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I had thought little of the night Satoshi-sama had almost spent at the Niwa's, the night he vowed to distance himself as much as possible from that meddling Tamer of Dark's, but maybe I should have spent some time on it. Maybe I should have pushed and antagonized Satoshi-sama until I could have dragged out every thought process and every idea that crossed his mind that night, but it never occurred to me that he was doing more than the Hikari duty.
He should have been distancing himself to make it easier on the both of us when one or the other finally got his way. I wanted the Wing Master gone–and to some extent, Satoshi-sama as well–to break myself from the curse the very first great Hikari artist had thrust me in; Satoshi-sama wanted Dark sealed away in that blasted Koku Yoku canvas forever, in effect sealing me away for good, to end the curse for himself and the Niwas as well.
I suppose it was one thing we had in common, the inherent lust for freedom. He never tells me, but we both know it is all we want in the end, and that all our selfishness and pride, mixed in with determination and perseverance, will eventually lead us to some form of goal in that case.
He had spent half the night, staring at the child, blocking me from his thoughts as he had done so well recently. I'm not sure I had sensed such emotional agony from him as just then, as he pondered on something vast and great, and completely secret from me. When he had stood, adopting my form just as he had before, and moved the Niwa to the bed, I had simply watched as those words tumbled from our lips.
I hadn't thought it was our lips before, just his, but now that I think about it, maybe I had thought the same thing.
Satoshi-sama envied the Niwa. The child was void of prejudices and believed in his apparent friendship with Satoshi-sama. Dark had been thrust upon him blindly, and that stupid Niwa woman had taught him nothing at all about Fate. All Niwas since Us had hated the Hikari. All Niwas had feared, and stolen, and tried to protect themselves since We were born. None of the Niwa had known of Dark's objective–what he was searching for, and I kept so cleverly hidden.
So this young, sweet, sickeningly innocent Niwa child was placed in front of me for the first time, missing his Dark already, and completely oblivious to my nature and purpose, it was much of a shock.
It had taken nearly a month of figuring before I decided that Dark had the Niwas completely mesmerized with his seemingly amiable nature. They trusted him with their lives and loved him like he was a part of each and every one of them. They knew nothing about the monster he was and the destructive power he had managed to cause the Niwas to forget over generations and generations of acting, loving, and trying to become something greater.
But what was greater than Koku Yoku?
Dark knew something I didn't, and when Satoshi-sama had laid Daisuke Niwa on that bed and flew out the window using those wings, he had never realized that it was not his voice that had spoken those words.
"I've always… envied you."
And neither that naïve boy nor my sleeping half had heard our words, safe and secure in their slumber.
In case you didn't figure it out, this is Krad thinking over events in volume 9.