It has since been a month since we were promoted to Generals of TBL, with Aaron stepping down from the position, and instead adopting the title of “Vice-General”. The thing is, while he was completely fine with the change of staff, the grunts that used to serve him weren’t having it at all.

“Good morning, Garry.” I said in hopes of a positive response.

“Piss off, kid. If Aaron wasn’t protecting you I’d beat you to a pulp right the fuck now.” the grunt said with an aggravated tone.

This is how it’s been for the past month, I’d wake up, get ignored by the grunts, then help out Ed and Carter with the rebuilding of the city (this duty was put in the care of the losing gang). After we clocked out for the day, Ed and I would sometimes go and visit the nearby bookstore in search of some novels, or I’d go with Carter to practice dueling (it was his idea, he wanted to toughen me up, but by the end of the training sessions we’d always just end up talking about our days here).

The more interesting days were the ones where Ed and Carter went out together, leaving me to head to the Vice-General’s office.

“Sup, Lune. Ready for another round of training?” he asks me.

“I’ll be in your care, let’s hope I get it right this time…”

If you’re wondering what it is we’re talking about, then I’ll have to explain from the top.

It all started when I awoke from my state of unconsciousness shortly after winning the fight against Aaron. He reassured me all my wounds were surface-level and I’ll make a full recovery soon. But he had some more encouraging words for me after that:

“Y’know, this is kinda poetic in a way.” He said offhandedly.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Well like, you fought an enemy way stronger than you, but emerged triumphant with the last of your strength. You fell unconscious as a brat, but awoke as a General. It’s quite the epic, isn’t it?” he said.

An enemy way stronger than me? Way to toot your own horn, Mr. Poet.

“But y’know,” he added, “that fire of yours is nothing to scoff at.”

Fire?

“Umm, if I may ask,” I said with a shaky voice, “how exactly did that fire come to be?”

“You hid a match in your pocket.” He answered back quickly.

“Oh…”

“Is what I told everyone.” He continued, “But in truth, no one but me saw how you created fire out of thin air from within the palm of your hand.”

Excuse me? But wait, could this be what I was looking for? The truth behind my victory against the stray wolf? Against Marco, and even now against Aaron?

“Now this may just be a hunch, since your eyes were closed,” he added, “but I believe the reason for this phenomenon is because of your Iro.”

“But I’ve always had a Green Iro...?” I exclaimed with a quizzical expression.

“Yes, but think about it. New studies popped up from all the way in Abyssus Solis claiming that a Beholder has a perk pertaining to their Iro.”

I’ve heard of this before. Recently, in fact, by Quinn. He mentioned the same thing. But doesn’t a Green Iro have the ability to heal faster than others?

“You still don’t get it?” he smirked, “I believe you changed to another Iro for that split second, leading to you creating that spark.”

This… is barely making any sense. Although it does remind me of that one story my dad told me…

“So it’s like when you’re being conceived?” I asked.

“Conceived?” he looked at me with a question mark above his head.

I then told him about the story of how my mother’s eyes flashed blue when “I was conceived”. This is a story my dad told me, but mom got red in the face and shut him up.

“Pffft-!” he barely held back his laugh, “What’s up with that? That’s actually hilarious! How’re you not red in the face yourself after telling this to someone?”

“Well, I have no idea what ‘being conceived’ means, I just know it kind of aligns with that theory of yours.” I answered truthfully.

When he heard that, he did a genuine double take and donned a worried expression.

“Lune, how old are you?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’m 15.” I shot back.

“Nonononono! That’s WAAAAY too old to not know about this stuff! I planned on having you practice regularly to hopefully recreate that fire, but some things are more important, damn it!” he said with a tearful expression.

With that proclamation, he spent the next week teaching me about the human reproductive system. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It goes where?!? What do you do to a girl?!? WHAT COMES OUT?!?!?

“So, Lune,” Aaron asked after completing his lectures, “whaddya think? Sounds fun, right?”

“……Aaron’s a perv.” I said with a frightened tone.

“W-What!? No, it’s normal! Don’t make me out to be some bad guy! You’ll thank me later, you’ll see!”

“Why would anyone want to do this? Sounds icky, honestly.”

These were my truest thoughts, I had no intention of lying about my resentment towards this outrageous act.

“Alright, think of it like this.” He tried to find an analogy, “Do you have a girl that you fancy?”

“…………… Maybe?” I replied shyly.

“Great! Now, imagine giving her a big ol’ hug!” he said with a smile.

Hugging Cecily, hugging Cecily… Wait, why Cecily? Is what I feel for her considered love? Even as I pondered these questions, I still chose to follow Aaron’s instructions. She felt soft, but fragile, and her hair smelled nice…

“See how nice it feels? You’re grinning ear to ear!” he chuckled.

“Whuh-No! A-Anyways, what next?” I shook myself off the trance.

“Next,” he added, “imagine kissing her.”

“I CAN’T DO THAT!” I blushed.

“Why not!?” he spoke up too.

“Because it’s embarrassing!” I answered back.

“I don’t care! Imagine kissing her!” he shouted again.

“Fine!”

Okayokayokayokay! Kissing Cecily, kissing Cecily… How’d that even happen? She walks up to me and gives me a smooch? Or do I instantiate it? Maybe I should imagine myself in the shoes of the characters from that book she often reads.

-Imagination-

“Cecily is so small and cute.” Said Lune, ”If I wasn’t holding you in my embrace right now, you’d poof out of existence.“

Cecily blushed as she heard the words, “Lune… Is this alright?” she asked as if unsure.

“It is alright,” he told her immediately, “you’re my precious little rascal, and to me, there is no other way to prove that than with this!”

He suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders, she whimpered in surprise, but still gave in and closed her eyes, all the while puckering her lips.

“!!!”

“I can’t do it!” The fantasy stopped mid-climax as I was taken back to reality.

“Damn it! You can’t be this fucking pure while still fighting in a damned gang war!” He hit the table with his fist.

“What does kissing Ceci-err, a girl have anything to do with gang wars?!” I answered back in tears after having gone through a heart-throbbing moment of torture.

“Life is meaningless if you don’t do this with someone you like! I even had Jea-!” he shut his mouth with his palm, but it wasn’t fast enough.

“…Jean? The uhh… General?” I inquired with a raised eyebrow, “The… male General?”

“……… Don’t tell anyone, please?” he said, looking all defeated.

***

After we finally got started with the actual training, things weren’t going as smoothly as we had originally hoped.

“Okay, first of all, we need to figure out which Iro is the Iro that created the fire.” Said Aaron.

“Wouldn’t it be red?” I asked.

“Oh? Why’s that? Did you ever Behold a Red Iro?” he answered my question with another question.

“Well, not that I know of,” I said honestly, “it just made sense. Y’know, fire = red?”

“Lune, this is a serious matter.” He reprimanded me.

“I’m just saying it makes sense!” I defended myself.

After a couple more minutes of this very same back and forth, he decided to just skip this step for now.

“Alright, alright! Then has this ever happened before?” he asked.

“Twice, actually.”

“Twice!?” He raised his voice in astonishment.

I then explained to him both my victory against the stray wolf and the TBL grunt. He stopped me midway through to inquire about the latter.

“Hold it!” he said, “You said this happened against a TBL member? Do you remember who it was, exactly?”

“I do believe he said his name was Marco?” I sort of answered back.

“Marco… Damn.” He realized something before sitting back down with a disappointed look.

“Why the long face?” I inquired.

“Marco died after getting his head bashed in recently by some girl.” He said.

……… Wait. That girl couldn’t have been… Cecily, could it? Did she really have that strong of a swinging force when she knocked him off me? Well, she did save me back then, so I don’t mind. But I wonder if I should tell Aaron about this…

“Was he well liked in the gang?” I asked just in case.

“Oh, Gods’ no, he was a total asshole. Everyone hated him.” Aaron quickly waved his hand as if fanning the idea away.

“Oh good.” My inner thoughts slipped.

“Good?” he raised his eyebrows.

“Nothing! I didn’t mean it like that, it’s a real shame no matter how bad of an apple he was in the gang. But anyways,” I switched topics fast, “both of these instances had something in common. I was in deep trouble at the time, and I fell unconscious quickly after.”

“I see…” he pondered for a bit before coming to a compromise, “Well, let’s not have you get into any more of these dangerous situations for now, okay? We’ll try to get that spark out of you without it.”

With that, our trainings basically devolved into Aaron pointing at a target then shouting “Fire!” as if it’d do something. After that, he would slump his shoulders and tell me to try the same. Of course, this training method had no effect, but then again, since we didn’t have any leads on this mystery, our only option was to just wing it and hope for the best.

After a while, Aaron got the bright idea for me to “try to feel the same feelings I felt back then”. He would attack me (barehanded this time) and put me in many dangerous situations, but would always back out when things got too dangerous. In a way, I felt safe even when I was nearly getting choked to death by this guy. He had the aura of an older brother, and we’ve certainly bonded to such a degree.

“Unf! Tapping out… Aaron… Aaron?”

He put me in another choke hold, same as any other one, but he didn’t seem to react to me tapping to alert him to stop.

“I figured it out… You shot the arrow, you killed Jean…” he whispered.

Whuh?!? I didn’t, though?! Where’d he get that idea?!? Never mind that, though, I need to get him off of me! If that fire wanted to show up, now’d be a good time!

“Y’know some Gods promise you a haven where everyone who dies goes to, I’m not really a believer in all that stuff, but just in case, tell Jean I miss him.”

Now I’m seriously scared! Ed! Carter! ANYONE! HELP!!!

“… Dang, didn’t work.” He weakened his grip and got up.

“W-cough! What was that?!?!” I yelled at him.

“Sorry, I just noticed you were getting used to me going easy on you recently, so I thought your Iro would react if I made things a bit more… dire.” He explained.

“I almost died, fuckwad!”

With that proclamation, I saw the world through a red filter for a second as I noticed my body temperature rising.

I raised my hand, as if throwing a rock, before questioning what it was I was holding exactly. Aaron simply stood in awe. I held a mysterious substance, something that looked like a mere spark, but it was solid enough for me to grasp firmly. It didn’t hurt at all, it just sort of tickled my palm the longer I held onto it.

“Well I’ll be damned, it was red after all…” Aaron said with a proud look.

Seeing weeks’ worth of tribulations finally pay off and give us a positive result made me ecstatic, and I quickly began to see things in my usual green tinge. The spark, naturally, then promptly poofed into thin air.

We finally had a lead! This fire is a perk that shows up when you seek revenge! That is to say, when you Behold a Red Iro… But wait, does that mean I finally converted to another color?!? Am I no longer a Green Iro?!?

I quickly asked Aaron this very same question, but he told me my eyes only shone red for the duration the spark was in my hand. They are, in fact, still green. This did kind of make me sad. After all, this means I still haven’t matured at all, but even this is a phenomenon unlike any other. Switching Iros is something that happens a select few times in a person’s life, and it usually takes decades for it to happen. For me to switch my philosophy for a fleeting moment before returning back to my previous state is unheard of!

We need to continue research on this subject! This spark will light the way for many other perks that people could use! This is a revolutionary find!

Aaron and I threw a huge party that evening with the rest of the gang, and although they didn’t exactly know why, they definitely wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate with food and drinks at any given occasion. Seeing Aaron and me get this chummy made them rethink their hate for us, and seeing how diligently we worked to rebuild their community from basically zero, some finally caved and decided to help us from then on.

And now, after a month of hard work and having at least recreated the spark once, The Blue Lions Gang is officially back in business! Now to make it even better than it originally was…!