Chapter 29
Unbecoming
By the time Noire, Uni and I reach the Basilicom, Uni rushes to her room without any warning and almost knocks off my balance and make me hit the floor. Just before I get a chance to ask Noire what that was about, her little sister comes back out of her room, slams the door behind her, leans her back on it, and heaves a long sigh. When her crimson eyes meet my only exposed purple eye, she breaks the lock between us. Our stare didn't even last half a second. Brushing some hair on her bangs, she strides towards the kitchen. "I'll make some tea," she says and disappears through a doorway.
My head turns to the person in twin-tails behind me, Noire, to which her cheeks grow a shade of red and asks, "Wh-what? Is there something on my face?"
I shake my head and scratch a finger on the ridge of my nose. "Nothing. Just . . . nevermind."
Noire tilts her head but didn't say anything. With a flick of one of her twin-tails, she walks to her computer and picks up a piece of document from one of the neat piles on her desk (though not as thick as Neptune's). And although I try to talk to her while she's doing that, she doesn't do so much as bat an eye, so instead I sit on the couch and take my white coat off. The wind tickles my skin with its icy caress.
A loud clang comes from the direction where Uni went. Noire gets up from her seat after the sound fades and set the document on her hand down, but I tell her, "I'll check on her." And heave myself to stand.
"I thought you were going to tell us about that pendant of yours?" Noire asks.
"I am. But I'm sure Uni also wants to hear it as well. Wait here while I go check on her. Although, I'll tell you this right now, but you might not understand what it is even after I explain it all to both of you."
"We'll see about that." She sits again and I head for the kitchen.
I've only been at the kitchen a few times. Usually, I'd be out on a quest at Lastation's Guild (after I found it not too long ago) or stroll around the different parts of the city. However, it didn't take long for me to find Uni, her hand outstretched and underneath the running water of the faucet. Instead of asking her what happened, I pick up the kettle on my feet and place it on the nearby table. However, it takes little to no effort to lift the kettle. And when I take its lid off, the heat slaps my face.
But no steam flows out.
"Everything all right here?" I ask.
"Yeah," Uni says without looking at me.
I would bring up a question, but it might not be a good idea right now, since we did just get her out of that abandoned factory. Racking my brain, I try to find a topic we can talk about, but nothing comes to mind. So instead, I say, "Head to the living room once you wish to know what the pendant is."
I proceed to leave but . . .
"Wait," Uni says while still not bothering to turn around.
One of my feet lifted in the air stops midway. After I set it back on the floor, I ask her, "What is it? Need something?"
"No . . . it's nothing. I'll be out in a bit."
"All right." Even though Noire tells me to let her be even when she acts all strange, I'm not exactly familiar which part of her is actually quite normal to the others. But it's her older sister, and I'm sure she knows what she's talking about.
Now I actually make my way back to the living room couch. But when I did, Noire sits there with another girl but with short white hair. Her clothes show similarities to the description Uni told me about their Oracle, Kei Jinguji, wears most of the time—a black suit with silver linings, same colored shorts, and a blue tie. When they both notice me, Noire motions me to come closer.
"Are you Kei?" I ask.
"That's me," she says. "Red hair, a purple eye, an eye patch . . . You seem to match the details." I raise an eyebrow. Match what details? "Tell me, are you in any way related to Falcom?"
"Falcom? No, I don't. I've never met that person."
"I see."
"Why do you a—"
"You've heard of the situation here, haven't you?" She hands me the picture with the dead body in front of Passe Noire gave me earlier. After a nod, I give it back to her.
At the back of my mind, the situation about how I found IF lying on the streets and me being a witness and accused almost slips through my tongue, but I stop before the words reach the tip. What will happen if I tell them about it? No one knows that I witnessed her lying, almost dead even, on the streets, except for Neptune, but she doesn't know that I'm the one she saw.
"Were you the one who did this?" Kei asks.
"What?"
"Kei, what are you talking about?" Noire asks.
"For all we know," she replies, "it's possible that he's the causes of these incidents. Think about it. The dead bodies and injuries started happening on the day after Histoire spoke of a man from another dimension."
"I'm telling you, I'm not the one who did those."
"And how are you sure about that? It makes sense, doesn't it? Where were you last night?"
"I was . . ." I can't just tell her Noire and I have been spending most of the nights making cosplays and whatnot. Even if she's the so-called Oracle, I'm not sure if I can just blurt it out even if it's someone she knows.
"Well? Don't you have anything to say about it?"
"Kei, that's enough," Noire speaks up. "He was with me these past few days and he never left the Basilicom during the night."
"Is that right? Then what did he do here during those nights?"
"H-he was helping with some . . . stuff."
"Is that so?" Kei shifts her eyes to the wristband on Noire's left wrist to which she quickly hides it behind her back. Did she forget to take that off this entire time? How did I not see that until now? A small smile forms on her face. "It was just a theory anyway. Just think of it as some kind of joke."
"If it's supposed to be funny, well, I'm not laughing," I say.
She chuckles. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Uni comes out of the doorway behind me, with her hands buried underneath a small hand towel and rubs with it. "Huh? Kei? Did I miss anything?"
I place a hand on her shoulder. "Nothing. You didn't miss anything."
She tilts her head and raise her brows. "What's he talking about?"
"Don't worry about it," Noire says. "Anyway Kei, are you going to stick around?"
She shakes her head. "Ganache wished to speak to me about someone wanting to open a business here in Lastation. I was supposed to meet with him earlier, but I got curious about the 'red hare' Neptune kept on mentioning when I was on a video call with Histoire. Anyway, I'll be taking my leave." She starts toward the elevator and leaves the two sisters and I alone in this room again.
"After the last bit of strand on her hair gets out of our field of vision, I scratch my head and drop on the couch. I take my pendant hanging around my neck and place it on the table in front with the picture of the culprit and dead body from earlier.
Noire and Uni did the same, and as they claim the other parts of the couch, I say, "Well, as promised, ask what things you want to know about the pendant. Although, you can ask anything about me as well if you want to."
"A-anything?" Uni asks and I nod to her question. "Then can I ask first?"
"Ask away."
"Can you dance? Everyone was saying you were some kind of dancer. Can you?" I stare at her with my mouth slightly agape. "Y-you don't have to answer it! N-not like I care." She looks away from me.
"N-no, it's alright. It just caught me off guard for a moment. But can you tell me where this is coming from?"
"No reason. I was just . . . no, no, no, nevermind. Forget I even asked!"
I sink and flop my arms on the back of the couch. "Why d'you ask though? Did you want me to teach you? If you really wanted to, I can give you some simple stuff to practice on."
"R-really?"
"Yeah, really."
"Th-then I'll think about it, okay?"
"Whatever you say. Anything else you wanna ask?"
Noire places a finger on her chin. "Have you ever been in a relationship?" What's with their questions?! "D-don't get the wrong idea! I'm only asking for a f—"
"I hear you, I hear you!" I wipe the sweat on my forehead with my backhand. "To answer your question, no, I've never been to relationship."
"I-I see . . ."
"Ahem, anything else you wanna know?"
They take some time to come up with questions, humming to themselves as they did, and Uni finally asks, "Have you ever kissed someone?"
The table in front literally flies for a split second plus a beating pain on my foot. "I thought you two wanted to know more about the pendant?!" Also, what makes them think that someone who never got into a relationship ever kissed someone? Is that a thing here? Do people just kiss someone just for the heck of it?
"W-well yeah, but you said we could ask anything we want."
"I know I said that, but aren't those more personal questions? I mean, I don't mind them, but it's just weird coming from you two."
"L-like I said!" Noire retorts, "We're only asking for a f—"
"Ah right, right! You're asking for someone else. I get it, but no, I've never kissed anyone before. Now, can we move on to other questions? Something like . . ." I motion my eye towards the Divinity Pendant lying steady on the table. Although, it does make me question who this um . . . 'person' they're talking about.
"Yeah alright." Maybe now we can move onto something less personal. "Is that Ragnor guy your father—"
"No."
"Okay . . .? Noire coughs. "It's been bothering me for a while now, but that Killachine was on a whole different level than the normal ones we've encountered in the past. But that one, no matter how much I attack it or hit it with everything I had, it never even went down. Why is that?"
I heave a long sigh. Not a question about the pendant, but still a good question nonetheless. "That Killachine, as you call it, had the Ethereal Mark."
"Ethereal Mark?"
I nod. "If a monster has that mark, alive or not, they will become immune to any form physical damage.
"So," Uni faces me, "it'll only something like magic can work?"
"Yes and no. Not just any magic can work against it—it has to be pure magic. Otherwise, it'll have an opposite effect."
"But didn't it get stronger even without magic hitting it? What gives?"
"Remember what I said? The effect of the damage will be reversed if it's not pure magic. But what if it's not magic it got hit with?
"You mean it . . ."
"Absorbs physical damage?" Noire finishes Uni's sentence.
I nod again. "Not only that, it converts it into strength. So, what I did was negate that effect entirely with this pendant," I grab the pendant and hold it up for the two to see, "and you know the rest." I hate to admit this, but I still infused it with some of 'it' for it to actually work. Thought that in itself was a gamble. I'm just glad it worked out in the end.
Noire takes the pendant from my hand and inspects it. "How do you use this?"
"You can't. It takes a long time to master it. Not even the best mages or sages can use this."
"Then how come you're able to use it?"
"Simple. My mother created this in a way where it will respond to me and only me." But there are exceptions, as my mother stated as well, but I haven't seen anything of the sort for a long time. Also, the Divinity Pendant does have a mind of its own sometimes and absorbs anything or anyone when it gets thirsty.
"Hmm, can I try using it?" Noire asks.
"Well, I can tell you the incantation and what to do, but I can't guarantee that it'll work for you. Just don't get your hopes up."
"Doesn't matter. Just tell me."
"All right. First, squeeze the gem in your hand as tightly as possible."
She did as instructed. "Now what?"
"Now you recite: I call upon thy ubiquity of unseen streams."
". . . What did you say?"
"Did you not hear me the first time? I said: I call upon thy ubiquity of unseen streams."
"Yeah I heard you, but I just don't get what you're saying."
"How so?"
"You were talking gibberish," Uni says.
"Gibberish?" Nothing seems gibberish about it to me though. What makes them think I'm talking in gibberish? "All right, I'll say the first few words and maybe you can follow from there. Ahem—I call—Now, what did you hear?"
"I can understand you fine until that one part. Ugh, it doesn't make sense."
"I agree," Uni says. "Is it supposed to be some kind of secret code or something?"
Shrugging, I scratch my head. There's no use in arguing against them if I don't even know what's the main problem is in the first place. Me talking in gibberish doesn't really tell me much.
Noire sets the pendant down on the table and brush a hand to one of her twin-tails. "Well, whatever, not like it matters. Still though, that Ethereal Mark or whatever feels like some kind of cheat. What's worse is we can't do anything about it, but you can."
"And I can't fight them off all by myself like I said before. Cheat or not, it shouldn't be here in the first place."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Only one family known in Lluna is well-known for their capabilities of casting a powerful mark such as that one. But . . ."
"But what?"
"That family no longer exists. So, it shouldn't even be possible for the Ethereal Mark to exist anymore."
"But it's here and it almost caused us a lot of trouble. Well, as long as you're around with that pendant, we should be fine if another one of those things come up again. But it still sucks knowing there's nothing we can do about it unless you have that pendant with you." Or if I use 'it' without any of them noticing, but that option's already out.
Uni reaches out and takes the pendant on the palm of her hands. Surprisingly and also unexpectedly, the gem gleams brighter with each passing second it stays with her. "Whoa . . ."
This also takes me by surprise. Now one's ever gotten it shining like that besides my mother and I.
"Looks like it took a liking to you," I say.
"Liking to me?"
I nod. "I guess there's only one thing to do then." This might actually help them fight against any other marks as long as one of them has the pendant.
"One thing to do?" she looks back and forth from me to Noire.
"Think of it as some kind of gift from me to you." Taking the pendant from her, I wrap the small chains holding the gem around her neck.
"A gift? W-wait, are you giving this to me? But isn't this important to you?"
Shaking my head, I lay a hand on her shoulder. Her face becomes red not long after. "I'll admit, that pendant is indeed the only memory I have of my mother, but I'm sure you'll need it more than I do. And look on the bright side, at least you can finally beat those marked monsters even without me."
"How? I can't make it do the same way you did." She looks down, her head tilting to the side.
"Hrm . . . Good question. But my answer to that is it doesn't matter. As long as you're within range with the monsters with that pendant around your neck, you should be able to take them down no problem. Well, at the very least it won't go the same way with that Killachine."
She looks away, but the small smile on her face can be seen at a specific angle. And at my current position is one of them.
"Th-tha—"
"IF IT'S GOING TO BE LIKE THAT, THEN I DON'T NEED YOUR STUPID PAPER!"
The shout below us cut Uni off and somehow managed to throw the contents on the table out and move almost every furniture around here out of place. The two sisters look at each other, probably confused from the sudden disturbance.
"What . . .?" Noire slowly locks eyes with me.
"Think we should check it out?" I ask. Must be one of those customers with short tempers or just venting out their anger to the authorities or something. There was once something like that in the kingdom, but I'm not sure about this one.
But when Noire and I board the elevator, Uni still stands on her same spot until Noire tells her, "Uni! You coming?"
"A-ah, y-yeah!"
Although the elevator trip down is an uneventful one, I keep glancing at Uni whose attention seem to be somewhere else throughout. Not even making a single sound. The only person I can strike a conversation with is Noire.
And when I try to do the same to Uni, she never responds.
