Rise Of Royal Phantoms And Qixi Festival

Episode 31

I awoke to a throbbing pain in my gut, a dull ache replaced by a sharp reminder of Kaito's brutal attack.  Groaning, I pushed myself up from the thin mat, wincing as my bandaged head protested. A wave of relief washed over me as I surveyed the room.  All the trainees lay sprawled on similar mats, their wounds treated – even Kasumi's yellow eye sported a jaunty patch.  A quick check confirmed my green hair pin was still secured in place, a small comfort in the midst of the ache that radiated from my torso.

Sitting back down, I sucked in a few shallow breaths, the pain making deeper inhalation a gamble.  Just then, the door creaked open, drawing everyone's attention.  Steward Kael, his usual playful smile crinkling the corners of his eyes, stood there in his customary attire - a black and green design adorning his long jacket over pristine white trousers and a green kimono shirt.

"𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆," he announced, his voice warm.  "𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈?"

Renji, ever the voice of the group, piped up.  "𝑨𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒕," he replied with a grimace.  "𝑺𝒐 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅."

A sheepish voice echoed from behind Steward Kael.  "𝑰 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕," Kaito mumbled, presumably referring to the brutal training exercise.

Before he could elaborate, pandemonium erupted.  A rogue pillow soared through the air, smacking Kaito square in the face with a resounding WHUMP.  Izumi, clutching his side but with a mischievous glint in his eye, declared, "𝑷𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌! 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓."

A flurry of pillows followed, Izumi dodging them with practiced agility and landed on a trainee who had head injury behind him, who got pissed.  But the chaos had a life of its own.  One errant pillow, launched with misplaced aggression, sailed across the room and connected with my head.

  Groaning, I clutched my throbbing skull as the battle raged on.

Steward Kael, instead of reprimanding them, seemed to be thoroughly amused.  The scene, he later confessed, reminded him of his own youthful days in training with he's late comrades.  He dodged a barrage of pillows himself, his white trousers momentarily disappearing in a cloud of feathers.

Amidst the flying projectiles, Kasumi and Izumi leaned in, their voices lowered.  "𝑯𝒆𝒚 𝑻𝒐𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒐," Kasumi whispered, "𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕."  Izumi nodded in agreement, his earlier animosity replaced by a flicker of respect.

A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips.  The pain was still present, but the camaraderie in the room, the shared experience that had forged a bond between us, was a soothing balm.  We had faced a brutal test and emerged stronger, more united.  And if a pillow fight was the way to celebrate this newfound strength, so be it.

The path ahead wouldn't be easy, but with these brave and resourceful individuals by my side, I felt a surge of confidence.  Together, we could face anything the world of espionage threw our way.