[Chapter 26]
Kae's Resolution
I ascend the gloomy staircase as I reach the peak of the school building and my eyes widen from the surprise of this unique floor. From the eyes can see, I could see the entire floor lacking any rooms and it looks so empty of anything with the exception of a person standing in the middle of the floor. Kae's Shadow, she looks somewhat unease from my presence and I did become confuse by her strange behaviors. I only took a small step forward for her to take a step back and making some glare for my attempt.
This is new, I never seeing a Shadow react like this before…
I try to walk to her so we can discuss but she reluctantly avoid me as she took the opposite direction and this humongous room made this chase more difficult. Even so, my walk became a running sprint toward her as I use all of my stamina to reach her but she began to mirror my action as well. After a long running across the colossus room, we began to breath very heavily and coughing from our exhaustion of running like children through the lonesome room. I look up as my lung desperately try to grab some air and give them to my body so I can have the energy to move, or even talk at all.
"Why.." I gasp for air. "Are you running away from me!..." I ask, struggling.
I grab my chest as I felt my lung in pain and I felt like I could throw up any second from the long running which is a mistake to me now. Kae's Shadow looks at me from afar and began to speak at long last.
"…."
I could see Kae's Shadow trying to speak as she try move her lips but no words came from her mouth since she is also breathing more heavily than me. I couldn't hold my laughter after witnessing such a cute behavior coming from Kae and I began to laugh at her. I glance while I laugh to see Kae's Shadow pouting at me from making her talk despite the marathon we pull off and suddenly, I felt into the floor as I couldn't breathe from my laughter. The pain, the joy all of the same time hit me as I laugh and struggle to breathe.
"You…deserved that.." S. Kae spoke, softly.
"C-Come on.." I sigh, breathing. "It was funny…" I reply, tired.
I slowly get up as my head felt dizzy from the sudden usage of my stamina and I turn to Kae's Shadow to find some answer for her strange behavior. We took some deep breath so we can relax and regain our energy back.
"Kae, why do you run from me? It is hatred you feel?" I ask, curious.
"Yes, I hate you Luck. You want all of the attention; you have many friends by your side and me? What about me? Why am I alone? Why this world is so unfair to me." S. Kae answers, and wanders.
Kae's Shadow looks gloom and looks down with sorrow at the unfairness of the world on how they treated her. I am shock to see Kae longing for companionship from others but she is a human being like anyone else and a young girl as well. I adjust my glasses as I could slowly understand Kae's situation and maybe, I could help her fix such thing if we talk it out.
"I see, so that's your true feeling bury inside of you, huh?" I ask.
"You wouldn't understand me, my pain of having to see the world in black and white. The pain to live this world with the constant reminds of me being alone and needed to survive for my dear sister." S. Kae said.
Kae's Shadow began to tremble at the thought of being alone and I look at her with tiny bits of pity of enduring such hardship on her own. In reality, I have only respect for the main heroine to live for such desire and still giving her all during her lonesome.
"You are right; I wouldn't understand your situation and probably won't be." I answer.
I notice for a split second that her eyes show surprise but then quickly nod at her rightness of me not understanding her problem.
"Yeah, not even a protagonist would fully understand my life so don't bother me with your nonsense talk." S. Kae said.
"But.." I spoke.
"But?" S. Kae repeat, confuse.
"It won't stop me from trying to understand you, so make me understand you. Scream, yell, attack, or even cry, do whatever it take for you to fully explain your situation and I will listen to you." I confidently explain.
Kae's Shadow looks hesitate to take my words as she glance at me and the opposite the direction as if she trying to avoid such option. I slowly walk to her with a confident look and Kae's Shadow struggle to walk away as she lacks the strength with her ideal.
"I will ask again, why are you running away from your friend? You mention you want companionship, here I am." I ask.
"I do…but I also don't want it.." S. Kae replies.
She stop from running as I stop from my walking since I didn't want her to run away and our distance shorten to 10 feet apart.
"Sorry, but you know I won't stop just because you say so. I am the type of guy that would look for his friend's problem and help them with my power alone." I corrected.
"I know.." S. Kae sigh. "I hate that part about you, why don't you just give up? I did." S. Kae said.
I remain silent at her comments since she strangely knows me and I always thought she didn't took interest me but, she actually does. I also felt sad to hear Kae giving up in life and I want to see her grow since she truly has the potential to become something greater, even greater than me.
"Because you are dear to me, just like my friends in the Paranormal Club and now, you are also a person I can truly call a friend." I respond.
I approach Kae as she felt a bit uncomfortable at the distance between and I stop at 5 feet so we can resume our conversation before I could scare her away by my initiation.
"Friend? Why do people want to know me? I want friend, truly I do but…" S. Kae trails off, glancing down. "I don't want to feel pain of losing a friend by my personality or worse, letting them die because of my failure." S. Kae explains, softly.
"You won't feel pain since we have your back and we know you have ours. There's no need for you to feel sorry about your abilities since we all trust your skills here and outside." I smile, warmly.
As paranoid as Kae's Shadow is from the very beginning, she look a bit more relax and yet, still very untrustworthy of me regardless of my approaches,
"Jane hates me for my rude introduction and I know she does because she ignores me." S. Kae spoke, worry.
"Jane is...well.." I laugh nervously. "Hard to get along since I also had trouble to interact with her at the beginning and I don't think she hate you. She is just like you in a way, she doesn't want to feel pain of being betrayed by a friend and so she pushes them away." I explain.
"Really? I never knew.." S. Kae sighs, sadly.
"Yeah, I had to talk to her about it and soon enough, she shows me her true feeling and trusts me very deeply. I was surprise to see her girlish personality come out more frequently and we are good friend now." I happily add.
"Even if she does grab you by your collar every time you speak? Is that what you call friendship?" S. Kae asks, curious.
I scratch my head as I felt embarrass for Kae to see such "display" of our unique friendship and I laugh at the reminder of teasing her.
"Yeah! She does that because she knows I can fully take it! She doesn't hesitate to do such thing and because I am the only person she can do that thing with. I don't really mind." I happily agree.
"Friendship is so strange, no matter what I learn from a book, I won't never understand the concept of friendship.." S. Kae mutters.
"You will, just experience it with us." I propose.
I finally reach Kae's Shadow side as she felt very uncomfortable by standing close to her and I slowly open my arm to her. I look at Kae's Shadow to see her trembling with fear and I could see a child in that fear.
"I don't want to get hurt.." S. Kae mutters.
Her words pierce my heart as she mutter those words and I felt really depress on how much pain she felt during her life time. I gently hug Kae's Shadow as I pat her head with my left hand and hug her with my right claw.
"Its fine, I won't hurt you emotionally. I am your friend and we won't ever think of hurting you. Trust us Kae." I softly said.
I slowly rub her head as I see her struggling to hug me with her hands shaking next to my sides. It took a while of petting for her to fully hug me and accept my words at long last. I became happy to see Kae's Shadow accepting me and finally having all of my friend's Shadow to my side. I felt proud with my achievement and also experience their hidden turmoil with my own eyes. She slowly let's go of me as I took my distance from her so I could she her a lot calmer with my presence around.
"Thank you." S. Kae spoke.
I am taken back by her sudden words that I became startle and I blush at my embarrassment.
"No problem, although, I should be thanking you." I shook my head.
I notice Kae's Shadow slowly disappearing as she is going to return to her owner and she tilts her head in confusion at my comment.
"Why be thankful of me?" S. Kae asks, curious.
"Because you accept me and with your own strength, gain a will on your own by accepting others into your life. Just like the others and so I am thankful for your cooperation from now on." I explain.
She wanders for a bit of my reply but as she began to fade away, I catch a glimpse of her smiling at me before disappearing. I small smile develop in my face to see something like that. I notice another staircase with a golden lock on it which confuses me to see at first until I realize there is a roof.
Wait, does this mean we need to go to the roof to find something in there? If so, then what?
My mind wander off thinking on the subject until I slowly turn around to see the long path ahead of me which made me feel exhaust.
"Oh no, not this again.." I spoke, frightening.
I sigh as I walk back to the others as I took the long and only path available to me. I descend the staircase as I am welcome by my teammates and with a slight worry of my exhaustion.
"Are you okay? You look terrible.." Jane asks.
"Nope…" I answer, sighing.
"What happen up there?" Luke think.
"Well, I had to chase Kae's Shadow around to have the…" I pause, taking deep breaths. "Chance to talk and I became really, really tired of running…" I explain, struggling.
I walk to the wall as I lay down and I felt so glad I am not using my legs which made me really tired. I notice Kae remain silent which is a sign that her Shadow appear inside of her and unable to make some small talk of it.
"We should probably leave Hotspot, if we encounter a buff Shadow while Luck is in his state. It will lead to trouble." Ayakane advices.
"Yeah, I-I don't want to fight the buff Shadow if it mean hurting Luck.." Jennifer agrees, worrying.
Everyone agree to leave the Hotspot and Luke help me as I use his back to carry me out of this place. I felt so weak and tire from that little chase and battling that occur tonight. We safely retreat Hotspot as I didn't have the chance to analyze the 4th floor of the building which left me with doubts.
"Man…I really let myself go.." I sigh, deeply.
Luke chuckles. "Perhaps." Luke smile.
"Hey! I could run an entire 40 mile if I wanted to…" I spoke, lying.
I try to move around to make him lose balance but I lack the energy to even play around with him. Luke only laughs at my weak state which made me feel so powerless and childish.
"In any case, we should call it a day and return home for today so we can have a nice rest." Jane spoke.
"Wait!" I interrupt, as I raise my hand.
Everyone turn their eyes on me as I had something plan for tomorrow morning and we could use this day to do something special for the team.
"Tomorrow I have something plan for everyone and also, I want everyone to share their phone number with each other. We are a team now and I want everyone to keep in touch with one another." I explain.
"I don't mind give away my phone and I do want to know more about this plan of yours. Could we talk about it tonight through the phone?" Luke asks, curious.
"Oh, this could be our first meeting outside of the X-building and we could chat among each other whenever we want." Ayakane happily said.
"Oh yeah! It will be lots of fun when we text each other in a group. We could p-plan lots of different thing or even hang out." Jennifer smile.
"Then it is decide, we will all share our phone number and text tonight about this plan while chatting about other thing if time allow it." Jane recommends.
Everyone began taking out their phone and gather the others phone numbers so we could talk more with one another. It seems some are really excited to have the number of their friend while some aren't so happy. I try to walk on my own but my legs felt very sore from the long running and I quickly grab Luke's should as a support.
"No good…" I chuckle weakly.
"Can you reach home like this?" Luke ask, slightly worry.
"Maybe." I wander, as I scratch my head.
"Don't worry, I will take him home."
Everyone quickly turn to the quiet Kae and I became surprise at her generous offer.
"Please, take good care of him and watch yourself on your way back." Ayakane said, worry.
"Yeah, we don't want him to cause you more trouble as it is." Jane sighs.
"H-Hey!" I protest.
I grunt as I accidentally move my right leg and I grab Luke's shoulder once more while Jane chuckles at my weakness.
That girl! She will pay!
Everyone left one by one as I quickly move to Kae's side and use her body to keep balance. She grabs my right arm and put it around her neck to give me a help with my walking. We slowly walking in silent as I couldn't talk to her since it is difficult to interact with her and she is acting a bit off today. As we reach the 7th Avenue, the place where we usually part way and also where we always meet during the morning.
"Luck." Kae spoke.
"Hm?" I hum.
I turn to the quiet Kae as she has something on her mind and I know the subject will be around her Shadow since she is looking down thinking.
"I want you to know that I am really thankful for everything you have done for me and my family. Our first encounter was a bad start and I want to apologize to you and Jane about my be-"
"Don't say any more Kae." I interrupt, as I smile.
Kae became startle by my interrupt and look at me with confusion of my action.
"You don't have to apologize, I don't hate you. Quite the opposite really, you are quite an interesting girl and I hope you can work with the others for my sake." I smile.
Kae smile thinly at my compliments and somehow, she knew I was going to say such thing since I hold no grudge with people.
"Right, I could guess you were going to say that since you were always the type of guy that helps others. The opposite of me who push them away and yet…I want their companionship." Kae chuckles, weakly. "You probably know this already, right? After all, my Shadow mentions this and how we accepted you to our life." Kae explain, softly.
"Yeah, it is time for you to accept them into your life just as we accept you into ours. We could also apologize to Jane, together." I happily recommend.
Kae chuckles as I mention the plan of apologize together to Jane and she shook her head at such plan.
"There no need, I want to do this alone since I want to grow and experience this friendship you brought upon my dark life. For that, I am happy to be alive and cherish my moment outside of spending time with Erin." Kae smile.
I smile at Kae's will to grow and understand my view for once which made me so happy to hear. We reach Midnight's door as I give the direction to Kae and she look very curious to see the inside of this place.
"Do you want to go in?" I ask.
"Huh? N-Not really.." Kae denied, awkwardly
I stare at the lying Kae as she looks away since I know her lies and she nod at my question which made me open the door for the two of us. As we enter, Amy already began preparing stuff for the costumers and I couldn't help her with my current state. Amy stops as she saw me in this state and I wave at her as I chuckles.
"Luck!" Amy calls out.
Amy quickly approaches me as she began to look at me and examine my body for any injury which isn't the problem here. She looks very worry and then her worry turn into a glare.
"What did you do to yourself?" Amy asks, with a slight anger tone.
"M-Me? Well..I.." I stutter.
I couldn't lie at Amy since she knew from my nervous tone and I need to lie to avoid explaining Hotspot. I glance at her glare as I understand she is mostly worry about me and my mind drift away at her glare which made me laugh nervously.
"The reason Luck turns out like this is because he was training very hard of the upcoming soccer tryout and he call me to help him." Kae explain.
I became speechless after Kae lie for my sake and Amy remain quiet at the explanation which made me tense.
"Is that truth Luck?" Amy calmly asks.
"Yeah, I didn't want you to be worry since I knew you will act like this so.." I trail off, glancing down. "I am sorry.." I sadly finish.
Thank Kae..
Amy is silent for a moment but smiles sweetly as she pats my head and turn to Kae with curious eyes.
"And you must be Luck's friend, correct? I hope my little brother isn't causing too much trouble to you." Amy bow.
"Brother?.." Kae mutters, as she looks at me. "Please, lift your head. Luck isn't causing trouble for me and…umm..I am glad to actually made the guy.." Kae spoke, uncomfortable.
Amy lift her head as she smile at Kae's fluster and kindness but also with me bringing a friend to the house.
"Anyways, now that I am here I can help you wi-"
As I took my first step without Kae's support, I fell down on the floor as I could hardly feel my legs and I struggle to lift myself up from the floor. Kae and Amy grab my arms so they could bring me up which made me feel not ready to help her.
"Oh no, you are very sore mister. You need to rest tonight well and I need to do something about that sore problem later tonight." Amy refuses.
"B-But, what about your job?" I ask, biting my lips.
"I can do it alone Luck, I always did and always can so don't worry about me." Amy smile.
I felt obligate to help my big sis with her job as I gave her a confident eyes and I slowly try to stand up. Strangely, I felt Kae's hand stopping my body easily and I turn to her with a confuse look at her action.
"Don't push yourself too hard, you have other thing to do, remember? In any case, I want to help you with your things Luck mention." Kae spoke.
"Kae.." I slowly said.
Amy smile. "Very well, grab an apron and follow me to the kitchen behind the counter. I will explain the stuff we do here in Midnight." Amy explains.
Kae nod to Amy's instructions as she left me on one of the chairs near the encounter and follow Amy into the kitchen. I became bored of waiting for those two as I lay down in the counter and sighing at my weak state. The sound of the bell suddenly can be heard and I quickly turn to the main door to see a customer but I became shock to see Shin entering the building. Shin glance at me and look a bit surprise to see me here as well.
"What are you doing here?" Shin asks, curious.
"This is where I live.." I spoke.
"Is that so?" Shin hum.
"Wait! Why are you doing here? Are you a frequent customer?" I ask.
Suddenly, Kae and Amy came from the kitchen's door talking about some task Kae need to do for the customer. Amy turns to see us together and look at Shin with some relief on her face.
"Oh good thing you came back, I have a shortage of food today so I may need your help once more. Also, I have the ingredients already set for you in the kitchen." Amy instructs.
"Alright." Shin said.
I look stun as Shin grab an apron and a chef hat as he venture through the kitchen. I turn to Amy with a shock expression and she looks confuse by him reaction of this since I want to know more of this.
"What's wrong?" Amy ask, confuse.
"S-Since when was Shin a chef of Midnight!" I ask, shockingly.
"For a while now, why do you ask? Do you know Shin already?" Amy asks, curious.
I look disbelief at seeing Shin cooking for people since I have witness his training and it is difficult to see him cooking. I became quiet as they began to work and Amy carries me to my room so I can sleep peacefully and early to recover from my fatigue.
[Kae POV]
I made a call to my sister Erin about my situation and she sounded very happy despite me not joining her for tonight. I smile as Erin became really excited of me to have friends for the first time and she sounded relief to hear the news which I never mention to her. In the end, the job giving by Amy was difficult at first until I manage to keep up with the orders and small talk of the customer entering Midnight. It is a new experience for me since I would never do this kind of thing if I was alone like before and would think this as a waste of time. During this time, I mange to get to know Amy and Shin a little more as we work together like a team. A unique way of working together, different then the stuff we do in Hotspot and I could see a glimpse of something good from this experience. My shift ended as me and Amy began to clean the dishes while Shin, the cook of Midnight, brought some leftover food for us.
"Here you go you two, I manage to scrap something good for today." Shin spoke.
"Thanks, and good work as always Shin. I really appreciate your help." Amy smile.
Shin nod at Amy's word and left the building while he left his things behind. He left us a bag fill with food so we can eat but I had to skip it since I need to go home.
"Thank you for helping me Kae, and I apologize if Luck was forcing you to do this for his sake." Amy said, smiling.
"Nonsense, I actually wanted to see from my perspective what he mean by experiencing something new outside of my comfort zone." I answer.
Amy smiles as she began on concentrating on the dishes and while also thinking about something else on her mind.
"Is that so? To tell you the truth, I actually never knew Luck very well since we aren't even blood relate to each other and I only knew of him through some photos given by my parents." Amy explains.
My eyes widen as my hand stop from cleaning and I was taken back by such information since those two look like really family. I turn to Amy to see her smiling sadly and I panicking continue with the job.
"Really? From my view of you two, you look like a true brother and sister. It reminds me a bit of me and my little sister, Erin in a way." I answer.
"Thank, I am glad you say such wonderful thing to ease my doubts. You are a kind friend to Luck and you make a good wife someday." Amy smile, warmly.
I suddenly drop a plastic cup from my hand due to my panic and the weird compliment from Amy. I began to blush from embarrassment of me dropping the cup because of Amy and I gently pick up the cup as I silently do my job. Amy chuckles at my embarrassment and we silently continue with the dishes. We say our good bye as I grab the leftover food give by Shin and return home for today.
[Luck POV]
August 31
Wednesday
Midnight
I pretended to be asleep so Amy could peacefully leave the room and quickly took out my phone so we can began our unique meeting.
Luck – Is anyone awake?
Jane – About time, you do know what time is it right? -_-
Luke – It's okay Luck, I am sure Jane is just excite to talk with everyone through her phone. ^^
Jennifer – I'm soooo excite to talk w/ everyone tonight! I could hardly wait 4 ur txt. =3
Ayakane – Wow, this is Jennifer texting, right?
Jennifer – Of course! I'm the maiden knight that pierces the light of the Shadow, Jennifer Kunikida! =(ゝω･)/
Luke – You can't judge a book by its cover truly fit this situation, I am glad you are excited as well.
Jane – I am not excited! I want to hear more about the plan Luck has propose. -_-
Ayakane – what about Kae, Luck? She hasn't join the group text.. \3
Luck – Well….stuff happen and she is busy helping my big sister with her job…
Jane – What!?
Luke – Oh.
Ayakane – Oh my.
Jennifer – Σ(ﾟДﾟ)
Luck – did I forget to mention that?
Ayakane – Yes! You never mention this to me…
Jane – Even to his childhood friend, huh? -_-
Jennifer – U are a big meanie Luck. (`A´)
Luck – Hey! I didn't know either, I just found that not so long ago that Amy is my step sister…*Sigh*
Luke – I see, you must be really happy when you found out. =)
Jane – Where do you live? I was curious to find your home address so we can all meet up. -_-
Ayakane – Why are you using that emoticon?
Jane – I don't know…. -_-
Luck – I live at 7th Avenue in a little place call Midnight which is open only during the night.
Luke – Ah, I remember that place, I once visited to check up on some of the student going there and I was surprise to see the calm establishment since this place had bad rumors in the past.
Jennifer – rly? What kind of rumors r u talking about? (ﾟｰﾟ;
Ayakane – I remember, apparently Midnight was a bad place where bad people hang out and stuff. So, some students would go to Midnight to check up on the rumors…I, of course didn't went..
Luck – …
Jane – Don't let it get to you, it was all in the past now so let's discuss your plan of tomorrow? -_-
Luck – You are right. ^^ Anyways, I want everyone to come to school and use your Shadow for the entire class time.
Jennifer – our Shadow… (ﾟｰﾟ;
Luke – But that's…
Jane – Revealing our true hidden secrets… -_-
Ayakane – To random strangers and to our dear friends..
Luck – You can ignore the people if you wish, but you need to express your hidden desire to your friends at least. I have seeing everyone and I am sure everyone won't judge you. =)
Jane – I'll think about it…night. -_-
Luke – This is something worth thinking about, good night everyone.
Ayakane – …. Night.
Jennifer – Night (￣□￣)
[Chapter 26 End]
Luck [Lv. 8]
Jane [Lv. 7]
Luke [Lv.7]
Ayakane [Lv. 8]
Jennifer [Lv. 7]
Kae [Lv. 8]
Stocks [4]
Lv.6
(Equip) [Fool] Agnostos Theos
Physical – Resist (Shadow Form Only)
Gun –
Fire –
Ice –
Electric –
Wind –
Psychokinesis –
Nuclear – Wks
Force – Str
Water –
Earth –
Bless –
Curse – Null
Ailments Immunity (Shadow Form Only)
Charm (Special Ailment)
Fear (Non-special Ailment)
Skills
Eiha
Cleave
Zan
Sukukaja
?
Lv. 4
[Sun] Tam Lin
Physical – Resist
Gun –
Fire –
Ice – Wks
Electric – Resist
Wind –
Psychokinesis –
Nuclear –
Force –
Water –
Earth –
Bless – Null
Curse – Wks
Skills
Zio
Cleave
?
Lv. 2
[Magician] Pyro Jack
Physical –
Gun –
Fire – Null
Ice – Wks
Electric –
Wind –
Psychokinesis –
Nuclear –
Force –
Water – Wks
Earth –
Bless –
Curse –
Skills
Agi
?
Lv. 3
[Lover] Pixie
Physical –
Gun – Wks
Fire –
Ice – Str
Electric – Str
Wind –
Psychokinesis –
Nuclear –
Force –
Water –
Earth – Wks
Bless –
Curse – Wks
Skills
Zio
Dia
?
[Stats]
[Lv. 1] Comprehension – Ignorant (+9)
[Lv. 2] Determination – Daring (+8)
[Lv. 1] Adept – Clumsy (+5)
[Lv. 1] Affection – Blunt (+5)
[Lv. 2] Beauty – Engaging (+9)