Mizune wasn’t taking him seriously. That much was clear to Noah as he watched her sneak glances toward the instructor as they exchanged blows. Sure, it was impossible to guess what Mizune was thinking during a fight, but she’d never done anything so…

Noah wasn’t sure what to make of it, and that’s what bothered him the most. If he reacted to her lack of interest, he could be playing right into her hand, and if that was her goal then he’d be as good as dead. He’d never beaten Mizune in a fight, and if he was honest with himself, he didn’t expect today to be any different, but he’d make damn sure that he wasn’t ignored.

“Stop… looking away!”

Noah charged at Mizune with all of the speed he could muster and impaled her through the stomach, her black robes staining with blood at the point of impact. A lump formed in his throat as he looked up at the girl.

Mizune’s gave Noah a wild smile before whispering,

“A poor choice.”

An intense pain blurred Noah’s vision, his breath catching in his throat. He looked down to the point where his pain was the highest and saw an icicle as thick as an arm impaling him through the stomach. His body wasn’t nearly as strong as Mizune’s. This would take a while to heal naturally.

This fight is over…

When Noah looked up, he couldn’t help but notice Mizune’s gaze. She wasn’t looking at him with what he expected to be her signature manic expression. She was fixed on the instructor.

Getting impaled wasn’t enough to hurt him. Being bullied and ostracized wasn’t enough to hurt him. What did hurt was getting ignored by Mizune. She’d never done that, even when they were children.

“Stop… looking… awa—”

“You were sloppy, Noah. You lacked coordination during this fight, and I expect that you’ll fix this when we train again.”

Noah gritted his teeth and clutched his sword. He knew what was coming… or, at least, he thought he did.

A wave of cold air passed over Noah as he slouched before his childhood friend. The icicle that once impaled him had melted into water. All traces of pain had been removed from his body. He didn’t need to check the impact wound to know it’d been fully healed.

What is she doing?

Before Noah could swing his sword, a swift kick from Mizune sent him flying. Strangely enough, it hurt far more than getting stabbed did. As he was sent flying toward the wall of the arena, Mizune materialized out from aura behind him and grabbed him by his neck.

“Do you see that yellow orb? It’s been following you since the battle started.”

The words came out as a whisper, startling Noah a bit. He’d expected Mizune to taunt him or make some declaration about how badly he’d fought against her.

“Yellow…orb?”

“It’s fine. We can talk on the way home.”

Mizune held Noah higher and blasted him back toward their starting position with a strong pulse of wind aura.

Is that why she was so distracted?

His earlier frustration gave way to a burgeoning curiosity. As he rose from the ground, he sheathed his sword and turned toward the instructor.

“I… surrender.”

Noah ignored the woman’s horrible attempt at hiding her smug amusement and instead tried looking for the yellow orb Mizune was talking about. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t find anything. He turned back to see Mizune walking toward them and gave her an expression that said as much. She responded in turn with a look of understanding as she sheathed her sword.

“Mizune Genesis. Swift Victory”. The bald woman stood from her elevated seat and looked at the two of them before continuing, “Classes have now concluded. Haven School for the Strong is honored to have such fine potential Wolves. Gather your things from the students’ chambers and go home.” With a firm shout, the instructor concluded “For the North” as was customary in professional settings in Kissen.

“For the North.” the two bowed in response.

With a nod, the instructor left for her chambers in the school.

He and Mizune didn’t say anything to each other as they left. The two had a way of communicating with one another through glances and silent nods that they’d developed after years of friendship and training. They’d shower in the separated chambers, change into new robes, and walk home together. People tended to do this all at home, but Noah preferred the privacy of the rep school’s showers versus the communal showers behind the group home he lives in. It was flattering that Mizune decided to join him in his tradition, as most students tended to change out of their training robes and dress in more modern clothing. When he’d asked about it, she mentioned that she didn’t want him to feel alone in wearing them home, which he appreciated. The reality of his situation was that the school’s robes were the most comfortable clothes he owned, so he tended to wear them casually whenever he’d go out. Plus, it did make him feel pretty important.

After finishing with his shower and changing into some new white combat robes, Noah found Mizune standing outside waiting for him.

“Took you long enough!” she said, a familiar smile on her face.

“What can I say, hot showers after training are the best!”

The neighborhood surrounding the school, locally referred to as Old Haven was fairly old. The school itself had apparently been around since the arrival of the demons over a thousand years ago, which was evident in its fairly basic rectangular shape in comparison to the massive castle in the center of the city. Despite that, nature seemed to be doing its best to overtake the area. Many of the similarly cubic buildings had vines and leaves growing in between the bricks, and the autumn leaves littering the brick roads were plentiful enough to make the entire place look like it’d fit better on the Kissen Fields and not within the walls of Haven.

As they walked the narrow, empty brick roads of Old Haven, Noah couldn’t help but playback the fight in his mind. Mizune was right, he had been sloppy. He was more focused on what he assumed to be a lack of interest in the fight than the actual fight itself. If he told Mizune as much, he was sure she’d reassure him that wasn’t the case, and she did do as much considering she inquired about that yellow orb during the fight and not after it, but still…

I mean, it’s easy to ignore someone like—

“What’s your plan?”

The silence was broken by Mizune. When he looked down at her, she hadn’t looked up to return his gaze. They continued walking down the quiet streets of Old Haven as though she hadn’t said anything at all.

“What do you mean? For when we train? I suppose I could just practice total control and–”

“Not that. I mean for the future. What’s your plan?”

“You already know I want to… become the king of Kissen.”

Noah managed to voice his dream without cringing too hard. It’d been years since he first vocalized his dream to Mizune, and he could still recall the girl’s laughter as she heard it. When she realized he was serious, though, she responded by being harder on him during their training together. She wasn’t able to invite him to her private training sessions with the Upper Echelon’s private Patrol force, but she vowed to teach him everything she learned the week she learned it.

“I know that, Noah. What I’m asking is how. I know you’ve mentioned before that you don’t care much for joining the Wolves of Haven, especially considering their… reputation.” Mizune began, frowning slightly at the mention of the Wolves. “Even so, if you want to become a King I’d imagine you need to have some sort of standing within the Wolves of Haven to do so without making yourself a target of Seekers and Assassins.”

Mizune was probably right. Considering her family, the Genesis family, was the most renowned in Kissen with her earliest ancestors killing the four Class S demons and founding the Wolves of Haven, it makes sense that she of all people would know how to maneuver the political landscape.

“I don’t want to be rude, but as your friend, I need to be honest. You’re an amazing swordfighter, but in terms of Aura Manipulation…”

I already know where this is going…

Noah did his best not to groan as he awaited Mizune’s upcoming suggestion.

“Look. I know you’ve said no already, but if you work with a Rep Guild you’d likely be able to qualify for the Wolves’ Den Exam and perhaps get some insights into Aura Manipulation that you can’t get stuck in these wa–”

“I’m not joining a Rep Guild.” Noah interrupted. He stopped walking at this point and faced Mizune. Her azure eyes seemed to be pleading with his jade ones. They’d had this conversation dozens of times before and each time it ends with a stalemate.

“Every Rep Guild I’ve ever seen, whether they be Adventurers or Hunters, they’re rude, corrupt, and lazy. I’d rather die than join a guild full of idiots like Cynric. Loud and stupid.”

“You never know what lessons one can teach you. What if you joined a Rep Guild made of Assassins? Assassin teams tend to focus on efficient Aura Manipulation, so they might be able to teach you something? Plus, the ones I’ve met in the castle tend to be…”

Mizune tried to finish that last point, but stopped herself as the both of them seemed to recall the same memory at the same time. When they were about fifteen, an older member of the Upper Echelon hired an Assassin’s Guild named the Silent Hand to get rid of an ex-wife before she could leak intimate details of their relationship, only for her to publish them in an erotic romance novel and become famous. It turned out the leader of the Silent Hand was his ex-wife, and she’d kept that a secret from everyone during her entire stay in the castle. The entire ordeal brought the whole castle into upheaval as they realized they’d let an unaligned Assassin’s Guild roam through their halls for years, and yet, both Noah and Mizune knew the Assassin personally. She’d made amazing cookies.

The two shared a laugh and continued walking, the growing tension seeming to dissipate amidst the nostalgia.

“Look, Mizune. I’ll… figure something out. I know I want to become a King, but I want to do it my way. I want to be my own version of a King. I don’t want to just get strong and join the Upper Echelon. I want to get rid of the demons. I want to fight. I don’t want to spend my days holed up in Haven spending my years marrying some girl I don’t want, having some kids I hate, and spending money on useless things to impress people I don’t care for.”

Mizune chuckled as Noah immediately realized his mistake.

“I didn’t mean to offend you or anything! I don’t think your parents are—”

She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at him, her expression one of mock outrage.

“So I’m just some girl to you?”

“What?! I didn’t… I just…!” Noah tried, his cheeks as red as his hair.

It was easy to tell how comfortable Mizune was around a person based on how she laughed. When they were around the various servants and guards in the castle, her laughs would be calculated and controlled. Around him, though, they were…well… ugly. She’d snort, scrunch her face, and twist her body in all kinds of ways. It was the type of laugh that made you join in based solely on how odd it was…

…and he tried to, but the embarrassment was far too much for him. She did have a thing for messing with him, but he could never get used to it.

After her too-long laughter, Mizune let out a deep breath before continuing.

“That was good! I tried imagining you as an old man with some kids you hated! I could only imagine them coming home and showing you their test scores or something and you just, tell them to screw off or something!”

Now Noah laughed.

“I wouldn’t be that mean! I’d at least say ‘good job’ before telling them to screw off…”

They joked like that as they approached Noah’s shared home. The small crowds of modestly dressed people seemed to separate around them as they noticed Mizune. It was something they’d both come to get used to. As they stopped before the overgrown building in Old Haven that Noah called home, they stopped before each other.

“Look, Noah. I know you don’t want to join the Wolves or join a Rep Guild but… think about it, okay? I can guilt my parents into paying for you to join one, and we can look for the best one in Kissen and get you on there. Since there are only two months until the exam, you need to give me an answer soon. The school would excuse you if you joined one, and since I know you’ll do well it’ll give you enough time to build a good reputation to qualify for the Exam.”

Noah looked down at her in genuine contemplation. She held his hands and his gaze, and he tried to give her an answer that didn’t seem too dismissive. Mizune was excellent at guilting someone in order to get her way, but he really didn’t want to join a Rep Guild. Despite that, he couldn’t help but see the truth in her statements about the Wolves of Haven. If he did manage to join, he’d just have to make a name for himself. Once he did, he’d no longer be as broke as he currently was. He could live comfortably in central Haven, find a way to get rid of the demons once and for all, become King, and… settle down? He’d never considered the after, but that was because he’d never truly planned for the present.

His pondering was cut off by Mizune who, to his shock, kissed him on the cheek.

“Think about it, okay?”

In an effort to play it cool, Noah responded a bit too quickly.

“Yup! I will! Swear!”

She responded with a stifled laugh, the same calculated one he’d seen in the castle, and walked home. As she did, Patrol Guards that he hadn’t even noticed materialized out of thin air and stopped her. After some talking, she complained rather loudly about them being annoying, and they disappeared once more. Mizune turned around and gave him a sly smile before waving goodbye. Once Noah responded with a wave and smile of his own, she turned away and continued on her way home.

It was common for her to turn down her escorts, but what wasn’t common was…

Did she… kiss me?

Noah practically flew into his house, bursting through the wooden doors and narrow corridors of his building. He ran up the creaking stairs and didn’t care for the scent of burnt firewood that permeated the dimly lit halls. As Noah reached his door, he couldn’t wait to run into his room and scream with excitement.

As he burst through his door, Noah’s excitement was immediately replaced by seething anger as he looked upon the five people in what was supposed to be his private quarters.

Three men and one woman around his age wearing similar robes as his, breaking whatever they could find and rummaging through his few belongings, while a familiar, short boy led the pack. They each turned and affixed similarly excited smiles as they looked upon Noah, their leader being the first to speak.

“Fancy seeing you here, Hearts!”