Chapter 07

The sky is painted a deep black and the surrounding would have been so dark without the light of two moons, and the twinkling of stars. She finally saw why they say it will be dark soon. It is like the sky was water and someone poured black paint, spreading from the center and down.

"What could it be with the sunrise?" she asked while turning her head to the window.  Would it be sky blue paint? But what of the clouds and sun? Would they just appear? Slowly or just as fast?

"Fuwa!"

Mizuko abruptly sits up, her large eyes pierced at her Kebano. "Roya! Where have you been all day? I was worried about you!"

"Fuwa Fuwa!"

"Ah right!" She faintly smiles. "I can't understand you."

Roya looked at her with those adorable big eyes. If only she could understand this little fluff, she won't need that guy. Speaking of that guy? Where could he be right now? Why isn't he comfortable in a house? She wants to know.

"There is so much I want to ask you about, Roya. The thing is I just can't understand you." She sighs heavily as Roya crawls towards her. "Is there no spell or magic for me to understand you?"

When Roya shakes her head side to side, Mizuko slouched, her mouth curved into a sad smile.

"If only there was something I can do." Just after she said that her eyes widened as an idea crept into her head. "Let's sneak out and find Kenshi. He can understand you!"

"Fuwa Fuwa!"

Even though it was a disapproving yell from Roya, Mizuko didn't notice at all. She tossed her blanket to the side and put her feet down the wooden floor.

In front of the window, she looks outside. The moonlight makes the surroundings fairly vivid in her sight. She gulped, thinking she must be crazy thinking he'd find Kenshi when the night is this chilly.

Before she goes out she bit her lower lip, turning her head to the door. The darkness is not so bad, she tells herself. And when she face the front, she jolted at the sight of Kenshi.

With a hand on her chest, she twitched her upper lip at him. He only chuckled, a charming smirk he plasters on his mouth as he rests his arms on the window stool.

"I see you have an idea on your pretty little mind," he muttered, tilting his head slightly to one side. "Thinking of running away, lady?"

"No! Of course not!" she replies, crossing her arms across her chest. "I was on my way to see you. I have some questions I'd like to ask. It's about Roya."

Kenshi then looks at the little Kebano who's floating beside Mizuko. He was raising his brows at the little white fluff.

"What about your Kebano?"

"How can I understand her like you can understand yours?"

"Focus and try your best to understand," he simply answered that made her frown.

"I am trying my best to understand her! I've focused too!"

"Did you? Hmmm." He brought his fingers closer to his chin and pretends to think. "If that is so, it is mostly your fault you can not understand your... Kebano."

"Eh? But I am trying my best, you perv! I am even asking for your help!"

"Then don't worry. Some of these days, you will surprise yourself that you can hear your Kebano's voice."

That alluring smile he was plastering ironed the frowns Mizuko has on her forehead. She just met this guy. It will be best if she doesn't trust this man so fast. Trust should never even be given in the first place to anybody at all.

"Anyway, why are you outside? Where will you sleep?"

"Someone like me should not sleep in somebody else's house unless I am injured. This house you are in is filled with magic to protect the elves. If I enter, it will disappear and I will need to guard the house myself." He suddenly giggled. "But you are too Earthly to know that. That's what you call your world, right? Earth."

"Speaking of Earth. Why does Elva know nothing of my world?"

"Simply like how not everyone in your world knows of my world. It's the same thing. Both our worlds are full of wonders."

"But how do you know of mine? Were you lying when you said you have been there?"

"Beats me!" He shrugged, displaying an irritating lopsided grin. "I can tell what is on that pretty little head of yours. And I am telling you, I won't tell you anything."

"You get really annoying!" She scoffs, glaring at him who withdrew his arms from the window stool. "Just get lost! You don't even have the information I need. You are just feeding me lies!"

"Go take your rest," he says. "We have a long day tomorrow. You don't want to stay with me for a month, right?"

Mizuko was about to turn away and go to bed when she remembers how they measure days and hours. So, she went back to face Kenshi again.

"What now?" He asked, his voice sounding annoyed.

She doesn't know why but she giggled and started asking him about their time. At first, he would not tell her but then after countless begging and arguing with him, Kenshi finally gave it up.

Their time and date, they measure it by certain magic but humans measure it like the way voyagers from the old times would. She asked if he could show her how exactly but he said she'll see what when they are outside of Pinress.

"What is it look like outside of Pinress?" she asked.

"Land. Empires. People who hold hands happily and it smells of joy," he tells her, releasing a soft chuckle. "Everything seems cheery there."

"You sound so sad," she mumbles. It seemed like Kenshi didn't hear her since he continues to look down. That's a relief.

"It's a sad place where I am born." The moment he said that her eyes widened. He did hear her after all. "We don't hold hands and we rarely smile."

“It could change, can't it?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Before Kenshi left, he gave her some kind of autumn leaf with the size of her palm. He told her to bring it out everytime Roya speaks and it would help her understand the Kebano. It sounds insane but after all she has been teleported into the realm of magic.

“Let us try the leaf tomorrow. For now, I have to sleep and rest up so we have energy to travel again.”

When Roya replied with “Fuwa” she smiles and get back to her bed. She tucked herself in the blanket with Roya. Before closing her eyes, she glimpses at the empty ceiling. To her surprise, an image of Kenshi giving her a sweet smile appeared and she quickly frowns, muttering something before covering her head with the blanket.

The next morning, Kenshi wanders off with Keisuke, visiting an old friend who forges the best weapons in all Souzou. The old werewolf with an eye patch on his left when he turns into human.

“Yo! Tanda!” Kenshi greets with a big grin on his face. “Been long since I last seen that talent of yours.”

“Your highness,” the werewolf stopped hammering the steel and bowed to Kenshi. “What have brought you in the borderland?”

“Raise your head, Tanda. It hurts me everytime I see my subjects lower their heads for me in a boundary.”

“What nonsense do you speak of, your highness? The demonic rule that binds us—“

“Silence, oldie! I have not come to speak of such rule my father made. I have come for a magical bow.”

Tanda’s brows drawn together. “Why must you need a bow, your highness? You do not need such lowly weapon.”

“It is not for his highness,” Keisuke answers, rolling his eyes with a disgusted look on his face. “It is for a human girl he is helping at the moment.”

“A human girl, you say?”

And Keisuke nodded, bringing his lips together to one side in a disapproving manner. This made Kenshi release a sharp sudde breath.

“You two act like it’s something new.”

“It is quite surprising— a demon giving a special gift to a human. My, my, is she even allowed to use such bow, your highness?”

“I am not certain of it yet,” he replies, making it sound like he disregarded their worries. “She might be able to do it. I think I might be able to help her aswell.”

Both Tanda and Keisuke face palmed. They should have seen it coming. Their prince doesn’t listen to them in terms of a conversation about helping a human.

“I will ready the bow in three days time, your highness. How’d you like it designed?”

“Butterflies. Purple butterflies is what I seen her.”

“As you wish, sire.”

At somewhere down the pathway, Mizuko walks with a grumpy face. Just after eating breakfast, she told the elves that she will go find Kenshi so they go on with their travel. Unfortunately, she got lost and now she’s just foollowing a pathway to nowhere.

“I should have just waited for him to get me,” she mutters, sighing heavily. It was a good thing that Roya isn’t asleep yet.

“I’m sorry we have to get lost like this,” Mizuko tells Roya in an apologetic tone.

“Fuwa Fuwa!”

That is when she remembers the autum leaf Kenshi had given him last night. She took her out from her pocket and when Roya saya ‘fuwa fuwa’ words would appear in the leaf.

Roya was asking her for forgiveness since she is not as useful as Zed. “Wait who’s Zed— ah the black Kebano.”

As they continue to walk, Roya told her that she has been away from duty and all she has been doing so far is guard her in Chikyuo. It is understandable how Roya is no more familiar with this place.

“I must be like my mother. Someone must have  come for my mother as well. She could be here,” she murmurs the last sentence she spoke.

“Fuwa fuwa!”

Suspicious enough, what Roya said next didn’t appear on the leaf which made her brows knitted together. What the hell? Is there something wrong ith the leaf.

“The leaf didn’t get what you said. It did not translate what you said.”

“Fuwa Fuwa!”

“That too!” she yells, mouth open as she stares at the leaf. “Does this need battery too? Does magic needs charging? It isn’t working anymore!”

What Mizuko didn’t know was that Kenshi is right behind her, plastering a lopsided grin.

“You sound funny,” he utters that startled Mizuko. She looks at him with a frown. “Yo!” he greeted.

“Whe-Where were you?” she asked, her eyes largly staring at him.

“Visiting an old friend of mine. I had a favor to ask him,” he honestly replied. “Why do you look so relieved to see me?”

Before answering, she looked everywhere keeping air in her mouth. “Well the leaf you gave me had stop working so suddenly!”

“Really?” His grin just got wider. “I could have thought you were worried that I was not around.”

“Tch!” She scoffs, throwing him a dirty stare. “I was worried about me not understanding Roya! I could have been on my own if only I could understand her!”

“You could tho. That Kebano is yours so there is no reason you can’t understand her.”

“I told you I tried my best!” she shouts at him. “Maybe I just don’t have the ability to understand her. Maybe my mom was what the mage was looking for and not me...”

“Your mother? Can you describe her?”

“Fuwa Fuwa!” Roya suddenly got energetic.

Mizuko looks at her leaf and suddenly she saw words there. Roya was telling her to tell Kenshi about her mother. She blinks for couple of time, looking at Roya and back to the leaf. Then she slowly gazes at Kenshi.

He looked like he is very interested about her mother. There was something telling her not to trust the what the leaf had translated since Roya kept saying Fuwa. Then again, Roya could just be excited. What danger will telling Kenshi about her mother do?