They finally sat down on the couch with a cup of tea in their hand. Gyutaro always looks more relaxed when they're in the town, rather than when Seiy sees them at the guild. Their eyebrows stop frowning and they look younger. They look clam, almost like nothing is stressing them out. Just like her when she entered the forest. The encounter with the strange teenager from yesterday kind of left her contemplating. She never asked questions before. She never cared enough to ask anything. She chose to stay silent. But she wants answers now. She needs them.
'I was really young when I first met Charles,' she said, as she was sipping from the tea. The idea of calling the guild president by their name left the hero fazed. She never heard anybody call Dr. Charles by their name before. 'My life was pretty normal before, but since the day I met them, we got into a lot of trouble trying to act like heroes, saving people,' she smiled.
They put the tea on the table and glanced outside slowly. Seiy was awaiting their next words patiently with a trace of delight. With a sigh, they then started talking again:
'It was a gloomy night of December when I was walking home, and I saw 2 men pushing down a boy my age. That really scared me, but I figured I should try to help him out. I tried fighting them off, but since they were older, they were also stronger so I couldn't do much. But soon enough, Charles got up and started helping me out. After we figured we couldn't win this battle, I looked for the right opportunity, then I grabbed their hand and run away from the weirdos.'
The sun standing in the middle of the sky announced that there are only two hours left until dawn. Gyutaro finally took a sip of their tea and enjoyed the delighting flavour.
'After that, we remained friends and started hanging out very often. They told me about how they want to save people who are in danger, but they weren't born with magic. I then offered to help save the world and we began wandering around the city acting like heroes. We got in trouble with the police most of the time, but that didn't really matter to my friend. After some time passed, we eventually met Sadie and Koko.'
He paused after pronouncing his last friends' name. He looked like he was about to end the story here because his disposition was ruined, but he continued.
'That's when we all decided to save people together. We called ourselves "The shadows", because Sadie always managed to keep us hidden with their illusions. We all had our roles. Charles was the mastermind, Sadie was the supporter, I was the fighter and Koko was the killer. Sometimes we'd have to take the life of whoever we were fighting because they were too strong, but I didn't have the heart to do it.' He took on a sad face and then whispered: 'That was my biggest mistake.'
The story seemed to have ended by the look of his face. Seiy glanced at him. She wanted to ask how Koko became evil, but instead she just drank from her tea.
'Years later we decided to create a guild in order to lead young people into becoming the heroes we always wanted to be.' He managed to utter with a parched voice the last words of the story.
'So why did you decide to move here if the guild got created.'
They grimaced at her words, but their expression softened seconds after.
'At first, I heard about a magical forest that surrounded a small town, so I went to check it up, but after seeing the dreamy atmosphere, I decided to stay here. Obviously, Charles wasn't happy about it because they wanted me to help the newcomers, but...'
'But you stayed here anyways.' she interjected. 'What did you find out about the forest?'
She waited for the answer with a jubilant face. She completely forgot about Koko and Charles as a result of the forest mention. Curiosity got a hang of her as she wanted to understand who was the girl which she saw the other day.
'By the look of your face, it seems you really enjoyed your walk.' he smiled. 'Whenever I walked in there, there wasn't anything bothering me. It was like every problem of mine disappeared. I found traces of a magical creature living in there, so I justified that the tranquillity of this place was influenced by it, but I can't seem to understand why it leaves signs of its presence and refuses to show itself in front of me.'
Realization suddenly hit Seiy. The girl she met was the creature he was talking about. Why did she talk to the girl but didn't dare to show a strand of hair in front of Gyutaro. She remembered how she didn't have any reaction when the young one appeared next to her out of nowhere. Usually, she'd jump swiftly due to her spider instincts. This time, though, she didn't even flinch.
'Don't worry, I don't think it's dangerous. The people in town would've been dead by now if it represented a hazard. I think the creature's magic helps create a coolness, so in its presence everybody has a noble aura'
She pretended she was listening as the debate either she should tell her friend about the creature, or not, was going on in her mind. She finished her tea with one last sip and her thoughts soon got interrupted by Gyutaro's question:
'Seiy.' He then turned to look somewhere else. 'Would you hate me if I ever killed Charles?'
She dropped the cup and it loudly broke on the shiny floor. Her eyes widened slightly and her mouth opened to say something but she couldn't. She couldn't even breathe anymore, but that wasn't because of the shock. She felt dizzy and tried to stand up while a tear fell down her check. What as going on? Why did her friend ask this? Gyutaro threw her one more cold look before she passed out and he said:
'I'm sorry. This is for the best. Don't ever come back to the guild.'
