Chapter 2

Clef lifted his head and threw a look to the window. The stormy night made him unable to concentrate on his book. He rose from his chair and walked towards the window.

It's strange, he thought to himself. Storms like this hadn't came to Cephiro in centuries. In his more-than-seven-centuries lifetime, he only saw this kind of storm once; that was when Princess Emeraude started to fall for Zagato.

But it can't be! That terrible thought made him shook his head. Maybe it's just a storm. It's not some kind of bad omen, he convinced himself. You're thinking too much. Save yourself some rest, for Cephiro's sake!

Right, maybe he was just too tired. Maybe it was nothing but an ordinary stormy weather. Cephiro changed. This world changed. People changed.

He lifted his now-bigger hand, looked at it seriously. So finally he can released himself from his old 10-years-old-like look, and looked more like a mature man. A smile came to his face when he imagined what would those three girls say if they discover this. That the 745 years old Madoshi now looked more like a man, even if the look still didn't actually matched his age.

He wondered what would Umi said, looked at his current look.

People changed.

That words took him back to weeks ago, during those girls' last visit to Cephiro. It was when the storm started to haunt the nights in Cephiro.

It was their last night before they went back to Earth. He was spending time in his study room as usual when Ascot came to him.

That young boy surprised him, threw himself in like that without knocking.

Clef stood up, asked calmly what was so urgent for him to rush himself in like that, and got surprised when Ascot suddenly asked him how he feels about the Magic Knight of water.

Clef raised his right eyebrow but stayed silent. He swung his staff, summoned a chair out of nowhere. After asked Ascot to sit, Clef sat back on his own chair.

Ascot sat and repeat his question, to which Clef answered clearly, "The same with what I feel towards Hikaru and Fuu."

But by the time he said that, he knew something wasn't right with his words somehow. He himself didn't quite understand why, but his heart strangely ached when he burst that line.

Ascot stared at him sharply for a while, for a reason Clef himself cannot understand. "Are you sure that's all?"

"I would never speak of something I am not sure about, and you must have known about it, Ascot. If I say that I feel indifference towards Umi, I mean it."

There. He felt it again. Like there was an unseen hand is grabbing his heart, it ached for no reason. He never felt this way before, so he couldn't really say what went wrong with him.

"Alright then," Ascot stood up. "I won't disturb you any longer. Good night, Guru Clef." He bowed before the Master Mage.

Clef nodded and swung his hand to open the door. That was when the calm night sky outside suddenly turned stormy. The rain fell hard, all so sudden.

Little did he know about the storm, but of one thing he quite sure: the rain fell hard. Something happened with Umi.

"Ah, Umi?"

Clef turned his head to Ascot's voice. "What happen?" he asked.

Ascot shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. I opened the door and she was standing here. But she ran away when I met her eyes."

Ascot closed the door from outside, left Clef hesitated in his study room. He didn't know what happened, but he couldn't stop worrying that girl. He decided to stood up and went outside, tried to look for her.

He can sensed her aura from her room. It's dark blue tonight, somehow matched the stormy night outside. He knocked on her door before asking, "Umi? Are you there?"

He got no reply, but that girl was silly to think she can hide herself from him. He swung his hand to open the door and stepped in.

"What happen?" he asked, his tone sounded cuddly soft. Even he himself got surprised hearing it.

He got silence as an answer. This stubborn girl! He swung his hand again, unveil the soft blue blanket Umi used to cover herself.

Umi sat up. Her face looked angry. "Don't you ever hear something called privacy?" she said.

"I called you and got no answer, so I thought no one's here."

"That doesn't mean you can summon magic and get into my room anytime you like just because you think it's empty." That girl's irritated voice somehow sounded amusing to his ear.

"And don't you ever again summon your magic to unveil my blanket like that!"

Was it just him, or Umi did blush for a moment?

"What happen?" Clef asked, decided to ignore that girl's protest.

"Nothing happened! And I don't think I have to tell you, even if there IS something happened."

"You have to, actually, remembering it has something to do with Cephiro's weather."

Umi looked at him angrily for a while, and pulled up her blanket again. "Nothing, okay? Try to believe me for once, can you? Now I wanna continue sleeping, if you don't mind, Master Mage." She turned her back to Clef.

He, the most powerful sorcerer in Cephiro, the calm one, almost emotionless. And now he found himself here, angered because of a spoiled young girl who didn't want to tell him her problem. He inhaled to calm himself.

"Fine," he said. But what surprised him was his tone, which sounded not calm at all. More like… furious?

He shook his head. That was impossible. He was just too tired. So he sighed, and swung his hand one more time, brought out a slot of violet-colored potion out of nowhere. He then put it on the desk next to Umi's bed. "It's the usual potion, in case you need it."

He heard nothing. Was that girl asleep already?

And before he realized it, he found himself lifted his hand, caress that girl's hair gently. "Good night, Umi," he whispered.

Reality struck his head. Why did he do that? Caress that girl's hair like that? Anyone seen him must had thought either he'd gone mad, or he'd fallen for the Magic Knight of water. But he knew best; that was impossible. His care towards that girl is the same with his other pupils, the same with the other two Magic Knights. No more, no less.

Then why did he feel lonely when that girl was nowhere to be found? Why did his head can't stop thinking of that pair of blue eyes? Why did he always look at that door, hoping for that reckless blue-haired to come like she always did in old days?

People changed.

What did those word mean?

You've gone mad, Clef, he said to himself. You need to stop working all nights and get some more sleep. He sighed, shook his head, and went back to his chair, drowned himself in his never-ending work.