shouting about it won't solve anything. I then stood up and grabbed by academy jacket and started to head out. On my way, an unexpected person also crossed my path.
"Hey! Eigi." I said.
"Hello max! How have you been these days. You know with the special exams and school tasks given to us?" He asked in concern of my mental health.
"Do not worry I am perfectly fine, but how is dating life going for you. Do you have any mental and or battle fatigue lately? I asked. On the matter, I really wanted to see his answer. If he answered correctly then he free but if he wrong he is under investigation.
"Battle fatigue. Not really but I had some during the trip to the forest, but I am a little fine after I rested of the week here." He answered.
"Oh, i didn't know." I responded.
"But I wanted to ask? What do you think this exam is going to about, maybe a written one or a sport one." He asked. This questions seems to travel around different topics but in all around, it also comes to the same conclusion. He even passed my tested too.
"Considering that our last exam was a survival test, the chances of it being a sport exam is really slim but there is always a chance. In fact, you can never predict it the school is planning." I said.
"Yeah, I guess that you are right on that end." He replied.
"Anyways, lets head to the school hall."
~~~~~~~~~
School announcement:
Kakashi perspective:
I stood up as many of the students around me did the same, using my using hands, crossed my arms towards the height of my head. I then slipped the thumb finger behind my other fingers, perfectly making a standing ovation. We stood there as the King, the Queen, his guards and his councils walked to the stage ahead of us.
Then he begun to speak: " My dear students, I wanted to asked? How are you all doing?"
Without a moment to beat, most of the students said: "I am fine and thank you!"
If only they knew how hard we fought for them.
"Anyways, without a moment to waste, here are the rules to your new special exams selected by the higher ups. This exam will be heavily focused on problem solving, adaptability and magic use."
"Huh!" The crowd groaned.
Well. I can't blame them, from writing multiple written exams and living 4 days in a forest. While having to travel and locate food, yeah, for anyone this would be tough for them.
"In two days time we take off, this time was given to you as a preparation period. So, please use it wisely. We will be heading to the Moon Kingdom, or as you might you know it 'The engineering kingdom.' But, the exam will be taken in a particular village where our apartments have already been built.So, everyone, good luck on our final exams." The king finally said ending the speech.
Looks like I should go shopping and then picking of clothes. I wonder if Flora would come with me? Well, we won't know if we don't give it a try.
I walked out of the school hall and toward the campus floor, where Flora normally would be. When, I got closer, I saw her sitting on the cling-set up on the tree inside the cafeteria blocks. She sat there reading a mystery novel written by 'Kinugasa Syougo'. I approached her after that.
"Hey. Flora, what are you reading?" I asked her even though I already knew the answer.
"Oh, this is a mystery novel written by the author: Kinugasa Syougo, the same writer who wrote the classroom of the elite series." Flora said, as she looked generally happy while speaking about books.
'Do you like novels or light novel series, you know since both are sometimes different from each other." I asked her again.
"I do not like or dislike either of them. To me, they are both good books I like to read on my free time, that I get."
"Sure, maybe I should get into reading, even Rial and Max told me to get into reading." I said, as I remembered their advice on reading advantages.
"Okay then, I can recommend some books to start with." She said and left off in the blur of the wind.
Flora went and picked up her academy bag, which was full of books from; light novels, wed novels, manga, novels, reading lectures etc.
From her bag, she picked up some books and handed them to me.
"If you are serious about reading then, I would most definitely recommend 'Little Woman' by Louisa May Alcott and 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen. Those are favourites in the book community." Flora said as she began to open up to me.
"Is that so, huh! Thank you Flora."
"You are welcome, Kakashi." She said.
From there, I went back into my room and began reading the books she gave me. I started with 'Pride and Prejudice'. This book; is about a girl named Elizabeth Bennet, who for all her life has hated the eligible bachelor in school Fitzwilliam Darcy. Her reasons for hating is what was based on the title; Pride and Prejudice. By following friends and social media information, she got the wrong idea about him. Which ultimately led to her finding out the hard way.
The story is not as tragic as I first imagined it to be, but still it is quite sad to her judge him, by those false allegations.
After I finished a quarter of the book, I placed a thin sheet inside the page I left and finally closed it. It was already 7 in the evening making it wrong past dinner time.
"It's not like I have someone to eat with anyway."
~~~~~~~~~
Shopping:
Eigi's perspective:
Morning made its way with us, the time is 8 am in the morning. "Ah!"
The birds are singing, the air is warm, everything is perfect, unless, if you look deeper within the void but for now I am enjoying the little bit of peace I have.
I walked into my room and laid on my bed sheet, using my pure eyes, I searched for Rial's location in case he sent a message.
During his days, he told me that whenever he needs help, he will find a way to communicate with me.
"Looks like nothing yet."
"Huh!"
As I checked my phone, I later realised that Ai is waiting for me at the shopping mall near the academy. Grabbing my shirt, I ran past the guards, and the Nights taking walks in the academy. I grabbed my wallet and key card too, just in case we need them.
I breathed in deeper than I ever did in my entire life. I ran here, would have been nothing if I had used lightning magic. But due to the circumstances here, I was forbidden from using magic. And, so, I had to use my natural reflexes I was born with, plus if that was for her, I don't really mind it.
Ai arrived 15 minutes later, after I did. And from there we moved to the shopping district. There were 6 floors, each containing different types of materials for example: the first floor sells items such as clothes, designer bags, watches etc. The second floor was the entertainment floor. They sold games, magic visuals, magic soccer games, etc. In all, the shopping mall was built based on different types of stores. What would Ai want as a birthday present. Her birthday is on the 19th of June, making her a summer born child.
Ai and I, walked inside the mall, out first objective was the clothes center than we could go to the book store.
"What clothes do you need?" Ai asked while looking at me.
"For me huh! I would say white t-shirts, black pants, blue and black jackets but in different colours, I mean the jacket, I want them in different colours." I replied.
"Okay, I'll go and get them."
After that she went on looking for clothes and bags, while I stayed behind picking up books for us to read. She took about 40 minutes before returning them.
"Wow!" These are nice." I said.
"Ahmm! I know I did a good job." She replied.
"Yeah. You really out did yourself this time."
"Thanks can we leave now, the morning sun is burning me right now."
"Sure thing."
And from there, we left for my apartment room. Without removing the tags, we tried on the outfits, which fitted perfectly with us.
Ai wore a bright red dress with red outlines. She looked way too stunning for anyone to ignore her. But, that actually got me wondering, why in all the boys available in this school, why did she choose me. I mean, she could literally choose any other boy she wanted, so why me?