The Emporium,
10th Banem, 1092.
"Look at you being so nice to a total stranger," Lunette teased Kashi with a knowing smirk as he shut the door behind him. "Our Kashi's all grown up."
"C'mon, I'm not that bad," Kashi rebutted with a wry smile as he brushed his way past her.
"Uh-huh," Lunette clucked. "You've already forgotten how we met, huh?" She pointed out as she caught up to and matched his pace. Her eyes suddenly went wide, her right hand covering her mouth in mock shock. "That's not it, is it? Is he part of some dastardly plan?"
Kashi froze in his tracks, forcing Lunette likewise to come to a halt. His head mechanically turned to face her. With a raised eyebrow, he questioned, "What do you take me for?"
"Hmm..." Lunette tapped her chin, deliberately letting her lower lip jut out. Moments later, she concluded. She began listing off her fingers, a cheeky grin spreader wider with each word, "Self-absorbed, World Dominator, Overlord, Evil mastermind, Trickster, Fraud, Cunning—wuwuwu."
Kashi chuckled, enjoying the shock on Lunette's face as he pinched and pulled her cheeks. "That's what you get for being cheeky," Kashi joked as he released his hold, then continued down the hallway.
Lunette raised her hand to her cheek, rubbing the sore muscles in a daze. She turned to look at Kashi's back, wide eyes displaying the upheaval in her heart. "Hold! Hold it right there," Lunette shouted. She ran up to Kashi and grabbed his arm. "That. Do that again!"
"Huh?" This time, it was Kashi who recoiled in shock. "What the hell?"
Lunette could see the sanity-questioning gaze in Kashi's eyes, but she could not care less. With a severe and deadpan expression, she stated, "Who knows when next you'll do something like that again. I want to enjoy it properly!"
"Enjoy it?" Kashi almost coughed blood. "You do realize that was meant to be a punishment, right? Besides..." Kashi looked over to his right where a stone-faced Larsial stood, silently watching the drama, thinking God only knows what. "We're in public."
Lunette snorted. "Dealing with a man like you, a girl's gotta take her chances, public or not. That said," Lunette said as she turned to Larsial with a sweet smile. "Forgive my manners. I was so excited to see him that I forgot to introduce myself." Holding out her hand, she greeted, "I'm Lunette Falsetto, but you can call me Lunette. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss..."
"Larsial J'rain," Larsial politely introduced as she took Lunette's hand in hers. To Lunette's shock, Larsial dropped to a knee and kissed the songstress's hand. "The pleasure is mine." Larsial released Lunette's hand and rose to her feet. She observed the songstress's reaction, instantly recognizing the perplexed look on Lunette's face. With a wry smile, Larsial bowed her head in admittance of her guilt. "My apologies. Force of habit."
"Ah, no, don't worry, it's fine," Lunette immediately reassured her with a wave of her hand. "If anything, I am honored. I imagine you do not make it a point to kiss the hand of any random girl you come across. There must be a good reason behind it. Perhaps, it's a cultural thing?"
"Yes, it is," Larsial patiently explained. "We daeben are trained to give utmost respect to women more powerful than ourselves."
"I heard about how you fared in the war," Lunette stated. "There's no way I'm stronger than you."
Larsial revealed a dry smile. "There're are different forms of power. At the moment, there is no doubt you are more powerful than I am."
"I suppose you are correct," Lunette admitted with a laugh. Once again, she held out her hand with a glint in her eyes. "You are a formidable woman. I look forward to working with you. On equal terms, of course."
Larsial hesitated, brows furrowed in confusion. Was everybody in the Hopeful Maggots like this? Show some damn restraint! Larsial was only one of the masterminds behind the previous war. How could they just turn around and be okay with working with her? Were they not afraid she could just be playing the long game. Despite all these thoughts in her head, she could not bring herself to lie to Lunette's sincere gaze. "I cannot promise anything."
"I didn't hear a no," Lunette observed with a hearty smile. "That's more than plenty for now." With that, she turned around and dragged Kashi down the hallway. "Come, come, let me show you around before you go running off on another adventure."
Kashi scratched the back of his head with a guilty smile. "How'd you know?"
"Anyone would know," Lunette stated with a mocking snort. "So, where are you headed next?"
"Just plain leveling," Kashi revealed with a light shrug as Lunette dragged him down the hallway. "I've got a lot of killing to do if I don't want to be left behind. I also want to look into finding an evolution path for Drix. He needs to evolve if he's going to keep up with us."
"Just admit you don't want to abandon him, you big softie," Lunette teased with a light punch. "Do you have any clues?"
"I have a rough idea," Kashi revealed, gaze constantly on a swivel as he took in the various intriguing sights. A lot of rooms had their doors wide open, allowing him a clear view of everything inside. In one room, he saw actors practicing a scene; in another, a troupe of dancers performed a routine. "There's a small tribe of centaurs North of Rosendun. Absalon's troops had a small run-in with them on their way to Aygorzi. They offered to evolve his horse in exchange for stopping a Blight invasion."
Concern shone in Lunette's eyes. "Did he?"
"Nah," Kashi replied. "They were in too much of a hurry to join us. He could not afford to get into any sort of protracted battle or lose any men. So, I'll go take a look-see for myself. With any luck, there's still plenty of blight left."
Lunette shook her head with a wry smile. "Only you would see that as luck." Lunette's expression brightened, however, upon seeing a particular door. "Hehe," she chuckled as she increased her pace, almost running into the room with Kashi in tow. "This is my practice room. What do you think?"
Kashi gave the room a once-over, a small smile playing at the edge of the lips as he appreciated the graffiti of musical notes and birds on the sky-blue walls. A large piano sat in a corner of the room, surrounded by various string and wind instruments. Other corners had large, black, box-like items which, judging from the loud music, was the latest version of the new 'speakers.'
Kashi looked away from the instruments to the seven people at the center of the room, all of whom gaped at him in shock. Unlike the security guard, most of these people were either part of or had dealings with the Hopeful Maggots. They all knew what Kashi really looked like, and even if they were not confident at first glance, there was only one-person Lunette would hold like that.
At the head of the group stood Shadow, dressed in a loose-fitting singlet, slacks, and what Kashi would've sworn were sneakers. The little assassin approached his guild master, expression cold as always. "Kashi," Shadow greeted with a short nod.
"Shadow," Kashi reciprocated. "What's with the get-up?"
"Lune's got a performance in two hours," Shadow said. "We're finishing up on the dance routine."
"Oh? You dance?" Larsial walked out from behind Kashi, a snarky glint in her eyes.
Shadow's gaze narrowed. He turned to Kashi and questioned, "What is she doing here?"
"If you want to know, you can just ask me," Larsial berated before Kashi could answer.
Shadow glared at Kashi, but the daeben only shrugged, not even bothering to hide the amusement in his eyes. Shadow could only grudgingly turn to Larsial. "What are you doing here?"
"Would you believe me if I said I came to look for you?" Larsial said as she pulled down her hood. Shadow replied with a stern, silent glare. "Okay, cool boy. I'm in the middle of negotiations with your boss. Part of our deal is I have to shadow him everywhere for a few months."
Shadow looked to Kashi. Upon receiving confirmation in the form of a nod, he turned his attention to Lunette. "We have a problem."
Lunette felt sorry for Larsial, especially after noticing her darkening expression. But she knew her brother. Once he made up his mind about something or someone, no one could change it except he chose to do so. So, she sent an apologetic smile Larsial's way before replying, "What happened?"
"Comet just logged in to tell us he won't be able to make it," Shadow reported. "His mother's got him cleaning up the home. Most likely won't be done for another real-world hour."
"That's five hours," Lunette muttered, expression downcast.
"This Comet guy, is he important?" Kashi asked, concerned by Lunette's heavy gaze.
"Yes," Shadow answered. "He's the core of today's routines. We cannot perform without him."
"Don't you have a replacement?" Kashi questioned. He looked pointedly at Shadow. "You can't do it?"
"No. Tonight's routine has two cores," Shadow revealed with a shake of his head. "I'm the second. As for replacements, this whole dance thing is still new. We've only got three Summoned. The rest are Residents."
"Oh, and the Residents still need some training."
"Exactly," Shadow confirmed. "Any ideas?"
"Nope, none," Kashi stated. "You guys can't perform without the dance routine?"
"Lune definitely can," Shadow agreed. "But she's been planning this for a while now. It would su--"
"Hey, I have an idea!" Lunette suddenly shouted, glitters shining in her eyes as she looked up at Kashi.
"No!" Kashi instantly refused, goosebumps rising all over his skin. The daeben fearfully made an X with his arms across his chest. "There's no way I am going to dance. Forget it."
"Stingy," Lunette clucked her tongue.
"Like I was saying earlier," Shadow's low voice started, drawing Kashi's attention. "Lune's been planning this for weeks. She would be really devastated if this falls through. Her fans might even boycott her following performances. Nobody likes a liar."
As if on cue, Lunette's head dropped, lips trembling as she adopted her best 'sad puppy' face.
Kashi glared at Shadow, but the assassin's cold expression did not so much as shift. His eyes seemed to say, 'I've given you the facts. Now you decide whether you'll be an asshole or hero.' For the first time, Kashi experienced the benefits of having a powerful neutral expression. If this were Suzuki, he would have been able to keep pressure on Shadow's neutrality with his own, but Kashi had long since lost that neutrality.
After a couple of moments of looking from Shadow to Lunette, Kashi's guilt finally overcame his resistance. "Just warning you, I can't dance," Kashi very reluctantly warned.
Lunette squealed in delight as she jumped onto Kashi and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Told you you're a big softie." She rewarded his generosity with a kiss on the cheek. "And don't worry. Dancing isn't that difficult. You can definitely learn the routine."
Shadow took out a black wolf mask. "We'll be using masks, so your identity will be safe."
Kashi accepted the mask, only now grudgingly accepting his fate. "Alright, let's get this over with."
"Oh, I will enjoy this."
Kashi's eyes widened as he looked over Shadow's shoulder at one of the dance crew members. The young cerulean teenager held a black puppy in her arms, distractedly stroking its fur as she watched the proceedings.
"You're still pretending to be a puppy?" Kashi instantly countered. On the outside, however, he nodded to Shadow and said, "Who's leading? I'll try my best to copy."
"I am not pretending to be anything," Kira stated with an angry growl. "This is for training."
"I'll lead," Lunette announced, lips parted in excitement. The songstress walked up to, grabbed the daeben's left arm with her right, and then wrapped her left hand around his back before he could back away. Right on cue, a song from a soft violin tune drifted through the room.
Lunette took a few tentative steps, trying to match the rhythm without performing any maneuvers too complicated for a beginner. Unfortunately, Kashi seemed to be even worse than a beginner, as he constantly botched his steps, oftentimes accidentally stepping on her toes.
Frustration began to seep in with each failed attempt, the frown on Kashi's forehead growing more profound by the second. His footsteps became rushed as he tried to correct mistakes before they had even happened and predict where the next spot his feet should land. However, even with that, it seemed, the harder he tried to fix himself, the harder he failed. Kashi was about on the verge of giving up when he heard a voice in his ear.
"Stop thinking so much."
Kashi looked up from his feet to see Lunette's warm smile.
"You have to learn to let go and just have fun," Lunette said with a light chuckle. "Dancing is not a strict set of movement patterns. It's freedom. A way to express yourself in ways words alone cannot suffice." Lunette placed her hand on Kashi's chest. "Like right now. I am happy. I am so happy, no amount of words are sufficient to explain how I feel." She looked up into Kashi's eyes, a small smile playing at the edge of her lips. "Do you understand?"
"Not at all," Kashi openly admitted, causing several brows in the room to cringe in pain. "What I do know is that when I'm around you, everything seems brighter." Almost instinctively, Kashi wrapped his right arm around her waist and pulled her in close. "I do not understand this feeling completely." One Step. "But I do know I want it as often as possible." Two steps. "I know that I long for it when it's not there." Four steps. "And I am at peace like no other time when it is." Kashi, unknowingly, at some point, not only led the dance but was doing so with grace and ease that in no way belonged to a beginner. "I do hope to understand what this feeling is one day fully."
"You and I both," Lunette muttered under her breath. She only then realized that Kashi had been leading for quite some time now without any mishaps. Stunned, she questioned his earlier claim. "I thought you didn't know how to dance?"
"Ballroom dancing's the only thing I know," Kashi replied with an embarrassed smile. "And even that was a long time ago. I completely forgot everything for a moment."
"Oh," Lunette murmured. "Who taught you?"
"Uh..." Kashi hesitated. Up till this moment, he had never had to explain the distinction between himself, Suzuki, and Razznik. That burden always fell on Suzuki's unwilling shoulders. "I suppose you could call them, 'my brothers.'" Kashi let out a chuckle as he recalled the moment. "Now that I think about it, Suzuki said something similar back then, didn't he?"
1 Year Ago
Aruno Park
"What exactly is that supposed to be?" Suzuki harshly scolded from the comfort of his park bench. He glared at the teenager who danced on the grass with her arms held out like she was in the embrace of someone.
"Dancing," Adachi icily replied. She was used to Suzuki's blunt tone and had learned to ignore it. "I'm scheduled to perform at a gala in three weeks."
Suzuki snorted. "How boring." He looked down at his sketchpad and frowned. "Hurry and finish. You're ruining my shot."
"Boring? What would you know about boring?" Adachi coldly retorted. "You have no interest in dancing."
"I know enough to know there's nothing of you in that," Suzuki replied, jabbing his pencil in her direction. "It's too mechanical. Did one of your ten-millon yen tutors teach you that?" Shaking his head, he shooed her off with his hand. "I'm drawing nature here. I do not need your mechanical bullshit spoiling the shot."
Adachi glared at him with clenched fists, only managing to resist the urge to bash in his skull. She suddenly thought of a perfect revenge plot, causing an evil smile to blossom on her face.
Suzuki shivered as a chill rushed down his spine. He warily looked at Adachi. "Whatever you are thinking, the answer is no."
Adachi's evil smile only deepened at Suzuki's futile effort at resistance. "You are the one who said my dance is boring. It only makes sense you practice with me till I am no longer boring."
"There is absolutely no logic in that," Suzuki staunchly argued.
"You've got guts." Adachi closed the distance between them, then bent over and placed her arms over Suzuki's shoulders onto the bench. She brought her face within a hair's breadth from his, the evil smile as strong as ever. "Are you trying to argue logic with me?"
Suzuki's flat stare revealed his complete indifference to the proximity. "Are you posing that argument as a friend or as a teenage girl?"
Adachi's grip on the park bench tightened. However, her expression remained the same as she challenged, "Both."
"Fine, you win." Suzuki surrendered with an exaggerated shrug.
"Heh, you should have agreed from the start." Adachi retreated with a self-satisfied snort. "When do we st—"
"You should practice with Razznik." Suzuki mercilessly cut her off. "The time difference is stupidly large, so you can probably get in a couple months of practice. Besides, I'll learn everything Razznik learns. Everybody wins."
"Sure, I will practice with Razznik," Adachi stated, but then she grabbed his arm without warning and yanked him off the bench. "However, that does not mean we will not practice. You know as well as I do, it takes a few runs in reality before we can fully assimilate something we learn in the game."
Suzuki could only give up and shake his head as she gleefully took his hand in hers. "At the very least, Razznik will suffer longer."
Later that Day,
Razznik glared at the human in front of him. As he took in the teasing smile of his hated rival, Aileera, he could only spit out an angry curse, "Traitorous son of a bitch!"
Present Day,
Larsial looked at the dancing couple, thoughts hidden behind a sly smile. She looked at the other practicing partners before looking at the silent assassin next to her.
Keen senses ensured Shadow could not ignore the constant stare. Having crossed the limits of his tolerance, he spat, "What?"
Larsial's smile did not shift despite the unmistakable venom in his voice. "The numbers, they do not match."
Shadow frowned, unable to understand her meaning. "What?"
"The numbers," Larsial reiterated as she pointed at the dancers. "I see a 50:50 split between the men and the women. But, both you and Comet were meant to be part of this dance. The numbers don't match." Larsial said under her breath, "There's no such person as Comet, is there?"
"What do you want?" Shadow did not bother defending himself. Indeed, when he saw Kashi, he immediately conjured up a plot to craft some intimate time between the daeben and his sister. Luckily, Lunette was quick to catch on, saving him a lot of stress.
"Nothing right now," Larsial replied. "But you owe me one."
"Uh-huh."
Time was no friend, and soon enough rehearsals were done, and the performers had to take to the stage. Kashi's dance number was scheduled for last, allowing the daeben to view and appreciate the immense hardwork backstage that went into each successful performance.
Kashi imagined a guild to be something like that. The endless contributions by each guild member allowed a guild to grow in strength and stature. Most people would see the powerful guild and never know of the hardwork that built the guild's force behind the scenes.
Eventually, it was Kashi's turn to perform. The daeben, dressed in a black European style ballroom jacket with red trimmings, ensured the wolf mask was on before stepping onto the stage. He barely had time to realize he was the only one on stage before he was bombarded by a massive roar that almost had him reaching for a dagger tucked in his waistband.
Kashi stared at the crowd in shock. The multitude of happily cheering faces left him feeling awkward. Angry looks and murderous glares; The Suzuki trinity were used to those reactions. Anything else, especially from a multitude of this size, felt fake.
Kashi's discomfort was given no time to settle as, accompanied by an even greater cheer that shook the grounds itself, Lunette walked onto the stage.
To Kashi, however, the very moment he laid eyes on the songstress, the emporium seemed to have gone completely silent, all sound instantly washed away.
Lunette wore a starry, light-blue dress that clung to her upper body like a second skin. The dress opened from the waist down, with a single knee-high slit that teased the songstress' beautiful legs with each step.
Kashi's heartbeat quickened as Lunette walked up to his side. It was at that moment he understood what people meant by the power of make-up. What should be highlighted was highlighted. What should be hidden was hidden. It was a transformation that left the daeben speechless.
Kashi did not hear Lunette introduce him as her 'dear friend who would assist her with this dance.' What he did hear, though, were the thunderous shouts and boos from the crowd as a chuckling Lunette took his hand in hers.
Kashi turned to the booing crowd. He spotted a lot of his dear friends: scowls, death glares, and scrunched noses. Ah, how familiar, Kashi thought to himself, the collective hatred finally allowing him time to calm down.
With his mind in the right place, Kashi accomplished his part to perfection. He was so good that by the time the number was over, most of the boost had turned to loud cheers. An indescribable emotion engulfed the daeben as he stared at the crowd.
"The euphoria. It's indescribable, isn't it?"
Kashi trembled. He turned to look at Lunette. "Indeed, I cannot describe this." Kashi looked at the cheering audience. "Today, I experienced many things and felt many emotions I hadn't felt before." He looked back to Lunette with a smile. "Thank you." Kashi bowed, and to the crowd's shock and delight, he took Lunette's hand in his and kissed the back of her hand. "I'll be going now."
"You do what you have to do," Lunette said with the happiest grin. "I'll be waiting when you get back."
"Don't worry. I will not take too long," Kashi promised. "We still need to start our trip to Drakase."
"Remember to stop by Suvron's Gate. The people working in the basement levels reported they found something important."
"Got it," Kashi said. "Later, then." The daeben waved one last time at the crowd, then walked off the stage. To his surprise, Shadow, fully clad in his assassin outfit, stood backstage with a puppy-sized Kira in his arms.
"I'm coming."
Kashi nodded and patted Shadow's shoulder. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
Later that day, the sun began its slow rise on the horizon, casting its fiery glow over three riders and one direwolf as they fervently raced south.