by Honie Jar
During that moment of the confession, she tugged him closer, and it was then done. Genkei pressed a gentle kiss on her lips. A soft union that eased their pains and burdens that they felt. The guilt and shame went away as well as the decisions that they would have decided. Whether this was a good idea or not didn’t matter. They found bliss in each other’s bliss even if it was short-lived for the time being.
Their tongues briefly touching each other before the kiss ended, the fell asleep for a couple of hours. Much needed rest was given them before they would face the hunt once more.
The two of them finally escaped the chase that was given them by the group of Lalafelles. It took time, but they finally arrived at Aomori, a sigh of relief escaped him as he carried Harumi into the city. Everyone glanced at them in worry, there was a clear sign of weariness on both of them. However, no one approached them as they were collapsed on the floor.
That is until there was a familiar clunking of heavy metal and dragging of the sword. Genkei ended up looking up as he carefully held his partner in his hands. Both of them were hungry and tired, there was nothing left in them. They had been running for so long that there was some doubt on whether if they were being chased. Genkei couldn’t help but think that it was perhaps a figment of his imagination or an illusion. Given the fact that there was never a person behind them but the noise of being chased felt so close.
So when they saw Hachiro standing there, the faint crunch of leaves from his footsteps made both of them startled even when they saw him. Their figures jumping up and fear overlapped their tired expressions. Eyes widening as Genkei unsheathed his katana, ready to attack at any given moment.
He had a promise to keep.
“Genkei?” Hachiro’s voice cut in through his paranoid and Genkei looked at him, blinking a few times before they felt relief. His shoulders relaxing and the tension dissipated even if for a brief second. Happiness was overflowing to where he could feel himself grinning in relief.
The two of them looked at each other as they were happy to see a senior member of their clan. Luckily, Hachiro was on border patrol duty once again so he was making sure that the city gates were being properly managed.
“Ah, Hachiro-san—” His voice cracked and sounded ragged, he ended up coughing as he was not used to talking. Having run through the forest for his own safety and Harumi’s well-being for hours straight with only momentary rests here and there it was to no surprise he was unable to talk.
The cough kept ongoing for a few seconds that Hachiro bent down to help pat his back while also shifting the position of how Harumi was laying until he noticed that she was festering a burnt wound. It charred the skin and showed the pink flesh that was started to show discoloration from an infection. That alone was enough to make him look between the two, needing answers while helping them both up with his capable arms.
“What’s wrong?” Hachiro asked, the desire to know what happened so he could help both of them. While he carried Harumi in his arms he helped Genkei onto his feet, the boy limped after him as he had sprained his ankles from running and falling. Repeatedly. The pain of his legs was something that could not be compared to Harumi’s injury.
“Get us to Shichiro-san... We need to—” Genkei gasped out as he gripped onto the armored arm of his teacher. The pain felt like a thousand needles pricking into his legs. But for him, this pain could be seen as a reminder that at the very least he could still walk.
His second life wasn’t over. Each pain he felt with every step was a reminder he could keep going. That’s what he told himself, there was no desire for him to become useless anymore.
“Not a problem, would have given you anything—I thought I told you you had to protect your team—” Hachiro was chastising him, scolding him for not being the tank he was being trained to be. The disappointment that heard underneath these words was a constant reminder for Genkei of his own failures. The sickening feeling in his stomach returned as he felt dizzy but he wasn’t sure if that was because of the fact it exhausted him. Not that any of this was an excuse, he deserved every bad thing that had happened to him. That’s what he believed would be the punishment for him.
He gulped down his saliva that had been pooling in his mouth. Eyes watering as he listened to each word but his hand began to quiver and the desire to allow his legs to finally collapse was strong. But doing that would mean giving up everything he and Harumi fought for and suffered under.
He couldn’t allow that.
“I am sorry, Hachiro.” The apology was sincere as he cut through whatever Hachiro was saying. There was no more willpower in him to listen to him become berated by someone who wasn’t there to go through what he had gone through. By doing this he was hoping that he could cut through the conversation that had only made him remember the things that he was unable to do.
“It’s fine.” Hachiro must have noticed the fact that Genkei was short with him so he allowed this to pass. There was probably a reason he was like this and they injured Harumi. He knew that his student, someone he took under his wing, would not purposely go as far to have his teammate harmed. Genkei was loyal to a fault, so he knew that he was taking this hard even if he was forgiven for everything.
The silence between them felt awkward. There was nothing else to be said and Harumi could only weakly glance at her partner. Hoping that her glance alone was enough to comfort him and perhaps it was. He knew that she didn’t blame him because he did that enough himself but that didn’t make his own guilt any easier to handle. Thankfully, they reached Sanjō Genji’s clan house. They entered and immediately their members flocked around them with concern but they simply followed the three into the clan office.
No knock given for this was an urgent matter.
“We filed our mission report.” Genkei said with a change in his personality, it exhausted him and it was evident in his expression. The rest of the members of Sanjō Genji were there seated around the office but they could see the change in him along with Harumi who was obviously injured with the huge burn effect on her. Nyanta had taken her out of the meeting, leading her to her room for treatment until the effect would dissipate.
“Explain to me. Everything. In detail.” Shichiro was curious about what happened to the two that had them have a complete change when compared how to they originally left the house. To say the least, it was a life-altering for them to where they no longer appeared to be who they once were.
Since Genkei was the only one that was available to talk he squared up. His hands balled up to fists as he tried to ease the beating of an aching heart of what had happened. With a deep breath, he tried to get oxygen into his brain before he spoke. Right now it was time remain aim, so he needed the air to clean his mind. After a few short moments of breathing enough to calm Genkei down into a relaxed peace that came from his breathing.
“The Lalafelles—” He mentioned the name, and he saw that Shichiro twitched, there was an expression he had never seen on the clan leader before. One of surprise and hostility at the mention of the race.
“What did you say?” Shichiro stood up from his desk, hands slammed against the wooden table. The action was powerful enough to knock down the stacks of paper that he had been working on throughout the week. The papers flew around and fell to the floor, accompanying other papers that were scattered around but no one made an effort to pick them up since Shichiro was fired up about the fact that Lalafelles were mentioned.
Genkei looked around but there was no answer given them so he continued, albeit more hesitantly as he tried to explain the situation they were stuck in. How they encountered the monsters and eventually chanced upon bandits who they assumed were the Lalafelles. Then he continued to tell the tale of what they found out from the Lalafelles.
“The Lalafelles. They are planning an attack on the Landers, at least that’s what we assume. We didn’t expect them to have such a deep past with them.” Genkei explained to them as he recounted exactly the Lalafelles mentioned about their own ra
ce, a sick feeling began to form within his stomach about the fact that humans had a part in their predecessor's extinction.
That alone was enough to make Shichiro pace back and forth, one hand was near his mouth as he nibbled onto his thumb. A clear sign that he knew that this could have been a possibility. Not many knew the extent of the Lalafelles bitterness. Since the race itself was not talked about in terms of their background. They were known at best for their magic abilities that were the extent of the knowledge for everyone who played the game.
“I should have foreseen this—” Shichiro pressed a hand onto his forehead, fingers digging into his hair as he remembers the lore of the land. The extent of cruelty that was handed out towards the Lalafelles. The race’s only fault was being powerful in magic. Yet they were targeted for that out of sheer jealousy.
“What do you mean, Shichiro-san?” Genkei asked, his stomach twisted together as he tried to grasp what was being said to him.
He wondered if this could have been prevented at all. But these were what ifs. Even if Shichiro could have prevented it, he didn’t know that there was a group of Lalafelles waiting for humans to pass by. There was not a piece of single information about them as if this was hidden from them. One couldn’t help but think what if there was a rat amongst them but no one dare say the rat stay poisoned?
“Ah, you don’t know the background or rather the history of this world and how it came to be...” Then Shichiro began to tell the tale of their existence of great detail. From what he knew as he was a Lalafell he knew that there was a prejudice to be found when the identity was to be found out. As sometimes when the mark on his tongue is revealed did certain relationships change for the worse and never for the better.
Out of jealousy towards the luxuries that the Lalafelles had due to their magical prowess, the Humans, Elezen, and Roegadyn attacked and overwhelmed the Lalafelles using their superior numbers against them because of the Lalafell’s small population since their birth-rate was low. This not only led to a decline in their population but the Lalafell subsequently became slaves for trading, and some were violated and gave birth to children which are the Lalafell.
The Miqo’te who were considered princesses of the Lalafell were once Lalafellen royalty, and escaped execution because of their beauty; however, they were instead kept as pets and love slaves by other royalty and powerful figures of the time. They were the masterminds behind the war between the three remaining races to avenge the destruction of the Lalafell, leading to the high number of casualties estimated to be about the current number of the Guardian Quest population.
The story had been briefed, a summary that nothing short of disgusting because of how the other three races treated the fourth race of the world. There was nothing but cruelty and one would not expect it from Guardian Quests but it had happened nonetheless. Everyone had to hold their tongue before Hachiro asked the vital question.
“That’s horrific but what can we do...” He stood there with a serious expression on his face, his hand gripping his weapons in a tight grasp to signify that he was ready to into battle. Not just for the fact that the Lalafelles were still being treated like the Lalafelles but the fact of the matter that two of their members got punished for being human.
It was hard for one to not be biased in this decision.
“I will have to see the King again. This isn’t something we can ignore. If we did that would only make things worse.” As he remembered the relationship he had with those at the kingdom. He knew that to fix the war that was determined to happen one would have to find the source of the problems. Even if that meant that there would be more problems that would crop up because of his request.
There was no other choice.
“Nagataka?” The assassin was always by Shichiro’s side appeared from darkness itself, ready to accept any request that was given. Shichiro looked at her after he heard the faint sound of footsteps on the wood flooring. A noise she purposely made so that she would be noticed otherwise she would not have.
Everyone except for Hachiro was surprised, some even going as far to jump from the spot they were standing from or a soft gasp was heard. Hachiro had already become with the oddness that was their teammate. He gave her a look of mockery but immediately returned his attention back to his student who needed more time to properly heal the physical and mental wounds that were hard to put to ease.
“Yes?” Ready for a command as she always was since she saw Shichiro not just as the clan leader but the person who she would at times called her master much to his own chagrin. Though she kept the word out of her mouth this time around because of the severity of the issue at hand. Her gaze was downcast and her hair rolled past her shoulder, a rare beauty within the realm of Guardian Quest.
Shiro looked at her with a serious look, there was no time for jokes between them as they realized the extent of the mission that had been relayed to him. He looked through his papers and handed them over to her after he quickly jotted down some notes and made signatures. His face was pale, and it was evident that this wasn’t going to be the end of what was a routine check why the Blue Forest was blocked from others from entering it.
“Contact everyone from the round table and tell them the extent of everything that’s happening. We’re going to set up another meeting.” A strained voice came from him and for the first time, Shichiro looked stressed beyond belief. He briefly removed his glasses to pinch his nose with his forefingers as if that would alleviate the feelings that were bubbling up as he realized that the history of Guardian Quests was coming into fruition. Shichiro wondered if this was part of the expansion pack or something along the lines an event that happened because of what everyone has done outside of the quest.
Genkei couldn’t handle the fact that he allowed this to happen. He felt responsible for the fact he wasn’t able to stop them along with the fact that Harumi was injured because of him. Complicated matters of the heart were happening as he realized he wanted to be with her right now but knew he couldn’t. Not when he had matters to discuss with the rest of the clan.
“What do you want me to do?” Genkei asked tiredly, and he had ultimately had changed from how he presented himself. The sunshine counterpart of his moon-like sister was now gone. Everyone could see that exhaustion had calmed him down and the look in his eyes hardly looked comforting at all. Whether this was good for him was clear. What was obvious was that all the members knew that he had matured from the mission?
They just hoped that he didn’t hold the weight of responsibility so heavily on his shoulder. Shichiro could only stare at his student with a frown, there was nothing he could say that would ease the tension that was encompassing Genkei. Everyone didn’t dare say that he should rest seeing as they
“Rest up. We’ll need you again.” Shichiro hinted that there was still use found in him. For now, he wanted Genkei at his best and he wasn’t at that point right now. Not with his mindset he carried. So he dismissed him with a wave of his hand.
Genkei nodded, his lips pressed together to hide away his disappointment from not being able to help right away. As he walked away, everything was white noise, he felt a soft hand grab his own, and he looked and saw it was his sister.
He had to protect her too.
“Let’s go check on Harumi-chan,” Midori said with a reassuring smile but to him, he knew that it would be smeared in blood if he wasn’t careful. He had to be a proper tank, a proper samurai that could protect those around them. But right now he was far from being that, with a quick inhale and exhale he knew that he tried to gather his resolve so that the feelings he felt wouldn’t consume him.
A war was coming.
The landers that were Lalafelles wanted the People of the Land to suffer for the pain they caused them all these years. Now it was up to the adventurers, the players invited to this world to pick a side. But who do they help? The ones they’ve forged bonds with or the ones that have been mistreated since the beginning.
None of it mat
tered, he would protect what was important to him.
“Let’s go see her.” He said with a gentle smile on his face, the first one he had since his return. His sister was happy to see her brother she thought she had lost along the way. But he was only a fragmented version in order to protect her from the truth of what he had become.
At the least, Harumi was getting treatment for the injuries she sustained. Genkei made a promise to himself that once he figured out what was wrong with her, then he would go off to train. There was no need to waste time to rest. To withstand the war that was to come he had to make sure he could combat against it or at least protect people properly.
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About Honie Jar
Growing up in Tokyo Japan, she found her way to the United States when she attended college at the University of California, San Fransisco. Shortly after graduating pre-med, she decided not to enter medical school, but instead began working for a start-up in Silicon Valley managing social media and marketing. Honie Jar had always loved anime and JRPGs, and she began writing after her marketing position slowly came to an end.
Anime allowed Honie Jar a way to escape reality and became immersed in the worlds of Naruto and Attack on Titan. Particularly Honie Jar enjoys how anime explores meaningful human connection regularly and does so in a non-threating manner. During her time in Silicon Valley, Honie Jar was introduced to the world of JRPGs, particularly Final Fantasy.