Lin's POV:
I kept an eye on the villagers watching our small convoy from above, Kaede in my arms.
More eyes raised to look at me, and I brushed off the glares, before gently landing outside of the council house.
I gently put Kaede on his feet, and he looked around, before tugging my sleeve and pointing.
The children were watching us from around a corner, and they ducked away for a moment, before seeing we had spotted them.
Running, they hid behind Kaede, keeping a wary eye on me.
"[Hello again, Hibiki, Hibari and Hikari]" I smiled, switching into Chinese as I crouched to their level.
"Dàgē Kojou?" they asked in unison, and at the nods Kaede and I gave, I was quickly knocked back by two of the triplets combined weight. The third just crossed his arms, before tentatively joining in.
"Wow, so these are your siblings?" I heard, and I looked up to see Monk.
"[Hibiki, Hibari, Hikari, this is Hoshou]" I introduced, before switching back to Japanese to introduce them to him.
Looking back towards the trio, I noticed Hibari's hair was ruffled, and Hibiki had a black eye, as well as a bruise on his cheek.
"[What happened?]" I asked, gently touching the bruise, to which Hibiki attempted hiding it behind his hand.
"[I-it's nothing...]" Hibiki attempted, as Hikari bit her lip.
"[I dealt with the problem.]" Hibari scowled, crossing his arms.
"[Hibari, what happened?]" Kaede asked.
"[We were bullied again…]" Hikari admitted, and I found my smile frosting over slightly. "[They punched Hibiki when he tried to stand up for me, then Hibari found out and got mad…]"
"Idiots." I growled, getting up.
"What?" Monk asked.
"Bullying. It's too common here." I replied.
"[Ryuuko was visiting Mum, and we didn't want to stay at home without either of you!]" Hibiki exclaimed, hugging Kaede. "[Now Hibari's going to get thrown in the Cells again!]"
"[Cells?]" Naru mused as he came over with Gene. "[For dealing with bullies?]"
"[I know you did that, but violence repaying violence is a bad idea.]" Gene replied.
"Wait, wait? Translation?" Monk asked, looking very lost.
"Hibari's getting thrown in the cells alongside Kaede and Lin for beating up bullies assaulting his siblings, and Gene's telling Naru off, reminding him of when Gene was being bullied and Naru stepped in." Yasu mused, shrugging.
"You know Chinese?" Gene asked.
"Yes, it makes research easier!" Yasu grinned. "Same if I know Latin and Korean."
"That's awesome! I think only Naru can beat you in the amount of languages learnt!"
"Oh?"
"Latin, Greek, French, Japanese, Spanish, English, Chinese and Italian!"
"Cool! What about you?"
"I could only manage Japanese, Chinese, English and French."
"Hmm~ Teach me French, and I'll teach you Korean and Latin."
"Everyone!" Elder Bo called. "This way, if you will."
I gave the triplets a small smile, and Hikari grabbed my shirt while Hibiki grabbed Kaede's hand. Hibari gabbed the hands of his twins, and we followed Bo inside…
···
The elders looked practically the same to when I had left, the only difference was that there was a new chair, which remained vacant until Bo resumed her seat, and the Half-Demon Elder Kyojin stood.
"Kojou, before we begin, I would like to say one thing." he smiled. "You are by no means a murderer, as was believed after you… Left. They actually gained Enlightenment after her ordeal…"
The door opened, and I felt my eyes widen as I took a step forwards.
Dressed in a white and blue chèuhngsāam, wings gleaming in the light and orange-gold hair cascading down in perfected waves from a silver circlet…
"Yi." I breathed.
She smiled, and I realised something off.
"Kojou! Nice to see you! You look well!" she said, before sitting in the vacant seat. "May the council begin!"