Vol. 5 - Chapter 19

Ash

The day of the siege had a strangely peaceful beginning. 

The half-demon's eyes slowly blinked open as Ash stirred in her mat. Behind her, Kaori's body rested peacefully, and in front of her, taking up most of her view, was Keiko as she sat there, turned away from Ash, with her legs crossed. 

Hm... 

Ash sat up, yawned, and stretched her arms before leaning her head over Keiko's right shoulder. The raven-haired girl briefly turned to look at her, smiled, and then went back to her book. 

"Hey," Ash said. 

"Good morning!" Keiko happily greeted her which caused the corners of Ash's lips to curl up as she hugged the girl from behind. 

"What are you doing?" She mumbled quietly, as she was tempted to go back to sleep. 

"I asked some of the new soldiers if they had any magic I could study," she replied. "One of them had a spellbook on them that sounded pretty good."