[Hidiku’s Perspective]

The spring breeze swirls through a crack between the door and wall. The main room of the house has the temperature of twelve degrees Celsius as Mister Abe and I are sitting on our knees within, waiting patiently.

The sound of two tatami planks grinding against each other resound throughout the room as one of the doors is being opened wide through which Mistress Nagi and an old man enter. That man following her is a doctor that came to check up on Yuuna. Apparently, he’s one of the best.

“How did it go?” Mister Abe is the first to speak. He’s calm, with a mug of green tea sitting between his two hands.

Mistress Nagi shakes her head in denial just before the doctor backs her up.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you what has caused her pain but she’s sleeping calmly now. She’s fatigued and has some minor injuries but none of which would manage to harm her in such a manner. I can call you someone that specializes is medicating knights if that is what you wish.”

Mister Abe takes a sip of his tea from which steam is still being released.

“No need. Let’s leave things how they are for the time being. If what happened tonight repeats itself, I will make sure to call someone over. Thank you for your effort, gramps.”

The old man bows slightly as a farewell and exits the building.

I’m not exactly sure if I agree with his decision but at the same time, I have this weird feeling that he’s waiting for something to happen. I just hope it isn’t anything bad.

“Master, was it wise to decline his offer? What if it happens again? It might be even worse.” It seems I’m not the only one thinking so as Mistress Nagi also questions his decision.

Mister Abe stays silent until he has another cup of tea just moments later.

“Just a hunch, that’s all.” Both of us are stopped in our tracks as well as shocked that he could be so careless about her health. Mistress Nagi manages to snap out of the stun of disbelief and fights back.

“A ´hunch´?! What is? Do you realize what you are saying?….What if-”

“Ena…How long have you known me for? Have I ever been wrong?” Her speech gets cut off. As a replacement comes a speech, now instead, from Mister Abe’s side. It seems to be rather convincing judging by the Mistress’s expression.

“B-but even so! There’s still a chance that-”

“Ena, trust me.” Mister Abe’s calm smile remains without a change as my Mistress is being countered by a simple yet heavy feeling response. It must mean a lot to her as she’s halted completely, with only a “yes”, given back to him.

“What’s this ruckus about…”

Emitting a soft, sleepy voice, a fourth person enters the room, decorated in a kimono meant for sleep with her untied, gold as the sun, straight hair, reaching to the rear of her waist.

“Yuuna….” The Mistress lets her name exit through the two lips as she has an expression of wary on her face. I do too, how couldn’t I?

“Perfect timing, Yuuna. How are you feeling?” The Mister shows care for her health.

Yuuna scratches the back of her head while holding the door with the other, then begins to single-handedly massage her neck instead. Her eyes are still shut.

[Yuuna’s Perspective]

“Fine, I guess….Just that my neck is killing me.” For real, what is this pain? It’s like I’ve been sleeping on a god damn rock. At least the mark is done irritating me. What a pain….I slowly open my dozing eyes. An attempt to fully awaken only to bring me to a rather spectacular scene. I think my vision is damaged….It’s still blurry yet those red and blue lines wrapping around the three are as bright as a shining star.

“What’s the matter, Yuuna? Do you really feel alright? Maybe you should go lay down for a bit longer.” Hidiku gives me a few words of concern and with appreciation I ignore them as right now I’m focused on something more interesting. Sorry Hidiku.

Soon enough my vision comes back to what it used to be and the lines become clear as day. The colourful lines now are much more recognizable. I cover one of my eyes and lean on the wall as the strength leaves my knees. My head spins and a roller-coaster of ideas swirls within. Maybe my vision really is damaged. But then….why are the lines only displayed on their bodies. I’ve only just woken up, quit messing with my head!

In order to have a better look, I attempt to approach Mistress Nagi, but I stumble on my own foot and fall over. My Mistress has sharp reflexes though and so I’ve been saved from another face first fall.

Yes, this is close enough, now let’s see….I start gently sliding my fingers up her arm, following the crimson red and blue lines that are tangled together. Her skin feels so smooth…I almost feel like licki- No, Yuuna! Concentrate!

“Yuuna?” Filled with confusion, Mistress Nagi observes me as I softly touch her. The strings expand to every part possible….the fingers, toes, it’s all over her head too, something seems to be flowing through them. And this orb in the center of her chest….I gently place my palm on it and receive a single throb, resonating though out my whole body, very similar to the human’s pulsating heart. The surprise of it combined with a sudden shock forces me to pull my hand back.

It couldn’t be….Is w-what I’m seeing here really Mistress Nagi’s c-circulatory system? But how is this possible? Did I somehow gain a new ability? No, that’s impossible, there’s a million of reasons I could think of why it’s unrealistic….and yet, I have no explanation for it either. Does it have something to do with the mark?

My head begins to feel light and within my stomach emerges an almost sickening sensation, slowly creeping up my throat. The water I previously took into me now bleeds through my skin in the form of cold sweat. Mistress Nagi realizes I’m not well and pulls me up as she supports me from the side.

“You are not well yet. Please rest until you fully recover.”

“Wait…that’s not it…” She looks at me as if she wasn’t already confused enough.

“Yuuna, it’s obvious to anyone that you are a mess right now. Quit being so stubborn.” I swing my hand with all my might and escape my Mistress’s clutches. The tubes leading her crimson liquid get thinner in the biceps part of her left arm, as if being very mildly squished. For me, this is happening in a turtle’s pace while I’m focusing on that single point with curiosity.

What’s that?……Are her muscles clenching and oppressing the veins?

In that moment the arm I’ve been studying jolts towards me, but I see it coming and swiftly dodge her attempt of once again getting hold of me. It doesn’t stop here. One after another, the Mistress tries and tries to grab me, yet she can’t seem to accomplish so.

I can see her movement! The blood flowing through her body reveals her every move before she gets to move!

It doesn’t take long for my Mistress’ expression to stop her oppression. Her face now has the expression of surprise with a hint of mild curiosity. I must say, despite dodging everything, trying to evade every single strike unleashed by her is pretty exhausting.

As sweat runs down my body and the air from my lungs gets exhaled in short yet quick intervals, I stand before my Mistress and stare directly into her amethyst eyes.

Hidiku together with Mister Abe are still giving us the same faces as they silently observe us.

“Huff….huff…..I appreciate your concern, Mistress Nagi…..but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.” Well, I guess in a way I’m not fine as what I’m being able to see is not normal, at least not for me.

The Mistress straightens up from her offensive stance but unlike me, she doesn’t have a sweat on her. Of course she doesn’t, she is a Kagi, she definitely didn’t go all out either.

“Most impressive, I certainly didn’t expect you to evade every single of my attacks, but….” Within a split second something comes crashing down onto my spine from above and crushes me into the ground.”

“…..Ack!” Yep, knew it.

The impact of the landing when my body smacks the ground lifts all of the surrounding dust.

Hidiku goes into a state of shock as Mistress Nagi’s ankle is diving into my back. Seemingly, his soul left his body. Meanwhile the Mister sitting opposite to him keeps on smiling.

“…..Defy me one more time and it will be the last moment of your life.”

Holy crap, she’s scary. I will remember to not mess with my Mistress…

.

“M-Mistress, she had enough! Please let her go!” Hidiku tries to persuade her to move and since this act only happened to display superiority, the Mistress did as he asked.

The Mister has another sip from his tea before speaking.

“Yuuna, would you mind telling us what is going on? I’d imagine there was a reason for your confused look you showed us moments ago.” I’ve already suspected this for some time, but Mister Abe really has a strong sense of intuition.

I have the look of surprise on my face together with Hidiku as he’s helping me to get up. Meanwhile the Mistress seems calm with a tad of seriousness.

“I’m not really sure myself…..how to explain it? I guess….you could say I can see your circulatory systems.” Now all eyes are on me….I feel a massive amount of scepticism from Hidiku. And Mistress, I know that is supposed to be an expression of confusion…..but why do you look like you’re about to murder me!?

The master faintly giggles as he scratches the back of his head “My, my…..maybe we should have had your head checked too.” Ugh…. So they are judging me. How will I make them believe what I’m saying?

“Sigh” Whatever…..I’ll prove it to them some other time.