You can't do this to me

In Inazuma, just after Arlecchino left.

Kenshin strode through the festival with a smile.

He felt the sun was brighter, the clouds disappeared and his worries, were gone.

And yet, he only needed to remember that disgusting thing for his face to turn into a sour one.

'I need to look for Morax and that drunkard" he mused. Maybe it was better to wait for the festival to end, but he preferred to get this thing out of the way.

Locating Morax was easy, Barbatos, not so much.

'The Boss should know about what I see, at least he can-' Kenshin had to stop midway

He saw Guizhong and Morax's souls close to each other, too close to be talking. Of course, he knew Morax and Guizhong wouldn't be doing here what he and Arlecchino had done, but now he cursed his blindness.

He quickly looked for someone around and saw Sara approach him. She was pissed off, but he didn't care.

"Kenshin, we need to-"

"Shut up woman" Kenshin whispered with a hand on his lips. "Come here and tell me what those 2 are doing"

Sara curiously approached quietly, and saw the woman who had been Shenhe's 'defendant' and the man who acted as a witness in the Contract near each other.

"The woman's head is resting on the man's shoulder. They look to be in a romantic position" Sara described what she was seeing to Kenshin.

"I know they are in a 'romantic' mood, I can see it" said Kenshin gritting his teeth.

He walked up to them, and kicked Guizhong in the back, making her fall.

"Ouch!" she yelped in surprise. The kick didn't hurt, but she was surprised nonetheless. "Kenshin!"

"How could you do this to me?!" shouted an indignant Kenshin.

"W-What?" now Guizhong was stunned. She should be the one angry here, right?

"I saved you from that Remnant" shouted Kenshin raising a finger. "I took good care of you for years! I hid your soul from everyone, even risking my 3D status trying to avoid getting flattened! I gave you a body, the best one possible!"

"Y-yes" hearing all Kenshin had done for her made Guizhong feel a bit ashamed.

"And you repay me like this!?" Kenshin had a red face from anger.

"What is the problem?" asked calmly Morax from the side.

Sara just stood on the side with a deadpan gaze, wondering what kind of bullshit Kenshin was going to say.

"Boss of the Lands, this is between me and this ungrateful disappointment of a God" Kenshin said, but quickly looked to Guizhong again. "I saw that you were in a 'happy' mood, but I had to call Sara to describe the scene to me. The result, you were in a 'romantic' position, am I right!"

"Well, yes" Guizhong readily admitted. She didn't think they were doing anything bad.

"As your direct benefactor, I demand that you pay it back now" said Kenshin.

"What do you want?" asked Guizhong with a dark face. She now understood that Kenshin's whole charade was only to get this 'favour' done.

"I heard there is a conspiracy targeting my person, and I want to use your dusty power to spy on it" Kenshin nodded, thinking that it was a good plan.

Only Barbatos could be more sneaky than her.

"..." Guizhong fell silent, and Kenshin noticed her awkwardness.

"I suddenly think that asking you to spy is not the fastest way to know about this conspiracy" Kenshin narrowed his eyes at Guizhong, who took a step back with an awkward smile.

"Well, you see, I needed to help Shenhe..."

"So that little monster is involved too" Kenshin realized that the plot was getting dangerous. The more people participating in it, the more reduced his chances of escaping alive were.

"Kenshin, calm down" Morax spoke with a calm voice. "Nobody is trying to hurt you".

"Ayato didn't say the same" said Kenshin, directing a suspicious glance towards Morax now. "He told me my dick was going to fall off, in my books that counts as 'hurting'".

"I shouldn't have brought him there" Sara facepalmed.

"So you are in there too" Kenshin looked alarmed at Sara. "Traitor!"

"Kenshin, calm down" sighed Guizhong, knowing that if she didn't calm Kenshin down, he would do something incredibly stupid. "No one wants to cut off your thing". 'If it falls off or shrivels, it's another topic' was left unsaid.

"I won't listen to someone in league with these traitorous women, and from what I'm seeing, men too. I would have expected a bit more comradery between 'carrot owners'" Kenshin looked in disappointment at the confused Morax. "But I came here to tell the Boss that Inazuma doesn't have an Archon anymore".

Morax understood what it meant, and after a brief expression of surprise, he nodded.

"I understand" he nodded, his thoughts unknown to everybody but him.

"What did you do now?" asked an alarmed Sara, not realizing what it meant to 'lose' an Archon.

"Sara" Kenshin said looking at her. "Goodbye" and he ran.

CLANG!!

"...." the other 3 looked wryly at Kenshin's figure in the ground after colliding with a lamppost.

"Dammit" the humiliation was worse than the pain, or so Kenshin thought.

"Kenshin, I sometimes wonder about my sanity" mused Sara.

"I do the same" replied Kenshin standing up, a bit dizzy after the collision. "Every single day when I wake up".

"Haahhhh, Kenshin, we need to talk" said Sara tiredly.

"Let's talk after the festival" Kenshin said with a serious voice, leaving all jokes aside.

"Okay" Sara nodded, and sensing Kenshin's seriousness she didn't insist.

The 3 remaining people saw her disappear among the crowd, each one with their own thoughts.

"Guizhong, did you do something unnecessary?" asked Kenshin with a tired face.

"I didn't" Guizhong shook her head. "But you probably have a guess already".

"If you tell me Jean was involved, it's all I need to confirm this 'plan'" sighed Kenshin.

"If you are talking about the Radiant Knight, she is" confirmed Morax. "How much did you know?".

"Morax, I could sense Ei's loneliness when she was inside her sword" Kenshin said rubbing his forehead. "Do you think I would miss something as intense as love?".

Kenshin had noticed a long while ago, mainly Sara's feelings. She didn't try to hide them, knowing Kenshin knew them, but she never voiced them.

"You should have spoken about it before it came into this" Guizhong mirrored Kenshin's sigh.

"I know I should have. But it wasn't the moment. Yes, I know it sounds like an excuse, but with all the deal with the Decress, it REALLY wasn't the moment" replied Kenshin sitting on a nearby bench.

Guizhong and Morax approached and also sat on the bench. Kenshin was their friend, and they were ready to help him with such a complicated situation.

"Then you should start moving now. There are no Decrees anymore, and while you are going to be busy with the reconstruction, it will never be a good moment to act on this" advised Guizhong.

"You should act in a way that doesn't leave you with regrets" said calmly Morax with a faraway look.

"Well I can't act if I don't know what I want" replied Kenshin, directing his gaze towards the sky. "I am an immature guy, a year ago all I wanted was to have fun, and never thought about this topic at all. Like all teenagers, I had my urges, but coupled with my blindness, I wasn't an excessively lustful guy. When the Decrees arrived, well, I was focused on another thing. And now I find myself in the middle of a situation where I have no idea of what I want".

"It's not like they gave you a choice" noted Morax. "I was the one to witness their Contract".

"And yet, it may not be what I want" replied Kenshin. "I am really confused about this. I saw my mother and father while growing up, and I always imagined my romantic life to be like theirs. Deepen your bond with each other, slowly grow to love the other person, marry, and have a family".

"Well, now you will do it 6 times" remarked an amused Guizhong.

"Ha ha" Kenshin ironically laughed.

"You should act on what you believe is best" Morax gave reasonable advice, a product of the countless years he has been living in this world. "But you should also understand the other party. I think you are focusing too much on your own view, that you have disregarded the others".

"Yes, Kenshin" Guizhong nodded at Morax's words. "Look at the girls. Jean had been brainwashed by her somewhat psychotic mother. Shenhe is special, as you know. That Fatui girl seems to have seen too much. Yae and the now former Archon are way older than you, and I don't know about Yae, but that purple woman seemed too broken to be able to lead a normal relationship. The only remaining girl is Sara, who seems to think more about work than about her personal life".

"If you put it that way, they are indeed 'special'" said Kenshin, still not fully on board.

"In the end, all you are considering is preconceived notions about having a partner" commented Morax. "You are thinking about what you imagined it to be, or what you think it should be. Everyone is different, and things that don't work for others may work for you, and vice-versa".

"So you are saying that I should form my own opinion about this after experiencing it" deduced Kenshin. "Basically, 'you should try before rejecting it as something bad'".

"How can you say you don't like it if you have no idea of what it is?" replied Morax in his calm voice. 

"How do you know you don't like radishes if you have never tried them?" insisted Guizhong. "We are not telling you to marry tomorrow, but maybe you can start slowly. Go on a few dates or whatever people call it these days. If it doesn't work, cut the relationship cleanly so nobody gets scalded more than necessary. If it's with some women, tell them. If you prefer to have a single relationship, say it. If you see that it's not a bad plan, keep doing it".

"Of course, you need to think about the girls" Morax said with a firm look. "But don't forget about yourself. A relationship won't work if you are not satisfied with it. Sooner or later, it will make your relationship sour".

"I know" replied Kenshin. After thinking for a while, he spoke. "I will do as you said. I am still skeptical, but as you said, nobody is normal here. If I see it doesn't work, I will cut this plan. I don't care about Contracts, or how many tears are shed. We only have one life, longer and shorter, and wasting it in a relationship without a future is not a good idea".

"That sounds like a good plan" Guizhong nodded in approval. She knew that the problem here was Kenshin, he wasn't indecisive about 'choosing', it was just that he didn't even know what he wanted. She had been living with him for years, if he wanted to let's say, enter a relationship with Jean, he will firmly reject Sara. 

"Still, aren't you trying to convince me a bit too much?" said Kenshin looking at Morax.

"I am doing what a good friend should" Morax answered firmly.

Kenshin accepted his answer with a grateful nod, but what he didn't see from his position was that Guizhong's hand had been pinching Morax's waist during the whole conversation.

Guizhong really wanted this plan to succeed. One part was for Kenshin, she believed that he, along with the girls, could make this work.

And the other part was also for Kenshin because she knew that his life would be madness from the moment he agreed to this. And she still had a lot of things to get revenge for.

"Well, I should get going" replied Kenshin standing up. She saw Frederica coming without Jean and decided to have a 'talk' with her. "Don't forget to invite me to the wedding".

He left with Frederica waving at the calm Morax and blushing Guizhong.