I toppled. Before my nose met rapidly approaching gravel, I splayed my arms out onto the ground and caught myself. Sand slapped my face. My breath gasped out ragged, while my muscles shivered against their will. Where did he go? I spun my head up, down and every other way, yet not a leaf fell that shouldn't, no twigs creaked unbeknownst to the wind, the passarines all warbled and idle chatter continued on like nothing had had happened.

Where my limbs rebelled as I scrambled up, Kaede's were determined to keep her frozen upright. Her eyes stared at something legions away. She clenched her swords so tightly that her fingertips were blue.

‘Kaede, it's alright now,' I said, my voice little more than a whisper.

She blinked a few times and let go of her blades. For several moments she didn't utter a word. I grew more and more concerned and was about to say something when she snapped her eyes and stared at me, a grimace of disgust marring her features. But for some reason, I didn't think it was meant for me.

‘I'm okay. We should get going now,’ Kaede averted her eyes. ‘Please don't tell anyone how I reacted, I'm not usually that way.’

I frowned. She shouldn’t be embarrassed by that. It was perfectly normal to freeze up when dealing with a knife under your throat. Besides, surely everyone would've seen what had happened…

Except no… Soft laughter and teasing words I'd disregarded as background noise before gave away, that indeed, the rest of squad eleven hadn't noticed a thing. What had appeared like a minutes long brawl to us was nothing more than a silent assassination attempt of less than a second.

‘I won't tell them,’ I nodded, ‘What about the man though? Do you think we should get a second grade from Chisaiki Son to guard us on the--’

‘I don't need to be protected!’ she snapped, her eyes blazing in a way I'd never thought it could. Seeing my expression, her gaze softened, and she smiled faintly, ‘Don't worry about it, he must be a bandit, looking for travelers to kill and loot. Interesting disappearing trick though,’ she looked away ‘We can deal with it, I was just surprised, that's all.’

I was sceptical but saw it was a touchy subject and decided to drop it. Besides, the man was from the other side of the forest around Chisaiki Son, not the part we'd pass through to reach Heikisato. So a guard might be useless. But something about the sheer speed with which he ran, for what else could he have done, sent a shiver down my spine and niggled at my brain.

Well, I decided to almost drop it.

‘Okay, but let's report it to the Quest Unit tomorrow.’

Kaede frowned, but with a sigh, shrugged. I took that as a yes and walked away to pick up my sword, from beside the carriage, and Ahio's, from between it and the tree we'd come down from. His was a neat little thing with two blades on both ends, and a little red button on the grip to pull the metal in and out. When I pressed it to safely store it in one of my leg pouches, the edges blinked a fiery orange. A touch of heat brushed my fingers as they slid into the handle.

I shook my head. My body was still overridden with adrenaline, it seemed.

We were greeted on the canopy by a drowsy Ahio succumbing to pain medications, and the relieved faces of Tsubasa and Daisuke. Kaede and I relayed the last couple of minutes to them, skipping the whole freezing part of course, and guilt stirred in me as we wiped their smiles off. Kaede calmed them down with the same words she'd told me, and before long, we were on our way back to Heikisato.

It was past midnight by the time we reached the South Gate. My eyes darted at every creak and slosh each step of the way. Many times I had to calm myself down, remind myself that while bandits were common enough to encounter, the chances of coming head with another one, much less the same one, were low. Well, I tried, but I couldn't help but be ready to draw my sword at a moment's notice. Something told me the others, especially Kaede, felt the same.

We decided to meet again in the morning at the HQ to file a case before heading our own ways. My wrecked body drifted straight to sleep after a quick shower. Dreams of a shouting mother, giant axes coated in blood and a black-haired man lunging at a little blue stone jumbled into one.

***

February 2. Fourteen and a half years old. Saishuu Riku.

I woke up the next morning with sore muscles and jelly-like joints. While practice sessions, especially at the beginning, often left me weak and tired, I'd rarely found big purple bruises down my arms and back and certainly never good-sized abrasions on my left shoulder. I should've realized when my shower last night stung everywhere, but honestly, I was in no state to care. After a few minutes panicking that the wound was now infected and trying to position the mirror, I ran my mind through a list of all the possible complications I knew of, did some first aid and decided to go to a doctor just in case.

At ten am, after a stop at the hospital, I met up with the others in front of the great oaken door of the HQ. Noise so well kept in by wood and stone sprang out to the open as we entered, and I wrinkled my nose at the permeating mix of sweat and perfume. People shoved and jostled us every which way, and after a few annoying minutes trying to go left against the varying currents of the crowd, we reached the Quest Unit. Heads that rushed passed it hid and uncovered its sign in tandem. Four long queues fidgeted in front of the desks.

‘I guess we can take one each, then switch to the fastest,' I said.

We dispersed and stood for what seemed like an hour, at least to my bored mind. It was uneventful, aside from someone who bumped into me and almost made me lose my spot. I shuffled my feet, scoured my surroundings a hundred times and bit my nails. I don't remember what I'd been daydreaming of until I reached the end of the line, but it had something to do with dragons and inverted colours.

Right as I was debating if everyone's perception of colour was different and if it'd have an effect on the inversion, it was Daisuke's turn. The other two and I shuffled to the front with him. A young woman with messy hair and dark bags under her eyes slouched behind the counter.

‘How may I help you?’ she asked and stifled a yawn.

‘We’d like to report an attempted murder,' said Daisuke.

The noise around us lowered minutely as everyone who stood near heard his words. The women frowned and sat up straight.

‘Details please.’

‘We were in the woods south of Chisaiki Son yesterday afternoon when a bandit jumped down and tried to kill my teammate, Kaede Touta,’ he said, pointing at the fidgeting girl. ‘He--’

‘An attempted murder did you say?’ A dark-haired man waltzed out from behind a nearby cubicle. He wore a stiff grey shirt and sent us all a jolly smile. A shiny badge saying Supervizor hung from his lapel.

Daisuke frowned. ‘I-- yes sir, luckily one of our teammates saw his face, he was--’

‘Well clearly it's a bit of an important issue, come with me please,' he beckoned us through the crowds. People scrambled away to let us leave, and we left the main hall. A few turns later, we reached another large oaken door, though less intricate than the one outside. Perhaps he was taking us to one of the Quest Masters, the second or first grade ones, to deal with a could-be murderer immediately.

‘This is the only indoor lift in the continent,’ he said as he grasped the knob and swung it open. Inside was a wooden cage, not unlike the ones lining the apartments. Only one place I knew of would need an indoor lift here.

‘You kids are pretty lucky,' he smirked. ‘Not many so young get to see the Minister.’