‘’Ah, so she came out by herself,’’ Hiona said, ‘’that makes everything a lot easier, doesn’t it?’’ Those words immediately made the girl realised she had jumped out of her hiding place due to impulse, no plan in mind, no idea of what to even say or do. Her mind, essentially, had gone completely blank; she was scared, confused and worried at the same time, three emotions no one should have to feel all at once. ‘’Ah, your name,’’ Yohiro said as he stepped forward, causing her to step backwards, ‘’Touka, was it?’’

‘’H-huh?’’ The girl mumbled in confusion. ‘’What, that’s not her real name?’’ Hiona said, crossing her arms and looking at Yohiro. ‘’Yes, it isn’t; I won’t force someone to swear their allegiance to me just like that,’’ the boy complained. ‘’Didn’t you do that with her daddy?’’ Hiona tried to take a shot at breaking his logic, while the confused Touka began to take quiet steps towards her passed out father. ‘’I didn’t really have much of choice there! It was the gem!’’ The white-haired boy countered her claim, frustrating her. The gem this, the gem that, everything has gone well so far because of some gem, because of a little rock, that’s what Hiona thought.

‘’Don’t you wanna get a fiancee, though? You’ll be set for life, won’t you?’’ Hiona asked him, watching a confused expression emerge on his face. ‘’I-Isn’t that a female word for a slave? How will that get me set for life…?’’ Yohiro smiled, watching Hiona’s ips cringe, turning into a grin against her own will. ‘’S-sometimes… Sometimes, it could mean getting a slave, if you’re like me, pfft, but for normal people...it means, uh...a companion in life, I guess?’’ Hiona failed to finish her explanation with a straight face, deliberately being vague with the oblivious boy, not only to make herself feel happy, but to also get a bit of payback from his forced cocky attitude.

‘’E-either way, I’m not making her my ‘companion in life’. It’s a job, and I’m a professional thief!’’ Yohiro pouted, his cheeks turning red, causing Hiona to avert her eyes from the sudden stream of cuteness she hated.

‘’At least tell me her name. It’ll be nice to have information no one else does, right? But be a bit louder; my ears hurt a little,’’ she leaned over. ‘’Ah, I see. Well,’’ Yohiro coughed, ‘’No, please don’t!’’ As the child was about to be tricked by his master, Touka intercepted it. ‘’But, it’ll be fine. I’m telling it to her, not to you, princess,’’ he tried to use his own logic, which didn’t work as Touka clenched her gentle hands, putting them against her chest, parting her lips, ‘’I, um, will come with you by my own free will, but please leave my father alone…! And my name…don’t tell me it; I’m not ready for something that scary!!’’ She begged outright. ‘’So it WAS about slavery, huh?! Liar!’’ Yohiro ignored the girl, looking at Hiona once more, getting a chuckle nonchalantly.

‘’Okay, jokes aside, brats. Yell her name out and let’s get outta here, now.’’ Hiona looked at the girl in a suddenly serious glare, shaking her very eyes even from that distance, making her heart beat at least three times faster. ‘’Ah… But she doesn’t want me to, It’ll make her sad, wouldn’t it? We’re already throwing aside the assignment, anyway! I don’t want to do that to her,’’ he declared, making it evident that the gem was the only reason he was able to instill fear inside king Palan’s heart back then. Hiona scoffed, taking her tome out, grabbing Yohiro by the head with her other hand.

‘’Dipshit… I’m your master and no matter how much you fucking hate me, you have no choice but to listen to me!’’ She pulled him left and right like a ragdoll, pulling on his hair and hurting him, signified by his squeaks of pain. ‘’I’m not gonna do it!’’ He continued to not budge relentlessly as she threw him forward across the room, landing him in the king’s throne. ‘’He’s still protecting my name, even though he’s getting hurt by his own ally? But why?’’ Touka thought.

Hiona walked over menacingly, yet quickly, slamming her weirdly large hand against the back of the throne, wrapping it around his thin neck, however, not gripping it. ‘’Yell it out!!’’ Hiona was at her wit’s end due to the disrespect from someone inferior and the fact that he performed better overall, without much confrontation. ‘’No, I won’t,’’ Yohiro said. ‘’This is retarded! Stop procrastinating and listen to me!’’ She raged loudly, pushing her fingers through the solid overpriced chair itself, touching the tip of his Adam’s Apple with her palm, making him sweat all over.

‘’P-please, stop…! Don’t go that far…!’’ Touka found herself whispering instead of yelling. Her voice felt scruffy, her eyes were wide open, her body was tingling. Yes, it was the human instinct of self-preservation; the young, adolescent girl wanted to help Yohiro, she for some reason felt sympathy towards the human that made her own father look pathetic and made him turn into a literal slave by tradition. She could not raise her voice at all, like a second version of herself, a more anxious one, had silenced her with her hand, plugging up her mouth, causing her to only mutter in a muffled manner.

‘’If I say it, she’ll become my slave! I’m not doing that!’’ Yohiro shouted, looking at the ceiling purposely due to his Adam’s Apple slightly scraping Hiona’s palm. ‘’You think I don’t have a spell for something like this? I can gain control of your body, your voice, everything. However, I won’t be able to read your mind… Speak up and yell that brat’s name!’’ Yohiro mustered up the strength, kicking the strong woman in the stomach, feeling like he was kicking a ridiculously hard rock. ‘’Let go of me!!’’ He kept kicking over and over, not getting even the slightest budge out of the psychotic woman.

In the entire room, between these three different people, there was the question of ‘’Why?’’ that was being shared, for different reasons. For Yohiro, ‘’Why is it that important to you,’’ for Touka, ‘’Why can’t I say anything,’’ for Hiona, ‘’Why can’t I get him to obey like the other dogs?’’

“I don’t want this to happen!’’ Touka managed to raise her voice, leading to Hiona turning her head slightly to the side, catching the princess in the corner of her eye, panting not because of the pain, but rather her own anger. One stare was all that was needed to shut Touka up immediately, filling her eyes with despair as even Yohiro began to crack under the menacing presence that almost felt like it was materializing, oh so dangerously. His vision began blurring rapidly.

‘’Eh…? Really?’’ Yohiro began talking, shocking Hiona as she witnessed the gem begin to shine. ‘’That shit again?’’ Hiona said, slightly interested in what would happen from that point onward. ‘’If you say so,’’ Yohiro took a long deep breath, as comfortably as possible in that position.

‘’Your name is Ivet, isn’t it?!’’

The sentence walked out through Yohiro’s lips immediately, as if on its own, but in reality, it was an almost independent choice. Though it was still there; the annoying and confusingly bothering feeling of having to be reassured by the gem, not being able to think ahead at that moment to be able to make sure it would be safe.

‘’T-that’s really...my name?’’ The newly named Ivet whimpered confusingly, for some reason feeling...relieved. ‘’Shi-hi-hit! Finally!’’ Hiona yelled out in an ‘’Hallelujah!’’ king of manner, taking her fingers out of the holes in the throne she had made herself, retracting her arm. ‘’Aww, my stomach’s dirty, I didn’t even notice it! Dammit!’’ Hiona frowned out of nowhere, ignoring Yohiro who practically slid down the throne, falling down, breathing heavily.

His vision began to feel blurry, his body felt numb. For Hiona at least, it was absolutely enough to just pressure a mentally weak person to completely envelop his mind with her malice and anger. She pushed the despair and fear through his nostrils, his eyes, his mouth. It was pathetically easy to make him feel threatened, like he was physically hurting. Though it was already clear that Hiona was formidable, horrifying...it was still hard to comprehend. Even if you know Winter is coming tomorrow, you can’t suddenly make your body not feel cold just by sheer will. That was when Yohiro lost consciousness, falling over and hitting the floor with his head, drifting off quickly and surprisingly soundly.