Chapter 10
Sunlight streamed through the windows, playing gently across Kaede's sleeping face. As the alarm clock beside her bed ticked closer to 7, the archer woke up.
Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, Kaede sat up and yawned, stretching. She switched off her alarm clock before it could ring, and padded softly to the bathroom.
After taking care of the morning necessities and feeling much more refreshed, Kaede headed for the kitchen. As was usual, she was the first awake, and thus the kitchen was empty. She set about preparing her breakfast.
A bowl of cold rice, an egg in the pan, several strips of chicken next to that. After a moment's contemplation, she shrugged and added a few more pieces of meat. She had went to bed immediately after returning home last night, and had thus skipped her dinner.
She paused as the thought hit her, and went back to the fridge. Looking through its contents more carefully revealed her share of yesterday's dinner, wrapped in cling foil. Sighing, Kaede took that out as well, deciding that if she wasn't going to eat it, she could at least give it to Ascion.
A quick sniff confirmed that the food was still good, so she set the plate in the microwave to heat up before she plated her breakfast, settling down to eat.
As she was washing up after her meal, her mother walked into the kitchen. Upon seeing her daughter, the woman immediately rushed up to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Kaede merely smiled and put down the plates. She could finish cleaning up later.
"Dear, where were you last night? Your father and I were worried sick!" Her mother asked in Japanese, releasing her. "You just went straight to your room after coming home late last night. You didn't even say anything beyond 'I'm tired'!"
"I'm fine, mum." Kaede replied in the same language. "Akio - I've told you about him, right? He's the guy Ascion and I were trying to befriend. As it turns out, the Black Wings are after him for some reason, so Ascion and I decided to stay and help him fight them off."
"Are you okay? Are you injured?" Her mother immediately asks.
"No, I'm fine, just tired. Ascion was pretty badly injured though, but he's going to be fine. He's getting discharged today, actually." Kaede took the heated meal out of the oven and started packing it into a box. "I'm going to go see him in a bit. I'm sure he would prefer this over hospital food, too."
"He'll be alright, won't he?" Her mother asked, concerned.
"Yeah, he'll make a full recovery so long as he doesn't do anything too stupid for a while." She huffed in playful irritation. "I'll just have to make sure of that."
"Oh my, you two are sounding like a married couple, now."
Kaede nearly dropped the lunchbox. "Mum!" She shouted, face reddening. "It's not like that!"
"Sure it isn't, dear, sure it isn't."
"Alright, alright! I'm going to prepare to leave now!" Kaede rushed back to her room and changed out of her pajamas into her combat attire. Shirt, pants, leather vest, knee pads, elbow pads, gloves, and her hair tie to pull her long hair into a ponytail.
That done, she started looking for her backpack before realizing that she had left it back in front of Akio's cave when she was treating Ascion. With a sigh, Kaede slung her backup quiver onto her back, clipped her bow to it, and pinned a few potions to her chest with her arm.
Running back into the kitchen, Kaede got a small cloth bag for the lunch box, placing the potions inside as well. She shouldered the bag, then headed for the front door just as her father came down the stairs.
"Morning, dad." Kaede waved. Raising her voice, she shouted so her mother could hear her as well. "I'm off!"
"Be back soon!" Her mother called, before the door closed behind her.
It didn't take Kaede long to reach the hospital. After checking in at the counter, Kaede proceeded up the elevator to Ascion's room.
Surprisingly, Ascion was awake when she arrived. "Morning, Kaede."
"Morning, Ascion. Though I'm more surprised that I don't have to wake you up this time." She said, only half jokingly.
Ascion huffed. "Oh come on, I'm not that bad."
Kaede leveled him a flat look. "Ascion, I can't exactly remember the last time I didn't have to wake you up, but I'm pretty sure that was years ago."
"...Fine!" Ascion groaned. "It was three years ago. Honestly though, I think I'll start sleeping earlier. I'm surprisingly refreshed after waking up today."
"You wouldn't go to sleep on most nights and spend half the next day sleeping off your exhaustion, but the one time you get grievously injured you wake up early and refreshed." Kaede said dryly. "The irony."
Ascion chuckled. "Maybe I'll try making this a habit… But that means I'll have less time to read at night, and I'll be wasting my time sitting through classes instead of catching up on sleep…"
Kaede rolled her eyes. "Seriously, if you're that worried about the teachers taking your books away for reading them in class, you can just use that time to practise magic instead."
"I'll just get another tongue lashing." Ascion grumbled.
"That was in sixth grade Ascion. Two years ago now. I think most of the teachers don't even care what you do in class anymore so long as you complete and hand up your work on time." Kaede reminded him.
"Maybe you're right." Ascion hummed. "Yeah, I'll try putting up a fireworks show-"
"Don't disturb the other students or the teacher." Kaede interrupted.
Ascion rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll be quiet. Maybe I should do some meditation…"
"Well, you can plan out what to do later." Kaede told him. "Aren't you supposed to be discharged today?"
Ascion shrugged. "The doctor has to finalize the discharge process and all that. Unfortunately, I don't have any other clothes with me, so I'll have to wear the one I came in with. Laundered, of course, but still with several holes here and there."
Kaede immediately facepalmed. "Sorry, Ascion, I should've thought to bring a set of clothes for you."
"Nah, it's fine." He waved it off. Then he shot a suspicious look at her. "You wouldn't have brought one of your dresses, would you?"
Recognizing the joke for what it was, Kaede chuckled. "Maybe I would. After all, I think I've still got that set of female school uniform lying around, the one that I got to try on."
Ascion snorted. "You almost burned that thing out of irritation when you realized that the skirt was impeding your movements."
"But I didn't."
"Yeah, you traded it for a male's uniform instead. I haven't forgotten that, Kaede, you don't have it anymore." Ascion grinned in triumph while Kaede grumbled about his freakishly good memory.
"Mr. Wolf?" A doctor walked up to them, pushing an empty wheelchair along. "The discharge process is completed. I just need to give you a few instructions on taking care of yourself until you're fully healed, and you'll be free to go."
Ascion sighed. "Alright. Mind helping me into the wheelchair, Kaede?"
"Aren't you healed?" Kaede asked in concern as she helped Ascion off the bed, the boy's grip surprisingly weak given his cheerful demeanor.
"Kind of. I'm healed physically, but you know they can't just fix my magic system, right?" At Kaede's nod, he continued. "We haven't learned this yet, but unlike the rest of our body, our mana systems require more energy to repair. Since my mana systems were heavily damaged, my body is burning a lot of energy to repair it, and so I'll be pretty weak till I'm fully healed."
"Is that why you sometimes faint after fighting for too long?" Kaede asked.
"Yeah. Our bodies have to make minor repairs to our mana systems after strenuous use, but since I was completely depleted of energy, my body had to make do with stored glucose, which means I won't have enough energy to stay awake." Ascion suddenly yawned, then sighed. "Like now. Well, let's get this over with. Doctor?"
"I'll see you at the entrance." Kaede called as the doctor started to wheel Ascion away.
"Yeah, see you."
"Finally, home." Ascion sighed as Kaede unlocked his door, pushing him into his house.
"Yeah. Breakfast?" Kaede asked, handing her bag to him.
"Thanks." Ascion grinned, which Kaede took as her cue to push him into the kitchen. She shifted a chair aside, parking Ascion at the table. Opening the lunchbox revealed rice, an egg, a side of vegetables, some fish and a few slices of ham. "You made this for me?"
Kaede chuckled, shaking her head. "Nah, that was supposed to be my dinner last night. I went to bed without eating, and was halfway through making breakfast this morning when I remembered about it. Thought you might want it." Her amused smile was replaced by a worried frown an instant later. "If you don't want to eat it, I can make something else for you instead."
"Nah, its fine." Ascion assured her. "Though, I wouldn't mind a few slices of bacon…"
Kaede rolled his eyes. "You pig." She huffed as she went to his cupboard and pulled out eating utensils, handing it to Ascion. Then, she returned to the cupboard to pull out a pan, starting to fry the bacon.
"Hey, cut me some slack." Ascion said, grinning even as he ate. Kaede didn't miss the tiny grimace he had every time he moved his hands. "I hadn't had dinner either, and it's closer to lunchtime than breakfast, now."
"Right, right." Kaede replied with a roll of her eyes.
A few minutes later, Kaede was done. She slid the bacon into Ascion's box, careful not to burn him with the hot metal.
"Thanks, Kaede. You're the best." Ascion said, happily continuing to eat.
Kaede smirked, her cheeks tinting just a little. "Don't get used to it." She replied, sliding into the seat beside Ascion's. "I'm only helping out because you're still technically injured."
Ascion rolled his eyes. "Tsundere."
Kaede replied to this with a slap to the back of his head. "Not a tsundere." She replied almost automatically.
"Ow!" Ascion whined, more as a reflex than any actual pain. "Huh, you didn't throw a rock at me. You getting soft?"
"You wish. I left my bag outside Akio's cave. We'll need to go get that later."
"Sure. We still need to find out why the Black Wings were attacking him, anyway..."
"Ascion, about that…"
Kaede explained what happened yesterday, after Ascion passed out. Ascion blinked in surprise when Kaede revealed Akio's true race, and smiled when she told him that it was the warrior that had gotten him to the hospital, but frowned at the last bit.
"He just left after getting me there?" Ascion asked.
"Yeah. I'm not really sure why though. I mean, if he doesn't want others to know that he's a werewolf, he could have just changed somewhere else and come back. He was still bleeding, too." Kaede frowned. "I'm worried. I don't know how badly he's hurt, but he was bleeding a lot."
Ascion furrowed his brows in thought. "I'm quite sure werewolves have accelerated healing." He thought aloud. "Not blindingly fast, but faster than humans. Besides that, you said he lived in the wild until he was ten, right?" At Kaede's nod, he continued. "Well, I find it improbable that he was never injured during that time, so he should be able to take care of himself."
"But we're still checking up on him?" Kaede asked.
"But we're still checking up on him." Ascion agreed. He yawned suddenly, blinking rapidly as he laid down his utensils, his meal done. "Ugh… My thoughts are fogging up…" he grumbled.
"You're tired already?" Kaede frowned. Less than two hours ago, Ascion had been wide awake, having just woken up from a good night's sleep. He'd seemed pretty well when they entered his house, too.
"Movements… take a lot more energy." Ascion frowned, stifling another yawn. "Doctor said… something of… extreme magic exhaustion… something?"
Kaede smiled in amusement. "It's not even noon yet. We can look for Akio later." Getting up from her chair, she started pushing the dozing boy to his room. "I think we can spare a few hours."
After putting Ascion into bed, Kaede left his room and sat on his sofa in the living room. Leaning back on the cushions, the archer closed her eyes.
'I wasn't of much help.' She thought. 'I took care of the underlings, sure, and I provided support fire when we were fighting that girl. But… I could have done more.' She looked down and held out her hand, palm up. It glowed for a moment before a golden arrow formed in her hand.
[Soul Arrow]. A very important skill for any archer, it allows then to fight even without any arrows on hand. For archers in the mid to high tiers, it was an indispensable tool that works even better than normal arrows.
The archer just stared, unsurprised, as the golden arrow in her hand wavered, then shattered into motes of golden light.
For archers in the lower tiers, like Kaede, the [Soul Arrow] was just something that helped reduce the number of normal arrows used.
'Of all the things that would cause me to fail spectacularly, it had to be goddess damned procrastination.' Kaede thought bitterly
Her weak [Soul Arrows] wasn't new to the girl. She had known since receiving a brief explanation on what to expect of the Hunter class that this particular skill would cause her problems. After all, it was the most complex skill of both Archer class in their 2nd Advancements.
This particular skill required a high level of mana manipulation, something that Kaede, like most archers, decide to put off training until they were closer to the mid tier. After all, most of the low tier skills Archers learn in the first and second Advancements do not require such a level of mana manipulation.
[Arrow Blow]? Just infuse as much power as you can into an arrow and shoot. In other words, a charged shot.
[Arrow Bomb]? Virtually the same as [Arrow Blow], except adding even more power to the arrowhead. This would make it magically unstable, thereby blowing up when it hits a target.
[Covering Fire], or as some might people call it, [Retreat Shot]. Again, same as [Arrow Blow], just that you have to shove some power out of your feet simultaneously to get flung backwards and upwards, allowing you to shoot from higher up.
Then there is [Soul Arrow]. Creating a solid, powerful arrow that could be shot from a bow yet retain its shape and structure even after puncturing an enemy's body. It functions so similarly to a normal arrow that it can be used with all of the skills mentioned above.
She doesn't know about the [Marksman] Advancement line, but she was pretty sure that the classes are fairly similar in required skill levels at the 2nd Advancement.
She formed another [Soul Arrow], letting it just sit in her hand. She had decided earlier on that this particular skill could be trained later, like all the other Hunters her age. Besides, at her current level of skill, it was enough for her to kill the monsters around Victoria Island, even if she had to solely depend on [Soul Arrows] rather than normal ones.
If she had mastered [Soul Arrow] instead of her other skills first, she could still fight her way out if she gets swarmed by monsters. Sure, she'll take longer to kill them all, but it wouldn't put her in danger, especially since the monsters are statistically weaker than she is.
But she didn't do that. She decided to put off mastering the skill, all because it was difficult. Because of that, when she actually got into a fight with a person much stronger than she and Ascion combined, she ended up practically crippled for half the fight.
It was a lucky fluke that the robot-girl left when she did. No arrows meant no power, and Kaede had been out of arrows then.
Once more, the golden arrow shattered. Again, Kaede formed another, her brows furrowed in concentration.
She had several hours to kill before they had to leave to find Akio. Might as well tackle the problem now.
She just had to be careful not to exhaust herself before going out.
Ascion awoke, now refreshed and alert. Just by the light of his room alone, he could tell that it was nearly evening. A single glance at his clock revealed it to be nearly 5pm. He had slept for nearly six hours.
On a side note, he noticed that his thinking is much clearer than it was before his injury. Probably because he finally got a – relatively – good rest.
If one could call sleeping off numerous potentially fatal injuries a 'good rest'.
Ascion sat up, wincing when his arms trembled from just pushing him up. It sucked to be this weak, but at least he was on a fast track to recovery. If the doctors hadn't helped, he would probably be bedridden and crippled for weeks.
Now with a clear mind, Ascion ran through all the information Kaede gave him again. After he got stabbed, Akio had transformed to stop Yuko from gutting him. Kaede then did her best to patch him up before joining the fight herself.
After catching Yuko off guard with Akio's sudden increase in strength, and by aiming for her neck twice in quick succession while the warrior was still pressing the attack, Akio had ripped Yuko's arm off. Then Yuko retreated, and Akio brought the two of them to the hospital.
"... but why did she run?" Ascion muttered, pondering.
Yuko had the upper hand. Sure, she was missing her right arm, but she showed no signs of pain, nor did she bleed. It wasn't a fatal injury; most likely just a mere inconvenience. She could have continued fighting for hours.
Akio had been stabbed in the abdomen, and would probably collapse in another half hour of sustained fighting due to blood loss, maximum. Kaede had no arrows left, and Yuko already knew that Kaede's [Soul Arrows] can't hurt her much. And he himself had been taken out already.
'I know a lot of people would tell me to just be grateful that I'm alive and to not think too much into it, but not thinking when something is obviously wrong is definitely a stupid move.'
If his gauge of Yuko's abilities is correct, then Yuko's Level should be at least seventy to eighty. Even missing an arm, she could mop the floor with two exhausted people just bordering around Level fifty. Why let them go?
"I might not have enough information…" Ascion muttered. "But I do know that something's wrong." He hauled himself into his wheelchair with a grunt. He could already feel his strength returning. True to the doctor's word, he should be well enough to begin walking the next day, maybe even tonight.
Wheeling himself out, Ascion noticed that Kaede was nowhere to be seen. He frowned, not wanting to believe that Kaede had just up and left. The archer wouldn't leave like that, especially when he was in such a condition. Sure, she may act nonchalant about it, but the fact was that she cared.
Then he heard a faint twang, followed by a slightly louder thud, and a second later there was the sound of shattering glass. Careful not to knock into things on his way out (seriously, why did the hospital even give him a wheelchair? A pair of crutches would have sufficed, and would be much less clunky to boot), Ascion made his way out of the house.
Once outside, Ascion glanced around. An upside to living in a more distant corner of Ellinia meant that he had next to no neighbors, which also meant that the branches around his house were all a part of his backyard. It was on one of these branches where Ascion found Kaede.
The archer was shooting at an old target crudely scratched into a tree trunk near his house. It was something he made a few years back, a place for Kaede to practice her archery in peace without her peers trying to bully her.
Twang. Another golden arrow streaked towards the target, striking it dead center. The arrow shattered on contact with the wood, leaving a small dent and nothing else. Frowning, Kaede took a deep breathe, focused, and fired again. This time, the [Soul Arrow] sunk into the wood, maintaining its shape for another second before shattering again.
"Hey Kaede." Ascion called as he rolled up to the archer. Kaede wasn't breathing heavily, but it was still noticeably labored. Sweat rolled down her face, forcing her to wipe them off before they got into her eyes. Lowering her bow, Kaede turned to face Ascion.
"Hey, Ascion." She greeted. "Glad that you're awake. How are you feeling?"
Ascion hid a smile at her barely concealed concern. Tsundere. Not that he would call her out on it, that would land him a roll of the eyes, a smack to the back of the head, and a sharp denial of being a tsundere.
He briefly contemplated doing it anyway, if just to see her blush, but he quickly dismissed the thought. That wouldn't be very nice to Kaede. "I'm better now." He said instead. "I can wheel myself along, at least. What're you doing?"
Kaede looked away from the mage, staring at the target. "Training my [Soul Arrow]." She admitted. "I didn't deign to master it earlier, and I ended up being useless for half the fight."
"You were plenty helpful." Ascion reassured her, but Kaede shook her head.
"I've got a lot of training to catch up to." She replied. "I wasn't confident in making the shot, so I hesitated and only fired when you and Akio moved away, causing the arrow to do less damage than it should have. I screwed up my knife throw, it didn't even touch Yuko. If it wasn't for her flinching in surprise, that throw would have been for naught. And don't try to deny it. I was far less useful than I could have been because I used up all of my arrows and didn't have an alternative."
Ascion sighed. "Right on all counts, I suppose." He said bluntly. Kaede wouldn't appreciate him trying to make her feel better by ignoring her faults, and he would kick himself for lying to his best friend in the first place. "To be fair, we're still children, Kaede. We may have enough paranoia to match, or even exceed most adults, but we're still children. There's a limit to how much we could have trained, how much we know, and how much we could expect. It's not like you slacked off training, right?"
"Of course not."
"Then it's fine. You just trained differently from how you now believe you should have. This doesn't mean that your previous efforts have gone to waste. And as long as we learn from our mistakes, that's fine, isn't it?" Ascion finished, giving Kaede a pointed look.
Kaede huffed, a small smile gracing her lips as she stowed away her bow. "You're always able tell what I'm thinking."
"You've been my only friend for years now, Kaede." Ascion chuckled. "I think it's only natural for me to tell when you start beating yourself up. We could have died because of our mistakes, yes, but fact is that we're still alive. That means we can still work on correcting those mistakes, so that we become better prepared."
Kaede laughed. "Since when were you one for speeches, Ascion?"
Ascion just grinned. "Never. I pulled all that out of my ass. Doesn't make it untrue, though."
Kaede sighed fondly. "Well, I'm not surprised. So, are we still going to go check up on Akio?"
"Yeah, we should. But first, dinner?"
Kaede rolled her eyes as she started to push Ascion along. "If I start cooking now, we wouldn't leave until the sun sets. Let's just buy something to eat as we go."
"Sure."
Akio almost growled in irritation as he pressed himself into the shadows of another rock. Why were there this many patrols out today? Dances with Balrog knew that this is his territory. He tolerated the regular patrols, but this is too much.
Dances always told him not to reveal his wolf form to other people, and he also promised to lessen the patrols in Akio's territory so he didn't have to be quite as careful while hunting. Did he go back on his promise?
'Typical humans.' He thought bitterly, before shaking his head. 'No… Dances… always been fair. Something is up. Not all humans, bad.'
Ascion's and Kaede's faces came unbidden to his mind.
'I hope.'
Now sure that the patrols had passed by, Akio continued on his way.
'Ask Dances after I heal.' He decided, wincing as his wound twinged with pain. 'Should be well enough to do this tomorrow. As for Ascion and Kaede… I will see, what they think, next time, I see them. Should be in two days. Monday. Start of school."
Being so focused on avoiding the patrols, Akio did not notice the small form perched on top of the cliff his cave was set in. When he was finally no longer in danger of being seen, he scanned his surroundings cautiously. Detecting nothing amiss, he padded into his cave, slumping onto the stone floor. It had been a long run from Ellinia, and right now, he just wanted to rest.
Silently, a pair of bright blue eyes opened, observing the wolf curled up on the ground.
I think this is a good place to leave off.
Please review!