Chapter Sixty-Three: A Day in Hiroka (Part 1)

Another new day has come, readers, and with it, a new chapter, Day 3 to be exact. This was a fun one to write personally, I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did. Cya.

"Man, what a night, that's what I call getting some good sleep,"

Two days had passed since the two squads teamed up in Chasmar. Now, focus shifts to Aqua Deer HQ as the sun rises over their base, awakening Shauna from her slumber.

The illusion mage got out from her bed and walked over to her mirror, placing her hands on her red hair, which at the time, was quite messy. "Damn bed head, I might need to have Zuka do my hair sometime," she mused before grabbing her towel and walking out of her room.

Shauna quickly looked to her side. Zuka should be coming out of her room soon, so the red-haired teen decided to wait for a minute, but for some reason, she never came out.

"That's odd. Is she sleeping in or something?" Shauna wondered aloud as she moved over to the sparkle mage's door and gently knocked. "Hey Zuka, it's me, Shauna. Come on, we gotta get moving, you wouldn't want to miss breakfast, would you?" but there was no response from the other side, or even a slight sound for that matter.

The illusion mage's face expressed visible worry, but she eventually turned around and went on her way. If Zuka wasn't seen by the time she finished breakfast, she was planning as far as breaking her door down. She took a bath and returned to dress herself before heading to the breakfast hall.

"Good morning, Shauna," a voice greeted her from behind, she turned to see Oliver.

"Morning," she greeted back. "Hey, did you ever notice something wrong with Zuka yesterday?"

Oliver held his chin in thought. "Nope. Nothing she did yesterday seemed out of the ordinary. Did something strange happen today?"

"When I walked out of my room today, I noticed she didn't come out. I knocked, but no answer," Shauna explained. "I'm going to be heading back there later,"

"That does sound kind of weird. But she should be fine, don't forget, this is Zuka we're talking about," the wood mage attempted to reassure her. "We should get some breakfast, she'll most likely meet us,"

"I hope you're right," Shauna said back as they got breakfast and sat at their table. "Going to another topic, the Royal Knights exam is coming up in a few days. Do you think we'll be selected to participate?"

Oliver cut his waffle in four and popped a quarter into his mouth. "I don't know, but regardless, Rill has been having us do tons of training in preparation for whoever gets chosen. We've leveled up a good margin since the Star Festival,"

"You got a point there, the two of us added some new spells to our arsenal. Although, I don't think Zuka has done the same yet," the illusion mage said, but noticed that her squadmate across from her wasn't paying attention. "You good?"

"Speaking of Zuka," Oliver replied as he pointed. Shauna followed his finger, looking behind her to see Zuka, standing at the entrance of the hall. One look at her face and it was obvious to see the sparkle mage was saddened by something.

Upon seeing her friend, Shauna quickly stood up, ready to head over to her, but Oliver reacted just as fast. "Wait, don't be impatient, let her come to us,"

"Fine," she answered as they both watched Zuka get some breakfast and walk over to them.

"Good morning, you two," she greeted plainly before sitting down, staring at her food.

Shauna sat back down too. "What happened earlier? You never came with me to shower, I knocked on your room door, but you never answered,"

"Really? I must've not heard you, I…went to sleep kinda late," Zuka said back, her eyes not moving from where they were.

Oliver raised a brow, despite how plain the response sounded, he felt that for some reason, Zuka was lying to them. "I see. Say, are you okay? You're not giving off your usual bubbly, sassy positivity,"

"I'm just not feeling it today," she replied again.

The wood mage wasn't satisfied with that answer. "You know-,"

"Hey you three," another voice joined in, it was Fragil.

"Oh, I'm guessing Captain Rill needs us?" Shauna asked, already knowing how this went.

"Yup, you know where he is, so I'll be off," the woman finished, walking away.

Zuka stood and picked up her plate, still full of food, but that didn't stop her from throwing it out. "We don't want to keep him waiting, let's go," she told her friends, already on her way out.

Shauna and Oliver left the hall too, both walking behind Zuka on their way to Rill's office, as the sparkle mage was a good few feet ahead.

Oliver bobbed his head towards the illusion mage. "Yeah, something's definitely off with her," he whispered. "Just not feeling it today my ass,"

"I know, but what could it be? She's never been like this before. Do you think we should ask her," she whispered back.

"That sounds like the best plan, we can ask her after seeing what Rill needs. I just hope she doesn't try to dodge it again," the wood mage replied.

In about two minutes, they were in front of the door. Zuka took the initiative and knocked.

"Come in," Rill said from the other side. They entered and to none of their surprise, he was painting. "Ah, you three, perfect,"

"What's the masterpiece in work this time, captain?" Oliver asked, his arms casually crossed.

"I'm so glad you asked," the picture mage replied as he turned his canvas around, revealing a portrait of a starry sky, and a lone boy standing in the night looking up at them. "I call this painting 'Looking Up at the Heavens', but it doesn't feel too much like a masterpiece. Anyways, getting back to why I called you three here,"

"Let me guess, you need us to go on a mission, or maybe patrol the capital?" Shauna predicted.

"Bingo to the first answer! We've gotten a letter from-," Rill started saying, but stopped himself abruptly, noticing something wrong. "Hey, Zuka, you look different today, more…sad. Is there a problem?" he asked gently.

The sparkle mage's face showed some shock from being called out, but she quickly put on a fake happy face. "Problem? No, I'm just fine," she lied.

By that point, Oliver had had enough. "Okay, time-out!" he raised his voice, pointing right at Zuka. "You are not alright! Your entire demeanor is off today, something's bothering you, but you don't want to tell us what that is. What happened to that thing you told me, about remembering to lean on your friends when you feel troubled. We're your friends, right? Don't carry whatever burden you have by yourself,"

"Using my own words against me, not bad," Zuka said before turning her head away from the others, nervously stroking her left arm with her right hand. "Ok then, there is something up. Today is kind of a bad day for me, it's the anniversary of the day…my dad died,"

Immediately as those words left her mouth, the expressions of the other three aqua deers became surprised. No wonder the sparkle mage looked so down.

"Oh, that's the reason, I see," Oliver said with a sad look. "I'm sorry, I kinda feel bad for asking,"

Zuka looked back at him. "Don't be. You were right, I should've told you, it's just that I've never told anyone before. Until I came here, the only place I've ever been was my village, and they already knew about it," she explained. "In fact, I'm the one who should be saying sorry, you two must've been so worried,"

Shauna placed her hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to apologize either, the anniversary of a parent's death is bound to make anyone sad,"

"I know, but that isn't the full reason I was sad," Zuka told her. "Part of it is because I can't even go home to observe it with my mom. I'm a magic knight now, I have responsibilities to uphold. I can't just go there because I want to,"

"That's where you're wrong," Rill cut in. "Your biggest responsibility should be to your family, even before the kingdom, after all, the kingdom won't always be here, but you'll always have a family. I can assign this mission to another group, you three have my permission to go to Zuka's home,"

To say Zuka was surprised by this would be an understatement. "Really?"

"Of course. To be honest with you, I never really knew my father, he was never around. Did he die? Or leave the family? My mother wouldn't tell me. It's good that you had such a relationship with him, so I won't let anything stop you. You have a day to spend there, be back here tomorrow by noon," he replied.

The three knights clover-saluted. "Thank you very much, captain,"

"Don't mention it, now off you go," Rill said as the three left his office. "Now, let's see if I can make this painting look better,"

The aqua trio went to their rooms and got their brooms, meeting up outside before they took to the skies. "I won't lie, I'm a bit excited, I've never seen your village before, Zuka," Shauna commented.

"I bet it has a lot of nice, albeit tough people, they did raise you after all," Oliver added.

"You both are going to love it there," Zuka responded before a thought came to her head. "Hey, do you mind if we take a slight detour?"

"Um, not at all, but why?" the illusion mage asked with a raised brow.

Zuka looked forward. "There's someone else I would like to take with us,"

Focus shifts to Black Bulls HQ, the rooms of the base are all empty, not a single place was occupied, for once in quite some time, there was peace and quiet.

But then that peace and quiet were abruptly interrupted as the entrance door suddenly burst open, revealing all the Black Bulls, with Yami at the front, his foot up from just having kicked the door.

"Ah, nothing like some early morning team training," the dark mage mused as they all walked in, Gauche then closed the door before they went and sat in different places.

"I'll get started on breakfast," Charmy said as she summoned her sheep cooks and got to work.

Yami got comfortable in his chair. "It doesn't matter which one of you are participating in that exam, you'll all be kicking ass,"

"I just hope that we don't have to fight each other, after seeing that new form Asta got, beating him just got a lot harder," Magna stated.

Asta scratched the back of his head. "Aw, thanks," he replied. But what the flame mage said was true, after the four bulls came back from Yultim, the swordsman debuted his Black Asta transformation to everyone and gave a short demonstration. It was obvious that he had grown much stronger. "But you can say the same to Kenos. That wyvern spell he learned was awesome, not to mention it's huge,"

"Thanks, I can't wait to see how it fares against another serious foe," the solar mage said back.

"I'm proud of you both. Oh wait, that reminds me, have any of you seen Grey?" the dark mage asked.

"She's right over there," Vanessa pointed to a corner where the transformation mage was keeping to herself.

"I hardly saw you during the majority of our training. Were you hiding somewhere?" he asked.

"Um, n-no captain, I w-wasn't h-hiding," Grey stuttered before Nero landed on her head. "Hey G-Gordon, could I s-see your notebook?"

The poison mage happily obliged as he handed it over, she then began writing and gave it back to him. Luck took this chance to go over and read it.

"I've been training with Nero to use my transformation magic to shift into animals, it sounded like something interesting I could try," the lightning mage read.

Yami burst into a short fit of laughter. "Transforming into animals? Leave it to our squad's strategist to come up with such a cool idea,"

"Tell me about it, to believe there was a time where we didn't think either Grey or Gordon could be as impressive as they actually are," Finral added.

"Okay everyone, breakfast is ready!" Charmy called as multiple plates loaded to the brim with food. "Eat up,"

Everyone said their thanks and washed up before helping themselves. "Thanks a bunch, Charmy!" they all said.

"Y'know, I wonder how the Crimson Lion Kings are doing?" Noelle wondered aloud as she ate. "They're still training at that volcano,"

"They'll be fine, my sister and her squad are tough, I bet they're all getting much stronger," Kenos replied. "Mereoleona is training them after all, she wouldn't expect anything less,"

"This Mereoleona sounds super strong, do you think she'd be up to fighting me?!" Luck asked with his usual excitement.

"Actually, I think she would, she's quite the intense fighter," the solar mage replied once more. "But I'd have to warn you, she-," he was cut off by a sudden series of knocks.

"Who could be needing something from us this early?" Gauche wondered, his sister's picture in hand. "One of you go answer it, the noise is interrupted my Marie worship,"

"Don't worry, I'll get it," Magna volunteered as he got up and walked to the door, opening it, but just as he did, a head quickly popped out into view.

"Hey there all,"

"Zuka!" they all said in unison.

"Yo Ms. Sparkles, what brings you over her? Do you need Kenos?" Yami asked.

"Yup, I just need to steal him for a few seconds. I hope you don't mind?" she asked.

Yami carelessly waved a hand. "Not at all, I don't even think I ever will,"

"Thanks, captain," Kenos said as he got out of his chair and walked outside, there, he saw the wood and illusion mages. "Hey there, Oliver, Shauna, it's been some time,"

"I know, it really has," Oliver nodded.

"Thanks for taking care of Zuka during the Star Festival. We owe you," Shauna added.

"Not a problem, and you guys don't owe me anything, it was a pleasure having her and showing her around," he responded with a smile before turning to the sparkle mage. "So, what did you want to talk to me about? Is there some mission you want me to accompany you with?"

"Um, not exactly. You see, today marks the fifth anniversary of," she paused, it still wasn't easy to tell someone. "..My dad's death," she finished.

Kenos' expression changed to a sad one. "Oh, I'm sorry, my condolences,"

Zuka nodded her acceptance before continuing. "I was going to head over to my village to observe it with my mom. Shauna and Oliver are coming with me, but I wanted to know…if you would like to come to? It's okay if you can't, you don't have to feel obligated, I don't want to make you feel guilty,"

"Well you won't have to worry about that, I'll come too. I've always wanted to go, besides, you've been to my home and met my parents, it wouldn't be fair to not do the same," he answered.

Zuka smiled. "That's great, let's get a move on,"

"Wait, we're leaving now? I was sort of in the middle of something at the moment. Come inside, I'll ask Yami," Kenos said, but stopped as he saw only Zuka was following him. "You two can come in as well,"

The four knights entered the base, the solar mage immediately speaking up. "Captain Yami, Zuka wants me to go with her to her village for something really important happening there. You don't have anything for me to do, do you?"

"Hm, there was something, but you can forget it. We owe Zuka anyway for that time she helped you out of your slump a while back. Do whatever important thing you need," he replied.

"Just wait a minute!" Charmy exclaimed. "You can't take him right now, he's in the middle of breakfast,"

"Oh, is that what you were talking about?" Zuka realized.

"Yup, Charmy doesn't like it when we skip meals," Kenos explained. "Would you like to join us?"

Upon asking, Zuka's stomach suddenly growled. "Damn, I forgot that I didn't eat much breakfast. Count me in,"

"Perfect, I'll fix you up a plate, what do you like?" the cotton mage asked.

"Anything's good with me right now," the blue and magenta-haired teen answered.

Charmy grinned. "Alright, I can get creative," her head turned to the other two aqua deers. "And what about you guys?"

Oliver politely waved. "No, I'm fine, I already ate," he declined.

"Same here, we don't need anything," Shauna added.

Charmy gave a playful smile and wave. "Nonsense, come over and eat something,"

"Oh no, really, we're good," Oliver declined again as he and Shauna turned around. "We'll just wait outside for you to finish, take your-,"

The two were suddenly bound by coils of cotton, not permitting them to take another step. They turned their heads around to see Charmy, a deadly white aura surrounding her, the previous playful look on her face was gone, replaced by dead seriousness.

"I don't think you heard me? I said…come over and eat,"

After some time, the four knights were finally up in the air, on their way to their destination.

Oliver burped. "Holy shit, that Charmy girl is crazy, but her food is incredible," he commented. "Although I can't believe she made us eat so much,"

"I know, we had to wait about two hours after breakfast was over just for our stomachs to be able to handle movement, and even now they feel full," Shauna added. "At least on the bright side, we got to converse with the Black Bulls. They're quite an interesting bunch,"

"I know, and don't worry about your stomachs, my village is quite far away, it took me three and a half days to get to the capital from there on foot, so on broom, I estimate we should get there in about two-ish hours, three if we take a few stops," Zuka deduced.

"Three hours is pretty long, we should do something to pass the time," Kenos suggested. "Could you tell us more about Hiroka Village?"

"Of course. It's a nice little spot in the Forsaken Realm, we have quite a lot of trees and tons of livestock, the freshest you could get from anywhere. And the people are great too, we have the occasional troublemaker, but nothing too bad," the sparkle excitedly told them.

Her excitement made Kenos smile. "Great, I can't wait to see it with my own eyes,"

And see it with his own eyes he did. The three hours passed and they had finally landed, the solar, wood, and illusion mages gasped at the beautiful sight before them. Trees of different sizes were everywhere, but none of them were too tall to take away from the natural beauty of the area. There were roads of both grass and dirt, people and livestock moving across them both in an orderly manner, as well as many buildings.

"Incredible," the three thought.

Zuka turned to face them, an arm extended behind her. "Everyone, welcome to Hiroka Village, my home,"

"This place looks incredible," Shauna remarked.

"Then let's not stay here, let's go and get a closer view," Oliver told her.

Kenos nodded. "I agree," they all dismounted from their brooms. "Zuka, lead the way,"

"Follow me," she said as she walked in front of the group, they passed through an array of arched rocks, marking the entrance into the village.

The sparkle mage breathed in the fresh air. "Ah, it's good to be back," she stated before noticing two people looking at them from a nearby house.

"Hi, Zuka!" they waved.

The girl happily waved back. "Hi there, it's great to see you again!"

"How many people do you know here?" Oliver curiously asked.

"Not too bad of an amount since I was raised here. But everyone here knew my dad, a well-known village figure, back then, they used to call him 'The Kindest Man in Hiroka', anyone could come to him about almost anything and he'd help them. There wasn't an evil bone in his body," she replied.

"What about personal friends?" Shauna was the one to ask this time.

"A good number actually, but before I left for the capital to partake in the entrance exam, a few of them had left to pursue different jobs, and I'm not even sure if more left during my absence," she replied again. After she did, however, a sound was heard.

It didn't take long to discern what it was. "That sounds like a baby crying," Oliver said, they all began running towards the sound, soon finding it coming from a house. A woman was standing next to a tree, the crying baby in hand.

"Let's go see what that lady needs," Zuka told them as they walked over to her. "Hello there ma'am, we couldn't help but notice-," she was saying, but stopped herself once she got close enough to see who it was, a woman with black and white hair. "I don't believe it, it's you,"

The woman's head quickly shot backward upon hearing the familiar voice, a big smile gracing her features.

Zuka quickly turned to her friends to introduce the woman. "Guys, I'd like you to meet the chief of Hiroka Village, Moiru,"

"Zuka, it's so good to see you, I didn't know you were visiting," Moiru said before looking at the three newcomers. "And you made some friends in the magic knights,"

"Thanks, a lot has changed for me, and it appears the same is true for you," Zuka pointed at the baby boy she was holding. "I didn't know you had a kid, or that you were even married. Tell me, who's the lucky guy?"

"Oh no, I'm still single, and this baby isn't mine. A family had to go do something important at a friend's house and they needed someone to watch their baby for the day. Being the chief, I volunteered," Moiru explained.

"That's our Moiru, always hands-on and ready to help,"

The baby then started to cry louder, causing Moiru to sigh. "I may be ready to help, but little Matt over here won't stop crying. I've managed to keep him quiet for short periods of time, but that's only when he's either eating or sleeping, and it's really starting to wear out my patience," she explained.

They all watched as Matt continued to cry, but Kenos' expression was different from the others, his eyes wide open, his gaze fixed on the infant. He then began nearing the village chief, until he was the closest to her, his gaze still not leaving Matt.

"A baby," he plainly stated as he extended his arms forward, his fingers contracting in a childish 'gimme gimme' fashion. "M...May I hold him?" he asked.

"Um, sure, be my guest," Moiru said, handing the baby over to Kenos.

Once in the solar mage's arms, Matt looked at his face, and suddenly, his crying stopped. And it was soon replaced by giggles and laughs, that action managed to make Kenos' cheeks go pink as a huge smile appeared on his face. "Look at you! You're so small, and adorable, and precious, I just want to hold you forever,"

Visible comedic shock was seen on the faces of everyone else, as for Zuka, she could feel blood running down her nose. "And I thought seeing him embarrassed was cute? I never realized how much I needed to see that face," she thought before wiping the blood off.

Oliver got over his shock and cleared his throat. "I know we don't know each other the greatest, but I would never think in a million years you'd have a soft spot for babies,"

Kenos' face returned to normal. "Yeah, I've always been fond of them, they're bundles of adorable innocence, uncorrupted by the world, at the stage where they'll always be loved by their family...no matter what. I'm the youngest Rossiu of the generation, so I never got to care for any babies," he explained.

"I wish you did get to take care of them, you're a natural, just a few seconds and you already got Matt happy," Moiru praised him. "You'd make a great father someday,"

"Thanks, but if I'm going to be a father, then I wonder who would be my wife?" Kenos wondered aloud.

This made Zuka's face go bright red. "Wife? I never thought of it like that, I've been so fixed on my crush on Kenos, I never considered what would happen if he actually felt the same way. We would get married and have kids of our own, and to make kids, we'd have to have…," she stopped herself from entering that mental threshold or else she'd pass out.

"If you're here, I take it you'll be heading to your house soon?" Moiru asked.

Zuka pushed her thoughts aside. "That's right, we were actually on our way there, but then we heard Matt crying,"

"I see, then we can head there together," the black and white-haired woman said before turning to the other three. "Forgive me, but I don't think I caught your names,"

"I'm Kenos Rossiu,"

"Name's Oliver Yggdrow,"

"Then there's me, Shauna Trixxton,"

"Wow, what nice names, going by your clothes, I take it you're all nobles?"

"That's right," the illusion mage answered.

"To think our Zuka made friends with nobles, amazing,"

"It isn't too far-fetched, with a personality like Zuka's, it's hard not wanting to be friends with her," Kenos stated.

Moiru nodded. "No arguments here. Well then, Kenos, I hope you don't mind holding onto Matt for a little while?"

"It would be my pleasure to hold this little joy," he replied, gently pinching the baby's cheek.

They all then began walking, with Kenos, Zuka, and Moiru in the front, while Shauna and Oliver walked behind them.

"Oliver, I've been wondering about something," Shauna said.

The wood mage looked at her. "Alright, lay it on me,"

"Since we almost know for a fact that Zuka likes Kenos, do you think we should use being here as an opportunity to set them up?" she asked. "We could probably tell Moiru too, we could come up with a plan together. We're her friends, isn't that something friends do for each other?"

Oliver pondered the idea before shaking his head. "I don't think it's a good idea. Zuka doesn't know that we know, so it wouldn't be considerate to tell Moiru, plus, Kenos most likely isn't aware either, if he catches onto our plan and finds out before Zuka's mentally prepared to confess to him, it could lead to problems, for both them and us,"

"I guess you're right, it's just that I want to help. Unlike I was some time ago, she has the chance to be with someone she really likes," Shauna confessed.

"Unlike you were some time ago? Tell you what then, if you ever want to, I can find a way to set you and Joshua up, then you won't have to worry about being different from her," Oliver joked, but was met with a punch to the shoulder. "Ow,"

"Not funny," Shauna said to him.

After some more walking, they finally arrived at a house, it was pretty large, standing at two stories and was a dark green. "Ah, home sweet home," Zuka expressed.

"Your mother should be in today, I'm going to knock quick and see-," Moiru was saying, but now saw she didn't need to as the door was opening on its own, revealing an elderly woman of medium height, she had gray hair that reached the base of her neck and wore a simple brown casual dress.

"Alma!" Zuka exclaimed as she ran to the woman and hugged her.

"Zuka, it's so good to see you. Have you gotten a little taller, or am I just seeing things?" the old lady smiled.

"Nope, I'm definitely getting taller. What are you doing here?" the sparkle mage asked.

"I've been coming here ever since you left to help out your mother, you know, since she can't cook," Alma replied.

Just then, a voice was heard from inside. "Alma, is there someone at the door?" a female voice asked before coming to the door, revealing a tall woman with short blue hair who was wearing a purple sweatshirt and shorts.

"Mom!" Zuka jumped onto her mother, hugging her even tighter than with Alma.

"Zuka? You're here, I didn't think you'd come, I thought I'd be here to observe the anniversary on my own this year," she said.

"My captain gave me permission to come here," Zuka explained.

"That's good, please give him my thanks when you can,"

The blue and magenta-haired teen turned around to face her friends. "Guys, meet two other important women in my life, Alma Droms, and my mother, Croatia Glitenia,"

Croatia lightly gasped. "Oh, you brought people with you," she looked at the three and gasped a lot louder this time, noting their clothing. "You've brought nobles with you," she quickly bowed her upper half. "Greetings, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please forgive me, I know my humble home isn't up to your standards,"

"Ma'am, you don't have to be so formal with us, we don't mind anything here at all, we're just happy to be here," Oliver told her politely.

"Mom, these are some of my friends, Kenos, Oliver, and Shauna," Zuka introduced.

"You've made some interesting friends then," Croatia laughed. "You all must be hungry. You three can head inside and get comfortable, Zuka and Alma will help me prepare dinner, we'll have to gather some materials for a fire since I don't have flame magic, we'll also need to get the ingredients,"

"No, we'll help you, it wouldn't be right for us to be guests in your house and not do anything to contribute," Shauna insisted, the other nobles nodding.

A sound was then heard from above. Everyone looked up to see a crow standing atop a building, making its natural sound, Oliver pointed at the blackbird. "So, is that part of the ingredients we're searching for?" he asked jokingly.

Zuka chuckled. "No Oliver, we don't eat those kinds of birds. Now, we should get started,"

A smile came to the blue-haired woman's face. "Ok then, but be warned, it will take some time,"

And take some time it did, by the time they were already done, night had fallen over Hiroka. Inside the house, Alma and Croatia were doing some cleaning, Moiru was helping Shauna and Oliver fix the table, and Kenos, who had left Matt in one of the rooms to sleep, was helping Zuka in the kitchen.

"So, what are we making?" the solar mage asked.

"One of the ways we observe my dad's anniversary is by making his favorite meal, rice and potatoes with seasoned lamb," Zuka replied.

"Sounds tasty, this is your house, so I'll follow your lead, what do you need me to do?"

Zuka pointed to a corner of the kitchen. "Would you mind peeling some potatoes for me?"

"I'm on it," he responded as he walked over and stood at the corner, staring down the brown-skinned vegetables.

The sparkle mage lightly hummed as she worked on the meat which she and Alma had skinned, cleaned, and let marinate a little while ago, but oddly enough, she didn't hear the familiar sound of knife movement when peeling potatoes. She turned around and was quite surprised to see Kenos hadn't progressed at all, the knife was in his hand, a potato in the other, but he didn't look like he knew what to do with them.

"Is something the matter?" the sparkle mage asked.

"Oh," Kenos turned to her, his face becoming red with embarrassment. "You see, the thing is, I…don't know how to cook,"

Zuka deadpanned. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I don't know how to cook. As a noble, the servants always made our meals, so I never really got any experience in the kitchen,"

"I see. Why didn't you just say so?"

Kenos nervously looked away from her. "I didn't want you to think less of me. Look at me, an important noble and an amazing mage, but I can't even cook for myself,"

Zuka warmly smiled as she walked towards him. "Nothing you can or can't do will ever make me think less of you, and it's ok, as you might've heard, my mom can't cook either. Here, let me help you," she said as she placed her hands over his as she stood behind him, immediately feeling his warmth, her face becoming just as warm, but she went on. "Okay, you want to hold the potato like this and the knife like this, set the knife on an angle, and use your thumb so more force and control," she managed to explain without losing her cool despite her situation, luckily, Kenos was too busy being in awe of peeling a potato to notice.

"The table is almost fixed, how's the food coming-," Moiru was saying, ready to enter the kitchen, but quickly jumped back and hid once she saw what was happening.

The chief saw Croatia and Alma ready to come into the kitchen too, but she quickly yet quietly stopped them, and waved for them to join her as they watched the two teens.

"Wow Zuka, you're a great teacher," Kenos praised, the girl still helping him from behind.

The sparkle mage gave a shy smile. "Thanks, I've been doing this for some time," she said, her face still burning red.

"Well would you look at that, it looks like our Zuka has a crush," Moiru whispered, a sly grin present on her face. "You may have to hand your only daughter away, Croatia,"

"Zuka never really expressed any romantic interest in boys, even before she left for the exam," Alma joined. "That Kenos boy must be very special,"

"Zuka always was just like Leroy, and now just like him, she's fallen for someone who apparently can't cook," Croatia finished as they kept on looking.

"I think I should be good," Kenos said as Zuka moved away from him, hiding her face so he couldn't see her blushing. "Muscle memory should help me finish the rest,"

Zuka had finally begun to cool down. "Alright then, but don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. I…wouldn't mind helping you like that again,"

"Will do,"

Seeing that the coast was clear, Moiru entered the kitchen, the other two women behind her. "Hey there you two, how's the food coming along, need any help with anything,"

The sparkle mage quickly realized that she wasn't going as fast as she normally did, and that most of the meal still wasn't done. "Actually, some help would be greatly appreciated,"

Forty minutes passed and finally, everyone was at the table, steaming plates of food in front of each of them, Croatia was the first to speak up. "Before we eat, we are to dedicate a few seconds of silence in honor of my late husband," she explained as everyone reverently obeyed, closing their eyes as they all stayed quiet.

"Thank you all," she broke the silence, signaling for everyone to open their eyes again. "We may eat,"

Kenos was the first to take a bite. "Hmm, this tastes great!"

"I know, this lamb is seasoned perfectly," Oliver added. "You people know what you're doing,"

"Did your husband make this recipe?" Shauna asked.

Croatia nodded. "He did, it took him weeks to perfect it since he was doing it all from the ground up," she replied before turning to her daughter. "But enough about that, I want to talk about you dear, how has it been being a part of the magic knights. I hope you're not getting too hurt,"

"You don't have to worry about me at all, I'm doing just fine there, I may run into the occasional douchebag, but all in all, the knights I've met are mostly good people," she answered. "And in the capital, there are so many wonderful things to see,"

"Speaking of wonderful things to see, I can't help but notice that necklace you have on, it's beautiful," Moiru complimented. "Where did you buy it?"

Zuka placed a hand on the silver necklace. "Oh, thank you, and actually, it was Kenos who got it for me, as a gift,"

Those words made another sly grin form on the chief's face. "A gift, aye? I take it you don't give gifts to all your friends?"

"No, nothing like that,"

"I see, then Zuka must be very special to you," she said, immediately making Zuka shift an eye in her direction.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't she be special? She was the first person I met from another squad. She's brave, compassionate, outgoing, doesn't take crap from anyone, a strong mage, and like every other girl I know, she's really pretty," Kenos stated, the last words of the statement making Zuka internally scream.

"Then I guess-," Moiru was about to say before Alma placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Please, don't tease the poor girl," she muttered with a chuckle.

"Alright then, I give, let's just enjoy our meal," the chief surrendered, the atmosphere returning to normal as they all ate.

But unbeknownst to them, standing out their window was the crow Oliver spotted from before, its eyes turning red as a reflection of the group eating and laughing was seen on it.

"Great, I'm making nice progress, this new spell is amazing,"

Those were the words spoken by Annalise. Within the hideout of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, the spark mage had just finished her solo training and was stopping to catch her breath.

Suddenly, steps were heard, making Annalise shoot up, the figure in question emerged from the darkness, it was a man fully concealed in his robe, the crow from before resting on his shoulder.

The spark mage calmed down. "Oh, it's just you Dowin, you startled me,"

"My apologies, but I have some news to report, while my crow was flying around searching for the locations of the remaining Magic Stones, it found something else, something that I thought might interest you," he explained.

"Your crow magic surely is impressive, show me what you've found?" the spark mage requested.

"Reveal," Dowin spoke as the crow's eyes glowed and formed a projection, it was of the group from Hiroka, all eating and laughing.

"Zuka! And her squadmates!" she exclaimed angrily, but then she noticed something else. "And a black bull too, the squad that took Fana away from me. Fate must've wanted this to happen, giving me the chance to get rid of those I hate all in one fell swoop, I will have my revenge. So, where did your crow take this?"

"In Hiroka Village," he replied.

"I see, then I'll need to see Rades quick, there's something I'll need from him," Annalise said darkly as she turned her head over to the side, before her were almost a hundred of the wraith mage's corpses, their limbs scattered everywhere, burned to a crisp at the hands of her new spell.

"Plus, I'm going to need some stronger training partners,"

Hours passed after dinner, everyone had gone off to sleep. The morning then came, the sound of chirping birds woke Kenos up from his sleep, he groggily got up as he put on his shoes and walked into the dining room, where he saw Croatia and Alma.

"Good morning," the solar mage greeted.

"Good morning, Kenos," Alma greeted back. "You're up early, Shauna and Oliver are still asleep,"

"I see. Say is Matt still here," he asked with a little excitement.

"Sorry, but no, Moiru took him to his parents about an hour ago," the old lady told him.

He slumped a bit at the revelation. "Oh, then is Zuka around here?"

"No, she went to where her father was buried. She usually stays there for a while, they were really close," Croatia replied.

"I know, your husband must've been a great man, his family must've been lucky to have him before they let you get married," Kenos stated.

"Um, actually," the woman began. "I never met a member of Leroy's family,"

The solar mage raised a brow. "You haven't?"

"No, he just came to Hiroka one day when he was around 20 years old and decided to stay here. Nobody knew who he was or where he came from, and when I married him, he never talked about them. I guess they must've had a falling out in the past," she replied.

"A falling out with the family? I know that feeling, he must've never tried to make up with them," Kenos thought to himself. "So where exactly did Zuka go?"

Meanwhile, a decent distance away from her house, Zuka was kneeling in front of a tombstone, and on that tombstone read the following words.

'Here Lies Leroy Glitenia. A Beloved Member of our Community, and the Kindest Man in Hiroka.'

"Hey dad, it's me. Check out my robe, I'm a magic knight now, a proud member of the Aqua Deer. I have great friends and the best captain ever, it's because of my captain that I was able to come here today," Zuka said. "You wouldn't believe all the stuff I've done these past few months. I've gone on so many missions, fought tons of mages, both bandits and terrorists, and I even crashed a wedding. And it isn't just that…,"

The sparkle mage's cheeks grew pink. "I met a boy that I really like. He's kind, cute, confident, and he can't cook, everything about him always make me feel a different way, and that feeling is really nice, it makes me wonder if that's how you and mom felt when you fell for each other. I know that if you were still here, you'd like him a lot. His name is-,"

"Hey,"

Zuka suddenly turned around to see Kenos standing behind her. "O-Oh, hey, what are you doing here?"

"Your mom told me you were here," he replied before pausing for a few seconds. "…Do you mind if I pay my respects as well?"

"Sure," she accepted as she stood up, letting Kenos kneel down.

"Hello Mr. Glitenia, I know that we never got to know each other, but I owe you for one great thing, bringing Zuka into the world and raising her, making her into the wonderful young lady she is today. Someone who her friends can rely on, and someone who can smile at the face of adversity while knowing not to go past her limits. She truly is special," Kenos said, making the girl behind him blush a little.

The solar mage then stood up. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"Hmm, we should-," Zuka was about to reply, but then a large boom was heard from afar. The two looked behind them and saw smoke rising from a large distance. They looked at each other, not saying another word before they started running towards the explosion.

"Zuka! Kenos!" two unified voices screamed, they looked to their left to see Shauna and Oliver.

"I take it you all heard the explosion as well?" the solar mage asked.

"Yeah, we ran here as fast as we could," Shauna answered.

"Somebody caused this, but who?" Zuka wondered aloud. "The village has never been under attack before,"

"Well, if we want to find out, we need to pick up our pace," Oliver told them all as they ran faster, passing by many villagers who were running for their lives.

Upon arriving, all they could see was smoke, and the silhouette of a figure within it.

"Ok, I don't know who the hell you are, but you're going to regret causing trouble here!" Zuka exclaimed angrily.

But the figure in the smoke only laughed. "You don't know who I am, well that's a little harsh," they said, the voice obviously female as the figure emerged from the smoke, causing the eyes of the four knights to go wide. Before them stood Annalise, her long purple hair flowing in the wind, an evil grin on her face.

"We haven't seen each other in some time, but I thought you would at least remember your old enemy...Zuka,"