[S2] Chapter 30: Difference

I have no idea why it's so quiet. But I'm optimistic that it's not something negative. I know there are better places than the tram and better conditions than having eaten burgers and fries before, but our first kisses were breathtaking. When I think back to the countless times we did it in that short ten-minute ride, I get a weird feeling of warmth and a tingling sensation in all the right places.

Once we arrive at the hotel, we head for the elevator, but after it takes more than a few seconds to come, we change our plan without saying a word and take the stairs. We hurry like we're afraid that the heat that's burning inside us could die out at any moment.

My hand trembles nervously as I pull our room card out of my pocket. Don't ask me when I last felt this excited. When I finally push the door handle down, Miko and I make eye contact, her cheeks and ears glowing red, just like mine. Her slow and heavy way of breathing is indescribably hot.

Once we're in the room, we don't even bother to turn on the light. As far as I can tell, in this rather dark room, Miko tears off her uniform and heads for the bed. I disappear briefly into the bathroom and search for my nail clippers. No one can say that I'm not prepared. It takes less than a minute for both my hands to be freed from long nails.

I take off my uniform, quickly glance in the mirror, and, thanks to all the excitement, I actually feel attractive enough to stay in the mood.

Cautiously, I make my way from the bathroom to the bed and climb into it from the foot end. My breath is so agitated, and my heart is beating like crazy. My eyes adjust to the darkness within seconds so that I can see Miko's body on her side of the mattress. I place one knee between her legs, lean down slowly, and kiss her neck before I realize something.

I carefully remove my leg from between hers again and slowly slide down to my side of the bed. I wait a little while before I'm sure that Miko has fallen asleep.

That's a bad joke. Yes, I told her to rest, but she could have waited until we were finished. What did I trim my nails for? Unfortunately, I'm not shameless enough to go into solo action while lying next to her. I guess I just sleep as well…

◇◆◇

"Are you sure we don't need our uniforms?"

"It's just a short meeting, and since it's so spontaneous, Lilith can't expect us to get dressed up."

After a long night's sleep, Miko is back to her old self. So far, it seems as if nothing has changed despite yesterday's events, I guess.

"What do you think?"

"Huh? About what?" She looks puzzled.

"Kissing me."

"Pretty random question."

"Not really."

"It was nice."

"Nice?"

"Yes? What else would you like to hear?"

Nice isn't a bad thing, and I probably can't think of a better way to put it. Lots of good things are nice. But it feels like I would have liked to hear something else.

"Nothing. Everything's fine."

"You don't seem satisfied.

"I'm actually quite happy."

"Really?"

"Really, really."

It's unusual for Miko to be so thoughtful. Maybe she has changed a little.

"By the way… sorry that I fell asleep yesterday."

"You were exhausted, don't worry about it."

"But... because of me, we couldn't do it."

"Do what?" I ask her with a big smile, while I get a little sad that she was actually willing to do it.

"As if I'm actually saying it!"

It's quite refreshing to see her this flustered. She's usually so calm and collected, but I now know more than a handful of ways to crack that shell in a heartbeat.

"Don't worry, we can make up for it whenever we both feel like it," I say, trying to stay composed. Still, my cheeks are glowing at the moment as I imagine that situation.

I hide my face behind my hands and let myself fall onto the bed. I cautiously glance at Miko. She is just standing there with her arms crossed, staring at the empty space next to me on the bed.

She sighs loudly and annoyed, "We have to get to the meeting," and offers me a hand to help me up. I accept her offer and get in touch with her warm, almost sweaty hands. Somebody is definitely feeling a little excited. It's nice to know that she sometimes works the same way I do.

In our casual outfits, we walk to the elevator to get to a meeting room on the fifth floor of the hotel. We have a few minutes left, but when we turn into the hallway where the room is located, I can already spot a few people standing around. I don't recognize anyone, but the uniforms they are wearing look familiar.

"They are from the Kings Guild."

"What are they doing here?" I whisper without taking my eyes off them.

"No idea."

We continue to walk towards the group, pretending to be unfazed. When we arrive, they eye us somewhat critically but make space for us to enter the room. Maybe, just maybe, the meeting is a little more serious and formal than expected. Miko can certainly feel my accusing stares piercing her.

"Sorry," she says quietly before we enter and find a small gathering of familiar faces. Our guild is present in full, along with Jora the King, Wace, and an elderly lady. Another well-dressed man who looks somewhat important and who, from what I can tell, is an employee of the ministry of magic is sitting at the head of the long table.

I am relieved to see that Wace and Luna have also come without wearing uniforms. However, everyone else wears their guild clothes, which means that we might get a bit of a scolding from Eliza and Lilith later.

"Sit down. We don't have time," Wace says with a friendly but somehow tired smile. It's unusual to see him like this, and that's why Miko does what he says without arguing with him, as usual.

One of the people standing outside the door closes it. I have no idea whether they are all just there as escorts or actually acting as guards. As soon as we have all taken our seats, Jora stands up and begins to speak.

"Thank you for being here. It really means a lot to me. I'll get straight to the point. Several guilds, including my own, have noticed some very unusual things inside the dungeons. At first, we thought they were rare anomalies. Still, after we started collecting the reports, we realized that these could no longer be considered coincidences. Sightings of horned creatures and dungeons that change shape while people are inside have led us to believe that this is the work of the demons, of which Kajsa, who is here with us today, belongs to."

With his words, he makes the things we had only suspected during the days when Kajsa and Miko were missing official. From the beginning, Luna spoke about the revenge of the demons, whose princess we had stolen. We assumed that they would continue to target us. What is new are the many reports from other guilds that have discovered irregularities. Why would the demons involve anyone else?

It only takes me a moment to realize the answer to my own question. They want to provoke us, to lure us out.

"But what good is this knowledge? Basically, we can't do anything more than warn the other guilds. Canceling the dungeon raid is out of the question. Fortunately, we also have a demon in our guild who found a message at a dungeon gate that seems to be meant for us."

Is that demon mentioned in the room with us? I look around questioningly, finally stopping at Miko's face, which seems as if she has been enlightened by something. Jora meanwhile sits down, and Wace gets up.

"My name is Wace, co-leader of the guild. I apologize if anyone feels cheated by me. But I never assumed that my origin was important for our relationships."

He bows apologetically and only straightens up again after ten or so seconds. Oh, so not everyone knew he came from another world? I almost feel honored that he revealed it to me and Miko a long time ago.

"I was born in a different world, as the son of a human woman who was impregnated by a demon. My mother died at my birth, and because of my mixed blood, I had no place in my homeland. By chance, I ended up in this world, and luckily, Jora took me in and showed me the meaning of kindness and acceptance."

His yellow, reptile-like eyes are similar to Kajsa's, but I never thought of reading anything more into it. But that's new. We knew he wasn't human, but we didn't learn how that came about. No wonder he seems a bit uneasy when he meets Kajsa. She probably reminds him of what happened to his mother. Even if it's not Kajsa's fault, of course.

What surprises me is that he can read this language even though he came here as a child. So, is there a way to learn it? In our world?

"When we discovered this gate, it gave me quite a shiver. The words in the old language, which are written, read: Come home. Without any sense behind it, I felt personally called upon for a moment before Kajsa crossed my mind."

Kajsa... I almost don't dare to look at her. Her eyes are downcast, her lips pressed together and trembling. Fists clenched and pressed against her thighs. She certainly feels responsible for all this, but from what was explained, nothing terrible has happened yet.

Luna rubs her temple and groans in annoyance.

"So, they invite us in. It's obviously a trap. Are we so confident that we can march in there and defeat the enemy? What's the long-term plan? In the end, they may come back."

She's right. No matter how many times we beat back the enemy, it's unlikely that they'll give up. I let my gaze wander again to capture the reactions of the others. Everyone seems pretty calm and collected. Only Jora is grinning like a madman, as if he can hardly contain himself.

"You are absolutely right with your concern, " the ministry guy starts. "We have discussed several scenarios, including the possibility of giving in to the demons' request and returning their princess to them. But after the two guild leaders present clearly spoke out against this option, we were able to convince the ministry to consider a somewhat more daring plan."

More daring than sending Kajsa to her certain death? Now I'm curious.

"It was agreed to lift Lilith's ban until this issue has been resolved."

I can feel how the attention is shifting to the witch in question. Without knowing what Lilith was punished for back then, nor being aware of how special all this is, I can feel how the atmosphere suddenly changes. I glance around a little helplessly. Miko seems unimpressed by all of this. Jora smiles contentedly as he always does when I see him. Wace and Luna are the ones who look somewhat disbelieving.

"I definitely like the plan better than giving Kajsa away. So, if we go in there with Lilith and Jora, does that mean we want to absolutely annihilate them?" Wace asks with a smirk on his face.

"If necessary, we will do that. I would prefer it if the presence of Lilith were enough for them to withdraw."

Jora shrugs his shoulders after he has presented his idea without a worry in the world. Lilith must be on another level if she is to have so much power that Jora believes our enemies will refuse to even try.

"Are we needed? I mean, especially Maisy and me. We're healers, so we're more of a hindrance, aren't we?" I ask as an uneasy feeling rises up inside me.

Maisy gives me the meanest glare she's ever shown me, although she still looks absolutely cute.

"I'm anything but just a healer..." she whispers, making Lilith start to chuckle.

"We need all of you. It would be arrogant to assume that we can handle this with one or two people. We all know that they are prepared for us, and our enemies are not stupid enough not to be aware that we will also take precautions."

"Understood."

"Don't be so tense, Kayla. I thought you'd be happy to be working alongside me for the very first time." Lilith says, smiling at me.

"Sorry."

I scratch the back of my head sheepishly. How am I supposed to react to such words? Of course, I've always wondered where Lilith got her impressive reputation from. But the situation is scary for someone like me. I've seen the state Kajsa was in after fighting one of her own... how are we supposed to last against a bunch of them?

"Now that the cat's out of the bag let us work out a strategy together, okay?"

"Nothing would please me more."

It's almost disgusting how much Jora enjoys every word that comes out of Lilith's mouth. Hopefully, Miko and I don't come across like that when we talk to each other.

◇◆◇

"And these words mean, come home?" I ask myself as I look at the dungeon gate. Kajsa, who is standing next to us, stops nibbling on one of her fingernails and answers me.

"That's about it. But something's not right."

"The same concerns you had at the meeting yesterday?" Luna asks, puts an arm around Kajsa's back, and starts caressing her gently.

"Are you two an item?" What a moment for that question, Miko, I'm impressed.

Not that I constantly ask myself that when I see the two of them together, but I don't see myself in the position to ask either of them something that private. Luna is really lovely, but we haven't really had much to do with each other so far, just like with Kajsa.

"What do you think? A magical girl and a demon princess? Sounds stupid, doesn't it?" Luna just grins without saying yes or no.

"Nice that you're so relaxed," Wace comments and walks over to us with a small entourage of guild members. I only glance at his companions briefly, but I get stuck on the face of one of them.

"Krystoff?"

"Hello, Kayla and the others." He smiles slightly, something I've rarely seen him do before. Anyway, why is he wearing that uniform? He didn't seem like someone who would make it in a top guild.

"Don't stare at me like that, please."

Damn, he realized how disbelieving I was looking right now.

"Try not to die. I don't want her to have to come and rescue you again." Miko says in a cold tone that one should not use to talk to anyone about dying.

"I'll do my best."

Wace sighs and continues his way. His group follows him, and I can overhear him complaining to Krystoff that he didn't inform us about being in this guild. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't have... after all, we collectively refused to give him our numbers. In retrospect, I feel a little bad about that.

"Don't worry, Kayla, I'm just as shocked that he's here. He gave me the impression that he is a hard worker, but joining Jora's guild and going under Wace's command seems like he skipped a few steps in his development."

It's nice that Luna sees it that way, but somehow, she makes me realize how out of place I am in our guild. Everyone here seems to be some kind of "monster," and I'm practically a nobody. Krystoff and I are probably more alike than I would like to admit.

"I was also surprised when he suddenly marched in at our guild office."

I flinch when I hear a voice that I didn't expect. All this time, I was convinced that it was only Kajsa, Luna, Miko, and me, but someone is standing to my right... Maisy, to be precise. Why isn't she with her guild?

"Hey..." she pouts and crosses her arms. "You were just wondering what I am doing here, weren't you?"

It must have something to do with me that everyone can read my thoughts just by looking at my face. I should consider investing in a mask. But when this sweet little girl stands next to me and sulks like that, I can't possibly lie to her face.

"I'm sorry, you're right."

"It's okay. Jora told me to stick with you and make sure you're safe."

And I thought she was here because she preferred to be with us than with her own guild. Sad, truly sad. But wait a minute... what kind of prodigy is Maisy supposed to be when she's meant to babysit me?

"Maisy... how old are you?"

"I'll be 19 at the beginning of next year. Why?"

Miko and I turn our heads to each other at the same time and then to Maisy. She is actually just some months younger than Miko. I'm sorry that I assumed something different just because she is small.

"Don't worry, everyone thinks I'm younger. I've had a bit of bad luck regarding my body. But at least I have a pretty face."

She really does. Without the girlfriend bonus, I'd even say she's prettier than Miko. Not that I would ever say this blasphemous statement out loud. Surrounded by all these beautiful ladies, there is only one true and correct choice for me.

"Test, test… I hope you can all hear me. This is Jora. I'm very excited that our guilds are joining forces for this mission. As you all learned in the briefing, we will probably be dealing with demons that have similar, if not more, experience than any of us. Don't let that discourage you, but treat the situation with enough respect. And one thing is important. We are not going in there to take prisoners or destroy the dungeon as quickly as possible. The only goal we are pursuing today is to break the enemy and crush their resolve."

I got goosebumps all over my body. His voice, speaking directly into my ear, was chilling as he declared our intention to crush the enemy. I came here without much confidence, but now, even I believe that I can make a difference.