Sureiyazu

Episode 31: The Cat in the Field

"Now what?" asked Akuma. The ballroom had been cleaned out, and builders were coming to repair the hole in the wall in a few days. The Sureiyazu sat on the tile floor, exhausted. It was nearly dawn, and they had been working the entire night, not to mention the encounter with Aya's demon.

"I suggest you go home," said the voice of Taichi above them.

Aya rubbed her temples. "I thought you left."

"You sound sad to have such a powerful wizard in your company."

"Just because you can slay a few demons doesn't mean you're the greatest wizard who ever lived," Aya said tiredly.

"I think we should go home, though," Yuri said quietly.

"Yeah," mumbled Kasai, who was laying on the floor.

Akuma's eyelids threatened to close at any moment. "I don't know if I have the strength to go home. I just want to sleep."

"I'm sure someone will let us sleep us sleep in Sanmyaku," Aya assured her. "There are some perks to being the most well-known demonslayers in Sekai."

Everyone picked themselves up off the floor, and soon they had been granted permission of four guest bedrooms.

"What about this guy?" Kasai pointed out, gesturing to Taichi, who seemed annoyed that she hadn't bothered to say his name.

Aya turned to look at him. "He can either sleep here illegally, or he can go home."

"My home is even farther from here than yours is," he said. "If you think I'm going home . . ."

Aya rolled her eyes. "I'll deal with him," she told her team. "You go and get some rest."

No one objected to that.

"My answer is simple," Taichi explained slowly, as if that would make Aya understand. "I am not leaving. There is nothing to debate about that."

"My answer is simple as well," Aya replied, mocking his tone. "If you go anywhere near me again, I will hurt you. Nothing to debate about that either, is there?"

Taichi merely blinked. "Can we move past the insults and have an ordinary conversation?"

"You mean move past the fact that you threw me out of that village just because I wanted to help?!"

"Grief is terrible, you know."

"I know!" Aya's eyes were brimming with tears again. "I was grieving too, at that time. All I wanted was someone to comfort me. Someone to tell me it wasn't my fault, even if it was."

Taichi had no answer for this.

Aya looked back into Taichi's eyes. "I'd like to have an ordinary conversation too. Like the times when you used to tell the other kids not to make fun of me . . ."

"For the sole fact that you were different from them."

Aya nodded. "Goodbye, Taichi." She walked past him, towards the room that was waiting for her down the hall.

"You are one of the Sureiyazu?" Taichi asked without turning around.

Aya didn't turn around either. "Yes."

"It . . . it's quite impressive, is all."

Aya said nothing and walked away from him. Once again.

And Taichi walked away from her, beginning his long journey home. Promising himself that he'd stay away from her team from now on. Promising he'd stay away from her.

~~~

"And that's basically what happened," Akuma concluded.

When the team had arrived back at the Sureiyazu castle and Heishi and Mizuki had seen the tired looks on their faces, they had wanted a full explanation of what had happened at the ball, which Akuma had given them over a meal.