Ishihara // ATEEZ ✔

21 Return

Akira does something that no one even expected her to - she bows, 90 degrees and keeps doing it until it's almost a minute. "Thank you so much for fighting with me. I owe all of you my life."

Seonghwa scratches his head and lets go of an awkward laugh that sounds more like he is strangled. "That was... nothing."

"You literally cracked his skull with your knee and you almost twisted the guy's neck a 180 degrees," Hongjoong laments. "That was something."

"I hope you are not too shocked by Seonghwa's sudden change in demeanour, Akira," Jongho walks over to his horse. "He loses himself a little when he's in a battle."

"No offense but none of you seemed like you could fight - well except for Hongjoong," she says. She is about to include Jongho's name, but stops herself because they might be wondering how she knew. It was written in Yunho's list - and she can't tell them about it.

Jongho gives off a childish smile before patting his horse. "If you still haven't realized I can fight pretty well; I'm good with swords as I am with the guitar. Well, I can brandish any pointed weapons but I'm more comfortable with a sword. Seonghwa right here..." He extends his hands as if he's doing a show-and-tell. "Is a very good archer. When I say good, I mean really good. He can aim and shoot anyone and they wouldn't even see him. He's good at bare-handed combats too, as you can see. Don't be fooled by his prince-like appearance because he gets a little crazy when he goes into fights bare-handed. As for Hongjoong-" He shifts his outreached arms towards the blacksmith next. "Oh, man. Don't get me started." He's starting to sound like a fan meeting his idol face to face. "Swords? Daggers? Knives? Machetes? He knows how to make and use them. That's just how good he is."

Akira chuckles at his enthusiasm and seeing this, the three men relax. However, there is an uncomfortable silence lingering among them when they know they haven't explained the reason they've been looking for her. As if she could read their minds, she starts asking.

"Why are you guys looking for me and why did you risk your lives to help me? I asked all of you to not worry about me anymore."

"We tried, but we received a letter from your lieutenant just after your disappearance and it made us worry again. Well, some of us initially. But I think now the 7 of us are worried for you," Seonghwa explains, all the time stealing glances at Hongjoong. Hongjoong shows no reaction.

"A letter from Yunho? What did he say?"

Seonghwa starts slow, but as he reaches the end of his explanation, Akira only nods in resolution.

"It's bound to happen anytime, and I guess that was why I was hesitant to go back to Lucida. If the queen is dead set on killing me now, she must have done all she can to make sure I won't make it back alive. That idiot, Yunho should be worrying about himself and not me." There is a hint of sadness in her voice, but she covers it up pretty fast. "I still don't understand the reason why all of you should worry about me."

It surprises them how calm she sounded, but they keep reminding themselves that she is a soldier. A general. She must have known how her queen would react; she must have been prepared to face all of it. Seonghwa and Jongho look at each other, trying to communicate telepathically on what they should say.

"I think the reason is simple. They-" Hongjoong catches himself and corrects his sentence. "We are worried about you."

"But why?" She still cannot fathom the reason on why they should worry about her - a stranger from Lucida.

"Because this is not Lucida," Hongjoong adds. She tilts her head to the side, prompting him to continue. So he does. "In Lucida I know you grew up in an environment where you treat everyone else who bears different blood from you as your enemy. Heck, you even have tension between those of the same ranks. In Lucida you grow up by learning how to fight for yourself and not caring about anyone else's wellbeing, right? I don't blame you if you feel that what we're doing is unnecessary. But this is what we do in Nyla: we help each other. We're helping you because we're... human beings."