Unwanted news
Kanade couldn’t suppress her smile. Mafuyu was so, so bright! Even after all of that, she still maintained her smile! But what really happened that night…? What was the reason behind that…? And, most importantly, was Mafuyu really…?
But in the end, it didn’t really matter. Even if Mafuyu was the girl Kanade saved or not, she was still a person. She still needed to be somewhere safe, far away from every conflict. Mafuyu was too innocent for all of this. Kanade couldn’t understand how her subordonate could mistake her for a vampire.
“I live in one of the margins, you know? I’m going to show you everything now! Even the center!”
Mafuyu’s voice woke Kanade from her thoughts. Oh, that was right. She wanted to present the town to Kanade. The white haired girl didn’t really care about it, but it could be an important piece.
Mafuyu held her words. She took Kanade in the center, then began to show her around.
“So here is where our leaders are,” she said, pointing at a beautiful building. “Next to it, is a memorial for our heroes that died in battles against the vampires. And behind you is…the guillotine.”
Every town had one. Kanade couldn’t understand why humans wanted to combat violence with painful executions, but maybe it wasn’t even meant for her to understand. And based on Mafuyu’s voice, she didn’t understand it as well.
“Anyway. We aren’t a rich town. Travelers aren’t a common thing here, as the journey is quite hard.”
Kanade nodded, as she saw the road when she flew above it. This town was surrounded by mountains, so you needed to go through them to get here. It was very complicated and the mountains were populated by a lot of wild animals. Needless to say, almost all of the people in this town never stepped a foot outside, including Mafuyu.
“It was quite hard to get here, indeed.”
Mafuyu nodded. “Do you want to eat something?”
Kanade took a little time to think. She liked Mafuyu’s food more than anything. It gave a nostalgic feeling and made her feel like that was truly her home. But at the same time, Kanade felt sorry for making the girl cook for her. It wasn’t a problem if Mafuyu felt like she didn’t want to cook tonight.
“You know a good restaurant?”
“It’s the only one.”
Mafuyu took that as a yes, it seemed. She walked with Kanade on some side streets until she spotted a house that seemed a bit bigger than the others.
“Do you see it, Kanade? That’s our restaurant.”
Kanade nodded. It was a small town, after all. She shouldn’t have expected something more grand, even if Mafuyu deserved that. Kanade swore to herself that she’ll repay this one day, no matter what.
Kanade and Mafuyu entered and took one of the seats that were empty.
“Our town doesn’t have many things to offer to its travelers.”
“It’s enough for me, don’t worry.”
But it wasn’t enough for Mafuyu. Maybe she behaved like that last night because of all of the stress Kanade gave her. The purple haired girl needed to take some time to relax, but she was sure that it wouldn't happen too soon.
Even so, Mafuyu seemed happy. She was all smiles and it seemed natural. Seeing her like this, Kanade couldn’t do anything but smile. In these last days, she smiled more than she did in all of her life as a spirit. But Mafuyu could break. If Kanade couldn’t provide her with safety…Kanade didn’t want to think like that.
She saved someone, in a far away past. She didn’t know what happened with that person, only the fact that she made her feel…good. Even if she was the one that saved them, that person never stopped showing them support and care, at least until…until what? Kanade couldn’t remember that.
The waiter came, with a little notebook in her hands. She had a side ponytail and a polite smile, nothing more than the usual.
“Hello! The usual…”
She stopped when she saw Kanade. “A traveler? I’ve never seen one before. I can look you around…”
“No need,” interrupted Mafuyu, looking quite displeased.
“Good, good…so what do you want to comand?”
After telling the waiter what they wanted to eat, the girl departed, smirking at Mafuyu.
“Do you know her?”asked Kanade, curiosity overflowing her.
“I’m always coming here when I’m too tired to cook for myself, so she sees me sometimes,”said Mafuyu, looking out the window. She looked quite sad and distant, like she was thinking now of something horrible.
“Anyway,” said Kanade, wanting to change the subject, “do you want to take a little trip tomorrow?”
Kanade knew that she was probably too weak for that, as she already felt tired, but wanted to show Mafuyu around. If the vampires appear and she gets into the fight, maybe the purple haired girl will need to run. She needed to be ready and to know every path out of town.
“Do you think that you can handle that? I’m not saying that you are too weak, but…the round is quite difficult and I’m afraid that you didn’t recover.”
“Oh, no need to worry. I can handle it.”
Just then and there, another waiter than the previous one came to bring the plates. Now, it was a figure that Kanade knew: a seemingly young boy with short blond hair. His presence meant that he was probably infiltrated here for a long time. He was the one that told Kanade about them, after all.
“A newcomer?”the boy said, putting down the plates.
“I’ll say that,” responded Kanade.
“It’s nothing but a pleasure.”
The white haired girl offered a polite smile and began to eat, while looking at Mafuyu. Sometimes, their gazes met and they quickly looked back into their own plates. But sometimes, Kanade was allowed to take a look at Mafuyu.
After they finished eating, the girl with the side ponytail returned and retrieved the plates, keeping her eyes on the purple haired girl.
“Did you like it?”
“Very much,” said Mafuyu. “It tasted good.”
“Of course, of course. Here, almost everything tastes good!”
The girl made her way to the kitchen, quietly humming a song to herself. Kanade felt that something was off about her, but just couldn’t put her finger on it. But maybe it was just her pink hair. She fought once against a vampire with that kind of hair.
“Mafuyu, do you think that the vampires will attack tonight?”
“Hm…maybe? I’m not good at predicting things.”
Kanade felt tensionate. If this was the case, a human life would lay in her hands. If she did only one thing wrong, everything she did until that will be turned to dust. But Kanade liked to save people. Even if they resented and insulted her. The only human that didn’t hate her was…well, she was probably dead.
Mafuyu and Kanade returned to their home after the purple haired girl paid. Kanade made a mental note to land her some coins.
When they were standing in the living room quietly reading a book, it happened. Someone knocked at Mafuyu’s door. The purple girl sighed and closed her book looking tensionate and sad, while Kanade ran to her room in order to get ready.
This was her purpose. To save people. Maybe this is why she was incarnated as a spirit in the first place. For something like this to happen, someone needed to perform a painful ritual. Kanade didn’t know how horrible it really was in the end, as she was just the product of it. A product that didn’t suffer, that only lived her best life while…
The white haired girl closed her eyes. She shouldn’t think about this before a fight. This will cause her to lose control later on. She needed to be calm. For Mafuyu. For the humans.
Kanade reopened her eyes and began to change her clothes.
After a while, she emerged again. She was dressed in white and blue, resembling the outfit of a medieval knight.
“I’m ready,” she said after taking another breath.
“Then go,” whispered Mafuyu.
Kanade nodded and made her way to the door.
“Don’t die,” said Mafuyu before the white haired girl opened the door. “Think before you do anything. Many brave heroes died here. Maybe all of this is a trap.” Her voice was low, like she tried not to cry.
Kanade knew that it wasn’t a trap. Not even a single vampire knew that she was here. Even so, it was natural for Mafuyu to worry and to expect the worst.
“Thank you. I’ll be incredibly focused,” responded the spirit before opening the door and leaving the house.
She walked down the stairs and looked back. The girl left her house. From now on, she won’t be just a normal traveler, but the Spirit Queen. But most importantly, she realised something: that she wanted, strangely, to be next to Mafuyu once again. One of the only people that helped her and viewed her normally was away.
Kanade sighed and left the garden as well, running to get on the battlefield. People were dying. She was too selfish right now. Mafuyu couldn’t be with her unless she wanted her to die. A human couldn’t resist here.
Kanade followed the red traces of blood until she got to the center. It looked like someone took action already: a skilled knight dressed in a costume similar to hers was fighting for his life. The vampire seemed to be already done: it gestured for more strings made by blood to appear, wanting to trap the knight for an eternity in its poisonous web.
The Queen of Spirits can’t just stay and watch someone being so close to a fate worse than death. She jumped into the fight right between the two of them and managed to tear the vampire’s dress.
“Who even are you?!”
The vampire seemed to forget about the knight and launched to attack Kanade. The white haired girl barely managed to escape it, some of the vampire’s poisonous strings touching her. The queen felt blood dripping from her limbs. She raised her sword, already feeling tired. The spirit prepared herself for the next attack. She remembered the knight from earlier and hoped that he managed to run.
Right then, the girl haired a stern voice calling her from behind. “Your majesty! Stay back!” It looked like her subordonate arrived. The vampire stopped and took a look at the newcomer, trying to determine who would be an easier prey. Kanade used this time to attack again, even if the sword was already trembling in her bloody hands. The poison was moving closer to the heart, making her feel almost unbearable pain.
It looked like this vampire wasn’t an average one. It was able to create strings from its own blood, as well as use cloth to do that. Kanade heard of only a single vampire that could do this and it was one of the most powerful ones. This was a problem, as the high-ranking vampires can communicate using telepathy. If the others were alerted…Kanade should have ended this before that happened. Now it was too late.
This time, she cut another part of the creature’s dress that was made probably with its own flesh. The vampire cried and tried to attack again, but Kanade’s subordonate was faster. He got into the fight and attacked the vampire, hoping that no other powerful vampires were in the area.
Kanade fell on the ground, holding her head with her hands. She was useful at least. Her sword fell on the floor as the pain became worse and worse. Kanade closed her eyes, trying to endure, but her body collapsed. As the word began to turn dark, Kanade thought that she at least managed to save someone.
A young woman with flowing white hair got closer to her. She looked at Kanade smiling, then turned around.
“Mizuki-chan, you can finish him.”
Mizuki smirked and didn’t hesitate to trap the knight in her web.
“Even a spirit official is afraid of me? How cute!” commented Mizuki when she saw the knight's fearful expression.
“Oh, Asashina-san, you arrived.”
Mafuyu felt her breath becoming faster and faster. She looked at Kanade who was still laying on the floor and guilt penetrated her heart. It was her fault. She knew everything, but still chose not to speak. There was nothing that could be done now.
“Asashina-san, you didn’t even know what kind of a jewel you had. Good thing that Mizuki-chan found out.”
Mafuyu didn’t want this to happen, but Mizuki saw Kanade. The purple girl's heart was wrenching. It was painful to watch someone so important to her being treated as nothing but a trophy. But she needed to accept this…
“Can I take a look at her?” She sounded as happy as she could, even if her body was trembling.
“Of course. Do what you need.”
The purple haired girl slowly approached, then knelt near her. Mafuyu slowly raised one of her hands and put it on her chest. Her pulse seemed normal. Instantly, Mafuyu’s expression changed. Kanade was alive.
The vampire put her hand on her forehead. Mafuyu didn’t care for the prince she needed to pay for what she was about to do. It was necessary.
“Shizuku-senpai, can I take her to my palace? It seems like her vitals are affected.”
Shizuku-senpai wanted Kanade to be alive. Mafuyu didn’t understand why, but this aligned perfectly with her wishes.
“Of course. You’re the nurse, Asashina-san.”
Mafuyu raised. “Good then.”
She couldn’t regain Kanade’s trust, but this was what she deserved in the first place.