Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 68
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Author: Blue_Rat
ch68
Shin walked in and before Kazuki could say anything, Shin cut in first.
“Everyone wants to have a talk with you. They’re all waiting in the next room.”
Shin said nothing else and turned to leave.
“Wait. What do they want to talk about?”
Shin didn’t answer. Ignoring Kazuki he simply walked away.
(This is annoying. If they all are gathered, it can’t be anything good.)
Kazuki left and Tsura and Mei followed after him.
Entering the next room, everyone was already waiting around. Once more the space was a little too cramped and Mei and Tsura sat on the floor. Kazuki could feel that the atmosphere was odd and preferred to stand.
“I’m here. What is it everyone wanted to discuss with me?”
Kazuki scanned the room. As his eyes passed over Asuna she looked away suspiciously.
Danny didn’t care about the weird mood in the air and just spoke.
“We’ve all talked and we’ve come to a conclusion. Ryuta, you are untrustworthy.”
Asuna jumped to her feet and shouted.
“That’s not true!”
Danny rubbed his chin.
“Really. Did you not admit it yourself that Ryuta has acted strange ever since arriving in this world. You said it yourself something feels different.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. Ryuta, you have been acting weird but I’m sure if you just explain what’s going on then things will be ok.”
Kazuki remained silent and observed everyone in thought.
Shin jumped on this silence.
“You see, even now when we confront him he says nothing. He’s hiding something, I’m sure of it. I don’t really care what it is but this makes it obvious that he doesn’t trust us. If he can’t trust the people who are literally fighting at his side then how can we trust him in return.”
Asuna came to Kazuki’s defense. Shaking her head she denied Shin’s claim.
“Ryuta isn’t like that. I’ve known him all my life and he’s never had any secrets from me. He’s always been really honest. Not because of some moral code but that’s just how he works and thinks. At least when it comes to me and Sam lying doesn’t make much sense to him and he’ll tell us the truth. All we have to do is ask and he’ll be upfront about it, right Sam?”
Sam nodded in agreement with Asuna.
Shin and Danny shared a look with one another. Crossing his arm’s Shin gave a look that said [ “Really.”]
Danny rubbed his chin in thought some more before asking.
“Well if it’s really so simple then why not just ask him then. If Ryuta is really how you say he is then there’s no reason for him to deny it right? I mean we all clearly know he’s hiding something, so go ahead, ask him.”
Asuna felt a little pissed.
“Why it’s not like there’s any need. If I say he’s not hiding something then he’s not hiding something.”
“Ah, that right there. Your bias is clearly showing. No matter what we do or say, you’ll always take his side and be unfair. We have a seemingly simple solution to shine a light on this situation and yet you stand in the way of it. I’ll say this right here and now, if I don’t leave this room convinced then I will be forced to leave this group and go at things separately.”
Shin nodded along with Danny.
Kimi laughed at the two of them.
“Hahahaha, are you two serious. I don’t particularly trust him either but the fact remains, we’d all be dead by now if not for him. He is the main reason we made it out of that nasty forest alive. Do you two really think you can make it out there on your own? Hmpf, suit yourselves.”
Asuna didn’t know whether she should be happy or not with Kimi’s words. Danny and Shin didn’t trust Kazuki and now Kimi as well.
“Danny, even if he tells me the truth or a lie how will you be able to tell the difference?”
Danny shook his head.
“I already know a few things. If he lies to you I’ll be aware of it and if he does, I’ll know for a fact that he doesn’t trust you either. If he doesn’t trust even his friends who he’s grown up with all this time and can even lie to them straight to their faces, That will tell me everything. Now Asuna, will you ask him or not? I’d rather this be done sooner rather than later.”
Asuna felt an odd sensation spread across her body. She had never even conceived of the possibility that Kazuki could or would lie to her. She’s known him for nearly all of her life. She was sure of it absolutely 100% sure of it, yet why did she feel something itching at the back of her mind. A single dark thought, a terrible what if. Asuna shook her head and swallowed hard. Turning to Kazuki she looked deeply into his eyes and asked.
“Ryuta…are…are you hiding something from us?”
“Yes.”
Everyone’s eyes went wide with shock. Kazuki had not hesitated for even a second and had just straight out answered. Even Danny had thought of many scenarios. Bluffing up to this moment that he knew a few things or that he could detect the truth, even that was a plan he had come up with to draw even an ounce of truth from Kazuki but never did he imagine Kazuki would actually answer with a yes.
Asuna looked strangely at Kazuki. Something within her shook but she couldn’t tell what. She honestly couldn’t even process what was happening. This didn’t make any sense to her. Ryuta had never lied to her and even now, the answer she heard didn’t seem to be a lie and yet the dark thought from before inched itself forward in her mind.
Sam as well didn’t know what to say and seemed to go from silent to if possible an even deeper silence, a negative silence f you will. No, it wasn’t rational but it was a very real feeling he had.
The only person who took the news well was Nunully. Actually, rather then well, she took it exceptionally well. She figured the secret that was currently being referred too was the ancient hand signs and the fact that Kazuki could make talismans. She had been a personal witness to these abilities since the sky prison. As a matter of fact, for some reason she felt proud that she had known said secret first.
At this time, Nunully was right. As they spoke about secrets and whether or not he had one and so on and so forth. Kazuki was still trying to come up with a way to regain their trust. Could he inform them about his past, about who he really was? That was when an idea came to him.
“It’s true, I do in fact have a secret.”
Asuna looked truly lost but before she could say anything, Kazuki held up a hand. Taking off his ring, he handed it over to Tsura.
Everyone wondered why he did that but he continued to hold his hand in the air. Suddenly he grabbed at the empty air as though he were holding an invisible handle then the shape of his hand switched and looked like he was making part of an ok sign before switching again to a gripping motion shaping his hand into something more akin to a claw.
No one could tell what he was actually doing as he went through 4 or 5 more symbols in rapid succession. Finally, he finished the last one and as soon as he did an orangish-red flame around the size of a fist appeared and hovered over his palm.
At first, no one understood what this meant but Danny quickly put things together and shouted.
“Impossible! that cannot be!”
All eyes focused on Danny but they didn’t get it.
“Don’t you all understand? Do you not remember what Master Garn had taught us. What did he say about magic?”
Kimi thought for a moment.
“Are you talking about the fact that he’s not using a magic tool to materialize that flame. Master Garn had said that without inscriptions on magic tools, users can still use magic but the difficulty is increased so much that it’s almost not worth it. If that’s what you’re referring to even we can do that as well, look.”
Kimi held up a single finger and willed her power forth, however, compared to Kazuki’s it took nearly 4 times as long and the result was a tiny light no bigger than the nail of her pinky. Not only was it small but it also glowed so dimly that you could hardly call it light at all. Kimi also found it difficult to breathe and her body had become covered in cold sweat. The dim light had only just lit upon her finger but not even a second later it vanished without a trace.
Meanwhile, Kazuki’s fist-sized fireball still remained. It floated above his palm and crackled every now and then. A sudden realization hit Kimi and she figured out why Danny had frantically shouted impossible. She too couldn’t help but quietly whisper.
“Impossible.”
Seeing this result, everyone else tried there own magic as well without there magic rings. The results all equaled Kimi’s or were worse. At the end of all of their testing, their eyes looked over and still, Kazuki’s fireball remained.
Kazuki smiled and he moved his hand. The fireball remained suspended in mid-air while his hand flashed more ancient hand signs. Within 10 seconds a small cloud of dark energy slightly smaller then his fireball rotated beside his fireball. Kazuki was not yet finished though. His hand continued and a few moments later a small ball of dirt about a third the size of his dark twisting cloud formed on the other side of his fireball. Now Kazuki too was sweating a bit but the materializations remained perfectly floating in mid-air.
The room was completely frozen and silent. No one could speak as neither words nor thoughts formed within them. Kazuki manipulated his hand and the dark element, as well as the earth element, began to rotate. The fire-ball sat in the center like a sun and the other two elements orbited around it like tiny planets in a solar system.
Kazuki smirked and said what they now all already knew.
“This…this is my secret.”
[previous_page]
[next_page]
Comment (0)