Chapter 348 - Take Your Heart

Two men immediately leapt into action from either side of Kaguya, pulling out an object from their inner suit pocket. It unfolded in their hands until it reached the length of a polearm, a pointy spear on one end.

The head of the Sun and Moon clans stabbed forward in tandem, hoping to skewer their enemy from both sides.

However, Jokester grabbed the spear from Wen Zhi and diverted its momentum while deflecting the one from Wen Lu with his nightstick. This shocked them both. Even with their movements synchronized, Jokester had noticed that the thrusts themselves were not the same.

Wen Lu’s thrust was calculated and precise as an arrow. Meanwhile, Wen Zhi’s thrust was full of raw power like a fierce animal charging.

Jokester had corralled the beast and deflected the arrow, despite outward appearances looking the same. There was hardly anyone that could tell the difference, especially not in the heat of battle, and particularly not from the first strike.

Wen Lu and Wen Zhi backed off, knowing that their foe was not just some random person. He had studied them and purposefully countered to show that fact. There was no other way of explaining the circumstances.

“What’s wrong? Are the Mitsubishi head’s ‘impenetrable shields’ only at this level?”

The two of them raised their spears at that taunt, but then, something flashed across their minds.

“Our ‘Heaven Aura Protection’… to provide us with unparalleled defense.”

“Worrying about your opponent at a time like this? How strange of you.”

They could feel themselves talking to the man before them, sometime in the past. But these were just fleeting thoughts. They had to protect their Master, their beloved Kaguya Ane-san!

They charged forward once again, delivering a series of spear thrusts in a blink of an eye. Jokester dodged and weaved, parry some while narrowly dodging others. Two spear masters against a single fighter, and yet, no ground was lost. The spirit of battle raged on between those three, until finally two spears broke through and pierced skin.

Jokester jolted as the sharp weapons stabbed into his torso. His head drooped, allowing for the twins to heave a sigh of relief. But in the next moment, Jokester raised his head and stepped forward, letting the spears run him through.

In a moment that neither twin expected, Jokester cut the distance advantage that the polearms gave and delivered a swift strike of his nightstick at them both.

The strike felt like lightning coursing through their bodies. A fire swept across their nerves, causing their vision to grow dark. They both looked at Jokester, realizing that he had struck them on a critical point. Even with two spears imbedded in him, the man simply smiled. He had no intentions of truly harming them, even when met with deadly force.

“This is not a knife meant to cut people.”

They could almost hear him say that. In their mind somewhere, a certain chef overlapped with the outline of this person. The two fell over unconscious, defeated in their duel.

The crowd was stunned. Their champions had been taken down by a man whose injuries shouldn’t have allowed for him to stand. Yet, Jokester merely pulled the spears from his body and placed them next to their owners. He casually walked right up to Kaguya as the rest of the crowd looked on in fear.

Kaguya drew her sword and pointed it at him as he approached. But that didn’t seem to deter him at all. That was because he could tell. She was trembling, her protectors no longer able to fight. The sword swung forward, but Jokester merely caught it with his palm.

“Are you ready for your heart to be taken away?”

Kaguya’s trembling traveled all the way down to her sword, which quivered in Jokester’s grip. With a quick motion, he scooped her up into a bridal carry and dashed for the entrance.

The crowd was stunned. It took them a moment to recover before whoever was ranked highest took command.

“After them! What are you waiting for, chase after that Jokester!”

But soon they realized. Jokester had quite speedy legs. No one could hope to match.

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Kaguya awoke suddenly, seeing herself on a hill overlooking the city. She had likely passed out from the excitement a while ago. Her cheeks flushed at the embarrassment of being stolen away by an intruder, but soon, her gaze landed upon him. He was lying on the grass next to her, staring at the clouds.

He seemed so docile compared to before. She sat up to try and escape.

“What’s the rush? You’re finally away from those stuffy walls, and already, you want to go back? Stay with me for a little while.”

Kaguya leered at him, wondering what his deal was. He had mentioned of ‘taking her heart’, but all they were doing was resting upon a hill. She noticed the pool of blood under his body.

“Shouldn’t you… go to a hospital or something?”

“Nah… I’ll be fine in a little bit. Just have to wait for this body’s healing to kick in. Having such strong vitality has made me careless sometimes. Yet, there was really no other way but to rush right in and do it.”

“And kidnapping me is one such decision?”

“Taking your heart from such a place is.”

“Excuse me? Why do you say that?”

Jokester popped up. He plucked off the face mask and tossed it aside, staring at her with gentle eyes.

“Because you didn’t fight me when I took you away.”

“That is…”

“If you really wanted to stay, it wouldn’t matter if you had lost your protectors. You would have cut me down without any hesitation. But you didn’t. Your swing was weak. So easily caught. In your heart, you knew that what you were doing wasn’t right.”

“That’s easy to say! It’s not like I could help being born into this family!”

Jokester chuckled. He stood up and stretched. Somehow, his wounds had stopped dripping blood. It was like he was truly unstoppable.

“You like to tell yourself that, don’t you? Regardless of the situation, you have your ‘duty’ and that is what defines you… And if you were ever to lose it, just what would ever come of you?”

“That’s…”

She had felt this disappointment before. To have everything she trusted in crumble before her. A vision of herself in another time, another place flashed before her.

“I… do not wish to believe that the faith I have put… was done so under false pretenses.”

Kaguya stepped back. She could feel herself trying to pull everything towards her, in a vain attempt to maintain it all. She was the head of a strong organization! A person as weak and unsuitable as her – the only thing she could do was to devote her entire self to the role she was given. And somehow, make the most of it.

“Tell me… does tradition mean that you can’t change, no matter what?” Jokester asked. “To keep on believing in what you were told, no matter what you find out later on?”

Kaguya turned away. She had been handed a duty by her predecessors, and she never once sought to reject it. Or rather, she couldn’t. Because she felt like there was nothing else if she didn’t take it.

A hand was held out to her.

“Taking your heart isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Let your emotions get swept up in what else is out there. Experience a world outside of your own. And at the end of the day, think about what else you can do with your given role. How can you change it to be distinctly you? Not just something that people expect of you.”

Kaguya faced the man before her, seeing the passion in his eyes. He had done the impossible. Taking on an entire gang of 1000 strong, merely to have a little chat with her. She couldn’t help but return such determination with some of her own.

He reached forward and drew her sword out of the sheath, flipping it over and offering the handle to her.

“Take up your blade and fight for yourself, Lady Kaguya. You have the power to. And now, I wish to see how strong the will to keep what you desire is.”

Kaguya accepted the sword and got into position. Jokester leapt back and did likewise. After several moments, he lunged forward with a strike.

She was ready for him. The nightstick clashed with her blade and sent sparks. She pushed off and delivered one of her own, which was blocked. The two of them danced upon a hill, the clang of metal echoing in the air.

For once, Kaguya felt free. The strokes that her blade traced where of her own decision. The canvas of her life was filled with the colors of choice. And across from her was a partner that didn’t mind following her every move. His attacks flowed between hers, teasing playfully. She was not forced a certain way, nor did she feel desperation. It was a dance that attuned to her true self.

She didn’t have to do any of it, but she wanted to. This dance excited her with the prospects of the unknown. Each step she took and each strike she made weaved a messy path forward, but because they were her own, the weight of them felt completely different.

“Kaguya Ane-san! We’re here to help you!”

Two voices shouted in sync from a distance. Wen Lu and Wen Zhi approached, filling in on either side of her.

“We’ll take the lead. You stay back and- oof!”

The two brothers were surprised when Kaguya smacked them both with the back of her blade so hard that they keeled over.

“I’ll take the lead! You two sit back and support me!”

The moment she said that, a sudden realization dawned on her, along with more flashes of a past life.

A woman, afraid of losing her dearest connections, struggling to keep them both. It was not until the flash of a small knife that had no business participating in combat that she started building the courage to stretch beyond her duties.

That positive yet unconfident grin – it was the same as the person before her. He had suddenly jumped into her life once again, willing to show her how to make use of one’s own abilities. His name was…

“Claude?”

Jokester relaxed his stance and nodded before taking it back up.

“If you’ve figured out that much, then you only need one more push. Come at me, Lady Kaguya. We need your strength.”

Kaguya brought her blade forward, and suddenly, a purple aura surrounded her. She charged with it held high, bringing it down upon the nightstick that Jokester used to block. All of her frustrations, her emotions and doubt – they went into that strike. And likewise, a purple aura came from Jokester as well, clashing with hers in response.

A flood of memories returned to her, a past life where she was an Oracle with guardians by her side. She looked back briefly, seeing not twins in suits but full body armor. The man in black clothing had disappeared, replaced with a chef uniform.

This lasted but a moment before the energies pushed them both back.

Kaguya blinked. Everything had returned to normal, except…

“I remember everything now…”

She had been afraid before, at the sight of losing Wen Lu and Wen Zhi. When she was given another chance and the opportunity to create a life to her liking, she had subconsciously caged herself in with them. But this time, she wanted to protect them. She wanted to be strong, so that they didn’t have to do everything.

But somehow, she forgot, absorbed in this life so much that she had fallen right back into her old habits. Even with a different coating of paint, she was still the same as before.

“I get what you’re trying to be, but don’t you think it’s not just your burden to shoulder?”

Claude pointed to Wen Lu and Wen Zhi, who were scratching their heads. Apparently, they had also remembered everything as well. Connected to their Master, it was Kaguya’s will that was holding up their ability to draw upon the Origin Goddess’s power. Regardless, the twins knew what was important to them – protecting their beloved from harm.

Kaguya shook her head, sheathing her sword. She let out a sigh of resignation.

“Ever since I peeked into their past lives, I’ve always wanted to do everything that I could to love them both, to not choose one over the other. Because… that was what they had fought each other for the entire time.”

Wen Lu and Wen Zhi had been brothers in a Triad mafia in their past lives, forced to one up the other constantly to secure the position at the top. They lived guarded existences, never showing weakness to the other. And slowly, their bonds grew distant.

Kaguya recalled the moment when the two regretted their birthrights – the day when Wen Lu’s followers poisoned Wen Zhi with needles. In an act of desperation, Wen Lu tried to suck out the poison. He didn’t want to win in such a way. He needed his brother to keep him on his toes. And in the end, the both of them nearly died from the poison. A sudden column of light whisked them away as they were about to succumb.

Kaguya felt like the only way to protect them both was to maintain her position, guiding everyone from the top. She refused to compromise, but rather, she held that role even closer to herself, not letting anything fracture it.

But when the Gods betrayed her, she no longer knew what to do. Her mind traveled back to her guardian’s old lives, thinking that it would have been fine if someone like her had intervened.

“But… that’s not the life you really want to live, right? You’ve always wanted to step outside, to link arms with Wen Lu and Wen Zhi and show everyone that appearances don’t matter at all.”

The twins stepped forward, extending a hand to her.

“We will go with you, no matter where you wish to be.”

“Where you want to go, we have no choice but to follow.”

And then, the twins spoke at the same time.

“Because we love you, Lady Kaguya. You’re inseparable to us like twins.”

Kaguya pulled them both to her and hugged them. She let out tears of happiness upon their shoulders.

“Then, let’s be strong together. We’ll charge forward and crush the other groups. Make it so that there will no longer be a need for the underground. And then, we can all step into the light together.”

Kaguya’s goals were set. They knew what they had to do to resolve the place that she had created from her heart. And this time, they would all fight together as one.

“Ummm, before the three of you get to the point of needing a room, can I borrow Lady Kaguya for just one moment?”

“Yes, how can I be of service, Sir Claude?”

“Do you mind helping me feel out where the others are? Your clairvoyance is quite handy.”

Lady Kaguya smiled. Once again, she was indebted to him. Claude was ever the mystery, his otherworldliness granting her the wide perspective that she needed at times. But she knew, she could trust him just as much the twins who loved her so much.

“Of course, a modest request for the foreign knight that took my heart.”