A Meal

Yoruichi pulled out a table and three chairs. With the help of Claire, they set the food down on the table.

"I heard from Kisuke that you have enough energy to jump around. Come here and join us for breakfast." Yoruichi and Claire sat down after everything is done.

"Come here, big sis!" Claire patted the chair beside her with a big smile.

"No need." Medusa, of course, refused. She didn't have the guts to eat food from unknown people. When she did, however, Medusa was shocked that her refusal would lead Claire to have some tears in her eyes, "You don't want to eat with me, big sis?"

"Wha-!? Why are you crying!? Fine! I'll join you, so please don't cry." Medusa panicked a little. She couldn't win against an innocent child's tears, so she slowly stood up and sat down on the open chair.

"Nice one Claire~." Yoruichi and Claire suddenly did a high-five after wiping her tears.

"What!? You tricked me!" Medusa gnashed her teeth in frustration and was about to go back to bed.

Claire in response grabbed the hem of her clothing, "No! Please don't go! Big brother Kisuke said that you won't eat if I don't do that. I'm sorry."

"Kisuke? Do you mean that guy who just exited? Why does it sound like he knows me?" Medusa sat back down.

"Well... Because it's big brother Kisuke?" Claire answered.

"Hahaha... You have too much faith in Kisuke. You really do like him a lot huh?" Yoruichi patted Claire's head and continued speaking, "Alright, enough talking. Let's eat."

Yoruichi then grabbed a bunch of food towards her plate and Claire followed her example. Medusa, however, just watched the two of them eat.

"Based on your reaction from earlier, you can understand Japanese, right?" Yoruichi spoke after eating a mouthful.

"Yes," Medusa answered in Japanese.

"Good. Then Claire didn't have to translate for us to talk. First thing first, the food doesn't have anything harmful to you."

"So you're saying that it has something that won't be harmful to me. It makes me even less inclined to eat it."

"Right. It won't harm you. On the contrary, it'll be helpful for you."

"...How will I know that it'll really be helpful for me?"

"I don't have any evidence, so it still up to you. And when I said it'll be helpful for you, I mean it, but not directly."

"Not directly?"

"Yes. It's for the two other souls residing inside you. Those two seem to be protecting an important thing for you, so helping those two souls are indirectly helping you."

"What!? Two souls!? Are you certain!?"

"What? You're not aware? If Kisuke didn't found in you in time, those two souls would have already dispersed due to how weak they are."

Medusa started to 'stare' blankly at Yoruichi unnerving her, "W-What? Even if stare me like that, I won't feed you." Even though she's blindfolded and couldn't see, Yoruichi can tell that her other senses are fully focused on her.

Medusa still didn't respond at Yoruichi's words. She's about to say something again when tears suddenly overflowed from her blindfold.

"H-hey... Are you okay? Does something hurt so much that you had to cry? Wait for me. I'm going to call Kisuke. He knows what to do."

Before Yoruichi could leave though, Medusa grabbed her while crying her eyes out, "...Thank you... Thank you very much..."

"...For saving those two souls?" Yoruichi finally gets what she's crying for, 'She didn't know about the existence of those two souls, but it seems she's pretty sure who are those two.'

"Uwahh... Thank you... huuu..." Slumping down, Medusa bawled like a kid who experienced sudden relief while she holds Yoruichi's hands.

Yoruichi sighed and crouched down, hugging her, "Everything is fine now... Those two are already safe."

Medusa kept sniffling and thanking Yoruichi for a few minutes until she calms down.

Medusa wiped her face and said in embarrassment, "I'm sorry that you had to see such display."

"No prob here. But if you want to thank someone, thank that guy. He's the one who got you out of the sea and noticed the state of those two souls after all." Yoruichi helped her stand up.

"... I will..."

"It looks like those two are really important people for you."

"Yes... They are the most important for me and I thought that I would never hear their voice again."

"Is that so? Let me hear about them in the future. For now, let's eat. It'll also replenish your Mana."

Medusa agreed and sat back down on her chair. The food on the table is a standard Attica cuisine. With a bit of hesitation, she grabbed her utensils and started gathering food with the help of Yoruichi and Claire.

Taking a deep breath, Medusa first chooses to eat the fish dish. Putting it in her mouth and chewing it a little, a gentle happy smile surfaced on her face, "...It's good... It's been a while since I've eaten a proper meal."

After swallowing it, Medusa can feel a dense amount of Mana flowing out from the food and sipping inside her body. Along with Mana is a wisp of strangely calming energy that went straight inside her heart, disappearing entirely, 'Is that the thing which is beneficial for elder sisters?'

"What? Why didn't you say so? Since it's been a while for you, we should celebrate." Yoruichi took out a token. It's for communication that is unimpeded by the barrier, "Kisuke, go cook for some more food. The more variety the better. And also take out some of your sweets."

From the token, Kisuke's voice resounded, "Gotcha~. Anything else?"

"Can you prepare some cold deserts as well?"

"No problem~. I'll be their after a few minutes. Though I won't be adding Mana and Reiryoku to the food."

"That's fine. We have enough here for Ana." Yoruichi then disconnected the call.

"Uhm... What is this 'Reiryoku'?" Before eating the rest, Medusa wanted to know more about what she's eating. She knew about Mana as it's the basic energy source of almost everything supernatural in this world, but she hasn't heard of this Reiryoku.

"It's the most basic energy that the soul uses," Yoruichi answered honestly and briefly.

"I noticed this 'Reiryoku', but why does it go straight to the heart?"

"Hooh... So you can see that much... Well, to put it simply, your heart is the gateway to your soul. Kisuke had to put extra care to the Reiryoku as it doesn't go well with Mana without proper control."

"It doesn't go well? How?" Medusa started eating and enjoying her food at the same pace as Claire.

To demonstrate, Yoruichi raised a finger in each hand. On the tip of the finger of her left hand, Mana started spewing out, while on the other hand, it's Reiryoku which is spewing out.

Yoruichi pointed it away from the table and slowly brought her hand together. As the Mana and Reiryoku touched each other, a small but violent explosion occurred. Yoruichi, however, already muffled it's sound through her Reiatsu-Ki so that it wouldn't startle them so much.

"W... what!?" Medusa imagined something like that entering her body and something going wrong on it. She doesn't care if she dies, but what if her sisters, who she thought had disappeared forever, disappear for real this time? She shuddered at such thoughts.

"No need to be alarmed... Kisuke and I already has enough control over our Reiryoku so that it won't react with Mana."