The Girls’ Future part 1

After a few nerve-racking hours that felt like an eternity later, Yoruichi finally saw something good happening. The mangled organs of both Irina and Akeno started coming back together and the exposed bones had begun to be covered with flesh until their skin was also regenerated without a hint of blemish.

As soon as their bodies became complete, they also took their first breath as their hearts started to beat anew. Only then was Yoruichi finally able to sigh in relief. But as she looked up, it was only then that she noticed Kisuke's state, "Kisuke!?"

Kisuke removed his hands from Irina and Akeno's forehead and wiped away the blood that came from his orifices, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

But contrary to his words, when he stood up he ended up staggering instead.

Yoruichi also hurriedly stood up to catch him, "Stop acting tough. You're not fine." She knew full well how resilient he was after his metamorphosis, and the fact that he couldn't even find his balance now made her wonder what sort of torture he had to have gone through. Biting her lips, Yoruichi muttered with immense guilt, "I'm sorry for forcing you to do this..."

But that only earned her a flick and a chuckle from him, "I don't want to hear any apologies nor will I accept any from you. Just be glad that I'm happy to make the sacrifices for you. Besides, I'm not really injured outside of being dizzy and tired. On top of that, I learned a lot of things in there that made me realize something important."

"Something important?", asked Yoruichi while rubbing her forehead because she noticed a very profound smile on his face.

"That a Soul, by itself, isn't complete.", replied Kisuke with a smirk before separating from Yoruichi and refusing to explain further, he continued, "I'm going to my room first to catch some z's. It has been a while since I had any."

Not waiting for her to reply, Kisuke teleported out.

"...I guess he can only show his weak side to me right now. I'm happy, but I'm also worried that he doesn't depend on others as much. We're not alone anymore, after all." Yoruichi looked down at the peacefully sleeping duo and took note of the massive change in their auras, "But a Soul isn't complete by itself? It looks like he wanted to be alone too, to contemplate on some things."

The moment Kisuke left was also the moment that the barrier over the room went down, and as soon as that happened, people started barging in with Ophis in the lead.

Artemis and Hestia soon ran over to check on Irina and Akeno's situation and upon seeing them only sleeping, the two of them let out huge sighs of relief. The invisible burden on their shoulders had finally disappeared, along with the stacked-up fatigue taking over, made them slump over each other.

"...Are they alright now?" Artemis asked as she looked up to Yoruichi.

"They're already fine and they've managed to accomplish what they wanted to do. They just need some rest now, but they should wake up before the day ends."

And with a follow-up question, Hestia asked as she looked around for the missing person, "And Kisuke-kun? Where did he go?"

"He's tired so he went to get some rest."

But that answer only elicited a grim voice from Serafall, "Someone of his caliber got so tired that he didn't even have a few seconds to show his face?"

Serafall's words made the others except for Line realize how bad the situation is for Kisuke.

"I-is he alright!?" Sona knew Kisuke's habit of acting fine no matter what's happening, so the fact he can't even show himself now made her nervous.

As Goddesses who had enough power to understand Kisuke's abilities, they also knew how seriously wrong this was. Hestia immediately stood up and grabbed Yoruichi's hand with her own shaking hands, "H-he's not in a bad situation, is he?" Thinking about it now, Irina and Akeno actually died and Kisuke must have paid some price to reverse this. Even for Deities, reversing death is almost an impossibility, but it was certainly a taboo.

Yoruichi looked at everyone's worried expression before sighing in helplessness, "Fine... I'll be honest. Even for Kisuke, it wasn't easy to help Irina and Akeno. As a result, he received some backlash."

"What!? Where is he now!? I'll go see him!", yelled Hestia before her mouth was covered by Yoruichi, "Easy... You'll disturb the people resting. And you don't have to worry as all the damage he'd accumulated was already healed. However, he's extremely spent that even someone as stable as him staggered for a moment. He went back to his room to rest, so we shouldn't disturb him any further."

Hestia couldn't help but clutch the hand she's holding and look down, however, Yoruichi had nothing to say, or rather, didn't know what to say, so she just stayed silent.

"Even after his bloody fight with Ares, he didn't show that anything was wrong, yet he staggered now...", Serafall suddenly voiced out, "That might not be that much, but it's a big deal. Just what did he do to push him to his limits?"

"He isn't exactly invulnerable. I can't go into detail because that'd only be a useless talk but basically, to save these two, he had to expose and use his own 'underbelly' to shield them from harm. However, he reassured me that there were no lingering injuries and that he only needs some rest."

A strange and awkward silence covered the room for a minute or two before Serafall spoke up again, "This is a good time. Let's talk about the future."