After the night of happiness. The seven are seen sleeping in the same room. Ruru and Rizette were sleeping together on the couch as Haruna was lying down on their thighs.
Hecate was leaning on the wall, sleeping, as she sat on a foam cushion. Sumiko and Inzagi were leaning on each other, as they sat beside Syu, who was sleeping comfortably on the hospital bed.
Eventually, the sun shines on Sumiko and Inzagi, as they both wake up and stretch.
"Good morning, Sumiko.." - Inzagi said, as he yawns and stretches
"Good morning, Inzagi.." - Sumiko replied, as she hugged Inzagi and fell back to sleep
The two fell asleep once again, waking up after a few minutes.
"Wanna walk around, Inzagi..?" - Sumiko looks up at Inzagi.
Inzagi nods in agreement, as they get up, sharing a cup of coffee, before brushing their teeth.
Sumiko puts powder on her face and fixes her eyelashes and lip balm, as Inzagi just ruffles his hair and changes into a casual tshirt.
"Hey, Sumiko, aren't you gonna change?" - Inzagi asked, as Sumiko nods
"Are you gonna watch me change or what?" - Sumiko asks, as Inzagi nods and swiftly turns around.
Sumiko takes her kimono off and quickly changes into a dark blue t-shirt, and a light blue gradient skirt.
"You can turn around now" - Sumiko says, as Inzagi turns around. His eyes were surprised by Sumiko's variant beauty, no matter what clothes she wore.
The two head out of the room and walk around the city, feeling the fresh warm breeze of the morning. Though, they were still carrying their blades
"Wanna go get breakfast?" - Sumiko offered, as Inzagi denied
"N-No thank you, I'm experiencing acid reflux, from yesterday's feast..." - Inzagi replied as Sumiko chuckled.
"Pfft, alright. You wanna go to the armory and get something? My treat." - Sumiko offered as she chuckled
"What? No no, well, yes, but- no! You've given me too much!" - Inzagi bows to Sumiko, denying the offer
"Eh, I'll keep giving, while I have something to give. Especially to you..." - Sumiko blushes lightly, as she looked down, whispering her last words.
"Come again? I didn't hear that last part." - Inzagi asks as Sumiko shakes her head, flustered by her own words
Inzagi chuckled at Sumiko's behaviour, as they continued to walk around the city.
The two finally head to the armory as she pulls Inzagi inside, without hesitation. Inzagi looks around the armory, filled with awe.
"Take anything you want, Inzagi" - Sumiko chuckles
"Oi! Welcome, lady Sumiko and her... What, her boyfriend?" - The smith chuckled, as he greeted the two of them. The two blushed lightly and shake their head at the smith's question
"We'd like to order the greatest metal, for this guy's armor! I'd want it built, as soon as possible! Kindly craft him a weapon of his choice, as well!" - Sumiko joyfully requests
"Ahahaha, of course my lady! You do pay me, after all! I'll have it done within 3 days! Does that sound good, ma'am, sir?" - The smith asks, as the two nod.
Sumiko takes her blade out, along with Inzagi's and shows it to the smith
"I'd like these sharpened, as well, sir" - Sumiko smiles, as the smith joyfully takes the blades and sharpens it.
After a few minutes, their blades were once again sharp and shining. Sumiko hands Inzagi his blade, as she sheathes her katana.
"Thank you, Sumiko." - Inzagi smiles as he sheathes his blade as well.
The two wave goodbye at the smith, as they head out back into the city.
"By the way, Sumiko, where's Uranus? One of your guardians?" - Inzagi asks
"Ah, he told me that he was going to head out and find the other guardian of mine." - Sumiko replied, as Inzagi nodded
"I see.."
As the two walked across the city, they found themselves in the gates of the main shrine for the elites.
"Ah, the main shrine..." - Inzagi looks at it and bows
"Why did you bow?" - Sumiko smiles at Inzagi's gesture
"Well, it's a shrine for all the elites right? I have to give it my form of respect." - Inzagi answered, as Sumiko was impressed by Inzagi's disclipine.
"I come here, everytime I'm at rage or at anger." — Sumiko shared, as Inzagi nods
"I see why, the inside is extremely relaxing. Could we go inside, maybe?" — Inzagi asked, as Sumiko nodded, opening the gate of the shrine.
The two enter, and the center of the shrine is still shining, as usual, looking extremely different from the outside.
The two head into the center and just sit under the cherry blossom tree. Both observed the skies and was at ease
"This place is beautiful.." — Inzagi stared at the falling petals of the tree as Sumiko closed her eyes and smiled
"When you comforted me, here Inzagi, why would you hug me, out of nowhere?" — Sumiko asked, as Inzagi blushed lightly.
"Well, I felt the need to do it. I felt like you needed it, you wanted it, but you didn't want it from your sisters or lady Rizette- you wanted it from someone else you weren't close to, to be reassured that despite the fact you aren't close to the person, that person can still care, and that person was me... That's what I thought." — Inzagi smiles as he fondled with a petal of the tree's flowers.
Sumiko was flushed, from Inzagi's explanation, as it hit her heart precisely. Sumiko never met anyone who was as precise as Inzagi, in terms of reading her feelings.
Sumiko smiles at Inzagi and hugs him tightly
"A-Ah, again, huh?" — Inzagi smiles as he hugs back, nuzzling his head into Sumiko's shoulders.
"I've grown quite attach to you, I have to confess." — Sumiko says, as she held Inzagi, looking down.
"But, it's amazing, how you could understand me, in such a short time... Not even my sisters are capable of understanding me..." — Sumiko adds, as Inzagi pats Sumiko's head
The two finally stop hugging and smile at each other.
"Lady— ah, I mean, Sumiko- I'm not gonna let this fall into a cliché, so... What, do you feel about me?" — Inzagi asks as Sumiko blushes brightly, looking at Inzagi as she tries to keep it together.
"I-I... Well, what do you feel about me?" — Sumiko returns the question.
"Well, I feel like I have a potential love for you, if I'm to be honest. But, I also feel that if we do uphold the potential of my feelings for you, it would just end up in a rabbit hole of wrecked feelings. No one would love an outranked child, anyway, all people are after money and power, nowadays." — Inzagi looks down as Sumiko looks at him with empathy.
"Well, I appreciate your honesty... Also, don't call yourself an outranked child. You're more like, a fast progressing teenager!" — Sumiko says cheerfully, as Inzagi smiled at her
The two stayed silent, they smiled at each other, contemplating what to speak about, next.
"So, Sumiko, mind if I ask why your hair is completely blue? I mean, Rizette has blonde hair and Lady Kuroha has Hot pink and Blue hair, but yours just seem so natural. How did it happen? Does it mean something, in the elites?" — Inzagi asked
"Ah, it at all began when I was a child. My mama told me that I had drowned inside a mystical lake, of some sorts, in our village... Back then, my hair was black with blue gradients, like Ruru, Haruna and Hecate. Gradients usually mean great beauty, but, my faded away when I was pulled out, blue hair." — Sumiko replied as she smiled blandly
"Ever since, people were afraid of this abnormality in my hair. People would always say the black with gradient colored hair was much prettier than mine, during class. So, as a result, I colored my hair a darker gradient on the ends of them." — Sumiko adds as she chuckles, fondling her hair.
Inzagi sees this as an opportunity to grow closer to Sumiko, thinking of the most flattering way to make her feel valid for her hair
"Well, I personally think it's beautiful." — Inzagi smiles, as he looks at Sumiko. Sumiko turns completely red, as she looks away
"So your hair is completely blue, so what? That just adds more mystery to it, you know? Personally, I love the story about your hair. It just adds more greatness to your name." — Inzagi joyfully stated, as Sumiko looks down, and hugs her knees, attempting to hide her embarrassment from Inzagi's compliments.
"W-Why do your compliments hit differently, compared to other people's flattery...?" — Sumiko peaks out, from her arms, as she asked Inzagi, in a muffled tone.
"Maybe you just see me as an entity that you do not expect to get compliments from. I've learned in the past that lack of anticipation from the other party is the best way or a chance to send an impact towards them, negatively or positively." — Inzagi stated as he blushed lightly
Sumiko inhales deeply as she tries to keep it together. She reveals her face once again and taps her cheeks, telling herself to stay calm. Sumiko returns to her normal expression, as she looked up the sky.
"We've been away for 2 hours, already, huh? Time flies..." — Inzagi stated, as Sumiko nods.
"Hey, Sumiko, I have to ask, are there actually only 10 elites, around the world?" — Inzagi asks, as Sumiko looked at him
"Nope, there are a lot more, hundreds more, really..." — Sumiko answers, as Inzagi tilts his head in confusion
"Then, why were there only 10 of you guys, during the meeting?" — Inzagi asks
"Well, the 10 of us are the closest groups of elites... There are other organizations or militaries that hold numerous elites, we just happen to stand out the most. It's either that or we're inside a story wherein the author is incapable of expanding such heaps of numbers." — Sumiko chuckles as she stretches
"Pfft, I see I see, I think I like the second explanation best." — Inzagi chuckles, as Sumiko giggles as well.
"We should head back now, we wouldn't want Rizette to think anything suspicious about us." — Sumiko implied as she got up and dusted her skirt off, to remove any kind of petal.
Sumiko grabs Inzagi's hand and helps him up, as they both walk to the exit of the shrine
"I don't think they'll think of anything like that, they trust me... Right?" — Inzagi asks, as Sumiko chuckles, nodding her head multiple times.
"Ah, right, I forgot to tell you- I'm sorry if this triggers something within you, but, Ruminasu gave me this map, and told me that it led to some kind of armory... He told me I could have it all-" — Inzagi brings out a piece of paper that Ruminasu gave to him, inside the hospital of the city of Yin.
Sumiko stares at the paper and analyzes it
"Ah, it's located in Hecatia! The country below your hometown, Herya!" — Sumiko said, as she smiled
"Maybe we'll find it next time, we've yet to solve Syu's casualty." — Sumiko implied, as Inzagi nods and hides the piece of paper.
The two continue to talk, as they head back to the hospital.
In the middle of walking back, they witness an event, making them stop on their feet...