Her Message

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|| CHAPTER 21 | Her Message ||

"Ichijou Eito...

"What a familiar name that feels so close, yet so distant to me...

"His strong affection for his children and his charisma were the two things I remember most from him. It would be an understatement to say that he's only a father and a Head Clan. I'd say, he'd make a great general for the kingdom's armies.

"He made quite the entrance when we first met. Truth be told, he's probably the strongest man on this verdant earth that I have met to have the same rivalled power as mine.

"Remember his name.

"–– for he and his kin will be the ones to change history."

––

⠀

'I knew it.'

⠀

Eito walked slowly to the two of them, going in between them while putting a hand on Mizuto's head and another of Mitsuru's shoulder.

Mizuto jumped slightly while Mitsuru looked at Eito in confusion. "Is anything the matter, Tou-san?"

"Otou-san? Do you need anything?" Mitsuru asked as well, tilting his head in slight puzzlement. He certainly wasn't expecting Eito to be patting their heads anytime soon.

The older male let out a silent exhale and quietly assured the two, "... She'll be fine."

"Eh?" Mizuto blinked several times to process what the man just said. "... What do you mean by so, Tou-san?"

"... Shizuka, that is."

Both of the boys' eyes went wide for a split second before they returned to a gentle look, hearing their beloved father saying so. A smile made its way to their faces as they both exchanged looks.

"Hahaha~ Tou-san, you may not look like it, but you're quite a worrywart, aren't you?" Mizuto stated, all the while chuckling at his father.

Eito's expression relaxed once more after seeing that Mitsuru was laughing along with Mizuto. He wasn't the cold, stoic person everyone thought he was, after all. Perhaps, only his closest ones knew what his true self looked like.

"Hmph, worrying for Shizuka is the last thing I had in mind." Eito scoffed and shook his head. "Though I never expected that she would run off like that."

With his truthful words in mind, Mitsuru and Mizuto smiled at their father's denial. "It IS Shizuka we're talking about," Mizuto began. "It wouldn't really be her if she's not doing things her way."

As the other two were about to agree, an obnoxiously loud voice interrupted their little session.

"Oi! Don't just stand there, Mizu-nii, Mitsu-nii!!! Help us over here, would 'ya?!" Yuzuru demanded from afar. The two said boys could probably see the veins popping on Yuzuru's head.

It looked like Yuzuru and Kazuto had finished a bunch of the cloaked men while the three Ichijous were talking briefly. Running lightly to the two energetic siblings, Mizuto chuckled. "Hahaha, sorry about that."

Mizuto walked to the (technically) 'younger' triplet while Eito ordered Mitsuru to look after the twin and the young female of Ichisaki.

"Jeez! By the way, what did the three of you talk about back there?" Yuzuru queried while shooting purple-pooled flames towards the men. "You three were talking for an awfully long amount of time."

'He made it seem so easy when he's focusing on the inside, huh?'

Mizuto sweat-dropped at the other Ichijou as he answered the chrome-eyed boy's question, "Oh, nothing much~ Let's continue on, shall we?"

The light-brown-headed male happily skipped off to some men, earning confused looks from them.

They were caught off guard when he suddenly kicked one in the face, stepping and stand on him as he cast a spell calmly, "Imperium Aquam: Caerula Gurgitem Abripuit."

With a Rune-based magic performed, the chanted spell began to do its work.

Water emerged from beneath the ground and the unseen crevices between the leaves of the trees, they circled above the men as Mizuto danced to his crooning.

He left the scene as the clear liquid turned into a beautiful, cerulean-coloured whirlpool, entrapping the men in it and drowning them.

Even with the cruel action acted in front of them, the Spirit Wielders didn't flinch.

Seeing lives taken away right before their eyes were one of the hundreds of hurdles they must face upon taking the job as a Spirit Wielder–– with a mission to bring all the wandering souls back home.

"You know what you said before wasn't an answer, right?"

Yuzuru raised an eyebrow at Mizuto's gentle hums.

"Hahaha~ Of course, it wasn't," he replied knowingly, humming along whilst he cast spells and knocking the cloaked men here and there. In the end, Mizuto never intended to give Yuzuru a clear answer in return for his query.

"Huff... Let's continue then, Ichijou Yuzuru?" the gold-eyed teen spoked to himself, going after the men and chanting his spell of fire, "Spirit Fire Magic: Midnight Flames!!!"

He jumped on one of the men with his fists aimed at them.

Black, raging flames enveloped both his fists as knuckles collided with the not-so-hidden faces of the cloaked men. Yuzuru high-kicked one in the head with the same fire covering his foot.

Jumping back, he elbowed one behind him and shot him with a flaming pebble. Taking up a random pebble below him and covering it in flames was not something Yuzuru thought he would do when he fought these unknown individuals.

The pebble was shot so hard that it went through the robed middle-aged man's abdomen.

His whole body was burning on the inside as he screamed in agony.

"ARGHGGHGHHGGHHGHG...!!!"

"Ouch! Lower your volume, would 'ya?!"

––

Meanwhile, inside the forest nearby, Yuuma whispered some things to Eito as the older male nodded slightly. The Head Clan wasn't too sure about the plan that his butler attempted to do, but he wanted to make sure anyway.

"Are you sure about this, Akagi?"

"Yes, I am, Sir." Yuuma nodded and placed a hand over his chest. His eyes burned with confidence as he calmly continued, "I believe the estimated chance of succeeding is around twenty percent–– but it's better than nothing."

The Ichijou hummed at the younger male's statement. "And may I ask, what is your plan exactly, Akagi?"

The Head Butler only gave a closed-eye smile in return, saying nothing. It seemed to Eito that Yuuma wouldn't spoil his plan anytime soon, even if he was his superior.

Sighing, the older man stationed both his hands on his hips and closed his eyes for a moment. When Eito opened them, they glowed a bit beneath the crimson moon they stood under.

Of course, it wasn't a secret that even Yuuma noticed this, but he didn't say anything else.

It was moments like this that the young Akagi wished he could tell Eito of his plans. But alas, the decision of needing no one to know of his action was significant.

"... All right, you may carry out your plan."

The butler let out a small exhale he didn't know he held in. Bowing his head down, Yuuma thanked the man, "You have my gratitude, Eito-sama..."

⠀

⠀

⠀

"But don't you dare fail. I trust you, Akagi," the Head of the Ichijou Clan replied with his back towards the hazel-eyed butler. His voice was monotone and his face held no expression, but those who are close to him could tell that he wished the best for everyone deep down.

"Yes, Eito-sama."

And with that, Yuuma disappeared into the night, leaving only Eito standing alone near a tall tree, where they had been conversing in secret, away from others.

––

A few minutes ago...

The salmon-headed male, known as Ichisaki Kizuki, searched the darkened and gloomy woods for a certain dark-brown-haired male with gold eyes.

With the dense bushes blocking his paths, Kizuki failed to keep his temper under control and struggled to find the younger Head Clan.

"Where the heck is that man? He'd better not run away from this death-fight..."

The young-looking Ichisaki kept grunting and mumbling under his breath when he finally spotted two familiar individuals, including the one he was looking for.

Walking closer to them, the roseate-haired Head Clan was about to call for the brunet, but when the younger dark-haired male opened his gold eyes, he stopped dead in his tracks.

⠀

–– his eyes were glowing.

⠀

Of course, it wasn't a rare phenomenon that Eito's eyes glowed brightly. Even with their gold colours shining and glimmering for no reason whatsoever, Kizuki still found it quite... spine-chilling.

For some odd reason, Kizuki always felt cold whenever he saw Eito's glowing gold eyes. He could feel his strong, charismatic presence whenever his eyes glowed. However, it was a bit of a dilemma for Kizuki, whether he wanted to feel scared or just plain weirded out.

It was then when Eito turned around, his back facing the hazel-eyed male. "All right, you may carry out your plan."

"You have my gratitude, Eito-sama."

"But don't you dare fail. I trust you."

"Yes, Eito-sama."

Yuuma left the scene, leaving the gold-eyed male and the violet-eyed male, who was still hidden.

⠀

⠀

⠀

"... Ichijou," Kizuki finally voiced.

The said male turned and locked his gold orbs with violet ones. No one said a word for a while until the older male broke it with his slightly deeper and husky voice, "Let's go back. The others might worry."

Kizuki turned around, walking back to the direction he came from without even glancing at the younger male. Eito followed behind shortly, keeping his eyes at the back of the leading male's head.

A voice rang in his head–– a familiar one at that.

'Otou-san... Otou-san, can you hear me?' the light voice called out in his head.

The called male looked left and right, trying to find the source.

He observed the older male in front of him, trying to figure out if he heard that voice too. From the looks of it, he didn't.

Eito then tried replying to whomever he thought the owner of the voice was, '... Shizuka? Is that you?'

'Ah...!! You can hear me, Otou-san~?' There were relief and happiness in her voice. One could even imagine right now that she's probably grinning while jumping up and down.

'Yes, I can. Where––'

'Umm, before you ask too many questions, I have something important to tell you, Otou-san.' There was hesitation in her voice. 'Several things, actually...'

'… And what are they?' With raised eyebrows, the brunet got straight to the point. He had expected that Shizuka wouldn't go too far without his permission, but certainly, the way she reached out sure surprised him.

'Right! I'll get straight to the point then. Right now, I'm with Seimei-san. So, you don't need to worry too much!'

The older Ichijou didn't seem to know that he's been holding in his breath as he let it out when hearing the platinum-blonde adolescent stated where she was.

'Hmm? Otou-san? Are you all right?'

'... Yes, I am. Please continue, Shizu.'

Shizuka giggled slightly upon hearing her nickname being called. Continuing, she said, 'Okay, so right now Seimei-san is right beside me, still unconscious. He's being carried by one of the demons.'

'Hmm, 'demons,' you say?'

'Yup! Did you not realize, Otou-san? You'd be the last person I'd expect to not know that they're demons–– corrupted ones, at that.'

Eito shook his head, even if Shizuka couldn't see him. 'No, I already knew since the very beginning. Just confirming.'

'Hehehe, all right whatever you say then~'

'Shizu, you said that you're beside Seimei right now?'

'Uh-huh!'

'How?'

'Jeez, Tou-san, did you forget about my Dream Weaver Magic~?'

The man quietly hummed in understanding, predicting what his daughter would do from here on out. 'Ah... So, you're going to proceed on with your plan with it, I believe?'

'Yeah, it'll be tough not to use it from here on out,' Shizuka replied calmly, contrasting to her previous light-hearted tone. 'So, what are you going to do?' Eito asked bluntly, cutting straight to the chase.

'I'll try to persuade Seimei-san into signing a contract with me of course~!' the female Ichijou answered immediately without hesitation.

⠀

⠀

⠀

'... You're going to what now?'

Even the great Ichijou Eito was shocked at his own daughter's idea, it sounded crazy and unbelievable even to him. But it's Shizuka he's speaking to. It's not really surprising to him that his daughter liked to take extreme length for one soul–– even a dead one.

'Yup!! And I am not going to change my mind even if you told me too!!' his daughter exclaimed in his head.

Sighing quietly, he kept his gold orbs on the path, careful not to bump into anything. 'You will be fine on your own, right?' Worry was evident in his voice inside his head.

'Of course, I will! I am an Ichijou, after all.

'I wouldn't be one if I left him behind, now, would I?'

Eito could imagine his platinum blonde-haired daughter wearing a proud and smug face, huffing her chest with her hand on it.

Chuckling to himself, he spoke again to her one last time, 'Good luck. You're going to need it, Shizu.'

'Thank you, Tou-san! Oh, and tell the rest not to worry too much. I promise I will get Seimei-san back. I'm leaving the KING to you, Tou-san.'

'... Yeah.'

–– and with that, Shizuka's calming voice disappeared from his head.

Kizuki glanced back for a moment after hearing the brunet's chuckle. He raised an eyebrow at what he's doing, exactly nothing and just keeping his eyes on the road.

"What are you looking at, Kizuki-san?" Eito inquired, genuinely curious at what the older male was looking at.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. And we've arrived, Eito."

|| CHAPTER 20 | Her Message - To be continued... ||

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