Machua ran up the stairs to the abandoned park. She had heard from Enzo that no one really respected the fact it was abandoned, but it was only hearing that it was Carmine and Kalina’s first choice for a duel that she realised man, no one cares. So, she naturally used it for a private meeting spot with Machi. She told him she wanted to have a chat they were long overdue for, and he seemed ready for it.

  In fact, he was so ready, he had arrived first. A can in his hand and swinging from a tree. He didn’t actually set up a swing, he manifested one in another dimension.

  “You didn’t make one for me,” Machua moped.

  “Did you want one? I was going to jump off.”

  “Yeah duh. I like the same things you do.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  In just a moment, he made another swing in the same dimension and Machua got in. She immediately kicked off and swung as hard as she could.

  “I guess…” Machia began, looking up at Machua who was now upside-down. “We’re here to talk about me.”

  “Yeeeeeeeep,” Machua’s word was blurred by her swinging down and looping around. She managed to complete a whole other loop before Machia stopped her. She chuckled a bit as she swung with normal force now.

  “You can ask anything you like. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer everything though,” Machia said.

  “Kay. I’ll get started then. Why were you holding back with Dalan?”

  “Man, you went right for it.”

  Machua shrugged.

  “I was… I didn’t want to solve the incident so easily. I wanted it to be dangerous for you and Plu, and I wanted you to grow from it.”

  “…Wow.”

  “I know, I know. It’s shitty of me to do. You were actually at risk of dying. If I could stop that, then I should’ve. And then I fucked up and got hurt for it. I shouldn’t have made you worry.”

  Machua swung back and forth with some force, deciding what she wanted to say to that. “Well, it was clear you were going through some stuff back there. Still…”

  “I know. I won’t do it again. And I’m sorry for arriving late too. I got caught up with other things that I should have given up on.”

  “It’s an improvement, I guess. But you’re probably going to get caught up in lots of things outside the mission, huh? Things you can’t tell me about,” Machua stated, almost nonchalantly.

  “… Yeah. They’re important to me.”

  “I’ll leave it at that for now then. I might hit you if you do it again though.”

  “Anyway.” Machua stopped swinging. “What the hell is Kaleid Blade? And who did you mean by greatest swordsman ever?”

  “Well, it’s a sword made out of dimensions.”

  “…”

  Machia didn’t have to look to know she was glaring at him. “It’s a lot of dimensions anchored into a knife and shaped into a blade. One big dimension envelops all of the others, and all the ones inside bounce around and clash with each other, which generates a lot of power. It’s packed really tight, and it’s super jittery, so it’s hard to keep it active for long. But the result is that it oscillates really hard, so it can shred through things really well.”

  “So the trick to using multiple dimensions at once is to envelop it in one big one?” Machua asked pointedly.

  “There isn’t a trick to it, to be honest. You just have to get good at managing all those dimensions clashing with each other without any of them dissipating. The big dimension is meant to funnel that power into a sword and extend my reach.”

  “Aw… I was hoping I could learn it real easy.”

  “I told you, didn’t I? Dimension is a hard Aspect to learn. All the cool spells are at the highest level.”

  “Blegh. So it’s just going to be beat them up with my fists for a long time?” Machua punched the air four times. The third punch was a hook, the fourth was an uppercut.

  “You could put a dimension in there, I guess. But for me, that’s how I did it at first. And anyway… we both have World. We’d have to reinvent every spell we want to learn. It’s easier to focus on martial skill.”

  “But I’m gonna have to do it anyway. So I’ll just have to get real good at it,” Machua said with an optimistic tone.

  “If you want to start doing some research, you should focus on the basic elemental spells. Things that exist in nature already.”

  “I did notice those spells were easier to do.”

  “Yeah. But now that you have to do your best to survive, you’re going to have to start thinking consciously about how to reinvent those spells. I only know a few, but I can teach you them.”

  “Thankies.” Machua stood on her swing now. “Okay, now I’m wondering how you took care of that Egotist. That thing’s mana purity was enough to kill me, and I know it could’ve killed you too. But you didn’t even have to go to the hospital.”

  “I got really good at filtering.”

  Machua looked at him with the same face as before. “You know I didn’t forget about that greatest swordsman thing too.”

  “It’s hard to explain. Most of what I do, I sort of understand by studying the natural world. My biggest inspiration about filtering pure mana is the oyster. Sand and gravel filter water well too.”

  Machia made a table and a small homemade water filter out of a bottle and placed it in front of them. He poured dirty water down the top, and slowly, it passed through the various layers and trickled a few drops of pure water at the bottom. Machua watched it in interest.

  “The way oysters make pearls are really helpful too. It coats the irritant, the thing it doesn’t want in there, with layers and layers of this thing called nacre. I didn’t have to do that back then, cause the Egotist wasn’t good at using mana.”

  “It wasn’t?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Machia doubted. “It’s worse than a kid. What spells did it even cast?”

  “It used Convergence to compress its mana together and then let it explode. That’s what got me, actually.”

  “You mean the most basic instinctual spell a Convergence user would do? That’s like making a dimension for us or lighting up a room for Light.”

  “It could do an Earth Wall too. It copied Tam’.”

  “The most basic-“

  “I get it, okay. It’s bad.”

  “You know, Miko told me something interesting. She told me that I recovered faster from a mana purity disparity than normal. That was when I didn’t know how to filter it.”

  “That’s weird. I’m not the same.” Machia’s answer was a surprise.

  “Really? I thought you’d know all about it? I figured it’s a World thing.”

  “Why would it be natural for your mana to filter out or protect yourself against purer mana? We’ll definitely have to figure this out later.”

  “Aw. I was hoping that you’d know and then you could teach me how to do it better and I’ll be completely fine against super pure mana. I don’t want to fight something like the Egotist again and end up in bed just cause I was standing there.”

  Machia snorted a little. “Well, don’t feel bad about that. It’s an Egotist after all. Their mana is pure and it’s very plentiful. Only reason why I could finish it so easily was cause it didn’t know how to use it. Everyone knows how to reinforce their body with mana, but that Egotist didn’t do it at all.”

  “It didn’t? But it was so tough when Toolbox tried to destroy it.”

  “What it does is compress its bandages, its true body, together really tight. It doesn’t actually infuse them with mana to protect itself. It probably never thought to do it cause most attacks it could either tank or unwrap itself and dodge. But that’s also its weakness.”

  “If you have an attack it can’t tank or dodge, then you can keep tearing away at its bandages bit by bit,” Machua guessed.

  “Uh-huh. That’s what the barrier was for. It kept it stuck in one spot and I used it to indiscriminately shred through it. With a final explosion for good measure. I didn’t know if it could survive on one single bandage, so I had to give it all I got.”

  “Sill though, that was a serious amount of power. You turned into a blender there.”

  “I knew that I wouldn’t have to do another fight after that, and even if I did, Kalina would cover for me. So I spent most of my mana killing it. You guys had to fight Scias and his guys before getting there, I was coming in with a full tank. I figured out the winning move, so I did it,” Machia said all of this nonchalantly as if it was the most natural choice.

  “But people don’t usually toss out their biggest move so early…” His sister muttered.

  “That’s cause you don’t want to miss. Or waste it all on the wrong move. People have many tricks, so it’s easy to get caught up in them. And you have to consider their personality too, how they fight, how they’ll react. But when you grasp all of that and figure out the perfect plan, all you have to do is execute.”

  “You sound like an assassin.”

  “…”

  “Don’t go all quiet on me.”

  “Anyway.”

  “Machi!”

  “Anyway. Most fights you won’t ever get to that level. So you just have to hedge your bets on the plan you think will work best. Or you can believe in yourself and just fight as hard as you can. Both work. Maybe you’ll do a third thing, I don’t know. You’re not me.”

  “I guess not,” Machua murmured.

  “Another word of advice. If you’re expecting to do multiple fights, or even just planning to any magic later in the day, you have to keep in mind how much mana it will take to take them down. You can always rest for a bit to recover your energy but mana takes longer to recover. So if you’re spending it all, you better be sure that’s it for the day. Or that someone will help you. Cause if you’re stuck with no mana in a fight, you’re a goner.”

  “Not like I have much to do with my mana anyway…” Machua wryly responded.

  “As for that greatest swordsman…” Machia took the initiative to talk about him. “He’s definitely not currently the greatest swordsman. But I still believe he’ll reach that level someday.”

  Sensing that he didn’t feel quite ready to talk about his friend, Machua shifted the topic. “Um. So…”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Machua leapt off of her swing.

  She walked a few paces before looking at the moon and the stars. Fireworks were still being shot into the sky. It was a picturesque backdrop, but the conversation they were having wasn’t quite fitting. Still, she had to ask.

  “Machi, you’ve saved my life a lot, and Plu’s too. So I know I can trust you. But I still don’t know…” Machua turned to her ‘brother.’ “What you’re really here for.”

  Machia hopped off of his swing and walked towards her.

  “We both know the summon or the clone thing’s fake. I asked Plue about that idea before. I did some research too. But to be honest, I always thought it was a flimsy excuse. So I let it pass, since mami liked you. But with all that power, you have to be here for a reason. You have one, right?”

  Machia walked past his ‘sister’ and looked up to the firework-lit sky. Machua followed his gaze and stared up at it too. It was the same scene they had both seen in the past. Brightly multicoloured sparks lit up the night sky, some of them taking the shape of cats or dogs or even bats.

  Machua continued, her voice sounding a little bitter, “I have a hard time believing that you’re still a ‘me’ with only a difference of a year. You can’t have gotten that strong in just a year. You can’t have… grown so much already. That’s… unfair.”

  “You’re right. It wasn’t a year. I’m way ahead of you.”

  Machua’s eyes softly lit up.

  “What does that…” she muttered. “Is it more than a year? How? I know you have the same memories of me up until a year ago. You can’t have been lying about that. You know things only I would know. So…”

  Machia sucked in a deep breath. The sound was loud enough that it interrupted Machua’s words. Once it was over, he held his hand up to her with a gentle smile on his face. It was the same smile her mother could always be seen wearing. Seeing her own self wear that same smile, Machua was compelled to reach out.

  Their hands clasped together and Machia asked, “Is it okay if I show you a kaleidoscope of my life instead?“

  Machua unconsciously nodded. It was before she could even wonder what a kaleidoscope of someone’s life could mean that she noticed his eyes changed colour. They were blue, and no doubt her own eyes were blue now too.

  As for their surroundings, the park faded and what took its place was a brilliant field of flowers. Flowers of all kinds, mainly pink and blue, spread all over the grassland they were standing in. A small church stood to the side, raised on a hill. And behind it was a view of the ocean. Machua could hear seagulls squawk as she walked closer to look at the waves. Gentle rolling waves that lapped the shore, far beneath them.

  “I’ve never seen the ocean with a sky so clear…” Machua murmured, awestruck. The sky was a bright blue with only a few wandering clouds. She wandered closer to the edge of the cliff they were on and gazed into the deep blue sea.

  “Mami only took us once. This was my second ever time seeing the ocean. When I think of the ocean, I think of looking out from this view with a bouquet of flowers in my hands.”

  Machia walked next to her, now holding a bouquet of pink and blue flowers. “I used to come here every so often. To pick flowers with the kids up there.”

  Machua was handed the bouquet of flowers. She took them graciously and smiled at it. “I bet you made flower necklaces and circlets with them too.”

  “Yeah…” Machia reminisced, but it didn’t take long for his eyes to change again. This time, they were black. Pitch black.

  And now, they were on a mountain. It was evening, the sun was setting, and they stood in the middle of a small clearing of a village. Machia’s mood instantly took a downturn, but he forced himself to go through with it.

  “Is this Mt Huanglong?” Machua asked.

  “Different mountain,” Machia answered. He made a shovel as he walked, and once he found a particular spot, he began digging.

  “What are you digging for?”

  “I’m digging a grave,” Machia stated, his voice now cold as ice. “It’s the least I could do after I killed her.“

  “…” Machua turned away from the scene. It was clear that he was going to keep digging this imaginary grave and fill it up again when he was done.

  She looked to the distance instead. It was a beautiful view. A river flowed down the mountain gracefully, and a great forest populated the land. For a dimension, Machia had really gone all out in the details. She even spotted what looked to be massive airships in the sky. Airships so large entire villages could fit in there.

  ‘He spoke like it was a memory, but… how would the world not know about the gigantic airships flying together?’

  “You don’t do this for anyone, do you?”

  “… This was her hometown. At least, I think it was. I thought that even if I didn’t know her, she deserved to be buried here.”

  Machua tossed the bouquet of flowers onto the now-finished grave. Machia stood up slowly, and in the midst of standing up, the environment changed again.

  Dense trees surrounded them and a raging storm thundered up above. Everywhere she looked, the trees seemed the same, she couldn’t grasp the location at all.

  “Don’t tell anyone, but,” Machia said, forcing a bit of playfulness in his voice, “this is what the sacred ground of the Yamato Clan looks like.”

  Machua noticed his eyes were now the same tint of purple as a certain person’s. “I wonder if Miko or Reina would get mad.”

  “Reina, never. Miko?” Machia ruminated on this, his grin fading away a little. “Maybe. Probably not.”

  “Did we come here to do something or…?”

  “I just wanted you to listen to the storms a bit. This place gave me a major breakthrough in Dimension. I tried to replicate it as best I could, but it won’t be as good as the real thing.”

  Machia sat on the ground with his legs folded and Machua followed suit. She didn’t know how long they were going to do this, but she decided to live in the moment. She closed her eyes and focused on the sounds of not-so-distant thunder. Her mana reached out slowly, trying to understand the phenomenon of the storm.

  Thunder kept ringing and ringing but no lightning bolts actually descended. But they sounded familiar. Felt familiar.

  Obviously, she had experienced storms before. Lightning had even struck Naiya once while they were playing in the rain. But this was different from that. She knew this sound, and she had recently heard it too.

  ‘It’s the same as Miko’s.’

  It was her family compound. It wasn’t strange. But yet, she felt that it was just a bit more familiar than that. More than that. A lightning bolt that was more familiar.

  ‘Ah. Machi’s.’

  Machua recalled the Chain Lightning Machia had shot during their first mission. It was small, but she caught it. A little spark of purple. And she knew what that was too. It was Dimension.

  “Looks like you got it,” Machia’s voice echoed through the area.

  The sound of thunder stopped, and Machua opened her eyes to find his eyes were now red. They were still in a forest, but they were by a lake now, a clear, blue lake with a nice log cabin nearby. Actually, there were a lot of log cabins, and a lot of decorations put up. This had to be a camp of some kind.

  “I won’t ask you to jump in, since we’d hit the ground instead. But swimming can be so fun when you’re doing it with someone you like,” Machia longingly said.

  Machua had half a mind to make a comment, but she stopped. This was Machia being open to her. His heart fully revealed for her to see. She wordlessly watched him gaze at the lake. His hands moved almost like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to fish in this imaginary lake or not.

  Finally, Machia deeply sighed. It was the same sigh as always. One Machua had already grown used to and one she was sure she would have to keep listening to.

  “I’m not ready to show you everything yet,” Machia admitted. “But we can have some fun for the next ones I want to show you.”

  The two of them got up and turned to see an inconspicuous playground equipment. It was far too clean for what it was, but it was ready to be used.

  “A merry-go-round? I haven’t been on one of these since forever,” Machua spoke as she got onto it.

  Machia grasped the side of the merry-go-round and began spinning it. “ Make some space for me okay?”

  “Eh, I’m not riding alo-“ Machua shut her mouth tight, because at that instant, Machia began running as fast as he could. Her hands gripped onto the handles as tight as they could.

  The merry-go-round spun. It spun so fast that Machua could barely recognise the surroundings. It was so fast that she was sure she’d throw up the moment she got off. Just as she was thinking she wanted to get off, Machia leapt onto the merry-go-round and crashed into her.

  ‘Grey?’

  Amidst the spinning motion, she could see his eye colour change. The environment changing with it. A small classroom. One table, one whiteboard full of notes. She couldn’t even try to read it before the environment changed again. A snowy mountaintop with a ski sled. She didn’t even have time to feel the cold before the mountain became a city. A city with a red sky. And again, it changed. Over and over.

  Machia began laughing. Maybe he was laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Or maybe he was laughing cause he was scared of how she would think, so he laughed to make himself feel better. Whatever it was, it got her laughing too.

  Whatever the view was, they laughed. A flying city, atop one of those massive airships, inside a museum. Their eyes changed colour each and every time and when they ran out of colours, they changed to tints of previous ones. There were so many things to see, so many things to experience. So many things Machia saw, so many things he experienced.

  She didn’t know how long their little trip was. But at some point, the merry-go-round began to slow down. It slowed down and down and when it finally stopped, the two were seated on a bench. A bench on a hill, with a sunny sky, watching over an all-too-familiar city.

  “I,” Machia began, standing up. “I’ve seen so many things in the world before I met you.”

  He twirled around and stretched his arms out as if it was impossible to convey with words alone. “I’ve done so many things, learned so many things. And I can’t wait to show you everything.”

  “I want to tell you so much. Tell mami so much. Tell everyone everything. Show them all I’ve been through.”

  Machia opened his mouth to continue, but his next words didn’t need to be said.

  But he can’t. But he couldn’t. Because of… whatever reason. Whatever it was, he couldn’t say it. But looking at the him now, the excited childlike joy he displayed. The only thing Machua could think was…

  ‘You’re just like me.’

  Machua stood up too. With the sun behind him, Machia watched as his sister pointed a finger at him.

  “Okay then! I’ve been thinking it over for a while and I’ve decided now. I can trust you, and I’m going to keep trusting you all the way to the end. You’re not just me, you’re my family. You’re mami’s kid and you’re my brother.”

  “I promise you I’m not going to ask you anything about your past until you’re ready to share,” she declared.

  Machia recoiled back in shock. His eyes grew as wide as they could. His mouth moved erratically, trying to figure out something to say.

  Machua almost wanted to gloat at how she finally managed to catch him off-guard, but this was a far too important moment for that.

  “Machi. Whatever you want to do, whatever you want to be, I’m with you all the way. So, I hope you can keep supporting me like you always have.”

  “Machu, I…” he stammered. “You don’t have to make that kind of-“

  “But I do! Because if I don’t, if I let myself keep doubting you, then we can’t ever be family for real.”

  Machia didn’t know whether to grit his teeth at how stubborn she was being, or whether to be happy she wasn’t going to question him anymore, or whether to be sad? Maybe? He didn’t know what to say, what to do.

  “Just accept it! Cause even if you don’t, I won’t ask! But you know that means you have to tell me everything someday, right? That’s the terms of your side of the deal.”

  ‘Ha… haha. That’s so like you… Selfishly imposing your hopes on me.’ Machia cracked a light smile finally.

  “Okay. I accept your promise, Machu. One day, I’ll tell you everything. And when I mean everything, I mean it. You can ask me any question then and I’ll answer truthfully.”

  Machua shot out her hand for a handshake. “Pleasure to be doing business with you. You are now an official member of the Purin family.”

  “Hah. Haha!” Machia couldn’t help but laugh. “I’d probably hate hearing that from anyone else. But yeah. It’s a pleasure. I hope we can keep working together until we both grow old.”

  Machia grasped his sister’s hand and they shook hands. On both of their faces was the same, wonderful smile.

  ———————————————————————

  I watched Aramaya grow smaller as the airship we were on flew into the sky. I wish I could have stayed to enjoy the festival, but more important things were happening. We had to go home to Erelier and have a meeting to discuss what to do with Chimaera. This was without Kalina, of course, since this wasn’t really any of her business, so she went back to homebase. I didn’t expect to see her for a while. Now that we could track Chimaera’s Planar Key, it would be easy to learn their location and then raid them. But one person still raised a point of concern, or as how some might view it, she represented an opportunity.

  If she could make some sort of breakthrough, an entire new world might be possible. An entire branch I never thought could happen. I couldn’t resist that possibility. So we naturally had to bring her home. And without an id, we couldn’t get a legal ticket. So we smuggled her in.

  To be honest, that might have been a bad move. I should have taken the time to get her a forged id, because I could already hear her moving. Machua and Plue were looking for her, and I was looking around the upper deck. I stopped because I recognised she was heading to my location. I would grab her and then shove her back into the suitcase.

  “Pfah! Finally some fresh air!” Toolbox emerged from the door and stretched her arms out wide.

  I was just about to grab her when another person went to tackle her. The man had curly hair and was wearing a neat uniform, but he was a bit too slow. Toolbox’s reactions were lightning quick, but she didn’t have time to think. So, in a hurry…

  “You two doing okay down there?”

  Toolbox had ended up grabbing onto Ernest’s back and was covering his eyes. Her legs were tightly wrapped around his chest.

  “Machi, help!” Ernest shouted. “The sto-owueregh!”

  Toolbox shoved her fingers into his mouth to stop him from screaming. No doubt her parents used to do that to her when she was a cat and a single finger could block her mouth. She probably returned the favour by putting her whole paw into their mouth. And now, she was doing the same to poor Ernest.

  “Take this, you-Stop licking my fingers!” Toolbox exclaimed.

  “I dofgh warnt to!”

  “Okay, you two break it up. And no screaming or I’ll shove my hand in your mouths,” I ordered.

  Toolbox and Ernest looked up at me, who had a serious look in my eyes, and they obediently separated. I shepherded them off to the side so we weren’t blocking the way.

  “What’s the problem, Ern?” I asked.

  “She’s a stowaway. She doesn’t have a ticket yet she got on anyway. By the rules, she has to pay a fine and we’ll drop her off at our next stop.”

  Which would be Erelier.

  “Machia, pay it for me! You know I have no money!” Toolbox begged.

  “You know her?” Ernest questioned.

  “You lost your ticket, didn’t you?”

  Toolbox made a noise that sounded like she was crying.

  “Fine. I’ll pay the fine for you. There, is everything solved now?”

  Ernest unfortunately didn’t answer yes. “I’m going to need her id so I can log her under the airline’s records. Even if it was a mistake, we need to have it in the system.”

  This was my fault. Toolbox and I shared a knowing look.

  “Surely, you have your id with you, right? You didn’t lose it too? Right?” My voice grew louder as I spoke.

  “… I put them together in my wallet and then it fell overboard.”

  “Oh my god.”

  Thank god, she got it.

  “I’ll have to ask you to stay with us after arrival so we can figure out who you are then. Sorry, it’s important we know you aren’t a criminal. Even though I know Machia wouldn’t…”

  Ernest looked at me with questioning eyes. He definitely couldn’t finish that sentence.

  “Why would I bring a criminal with me without giving them a forged id?” Ignoring the fact that I was literally a criminal with a forged id.

  “You have a point, yeah.” Ernest then turned to Toolbox. “So, if you’re going to stay behind so we can put you in the system, then I can let you sit in a free passenger’s seat.”

  I put a hand onto Toolbox’s shoulder and closed my eyes with a grimace. “Please.”

  In reality, I had made a dimension and made Toolbox view it. Through one of her eyes, she saw the airport we would land at and two mannequins. One of them was dressed in the flight attendant uniform Ernest was wearing and the other one had her hood on. I made the Ernest mannequin approach the Toolbox mannequin, and then had her mannequin dash away as fast as she could.

  “You got it, Machia!”

  I finally opened my eyes, so thankful she got it.

  “Okay, you two can go now. Please don’t cause Ern anymore trouble.”

  “Okey-dokey! Come on, show me around the place! I’ve never been on an airship before!” Toolbox ran off into the interior of the airship.

  “Hey, wait!” Ernest made an exasperated expression and ran after her.

  Well, at least Toolbox had a playmate now. Which also meant she was out of my hair. That didn’t stop a certain other person from intruding on me though.

  “Carmine. And Rasa too, actually.” I said the second sentence in surprise.

  Carmine had walked in on me and Rasa was dutifully following along. She didn’t usually drag him into her antics, so I could assume he joined of his own volition. He might have taken the initiative to join even.

  “You’ve been avoiding us for the past few days,” Rasa began.

  “Not on purpose.”

  Carmine leered at me when I said that.

  “Okay, for Rasa it wasn’t on purpose.”

  “Afraid to have to face me? Us?” Carmine asked, her face getting closer to mine with every word.

  “Ask me the question you want to ask.”

  “Could you have killed Dalan back there?“

  Rasa gazed at me from the back, on his face a troubled look.

  “… Yeah. I could’ve.”

  Carmine gestured back to Rasa with a big push. He shrugged back.

  “When Dalan jumped back, that wasn’t him recognising Mikoko was about to attack. That was him reacting to me. If I wanted to, I could’ve slit his throat when we first met. And even when I was injured, I was confident I could do it then too,” I admitted everything.

  “For what reason?” Rasa questioned. “I didn’t ask back then, as we were under a time limit, but I am curious.”

  “You knew?” Carmine asked, her voice getting a bit more agitated.

  “I knew he was holding back information, so I asked. That was when he told me about Dalan’s frequency. I took it as him being unsure. But seeing his power now, I’m not sure of that anymore,” Rasa calmly defused Carmine’s irritation. Well, she was still irritated. Just not at him.

  “I held back because I wanted Machu to get some experience. I thought this was a good opportunity for her, and the squad, to face some danger and grow.”

  “Good thing Ernest just left, huh?” She jabbed a finger at the door, her every word dripping with emotion.

  “He knows already. And I didn’t tell you the frequency immediately for the same reason. I still wasn’t sure whether it would be good for her growth.”

  Almost as if she was waiting to hear those words, Carmine drove her fist into my face. I slammed onto the railing, but she didn’t give me time to breathe. She grabbed ahold of my throat and glared into my eyes. She’d never been this angry at me before.

  “Carmine.” Rasa had equipped his string gauntlet and had wrapped his metal threads around her. He had wrapped most of it around her arms.

  “You don’t get to make that choice for her.”

  “And you don’t get to make that choice for me either.”

  Machua’s leg impacted Carmine’s face and sent her flying. Rasa’s metal threads, still wrapped around her, ensured she wouldn’t be sent overboard. Plue used her scythe to assist Rasa in making her land, after which Machua shoved a tonfa at Carmine’s throat.

  “Hah. You have more bite in you than I thought,” Carmine spat out.

  “You chose me to kill Dalan. You wouldn’t have done that if you thought I couldn’t do it,” Machua responded sternly.

  “I admit…” I slowly approached them. “It was purely selfish. I did it cause I wanted to be there too.”

  “Showing some self-consciousness isn’t gonna make things better. You weren’t there for the Egotist until the last moment.”

  “You’re right. That’s on me too.”

  “Hah. If he’s so upfront about it, why didn’t you smack him around more?” Carmine snarked to Machua.

  “I didn’t,” Machua answered. “I trust he’ll be better, because if he doesn’t, then he’ll be failing me. You don’t have to resort to violence for everything.”

  “Fine then. You can do it your way. But if you get burned, then it’s your own fault. I won’t go after him about this anymore. He’s your family.”

  That line hurt a lot coming from Carmine.

  “Yeah, he is. Which means I’m going to forgive him for all his screwups and I’ll trust him to do what’s right,” Machua said, while getting off of Carmine. She held a hand out to her.

  “You’re lucky if he follows through on it,” Carmine slapped away Machua’s hand and made her way into the airship.

  “Oh, we’re still having that duel by the way. I’m gonna pound all my frustrations into you.”

  “You still want to fight me, even after all that?” I had to ask, even though I knew the answer.

  “Huh? What kinda question is that? I’m not gonna back out of our deal. And when you show up, you better not hold back.”

  “… I’ll destroy you,” I flatly said.

  “All the better. You want vengeance from today, then destroy me. Simple.”

  Carmine left to go take her seat again. The rest of us were left in awkward silence. Plue especially didn’t know what to say, as she was relatively uninvolved. She was so flustered it was almost cute.

  “It’s up to you two to patch it up. I can’t do much other than defend you,” Machua finally spoke.

  “Some part of me believes Carmine is in the right, though she went too far. I suppose I’ll simply see whether you will have improved,” Rasa stated before leaving for his seat.

  “Um, I think you two can still be good friends.”

  “Thanks, Plu.”

  As the three of us returned to our seats and waited for us to arrive, I couldn’t help but wonder. Had I already made an inescapable mistake? Did I already mess up so much it was impossible to get back on track? I knew that Carmine and I’s relationship would never be the same, but maybe it would be far worse than I expected it to be. Whichever was the case, I couldn’t help but feel that I had lost something very important to me.