Luxor Academy: Flames of Chaos

Chapter 8 - The Dead City

It took two days. Two days of nurses fussing over him, measuring his progress and how well their newfangled healing techniques were doing. For two days, Blaise wasn't allowed to even move his arm as he felt the bones knitting together and healing. But compared to three months, two days was a short time for Blaise's bones to heal. And the infirmary's ice cream was amazing. Through all his ordeal, Blaise was able to go to school on Monday.

Monday was of sweltering heat; summer's last stand before winter takes over. The sun beat down its golden spears of sunshine, illuminating the ground in a euphoric manner, reminding Blaise of days spent at the edge of a lake, drinking chilled mango nectar and hoping for fish.

It certainly made the walk to the first class of the year much easier as Blaise's worn sneakers trudged up the pebble path towards the marble white school in the distance.

"Blaise! Wait up!" from his left, Blaise saw Kazuki running towards him from the gardens, as if he hadn't been shot in both kneecaps. When Kazuki got closer, Blaise did see that Kazuki was in fact, like Blaise, completely healed, the not a sign from the late night injuries from Friday.

"Your legs," Blaise asked, pointing to Kazuki's kneecaps.

"Huh?" Kazuki looked a bit confused, and Blaise felt a bit bad for not communicating well. Two days without talking does a lot to a shy person. But finally, Kazuki caught on, "Oh, my knees. Well, this isn't Skyrim. An arrow to the knee isn't going to stop me."

Blaise chuckled, and the two of them headed towards class, their feet moving in unison. They exchanged small talk, asking each other how their stay at the infirmary was, what class they have (turned out they both have Monster Hunting), about the fight in Ryo's dorm that fateful Friday.

As they went through the hallways of the school, Kazuki suddenly stopped Blaise.

"Seo told me that you might have been tipped off about my... origins," Kazuki said, only a slight stumble in his voice. There seemed to be almost a carelessness in his voice, but that Blaise would best describe as confidence, with an attitude that showed that Kazuki was okay with whatever reaction Blaise chose.

Because of this, Blaise decided he had to go with an elaborative answer and thought long for a few moments, pacing back and forth. Eventually, though, Kazuki became impatient.

"Fantastic answer. I will take that as a yes since it seems like you are trying your best to make things not too awkward," Kazuki said, grinning brightly, though the grin slipped off quickly, "Look, it isn't as it seems. I know I wasn't potty trained until fifth grade, but..."

"What?" Blaise was astonished. He thought Kazuki was talking about his status as a demon, not about being potty trained!

"Gotcha there," Kazuki chuckled, revealing that he was joking, "It didn't take me that long to know how to use the restroom. I'm talking about being a demon."

Ah, the elephant in the room, finally uncovered. There was an awkward silence, where Blaise stood unable to think about what to say, and Kazuki stood trying to read Blaise's expression.

"I mean, you don't seem evil," Blaise finally made out.

Kazuki laughed, before grinning kindly at Blaise, "Yep. I assure you I won't take your soul without your permission. And even then I can't take souls. Can we stay as friends?"

Skyler's words returned to Blaise, reminding him that even with his carefree and energetic manner, Kazuki was hurting and lonely on the inside. There wasn't any doubt in the first place that Blaise would be friends with Kazuki, but this only stabilized it.

Blaise voiced that he would indeed stay as friends and Kazuki gave a relieved laugh, and their walk to class was much more quiet, though a bit more comfortable.