Author's Note: Well, this took a long time. Don't kill me, please! I had some pretty... uh... good? reasons. It pretty much boils down to two rewrites of the first scene and four of the last two. Anyway, on to the story.

"Pffft! You're not fair, it was a fine book," Ronye said with a huff.

Kazuto was slowly losing the will to argue back. "It was boring," he said halfheartedly, a fact Ronye did not miss upon.

"No, it was not!" she argued. "Especially at the end, when Tonno discovered that he could use not one, not two, but three affinities! Isn't it amazing?"

Kazuto let out a sigh. "It didn't make any sense. Something like that is impossible."

"It was amazing! I loved it!"

Kazuto sighed. Really, this argument was not going anywhere. "Okay," he decided. "You liked it, I didn't. There's really no point in arguing about it."

"But it was interesting." Ronye pouted and, purely because he very much felt like he should do something to deflate the argument, Kazuto turned his head the other way. At this rate, he might just agree with her just to make her stop gushing about the standard sixth year curriculum book.

"Anyway, about that…" He trailed off as his eyes landed on the park, or rather, the back of the person standing not too far off. It seemed familiar, somehow.

"Hey, it's not that way," Ronye warned him, but Kazuto shook his head. He approached and, with a sigh, he heard the girl following. The conversation among the people he'd noticed was still ongoing and they didn't seem to register the pair.

"…understand."

"Not quite. But if you're sure on your course of action, you're expected to show up at the Cross Radeon in Algade on the twenty-first of August at noon. That's… well, twenty days from now."

"I don't believe this. Daimon, you can't be serious."

Kazuto froze. The voice was unmistakably Issin's and now that he was closer, he could confirm that the other people present were also Fuurinkazan members, but what about the others?

He didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to get out and greet them immediately? Or wait until the rest of them are gone? He recognize two of them, the ones responsible for him ending up on the other side of the town, but what were they doing?

Indecision ate at him. Act or not?

When Ronye decided to try and peek over his shoulder, he made his decision.

He took several steps back, pulling her along.

"What?" she asked.

"It's nothing, don't worry."

It wasn't a very satisfying response, he knew, but for now, that was all he had. He could still hear the conversation, but quietly. Only after everybody but Fuurinkazan was gone did he dare to come any closer. Not a moment later, he realized he was no longer hidden in the trees. That was when his eyes met with Dale's and, after a few moments, he felt the eyes of all four members present.

Listening in on people wasn't one of the ways Kazuto preferred his day to go. He was cross between pretending that he hadn't really heard anything, something that would normally be his default reaction, but the second notion, the one pushing him to ask exactly what was going on was much stronger. Ronye's voice, however, quickly reminded him that this was neither time nor place for such conversations.

"Why are they looking at us like that?" she whispered, going so far as to grab the edge of his sleeve.

The moment she saw Kazuto glance at it, she let go, giving him an apologetic smile.

"Eh… it's nothing," Kazuto replied. "Anyway, thanks for your help. I'll be fine from here on."

His companion and guide through Urbus nodded, but she did not seem to take the cue to leave. "They look kind of scary."

Kazuto could see why she'd think that. Issin had the face that seemed to scream 'prankster', though his personality was nothing like it. Dale was big in every sense of the word, but not particularly intimidating. Dynamm's nose looked somewhat stranger than usual and the mustache did make him look kind of sneaky and Klein, for all his normally friendly and outgoing nature, still looked scary with a katana on his hip.

"Don't worry, they're my friends."

"Hmph…" Ronye nodded, but didn't make any other move.

Kazuto looked over at Klein again, the older man seemingly eager to say something, but this time, Kazuto was pretty sure it would be better if he beat him to it. When he spoke, however, he addressed Ronye. "You should probably head home now. Your parents will get worried."

"Grandparents. I'm just visiting for the summer," she corrected him. Then her eyes widened. "Oh, no! I completely forgot! I'm sorry, I have to go! Grandmother is going to get so worried! I never take longer than fifteen minutes. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Bye!"

In a flurry, she spun and began running, only to suddenly stop and turn back.

"It was nice to meet you!" she said with a quick bow. "Thanks for your help!" Then she turned and sprinted away.

Really now, I should be the one saying thanks. He hesitantly looked back to the Fuurinkazan.

Issin was first to break the tense silence. "Are you alright? Not hurt anywhere?"

It was a good question for a start, Kazuto had to admit, and very easy to answer.

"I'm fine. Actually…" Now was the time. He could ask the question—about who the people from previous night were and just what this meeting in Algade was supposed to be. He'd been curious about it from the start, but now was the best chance to address it. What little he'd heard before the others had departed implied a lot of dangerous things that just mentioning them would have probably earned him a mouthwash from some of his old teachers.

But those teachers weren't here now. And he wasn't just a kid anymore, either. Or at least, he didn't feel that way.

"What? Something the matter?" Issin asked.

"No, no… Just…" Kazuto took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Here goes nothing. "Were those people now members of the rebel factions? Are they trying to force you to work with them? I… remember when mom talked to the neighbor, he said that the rebels are going far enough to threaten people to work for them. Is that what…" he trailed off, the scene before his eyes coming to a complete standstill.

For longer than just a few seconds, his eyes went from one adult to another. Dynamm had taken the time to make a hundred and eighty degree turn and not even look at Kazuto. Dale had a goofy smile on his face. Issin just seemed to sigh. Finally, a verbal response came in form a chuckle.

"That's what you're worrying about?" Klein asked, his hand coming to rest on top of Kazuto's head. "I wish it were that interesting. Sadly, it's just one old business deal, no more, no less."

"With the rebels?"

"Well, they are a bit shady, I suppose, but I wouldn't go that far," Issin said. "Anyway, I think we should get going. Others should be sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the news now."

Kazuto nodded in agreement. However, he didn't fail to notice the way all four seemed to be walking a little straighter.

There had been a few times in Kazuto's life when he thought that things could not possibly get any worse.

One of those times had been after he'd gotten out of the hospital and had to build up the stamina he'd lost over time. The first week had been completely horrendous, he had only barely been able to stay awake in classes and the fact that he had two months worth of curriculum to catch up to had really only made things worse, leaving him with only a tad bit of free time to rest and muscle pains he never wished to experience again.

The time they'd spent travelling to Cremen had to be ten times worse.

The sheer awkwardness of his reuniting with Fuurinkazan had really only been the start. He'd felt bad about sending Ronye home without so much as a proper thanks. She'd helped him out immensely and she hadn't deserved to be brushed off like that. What made things worse was that Kazuto was pretty sure he wasn't going to get a chance to make it up to her. At least she hadn't seemed like she'd caught onto the implications of the conversation they'd overheard, so he liked to think it was worth it.

The decision to head to Cremen almost immediately after they'd finished lunch had been Kunimittz's idea.

"Klein, I think we should get on the road as fast as possible," he'd said. "We're gonna have trouble meeting the deadline anyway, but wasting more time here is not going to help us any. We'll just take it slower than we usually do."

And that had been it. A wordless agreement, several gestures and Kazuto had been running to pack his things with no idea what was going on and why they were in such an apparent rush. He hadn't even had the chance to ask if Harry and Dynamm were fine, though judging by the looks on their faces after they heard there was going to be no rest, they probably weren't.

They'd spent the rest of the day riding, with only brief pauses to eat and rest every two hours or whenever they came across a smaller village. Kazuto had been surprised to learn that there were at least a dozen more miniature villages on their way to Cremen, though what he'd heard from Kunimittz suggested that the path they were following was going to be at least forty kilometers longer than the one they had initially intended to take.

And that had been another problem. Not the distance itself, but the fact that the ongoing conversations had felt fabricated. Klein had almost never really bothered to talk unless if it had been a poor attempt to brighten the atmosphere. Whenever Harry had opened his mouth, it had been to ask for some water or rest. The only conversation that had sounded vaguely natural had been the one going on between Eugeo and Kunimittz—a long talk about possible roads to Algade and the Algade-Urbus railways still in construction, but even that had become awkward after they had picked up on the generally bad mood of their companions.

Kazuto had taken to riding with Issin after several failed attempts of conversation between him and Klein. He'd wanted explanations, about the abrupt travel, about who those people were, he'd wanted them badly. It had seemed so obvious-normal people didn't go around carrying weapons and that woman had possessed one, with no armor to speak of. Kazuto had doubted the soldiers were allowed to do that, but whether the weapon was one of the ones issued to the soldiers was another thing he hadn't known. Asking Eugeo would have been the easiest thing to do, considering his interest in all things history-related, but he'd never quite gotten the chance.

They hadn't slowed down, not even during the night, only taking an hour long break when the first signs of morning had appeared on the far east. By that point, Kazuto had been practically dead on his feet. He'd barely been able to stand on the hard ground. In the end, he hadn't even bothered eating, preferring to lady under the closest tree and sleep until somebody had woken him up.

After that, everything had been lost in a haze. He remembered drinking icy cold water from a stream of some kind, which might have really happened, and he remembered watching a giant fire consuming everything in its way, which most certainly hadn't.

One thing he knew for sure was that they reached the town Cremen at nightfall on the second day of the eighth month, a fact he remembered solely because it had been the first time in his life that he'd heard somebody mentioning August—the name used to refer to the eighth month in a year. He clearly remembered asking about it later, but the answer must have been kind of confusing for his exhausted mind because he couldn't seem to recall it now.

He also remembered hearing the sentence 'Go get some sleep'. He had been so happy that he'd nearly fainted the moment he'd heard it.

There had also been a girl there, at some point. He wasn't sure what she was doing there, but he was pretty certain that she'd been the one to show him which room to go to. He hadn't even bothered to take his clothes off. Instead, he'd just dived under the covers and lost himself in blissful nothingness.

And that was why hearing the voice telling him to get up now was something he so eagerly ignored.

"Come on, we don't have time for this."

Kazuto mumbled that he didn't care and covered his head with his pillow.

"What? No, wait, never mind. You leave me no choice, then."

The following few moments of silence helped the young swordsman go back to his dream—a dream in which a woman he didn't recognize, though she looked familiar in a way he couldn't explain, kept shaking her head as if he'd done something to make her sad. He couldn't remember what.

It was interrupted a moment later when his pillow was forcefully stolen away and something cold and wet splashed in his face.

If he hadn't been awake before, he sure was now.

"Ughu… not fair…"

He sat straight, allowing the wetness to trickle down to his neck, but his eyelids still felt heavy. He brushed the water away and blinked a few times, adjusting to the bright sunlight in the small room.

"That's cruel. Too cruel," he said before a long yawn escaped his lips.

"Sorry. But at least it worked," Eugeo stated and put the glass on the wooden drawer beside the bed. "Unlike all my previous efforts."

"Couldn't you have let me sleep a little bit longer?"

"No. The offices are open until noon and it's eleven o'clock now. You can sleep after we're done with the pass cards. Kunimittz said we have time to rest until tomorrow morning."

Kazuto let out another long yawn.

"Fine," he said. Then he flexed his stiff shoulders and barely held back a groan from the pain in his back and rear as he stood up. "Ugh. Next time I'll just go by foot," he decided.

Eugeo gave a tired sigh. "I can see why you'd think that."

"You don't look too tired," Kazuto remarked, though a moment later he noticed otherwise. His friend's skin was a shade paler than usual and there were bags under his eyes, as though he hadn't slept for days, even though the riding had lasted a little over thirty hours. He didn't think he himself looked much better, though.

Eugeo shrugged. "It wasn't really that scary."

"EH? Come again?"

"I've had worse while helping father at the farm," the other boy explained. "Come on," he added. "We have to get those passes. You can rest later."

Kazuto sighed. It was not a battle he was going to win. He began to get up, though only then he noticed he was still wearing the clothes he'd worn for the trip rather than a real pajamas. Whoops.

"You go on," he said. "I'll catch up to you in a minute, just gotta change first."

Eugeo, who was looking for something in his giant backpack, mumbled affirmatively. He picked up a pouch then and walked out. Kazuto was almost completely sure he'd also heard an exasperated sigh.

He glanced towards the stuffed, over-sized backpack resting by his bed, wondering if he had been the one to carry it there. He'd also have to ask somebody about washing their clothes. At this rate, he'd have nothing to wear in a few days.

"Klein-san, do we have to personally take the passes?" Eugeo asked. He slowed down, reluctantly looking over at the bushes at the side.

"Eh? What? No-no. We just need to give them any kind of identification document and that's it. That's why there are just four of us going. No need to have the others come along."

Eugeo glanced towards them-Klein, Issin and Kazuto-before looking back towards the bushes. If he squinted, he could briefly see a water surface in the distance. Ahead of them, the dirt road they were following was splitting in two directions. The wider one lead towards the houses that could be seen a bit further away, behind the trees and bushes, while the other one curved and disappeared behind another set of bush. It went up the small hill and Eugeo had a pretty good idea what he would be able to find there.

"You could have let me sleep then," Kazuto grumbled.

"Wouldn't you have complained about it if I'd left you behind?" Klein shot back with a grin.

Kazuto sighed. "Probably, yeah," he admitted.

"There you go," Klein said triumphantly.

They were at the split now, Klein leading them down the dirt road leading directly to the more urban area. Eugeo slowed down even more, until finally, he stopped walking completely. Everyone else pulled to a stop merely moments later.

"Would it be a problem if I didn't go, then?" he asked, not looking at any of their faces. He looked at the sketchbook in his hand, the place where he put all his important documents for safekeeping. It wasn't a proper fascicle, but the covers were tough and that was what really counted. "I'll give you the papers and everything, but…" he trailed off, uncertain how exactly to word it.

"You want to go back to the hotel?" Klein asked.

The younger boy shook his head. "No, that's not it. I just saw something out the window and I'd like to see if I can get closer."

"What is it? We can always visit later, it's not a problem."

Eugeo bit his lip. There was no way he could explain this, not in a satisfying way. Klein seemed to catch onto that, however.

"I can't leave you on your own," he said.

Eugeo bowed his head. It had been a long shot, anyway.

"Well, I could stay behind with him," Issin offered. "It's not a problem. We'll just meet up with you for lunch."

Klein opened his mouth, then promptly closed them. He gave a quick nod.

"Yeah, I guess that works. Eugeo?"

Eugeo stiffened. "Uh… I'm… fine with that, I guess," he mumbled out, hoping he wasn't just a tad bit too obvious. There was cold sweat rolling down the back of his neck, but he took a deep breath and calmed down. There wasn't any reason to worry, anyway.

He shared a look with Kazuto and smiled, hoping it would convey his message. I'll tell you later. It shouldn't be that hard to understand.

"Fine, then," Klein decided. "We'll meet you at the hotel for lunch, then."

Eugeo nodded, taking the documents out of his improvised fascicle and passing them to Klein. He then sighed and headed down the narrower path, leading up the hill. It wasn't particularly high one, barely being higher than a typical two storey building, nor was it particularly steep. The trees and bushes around were preventing him from seeing what was beyond the road, but Eugeo was sure he was taking the right path. There was nowhere else it could go.

Issin, thankfully, didn't ask anything yet, preferring to observe their surroundings instead. There was a look of dawning comprehension on his face, however, when they reached a small clearing at the top.

There was a smile on Eugeo's face, too, because his guess had been correct. There were only few trees at top of the hill while the other side was covered in grass only. There was a single monument on the hill, built more like a miniature shrine than a monument, with numbers engraved on it. What stretched beyond the hill, however, was what really mattered.

The Hanase river, known as the longest and widest river in the Northern Fields region, stretched before him, its surface sparkling in the sun. The color was different from the ocean. It was still blue, though it had a tinge of green to it, yet it was no less beautiful. Buildings of different shapes and sizes surrounded it from both sides, starting with one-storey homes few and far in between, until it reached the curve where the size of the buildings increased and the designs varied, each grander and more magnificent the closer it got to the town center. There, a single tall building stood, its color pure white.

Eugeo prided himself on his knowledge about history. Although it was much better than the sketches in the history books had indicated, the Church of Alleia was relatively easy to recognize, with its tall walls and several arched roofs. The white tower, however, was the iconic symbol of the town and the entire surrounding area. Significantly taller than any other building in surroundings, it had an enormous bronze bell that could be heard even in the nearby villages. It was the oldest building in Cremen, the only one that had survived Lord Hidesao's rebellion that had razed the city, two hundred and seventy three years ago.

Eugeo looked beyond it, his eyes taking in the scenery around and behind it.

There were two bridges built over the river. The closer one to Eugeo was the arch bridge made of stone, built over the narrowest part of the river, standing rather tall. It connected what seemed to be the most populated areas, but from afar, it was difficult to tell whether there were any real vehicles on it no matter how hard he squinted.

The other bridge was even further away, but the construction was obviously different. It seemed like most of it had been made of iron rather than stone and it rose in a high arc. It was not something Eugeo had seen ever before.

He gave another glance to the sketchbook in his hand and ran over to the monument. He sat down on the ground, leaning against it and dug into his pouch until he found the graphite pencil he'd brought along. It was an old one and it wasn't going to last him for a long while, but for now, it was all he had.

"You should've mentioned that you just wanted to draw," Issin remarked, the look on his face thankfully neutral.

Eugeo shook his head. "It's a present," he explained. "My sister, Mimi, is turning seven today. She made me promise I'll get her a picture of where I've been. I didn't get a chance in Urbus, but now seemed like a good time."

"That's… well, I expected a lot of things. Not this, though. Definitely not this."

"I'm not really that good. But if I do the shadings right, it should work out. It might take a while, though. I'm sorry."

Issin shook his head. "No, no, it's not a problem. Don't worry about it." He grinned. "I get a perfect chance to take a nap, too. Just don't forget to wake me up. We shouldn't be late for lunch."

"Thanks," Eugeo said. He glanced back towards the town before focusing again on the blank page in his sketchbook. He sighed. This was going to be much harder than he expected.

"So… this is all?" Kazuto asked, looking over the paper size of a typical notebook. It had some of his personal details written on it, like name, date of birth and hometown and a single large stamp in shape of a cone and a bird in flight. He'd been told that the bird was supposed to be a falcon, but more than anything, it looked like an under detailed pigeon. There was some miniature text written under it and Kazuto had already read through the four tiny lines, but none of them had answered any of his questions. Thus, he kept spinning the piece of paper and looking at it from all sides, as if expecting he'd suddenly find something that hadn't been there before.

"And just what were you expecting?" asked Klein, the only person keeping him company on the wooden balcony while everyone else had gone to pack their belongings for the early morning trip. "Something like your graduation paper?"

Kazuto shook his head. "Nothing like that. It's just… we had to come all the way here because of this? I guess I was expecting something more. Why do we even need it? It's just an ordinary piece of paper."

"It's an ordinary piece of paper, yes, but without it, we can't get in Algade."

"Why not? It's not like they have guards stationed right outside the walls. They don't even have the walls! How can they stop you from entering on a horse? How will they even know if you're not a citizen of Algade?" Kazuto huffed. Then his mouth opened as a thought came to him and he looked at Klein with wide eyes. "It can't be the guards are walking around the streets, demanding some kind of identification papers all the time and then arresting people who don't have them," he breathed.

Klein merely raised an eyebrow, taking a gulp of the beer he held in his hand. "Where do you get those ideas? First the rebels, now this. I can understand you'd want something more extraordinary, but really, you're looking at the wrong place."

"But…" Kazuto trailed off as the older man took another long gulp of beer, seemingly savouring the taste.

"Where is the right place, then?" he asked.

"Eh? What?"

"Well, you said I'm looking at the wrong place, that means there's obviously a right one, too. So where is it?"

"Does there have to be?" Klein asked, but there was the distinct exasperation in his voice.

"Yes," Kazuto replied, but that was when his eyes fell on the car entering the hotel yard, a roofless, four-wheeled machine with lights already on, despite the fact that the last traces of the sun could still be seen in the far west. The driver, a man who ought to be at least in his fifties, parked it near the entrance to the hotel, exiting only after making sure that roaring of the engine stopped completely.

Kazuto stared at the vehicle, its black color reflecting light and its four seats apparently made of quality leather. He tried to see beyond it, to get a look at the steering wheel and other controls, but from where he was leaned on the wooden railing, he couldn't see anything.

"How do they work?" he breathed out. "They looks so different. Are they electric like Lord Schuberg's or are they powered by… umm… how was it called… internal combustion engine? Yes, I think that's it. Is that how it works?"

He looked to Klein in search for an answer, but blinked when he merely covered his eyes. "What?"

Klein sighed. "How do you even know that? You're what? Fourteen?"

"Thirteen," Kazuto corrected. "And our physics professor back in school talked a lot about vehicles and how much he wanted to buy one. He knew to list every single part that went into building them and even wanted to try building one for himself. It was really interesting."

"Eeeh? You had that Nishida-san as your physics professor? I thought he retired."

"Umm… that was in year five."

"And you remember all that from your fifth year?"

"It was interesting. I just wish I got to ride in one." Kazuto sighed wistfully. "They're faster than horses."

"That they certainly are."

Both Kazuto and Klein's head turned towards the porch where the driver stood, graying hair sticking out under the old navy hat. Looking at what he was wearing, Kazuto had to wonder how he wasn't sweating in that dark blazer. Now that it was evening, it wasn't really that hot, but a blazer still felt a bit too much.

"I cannot offer you a ride at present, but if you're interested, you can go in and have a look," he said. "Just don't try to start the engine on your own."

"H-hey, Jii-san, are you sure of that?" Klein asked, but his words were lost to Kazuto's bubbling excitement.

"I can? Really?" Once the old man gave a nod of assent, it was all Kazuto could do not to dash right in. "Thank you!" he shouted. He could hear Klein sigh somewhere behind him and he could hear the old man chuckle, but none of that really registered fully.

He was too busy trying to figure out how to open the door to the drivers seat. It turned out to be easy enough and he climbed into the driver's seat, with wide eyes observing the levers, the steering wheel and everything else that made up the interior of the automobile.

"How fast can it go?" he asked in excitement.

"A lot faster than you'd think," the older man replied with a wink.

Kazuto opened his mouth to ask yet another question, but whatever did come out, it was lost to Klein's shout.

"Oi, Kazuto! We'll miss dinner at this rate! Everyone's waiting for us!"

The boy gave a sad look to the controls before scrambling out of there. "Thank you," he told the old man. It earned him a pat on the head, something he escaped fast enough. Still, he grinned. "It's really amazing."

The old man didn't say a word, only giving them a polite nod. It was once they were about to close the door of the hotel that the man said anything, but even then, Kazuto barely caught it. It sounded very much like "Have a pleasant meal."

"Gotta wash our hands first," Klein reminded him, to which Kazuto grinned.

"Umm, hey, Klein," he said.

"Mm?"

"You mentioned we should reach Algade tomorrow?"

"If everything goes according to plan, then we'll get there sometime at night, yes."

"So… what are we going to do? Eugeo and I, I mean. It's the third day of the eighth month and if we reach Algade tomorrow… Well, you know… entrance exams are on the sixteenth."

He looked at the older man questioningly when he failed to give a verbal response. It was no wonder, because the look on Klein's face was not that far from being utterly flabbergasted.

"Sixteenth… as, you mean, you've got two more weeks?" Klein repeated.

Kazuto nodded, uncertain about the exact reason Klein's face suddenly seemed to lose all its color.

"Then why…? Why…?" his mouth hung open, eyes wide. Kazuto scratched the back of his head.

"What why?"

"But… you…" he pointed his finger at Kazuto, before finally rolling his eyes and letting his head drop. "No, never mind. Midori-san is a cruel, cruel person."

"Mom? Really? What did she do?"

"No, never mind. Don't worry, we'll think of something. Anyway, we should probably hurry it up now. I'm hungry, too."

Kazuto nodded in agreement, washing his hands in silence. However, even after the flow of water stopped, the sound was still there, as if mixed with a sound of rustling leaves and pressure in his ears as though he'd climbed an incredibly high mountain. It was gone a few moments later, but the cowering of his skin was evidence that it had not been just a trick of his mind.

He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck and the cold sweat running down his back, but there was no going back now. He followed Klein in silence, hoping against hope that he was wrong and that it had been just a trick of his paranoid mind.

The sounds around him dulled down slowly and he was barely able to make out the differences between the conversations going in the hallway from the ones going on in the dining room he'd just entered. He saw Issin walking their way, opening his mouth to say something, though he could only make up bits and pieces. He was still too far.

"Eugeo… upstairs… go pick him up?"

Kazuto nodded, not sure what he was agreeing with at all.

"Don't take too long, dinner will get cold."

He nodded, giving what he hoped looked like a smile before turning and walking towards the staircase. It was easier now, when there was no multiple sounds coming from all directions to confuse him, but if experience had taught him anything, it was that from this point, things would only get worse.

And they did. He hadn't even finished climbing the stairs when the first signs of dizziness came. The edges of his vision blurred and climbing had suddenly become a lot more difficult than it had ever been before. He made it somehow, using the railing to help him move forward and not end up tumbling back. Thankfully, there were in total six rooms on the first floor and the one that belonged to him and Eugeo was the second one on the left from the staircase.

He got to it fast enough, but he stopped before reaching for the door knob. The promise he made to his mother now strangled him, the idea of sharing exactly what was going on with him stopping him from making an actual move to open the door.

He gripped it the moment it started moving around, the knob suddenly being the only thing helping him keep his balance. He took a deep breath and another, before twisting the knob and making a hesitant step inside.

I'm not breaking my promise, I swear. Just delaying it… a bit…

"Hey, Eugeo… dinner time," he said.

His friend's voice sounded muted, but as the room lacked any other sounds, Kazuto could make out the words, though only barely.

"Right. I'll go down in a minute, just to finish this."

Kazuto nodded, but it went unnoticed. Eugeo was too busy focusing on his sketchbook to notice anything immediately wrong and Kazuto was grateful. It saved him from having to explain exactly what was going on.

Instead, he took the opportunity to collapse on his bed. He didn't think he'd be able to make it back downstairs, not anytime soon.

"Are you not going? Hey, Kazuto?"

"I'm… not hungry. Later, maybe."

"Are you sure? Hey, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just sleepy. I'll come soon."

He didn't see how Eugeo reacted to that. He barely made out the sound of the door closing, taking it as a cue to make a last ditch effort to lie down on his back. The spinning didn't stop, though. If anything, it got worse, especially in the moment he actually tried to open his eyes.

He should have known it was going to happen. It had only been a matter of time, anyway. The so called attacks typically happened every two or three weeks, the shortest time in between being nine days and the longest exactly four weeks and the last one had happened over two weeks ago.

Twenty minutes… please, don't last longer than that…

It was the only thing left to pray for. Anything more than that would be too much to hope for.

"… so, hopefully, by the time this letter reaches you, you'll have made the progress you've been striving for.

"Love, Asuna."

That should work, Asuna thought as she bent the letter and placed in an envelope. She hesitated a moment, her hand reaching for her personal seal, before she changed her mind and took the simplest one with no scribings on it whatsoever.

The seal done, she glanced at another letter spread out before her and searched for the address written in the text, the address to which her letter should be sent to.

The envelope had no name written on it, nor did it hold any information about the sender. If she did this right, there would be no reason for anyone to question who it was for and for what reason it was being sent. It was the only hope Asuna had that things would not go wrong, that the letter would not be traced by anyone from the family.

Knock on the door startled her more than it usually would have and she nearly dropped the letter.

"Y-yes?" she said, holding her hand to her heart.

"Lady Asuna, you have a visitor."

Asuna calmed her breathing before placing the letter in the drawer. "Yes, let them come in, please."

Helliana would have never let anyone in had she not personally have met them before, which meant that whoever it was visiting now, it was somebody known to both Lady Asuna Yuuki and the servant Helliana Asper.

When the door opened to reveal a familiar brunette, Asuna had to wonder why she ever had any doubt she'd show up. Unfortunately, as glad as she was about that particular visit, the visitor herself looked rather ticked off for one reason or another, if the mix of a frown and a pout on her face was anything to go by.

"Ah, Rika-chan." Asuna smiled.

"Don't you Rika-chan to me! What is the meaning of this, Asuna? You haven't been home for a month, and you're already leaving? Tell me that it's a joke! Tell me that it's a really, really lame joke, right there!"

Asuna held the finger to her lip, giving the best smile of apology that she could. "I'm sorry, but it's true. I'm sorry I haven't mentioned anything before."

"You damn right should be!" Rika yelled. "You're going to miss my birthday party!"

Asuna froze for a moment, lips opened in a futile attempt to explain the situation, but the words simply weren't coming out. No excuse would ever work in a situation like this, especially not after she had already missed the same event last year.

She hung her head, honor being the only thing stopping her from begging for forgiveness on her knees.

"I'm sorry, Rika-chan. As the second ranked student, like it or not, I have to attend the entrance exams for the first years. I still have ten days before I have to go and help organize everything, but I'm honestly sorry that I won't be able to attend your party."

"This makes it second year in a row," Rika said flatly.

"I know. That's why I was intending to make it up to you before I go. You don't have anything planned on ninth of August?"

Rika bit her lip and crossed her arms. "No, I suppose not. What did you have in mind?"

Asuna lifted her head and gave her the brightest grin she could manage. "If I tell you now, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now would it?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then, that's settled. Can you please go wait for me downstairs now? I'll be with you in just a minute, Liz-chan."

Rika raised an eyebrow at that. "What are you planning, exactly?"

"Don't worry. I just have a letter to send, and then we'll go take a walk. You don't mind, right?"

"No, no. Just be quick about it. I'll wait for you in the living room."

Asuna smiled brightly, but she didn't move until the door of her room closed. Finally, she opened the drawer and took the letter, holding it fondly with both hands. She gave it a long look, hoping that at least it got some of what she had to say to the one person she wanted to see more than anyone, yet couldn't.

I hope you're alright, Nii-san. Wherever you are.

She placed the letter in her handbag, before running over to the double-door of her large wardrobe. "Let's see… Rika-chan is going to be really upset if I don't wear something cute… ah, yes, this will work."

She smiled, picking out some of the new clothes she'd gotten as a present for completing her first year in Aincrad as well as she had. That didn't, even for a moment, help her let go of the bad feeling she had in the back of her mind, one that made her stomach twist every once in a while.

I really, really hope you're alright.