To Be Free! (Noragami Fan-Fic)

New Year's Time!

    I sat cross-legged at Kofuku's place. The war with Kuro was now over but I still had a bad feeling in my stomach. I stared at the ruby-hilt dagger in my hands. The memories of the war came back to my mind.
       Kuro smiled at us. The smirk from before was gone but now it was a gentle smile. I felt some of the blight leave my body as if he was already repenting. But that was impossible.
     "Hey, Crystal!" Kuro called out to me. I looked at him square in the eyes, without hesitation. "Please send me back to the rest of the villagers... please."
     I felt my heart break at seeing him like this but I did it anyway. I shaped my fingers into a halberd and drew a line; straight through Kuro. "Ryuuki... I release you," I said softly. "I wish you happiness with the rest of the villagers."

     And just like that, the war was over. It seemed like something simple but because of his contagious blight, lots of Storms and Vents have been appearing all over the city. All the local guardians were already doing their best to get rid of them. As well as my regalia. However, the main seven were right behind me looking extremely exhausted with their hair sticking out all over the place and with dark circles around their eyes.
     "Hey, are you guys really alright?" I asked them. They all put up a shaking thumbs up. But it immediately fell back down onto the floor as soon as the exhaustion hit them again. "Well, just try not to force yourself too hard. After all, we still have to give Kuro a proper burial site so that we can pay our respect." They all nodded and fell back down to the ground. It was kind of strange to see the usually neat and tidy Midori looking all tired and frail. But then again, Daikoku said that it happened to him after Yukine's ablution. He also said he was too tired to even scold Yato for messing around. Then I saw Yukine ran by, cleaning the floor with a rag.
     "Yukine. Tend to the store when you're done there." I heard Daikoku say.
      "Right!" Yukine answered, getting up then noticed us in the room. "Oh, Miss Crystal. How are you and your regalias doing?"
     "It's fine. You can call me Crystal. But I don't think that that group behind me is doing okay. Kuro was a formidable opponent alright. It literally took most of their power to keep up the Borderline," I said standing up. "Anyways, I'm going to go ask Daikoku what I can do to help around the store."
     "Eh? You don't need to. You're still recovering!" He said trying to keep me still.
     "Don't worry! I'm not like the other guardians. I'm strong!" I leapt around the corridor and landed gracefully on the floor. Somehow, along the way, I felt something break but I ignored it and continued smiling. "See?"
     He sighed and gave up, walking to the store. I smiled and I asked Daikoku what I could do.
     "For starters, you could help sweep the front of the store," he said handing me a broom. "Just make sure you don't give it to that idiot brother of yours. Last time he did, he broke everything and the whole place ended up messier than before."
     I nodded and swept around the place until it looked like it sparkled.
     "Good morning!" I heard Hiyori call. "So you really have started a part-time job here. Oh? Are you working here too, Crystal?"
     "W-Well, you know... I at least wanna pay back the money I took," he answered shyly.
     "A lot has happened, but it looks like you've finally been set straight," I said. "Also, no, I'm not working here. I'm just helping out because I felt completely useless just sitting down in the house."
     "Th-There's that... but it's also because Yato doesn't make any money himself!" He pointed his finger at Yato who was in the doorway.
     "Oh, right. Don't you have a favour to ask Hiyori and Crystal too?" Daikoku added.
     "I said it doesn't matter anymore!" Yukine said.
     "What is it?" I asked appearing suddenly beside them.
     "You two are starting a new school year soon, right?" Daikoku said turning back to what he was doing. "So he was hoping he could have your old textbooks and workbooks. He wants to do the same stuff everyone else does."
     "I mean if you're gonna throw it away..."
     We both heard sniffing noises and saw Hiyori practically in tears.
     "I guess this is her way of saying you can have them," I said. "But if you want I can also give you some of mine from a decade ago. They had much better brains compared to lazy teachers nowadays."
     "Hey, Crystal," I heard a voice behind me say. "Don't you mean how they beat you till you were bleeding and the whole floor around you was covered in your blood?"
     I turned around and saw Akai. I suddenly felt my heart rate get faster and I looked away quickly before he could see my heated face. "Well, that was years ago and it doesn't really matter because I'm all healed, right?"
     "Crystal, about what I said after the battle... you can forget about it if you want, I don't mind," Akai said. I stood still for a few minutes until I heard him walk away. I let out a relieved breath. 'What he said after Kuro was defeated...'