Shinjiru Mono
shinjiru mono – something/someone that one believes in
Chapter 3 Mamoritai mono, shinjitai mono
P r o t e c t, b e l i e v e
"Are you sure they are coming? I mean, though we've just arrived, they should be here too..."
"Don't worry too much... I say we wait a while longer..."
"Well, it's not that I really want to wait for Tetsu, but if Kasumi is with him I say we wait a while longer..."
"You're still at that anti-Tetsu stage, Aki?"
"Uh huh. Money face."
Tetsu went slightly rigid next to me as we were beamed down right behind the group. I looked to him, hoping that my sympathy didn't show in my eyes. It seemed that most boys had this ego that made them feel terrible when people showed them sympathy. Something about boys, but ah well.
"Uh, guys? Sorry we kept you waiting, but we-..."
"YAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
I flinched as Aki let out a ear piercing screech, and Hiro proceeded to plonk his staff onto her head.
"Chill."
"Oh! Kasumi! I thought it was one of those Wraiths that attacked us just now, gosh!" Aki stood up, ran over, and gave me a hug, "Glad to have you back! What took you? And just how did you appear behind us?"
"We were teleported here from Juno, so I guess this was the destination point..."
"Teleported?" Denki looked at us in envy as Kanata cocked her head at us on his shoulder, "Lucky... we walked all the way after Hiro's spell..."
"We couldn't find both of you, so we were worried that... well..." Rauki paused midsentence, and I nodded,
"If it weren't for a Sage and an Alchemist, we would have been... That." I bit on my lip, lowering my head. Tetsu kept silent, leaning against his cart as he looked around him indifferently. "And sorry we kept you waiting... Tetsu had a fever and I went down with some kind of a aftershock so we had to..."
"Tetsu had a fever?" Hiro cut in, worried, looking to the Party's blacksmith, who looked away almost immediately.
"Yes, he had a slight fever a while ago but..." I bit down on my tongue. Tetsu had told me not to tell them about him giving away his medication for us to drink.
"But?" Hiro looked expectantly at me, eyebrows raised.
"But... ehm..." I faltered."The impact he took for me worsened it." I managed weakly. At least that wasn't a lie. I looked up at Hiro, who patted me on the shoulder. He must've took my falter as a sign of guilt.
"Well, now that that's settled, and Kasumi's all well and fine, let's get this Guild Quest on the move!" Aki punched the air, grabbing her shield – which I had learnt to fear after the time she threw it – and both Denki and Rauki nodded, getting up from their resting positions. Hiro dusted off his staff and smiled at us.
"And let the tour of Glast Heim start!"
I had been to many strange and scary places in the various jobs I had to do for the church, but nothing beat this. Glast Heim was... Freaky. If there was really something that could be described as 'heavenly', then Glast Heim would definitely be described as 'hell-like'.
It actually looked like a lovely mansion, but Time's sickle had long made it to the elegant furniture, the walls, the building foundations and even the paintings on the walls. They were worn and old, and for strange reasons the faces painted on the walls looked ghastly, while the remaining shreds of faded velvet looked nothing like curtains but more like blood as the dim lighting shone down on it.
I shivered. I didn't really know if I shivered because I was afraid, or because it was really cold. The interior of the building was cooler than it was outside, but I told myself it had to be the building material. Afterall, last time people had wanted it to be cool inside when the sun was burning everything else outside. It was just the wearing out of the whole building that made this coolness scary.
Hiro, Rauki and I had to keep Sight and Ruwach on the go as well made a procession through the dark corridors. At some places pillars had fallen and tiles were unevenly spread; after Denki, Aki and I tripped over something repeatedly we decided wasting a bit of energy to produce light may not really be a bad thing.
Tetsu kept silent throughout the walk, and though I was worried I doubted he would have appreciated it if I went up to him and talked. Perhaps it would be better if he has sometime to himself now. He had skillfully maneuvered his cart and himself around most of the worst bumps though, and I was in awe. Even being the one who had the most light from Ruwach I was still occasionally tripping and stumbling, only to grab on to Aki and drag her down with me at times.
The floor was cold and hard, and the desolate corridors echoed with emptiness. I couldn't help but to shiver yet again.
"Are you sure there's something wrong with this place?" Denki mumbled after we took what seemed like a million turns, Kanata screeching an agreement.
"Idiot, if there wasn't anything wrong why would people be paying us to come here and check?" Rauki retorted, crossing his arms as Denki shot him a death glare, then continued, "Money doesn't come that easy, dear Denki..."
Denki muttered something incoherant, which must have either been very rude or very funny since Aki giggled. I hung back behind the group, eyes alert. Places like this always gave me a bad feeling, and my palms had started to sweat.
"But really... without any monsters appearing this does get a little freaky..." Hiro remarked, I nodded. I felt like him, strangely. It was not as if I liked monsters to suddenly appear, it was just that in a place like this one would expect them to appear, and when they didn't...
One worried.
Without really realising what I was doing, for what reason, I looked over to Tetsu, only to break off a gasp by biting down on my tongue. He was walking as usual, but he was sweating, head down, teeth gritted. I sidled over to him,
"Are you okay?" It came out close to a whisper – I hoped that with all the complaints, retorts, grumbles and giggles going on in front no one would hear that.
"Yes I'm fine... The place just makes me feel... strange."
Well, nice excuse Tetsu, but I feel strange and I'm not sweating.
I decided against telling that to him and kept quiet.
"Shh!"
The noise in the front fell silent as Hiro hissed a warning. I froze, only hearing my heart thumping against my ribcage as a distant neigh sounded in the distance.
"What's that?" Aki meeped, looking around as she drew her sword. "If it's one of those Wraiths again I'll Grand Cross them to death!"
"Do Wraiths neigh?" Came Denki's sarcastic comment.
Aki shot the Hunter a death glare and with a snort, Rauki bared his staff.
"Ruwach!" I called out as the light around me dimmed down, and just in that flash, the group leapt apart, I blinked, suddenly feeling slow and daft as a large horse came charging at me. "KYRIE ELEISON!!!" I flinched as the familiar "clink" of the barrier told me I was safe – for now. The horse in front of me, eyes bright on fire continued it's charge at me.
"Magnum Break!!!" The sudden burst of warm air streaked past me, shoving the horse backward. I took this chance to run over to Aki as she held out her shield in defense as the horse turned to her.
"What's that?" Denki raised an eyebrow, "Looks like old smoky turned into a horse..." He drew a bow across his arrow, "Though I'm against hitting something before knowing what it is... Hiro?"
"Nightmare."
"Great. Though I've only heard of those things once, just great." Denki snorted, pulling and arrow back against his bowstring. "Kanata, let's go!" The hawk screeched in reply and took to the air as the Hunter brought forth arrows at amazing speed. Hardly any of the arrows missed, and Kanata swooped down from time to time to distract the horse and do some damage to her partner's favour.
I looked around me blankly for a while, before realising what I had to do. "Increase Agility! Blessing!"
"Kasumi, I'm going to be bothering you too."
"Suffragium! Blessing!" I called out as Rauki murmured a spell under his breath,
"Storm Gust!!!"
The ice spell was soon joined by Hiro's larger version. The Nightmare reared and neighed in fury and charged for them while they readied another spell.
"Like heck am I going to let you do that, bro!" Aki growled, leaping in with both her sword and shield, forcing the Nightmare out of course just as Denki's Charge Arrow hit it square in the face, sending it skidding backward. Aki leapt away just as the next Storm Gust(x2) hit the Horse.
She grinned.
Denki rolled his eyes, "When did a horse become your brother?"
"Oh shuttup." The blue-haired crusader sent him a death glare just as the ice encasing the Nightmare broke.
"Magnificat!" Though no one told me to do that, I suddenly felt as if I wasn't doing anything for the group. Hiro nodded a thanks to me as Rauki bared his staff.
I looked around me, feeling something amiss.
"Double Strifing!!!"
"Bash!!!"
Tetsu. Where in God's name was Tetsu?
It was as if my question was answered as a curse sounded in the distance.
"I know no one wants to, but I need backup here!!!" I turned around, eyes squinting in the dimmed corridor, making out the faint shape of him as he stepped closer, back toward me.
"What's wrong?"
At my question, Hiro turned his head from the battle, "Tetsu?"
"If that one horse is giving you guys a problem, you're going to love this..." The reply was grim as something clashed against his sword. With a grunt, he shoved it back, and rushed for us. Once he came into the range of the light from Ruwach and Sight, Aki cursed.
It was an entire herd of Nightmares.
"What do you do? Go around gathering horsies for a rodeo?" Aki snorted unbelievingly at Tetsu as Hiro chuckled.
"Actually I think the horses just wanted me to organize the rodeo for them..." Tetsu replied, rolling his eyes. "Who in his right mind would gather Nightmares?"
That was a rhetorical question and Aki could only laugh as a reply before the Nightmares rounded in.
"Not good." Hiro grimaced, "I say we do the smartest thing now."
"Don't tell me what that is..." Rauki rolled his eyes.
"I will tell! Split up and RUN!"
"Eh???" Was the only thing I could manage before Tetsu grabbed me by the hand and pulled me around a corner. I spotted Aki running off with Hiro around another corner, Denki and Rauki splitting up at a joint in the corridors. Great. If I were to say worse case scenario it would be splitting up. It wasn't like we had any means of communication to meet up again. Though the Nightmares did run past us, I thought this was a much worse situation.
Tetsu let out a sigh as the last of the Nightmares stormed past, leaning against the wall. "I thought I'd die back there..."
I looked at him sternly, "You didn't overdo yourself, did you?"
He looked at me, wide-eyed and innocent, "Huh?"
I sighed, "That's not really going to work."
He grinned, "My chest is a little tight, that's all. I'm fine, Kasumi." He looked up at the cracked ceiling, "Though I feel lucky I dragged you instead of anyone else... If I break down before any of the rest they're going to question me."
"About not being fully healed and leaving hospitality?" I crossed my arms, "I would question that too, actually. Though your reason cannot be argued with I still don't accept it fully." He looked sheepishly up at me,
"At least I'm not bed-ridden, right?"
I snorted, "If you overdo yourself you will be bed-ridden soon."
He grinned sheepishly and looked away. "Well, might as well carry on our quest now that the coast is clear."
I nodded as he stood up, cart in tow.
"Ruwach!"
The pale blue light bounced off the walls, the shadows formed looking like groutesque faces. I shuddered and kept my eyes trained on Tetsu in front of me. He stopped suddenly and I nearly bumped right into him.
"Tetsu?"
He turned, "Kasumi. This is a door right?" He placed his hand on something that looked like worm-eaten wood.
I nodded, though the wood looked rather disgusting and I would have never really tried to lay my hands on it even if it were a door.
"Well, let's go and see what's behind it then..."
Before I could reject or agree, he had already pushed open the door. Cold air rushed out to greet us and I shivered. Tetsu poked his head in, blinking, "Kasumi? Some light in here?"
I shuffled closer to his so that Ruwach surrounded both of us, and looked over his shoulder. The room was in much better condition than the corridors we walked through just now. It looked like that of a throne room, what with the faded red velvet carpet across the middle of the room, leading up to a platform. On the platform was what seemed to be the remainders of a throne.
Tetsu looked to me and I nodded, both of us stepping in. What was investigation when you didn't look in rooms, right?
It was as if a sudden breeze hit us the moment we stepped in, and without knowing Tetsu had grabbed me and pushed me onto the ground.
"T-tetsu?"
He straightened up, drawing his sword as I tried to sit up properly, growling.
"What's wrong?"
I felt clueless again. I didn't like feeling clueless, but I always seemed to be the clueless one. Ruwach circled me once more and I noticed the gash across his side. Something dark was being absorbed by the white material of his jacket. Blood. The breeze just now must've been an attack then! I tried to push myself upwarrd to no avail, at least I could Heal him now...
"Oh dear... you got hurt, dear boy? Let me make it all better..." I turned, looking around almost wildly as the smooth voice sounded throughout the room. There was a slight click, and the lights turned on. I flinched, blinking madly to rid the spots in my vision, eyes trying hard to get adjusted to the light.
Standing in front of us was a High Priest, a rather handsome one at that, with blond hair and blue eyes which shone with something I couldn't put my fingers on. I nearly let out a sigh of relief – so there were others here too?
Tetsu gritted his teeth, grip on his sword tightening as his muscles tensed.
"Tetsu?"
What happened to him? Wasn't this someone who could help us?
"Don't make such a scary face, I only want to help..." The High Priest laughed, and at that moment I caught sight of his eyes.
They dilated – all of a sudden – and turned bright red. "Heal."
Wait. This wasn't right. My heart stopped beating for a slight second as Tetsu let out a howl of pain, sinking to the ground as his sword clattered down next to him, gripping on to his side.
"Tetsu?!" At this point my body found the burst of energy to push myself up and run to his side. The steady drip of blood caught my attention. "What? Is this another failure priest like me?" I managed to blurt out my words as Tetsu gritted his teeth in pain.
Right. Heal. Got to Heal.
"Hea..."
"Don't even think about that, dear girl..." Another blast of air picked me up – I didn't know I was that light – and within a second I was against the wall, my breath knocked right out of my chest as I sunk down to the ground. It was as if I had never felt such pain before – I couldn't even Heal myself as I gasped; it was suddenly hard to breathe.
I winced, trying to right my spinning vision as I looked over to the High Priest. His hair had grown longer, clothing fading from the bright red of the church to a dark marroon. I watched in horror as his skin crumpled into wrinkles and greyed as though he was aging in fast-forward.
"Dark Priest." Tetsu managed to gasp as he reached for his sword, using it to help him stand upright. "You aren't supposed to be in... Glast Heim..."
The male laughed, smooth voice sounding much rougher now.
So that was why they said that Glast Heim was going 'strange'? I tried to stand up, but the pain in my chest forced me to double over. I could only hear vague words now as the static fizzed in my ears. This felt familiar... I felt like that when I ran out of energy to cast spells... But I wasn't out of energy this time. I was just hurting. Bad.
I squinted through the sudden black and white vision of my eyes and saw Tetsu brace himself for a pounce, when the sound of a book's old pages caught my interest. "Tetsu Kreinebearer; aged 16, currently a Blacksmith, known as the 'Craftsman of God' for his hands and ability to forge amazing weapons at his age. Lost his parents at a young age due to a war... Parents were killed because..." Here the voice laughed, "They didn't have money to pay for their life..."
Something caught in my throat.
"SHUT UP!!!"
Tetsu pushed off in front of me, and there was the familiar clash of sword against sword. Was the Dark Priest even armed? I only remembered seeing his carrying a book...
Tetsu landed near me, though I couldn't really see how he landed. I took in a shaky breath. I needed to heal him. Now. Heal. Heal...
The pain in my chest blanked out my mind as the voice continued smoothly.
"No wonder you like money so much don't you? No wonder... Money is everything."
"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!" Another clash, and the sound of Tetsu hitting the ground again. He cursed.
"And did I mention that your weapon can't even harm me? I don't even need to do anything and you'll go down with your loss of blood..." The sound of footsteps. "And your friend here can't even do anything to help... Tell me, are all of God's workers this weak?"
I winced, taking in one deep breath. I had to handle the pain for a while. "HOLY LIGHT!!!"
I didn't look up to see if my attack had hit, the pain in my chest fizzing over my brain.
"That was... dangerous. I suppose however weak you are you do pose a threat..."
The smoothness of the voice was getting to me now. However comforting it sounded, it sounded wrong. So wrong.
And I didn't even have the strength to cast another Holy Light...
"Leave Kasumi alone."
"A threat is a threat. You know the rule about fighting, Tetsu dear."
Another curse from Tetsu and the sound of a sword clashing onto something else. "I may not be able to hurt you, but I can block your attacks."
A laugh.
"Kasumi. You know teleport right? Teleport back to the Church."
What?
"Teleport back to the Church and don't come back. Tell the church to send people to help but don't come back."
"I can't do that..."
"You can! Now go!"
It was as if my brain shut down. The scene in front of me flashed before my eyes as the prominent beams of the Teleport spell.
What was I doing?
"You'd better not come back, girl... You know you can't trust people who like money that much..."
The last sentence of the Dark Priest echoed as I teleported back to the church.
Breakdown (Out of Kasumi's P.O.V)
"Oh dear... she went..." The Dark Priest chuckled, "Well, I doubt she'll come back anyway... Poor Tetsu, being so kind and honorable... But actually you wanted her to come back didn't you?"
Tetsu growled, "Stop reading my mind."
"Oh but it comes naturally. Just like I know every inch of your heart's darkness. I know hers too, of course. She doesn't like trusting people, she doesn't even believe. She even doubts God exists though she has never told anyone that..." He smiled thinly, looking up from his book, "You know what this means don't you?"
"She's not coming back."
"... I want to believe in her. Just for this once."
A beam of light poured down, and Minte looked up from her mopping, only to drop her mop when Kasumi collapsed into a pile.
"Kasumi?! What happened? Are you okay?"
"Minte?" Fubuki called as he stepped into the main hall of the church, "What's-... Oh my gosh. What's happened to her?"
"I-I don't know... She just... appeared. I think she teleported back..."
"Heal her! Don't fluster, Heal!"
"Oh, right. Heal!!!"
"Uu... Minte?"
"Thank god you're okay. I can heal but I can't revive. Kasumi! What happened?"
"G-glast Heim..." The brown haired priestress gasped as she sat up, "I need to get help. Now. There's a Dark Priest at Glast Heim!"
"A Dark Priest? But that's..."
"Minte, tell Sister Maryah. Get the teleporter to send a group of Priests to Glast Heim now." Fubuki took charge almost immediately. "Kasumi, you sit down and rest."
Minte nodded, "I'll go and get Sister Maryah..."
Kasumi choked, "I can't sit down! I need to go back now."
"In this condition? You're going to die."
"If I don't go back Tetsu will die! He won't LAST till the group of Priests reach! He'll die first!"
"Kasumi, you're going to have to calm down. Think. What can you do even if you go there? Two deaths is worse than one... Who got to you come back?"
"Tetsu."
"Then he must have already made up his mind. He won't want you to go back there, Kasumi."
"......... Is it true that... even if I go back, I won't be able to help...?"
"... I'm sorry. Didn't mean it in that way, it's just that..."
"No. It's okay."
Her room. The reassuring lock of the door. Her bed. Her pillow to muffle the sobs. Why was she crying?
"And did I mention that your weapon can't even harm me?"
Weapons didn't work because...
There was a spell she could use. She could help. The priests that were going to arrive there were not going to know that the Dark Priest couldn't be harmed... Though they would definitely be able to use Magnum Exorcismus, Tetsu wouldn't last. If she went there now, if she was able to use that spell...
She threw open the cupboard, and took out the empty bottles that were left over from her many failures at attempting that spell with Minte. She had to give it a try.
She bumped into Coral and Vio as she dashed out of her room, ignoring the looks they sent her nor the shouts for her to 'Stay in your room and rest!!!' She knew one place..
The gardens of Prontera. The water fountain. There.
She held on to the bottle, clasped it between her hands as though she was praying. "I don't believe in you, God. But please. Just help me this once. One more time..."
I... just want to help him.
I don't want him to die!
"Aqua Benedicta!!!"
Ragged breathing.
The Dark Priest tutted, "And you really don't like to give up don't you? Why not take a seat and have a relaxed chat before you die? It'll be so much easier..."
"SHUT UP!!!"
Another clash.
"I told you it's useless."
Tetsu hit the wall, gaping. His side had already gone numb, and the red carpet on the ground as well as the stone tiles on the floor were red with his blood. He closed his eyes, trying to resist the urge to just give up. It didn't matter actually. So long as Kasumi told the church, any of the Priests that could fight would be sent here and this guy would be gone...
Just him being sacrificed was... Okay... It was acceptable...
"Don't think like that... How can you sacrifice yourself for people you don't about? Sure, I'm going to be causing harvoc to the people in Rune Midgard once I get a life in exchange for mine here... But what has that got to do with you? Don't you want to live on?"
"I..."
I can't move anymore...
"Aaa... It's already been an hour and our dear little Priestress isn't back yet... Too bad for you, I know you really want to see her before you die..."
"Shut up..."
"Well, if you won't die quietly allow me to help you to speed up the process of being relieved of the pathetic life God gave you... Hea..."
"HOLY LIGHT!!!"
Reform (Back into Kasumi's P.O.V) ( My english teacher is going to kill me for this...)
It was okay. Minte's Heal did the job. I was fine. It still hurt, but the pain was nothing compared to the pain before. I thanked God that I had remembered the place so I could teleport right into the room, and then I thanked God for the perfect timing. If Tetsu received any more of his "Heal"s...
The Dark Priest let out a groan as he struggled to get up – my spell seemed to have hit him and the damage done was considerable – and I took the chance to rush over to Tetsu.
"Tetsu... Tetsu? You're still here right? Hold on for a while..." I managed a nod. His body was boiling, radiating heat. His fever had worsened again. I grimaced, "Heal!!!"
The spell must have worked, since he pushed away from me and reached for his sword once more.
"Tetsu. It's okay. You rest now..."
He looked up at me, lavender eyes flashing. I knew what he wanted to say, even though he probably didn't have enough strength to say it.
"Well, this was unexpected... To think that you would come back..." I felt my body go rigid as the smooth voice of the Dark Priest cut through the silence. I turned, hoping that it would work, and in that split second uncorked the bottle I hid in my sleeves.
The spray of water was so messily thrown I was worried it would not hit, but it hit him alright.
"...!!! What's this!!?"
I grinned and stood up, brandishing the bottle like a weapon. "Holy Water."
He snarled, and his face grew more distorted as anger took over his features. Gone was the handsome look. I steadied myself, the bottle held out in front of me. I didn't have too many bottles, but I hoped that I had brought sufficient.
Tetsu stood up shakily next to me. "You're going down, uncle."
"Hah. Like you can do anything with that weapon of yours..."
"He can, actually." I beamed, triumphant over my findings. I drew another bottle out of my thigh pouch, and this time sprinkled it over Tetsu's sword. "Asperio!!!"
The Dark Priest cursed, backing away as Tetsu forced on a grin. "As I've said. You're down."
I nodded, wondering if I ought to be worrying about Tetsu now as I held out the bottle and in one flick, sprinkled it at the Dark Priest. He tried to shield himself with his arms, but at that moment Tetsu pushed off.
This time there wasn't the clash of sword against 'sword', and Tetsu laughed, "Finally I get to hit you. Payback time!"
I don't know if he had forced on the energy, but leap after leap was done successively, as if he was suddenly happy about something. The Dark Priest let out a moan as I joined in with my attacks, randomly casting Holy Light between intervals of Holy Water.
"Throw Spirit Sphere!!!"
"MAGNUM EXORCISMUS!!!"
Tetsu and I turned to the doorway of the room thrown open by a speeding ball of light. What followed was brilliant light and the sign of the cross as the Dark Priest let out a final scream. I closed my eyes tight and looked away from the light. It hurt. Only when it dimmed did I slowly open one eye.
There was nothing left of him now, only the book he always carried. The book which he read out Tetsu's information from.
"Kasumi! Why are you here? I thought Minte told you to rest?" Vio ran over whacking me on the head as Coral followed, hands on her hips,
"Exactly my point. You could have just left it all to us."
I laughed sheepishly. "I... couldn't just go like that." I scratched my cheek and looked to Tetsu.
Tetsu smiled, "Thanks."
I looked at him, chewed on my bottom lip, and smiled back. "You're welcome."
Then he collapsed.
"The Client is very happy with the results of this Guild Quest... Everyone will be rewarded accordingly and..."
Sister Maryah looked distressed as we burst into cheers. Even Kanata let out a triumphant screech and circled the main hall of the church once before landing on Denki's shoulder.
Rauki gave Denki a high five. "We did it!"
"With everyone's help, of course." Hiro grinned, "Though I have to say I was upset I didn't get to help Kasumi and Tetsu with the Dark Priest... We four against one Evil Druid was chicken feed."
Aki nodded, "Yea... If we were there then you wouldn't have to get so badly injured, Tetsu."
Tetsu laughed, "It's nothing. Besides, the church helped me heal all my injuries and my fever's down again..."
I hid a smile as Sister Maryah sighed, giving up on trying to gain our attention. She cleared her throat loudly, "I would just like to say... Well done."
The main hall exploded into cheers and applause from the other Priests and Acolytes, as well as Coral.
Then came the group hug. I didn't know what to say, just kept smiling and nodding as Aki and Denki fussed over me. Hiro and Rauki complaining to Tetsu about the Evil Druid and his attacks.
Then, as all reunions ended, it was soon time to say goodbye. Something dropped to the pit of my stomach all of a sudden as my ex-party members waved at the church gates. Time had past so fast. From meeting them to travelling them to constructing a sturdy friendship...
It seemed so... short.
It was like I didn't have enough time to say anything to them. I wanted to say so much though, and yet I couldn't say it.
What did I want to say anyway?
They turned for the gates, my eyes stung.
"GUYS!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!"
They shouted something back in reply, and through the suddenly blurred vision I could see them turn and wave again.
"BYE!!!"
"See ya, Kasumi!"
"Hope to work with you again soon!"
"I salute you!"
"Kasumi! I'll write letters okay? We'll talk about all the girl stuff we didn't get to talk about!!!"
"Thank you!!!"
I didn't know who left first, but they soon stepped out of the gate one by one, leaving me standing on the steps of the church with a sour feeling in my heart.
"... Tetsu!"
The sound of wheel against the pavement stopped as he turned, "Hm?"
"I... ..." I paused. What did I want to say? "...Thank you!"
"You've said that for so many times Kasumi!" He laughed, "See you soon!"
"... Un! See you!!!"
He turned, and I stood there and watched till the edge of his shadow disappeared.
...Goodbye...
END
Oh... my... gosh...
I think that basically sums this chapter up in my own words. Oh my gosh.
The changing between P.O.Vs was inevitable, though my English teacher had once told me that it was not the right way to write... Eh... sorry?
This basically sums up Shinjiru Mono... There's a pretty pointless Epilogue at the back, which I may or may not upload depending on my moods and whims... I really really want to thank everyone who has read up to this chapter. Thank you very much. ::bows::
School has long started and I have stopped playing on RO. I miss the people there really bad but I've really got to restrain myself before it starts to affect my studies and all... Yep. So this is the end of Shinjiru Mono... Dedicated to all of them.
Next, I'd like to apologize to all my readers if I made a few mistakes in the names/places/situations/scenarios... I play the Chinese version of RO, and for most cases, I'm making things up as I go. So please, feel free to doubt the accuracy of this fic...
I kinda feel a little regretful that I wrote this entire fic before posting it onto Fanfiction-dot-net; due to that I am unable to really go and edit the whole fic though the reviews I received really do help alot... When I get the free time off my school work I will definitely consider doing a revised edition of SM!
Thank you all very much! (again and again... me and my 'thank you's...)
Credits/Thank Yous/I Love Yous::
Kuroikaze, Ashes Kittyhawk, Tom Valor, Seraphim Wings, Kisaki-Eri90, JaN::RaGaLNiTe (sorry if I got your pen name wrong...;; I was trying to figure out the "" in the middle... as it an I or a 1? Xox) and Shoyko -- For your reviews. I feel loved. Thank you very much! :3
Xi Ying, Joanne, Kang Min, Tau Herng, Li Han, Daniel, Terry, Catherine, Rocky, Ivy-nee-san, Marcus and Momo-chu for making my RO days the best days I could ever have. And extra thank-yous to all of them for giving me all those memories, which I weaved together in a different world to give to everyone - Shinjiru Mono.
Ragnarok Online/Gravity, for the game. Loved it, enjoyed it, and am missing it. (haha)
