Chapter 36

The world turned to white. Kakashi looked around. He was inside some kind of space.

“Kakashi.”

He could hear Syorin's voice calling out to him. She stood behind him.

“Do you know about this?” She tilted her head.

“No… what is this?”

It looked like an ability tied to her weapon, and it wouldn't appear unless it was equipped.

“It's a secret ability of mine. You're the first one to see it.”

“... What does it do?”

“Well, one of its capabilities is speeding up the time within your mind to an impressive degree. If you can look outside, then you'll see that everything’s moving super slow. To them, we're practically frozen.”

Kakashi looked around. There was nothing but white.

“If you can look outside this place, I mean.” Syorin smiled wryly upon seeing Kakashi taking her words literally.

“... Is that it?”

It's an impressive ability, there's no denying that, but Kakashi didn't see how it would affect the battle.

“... I used to brawl with my siblings all the time.”

Kakashi was a bit surprised at Syorin suddenly talking about herself, but he said nothing. He nodded, urging her to continue speaking.

“We would fight for food, for toys. I wasn't smart, so when we played games, I would always lose. I would try to cheat, but then they would call me out, and I would have a fight.”

Syorin took a deep breath. “But I was happy. I enjoy the time I spend with my family. We weren't related by blood. None of us were, but we lived as if we were born in the same house.”

Syorin walked around the white room, gazing up, then down, then toward Kakashi.

“I promised I would protect them, and they'll laugh at me and say I'm too weak to do so.” She let out a smile. “Well, they're not wrong.”

“We… We were living happily until the empire came. They used white dragons to attack the country we were in. We're far from a large city, but the dragons went wild and attacked anything they saw. My… home was in their path.”

Slowly, the smile began to fade from Syorin’s face.

“I… I was the only one who survived. I, the weakest, dumbest person of them all, the least deserving person, was the one who survived.”

Syorin let out a pained chuckle. Tears descended from her eyes onto her cheeks.

“Me… Kakashi. Somehow, I was the one who remained. Not my parents, not my brothers, not my sisters. Me.”

She spoke with immense regret. Kakashi felt his heart aching inside. He, too, lost his loving family when he was young. And now, even now, he could experience such a great life with Syorin, Astill, Neila, and Four. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if he lost them. They may not have spent years together, but what little time they spent together was the highlight of his life. Those days were much more memorable compared to his years under his uncle.

“Brother sacrificed himself so I could escape. At his grave, I promised that when the time comes, I would do the same. And now the time has come.”

“... Is that why you have such a high light magic stat?”

Syorin nodded. “That's my secret. My ultimate power is the ability to convert my life strength into power.”

Kakashi held his breath.

“When I bring us back, I need you to convince Neila to step away. My attack would evaporate me, the dragon, and Baronnt. Take her away, then use the barrier to protect yourself. You will survive. I know we've known each other for a short while, but I truly enjoy our time together. Kakashi, thank you-”

“No.”

“Eh?”

“What do you mean ‘eh’? You really think I'm going to let you die?”

“But-”

“Say the same thing to Astill or Neila, and they'll slap the living hell out of you! You really think we're going to let you sacrifice yourself like this!?” Kakashi raised his voice, the emotions leaking out.

“But if I don't do this-”

“Then what? If someone's going to die, it needs to be me! I'm the one who has died before! I'm the one that's not supposed to be here!”

“You can't…”

“Why can't I? Why will I allow you to die a hero while I’m turned into a side character standing on the sidelines, unable to do anything?”

“But-”

“You're a cheater, for fucks sake. Finding a way to win even when the odds are against you is what you should be doing. I'm not letting you die! I've lost my family once before, and I'm not losing them again!”

“Kakashi…”

“We will go home. We will enjoy late-night food together. We will play games over and over. I'll beat you every single time. You'll keep trying. Sometimes you'll cheat, sometimes you don't, but you'll keep trying. You'll go at it again and again. You'll challenge me over and over. You'll fight with Astill repeatedly. I'm not letting our story end here!”

Kakashi clenched his fist and looked at the wall. He punched it. The wall fought back, his hand turning red from the numerous impacts.

“Kakashi, stop! You're not strong enough to break through this barrier!”

“I don't care!”

He punched and punched again. “I'll be an idiot like you! I'll be the meathead! I'll punch things until it works! I'll repeatedly try again and again, even if I fail. If it meant keeping you all alive. Ouch!”

Kakashi shook his hands, wincing at the pain.

“Kakashi, stop! There’s no need to go that far!”

“... Syorin, you said it before, right?”

“What did I say?”

“You won’t know how to feel if you found out that you’re a character in my dream.”

He reached out and hugged her tight. “I… don’t want to be a side character in your dream. If your dream involves you dying for the greater good, then I want to be there to stop you. I want to be there to help you. And, not just me, but Neila, Astill, and even Four. I think they share the same feelings.”

Syorin fell silent.

“That… that is why you chose me, right? Instead of Neila, or Astill, or Four, you chose to bring me here because you think I’ll be fine with you dying, right?”

“... No, I can’t really talk with a drunk Neila, and there’s no way I’m running up that tower just to tell Astill what I’m going to do.”

“... Oh. Is that so?” Kakashi’s cheeks turned red after realizing that he had completely misunderstood her. “Bu- Bu- But, I mean, you still told me, right?”

“Kakashi… pfft.” Syorin snickered, and that snicker turned to a laugh. She held her stomach as she began rolling on the ground.

“Hahaha! Kakashi, you're so funny. You really- You really feel like a main character with that speech.” She wiped the tears off her eyes. “Fine, fine. If you really think you can win this, I'll do what I can to help you.”

Kakashi helped her stand up, holding her hand. “Let’s do this together. With Astill, with Four, with Five, and with drunk Neila. I mean, someone got to help her with her hangover, right?”

“Yeah.” Syorin beamed.