The Curiosity of Lady Elyria

A few days passed. It was the day before Kazuo's first match, and he was training hard.

His muscles ached. His breath came in steady bursts.

He wiped his face with the back of his glove and straightened. "Do you think I'm ready?" he asked.

Setsuna shrugged, tossing him a rice cracker. "I think you'll manage yourself," he said. "Even if your magic control is still bad."

"Thanks… I guess."

"You learn fast," Setsuna said, cracking the rice snack in half with his teeth. "But you've gotta stop gambling. That's what nearly got you dropped in the battle royale."

Kazuo glanced down at his hands. "I know…"

Setsuna's voice dropped slightly. "Just because no one says it out loud doesn't mean it's not real. Killing's allowed. You have to assume that Kaya is going to end you."

He nodded, slower this time. "Yeah. I know. She hates me anyway."

"Good. Remember that." Setsuna brushed dust from his sleeve, voice sharpening. "And don't forget — you can't kill anyone. You do, and Cedric has the perfect excuse to get rid of you without risking a revolt."

Kazuo exhaled. "I don't even know if I could. Even if I had to."

A beat.

Setsuna looked at him for a moment longer, then said with a faint grin, "Still… learning a new spell that fast? That's insane. Even for me."

Kazuo shrugged. "Sora said the same. She thinks it has something to do with my magic affinity."

Setsuna gave a short nod. "Her instincts are right. That'd be the only explanation that makes sense."

He started walking off, stretching his arms behind his back. He gave a lazy wave over his shoulder. "Well, it's afternoon. I promised Sora I'd buy her that ridiculous new bow she saw."

Kazuo blinked. "Wait, now?"

"Yepp."

"Wait—you can't just—"

Setsuna vanished around the corner.

He raised his hands. "Aaand… he's gone."

Kazuo sighed and looked back at the training field. Tomorrow was coming fast. The grounds were empty. Just Kazuo — seated beneath the barracks wall, quiet, still — the flicker of lamplight tracing the sharp edge of his jaw. A soft breeze stirred the dust at his feet.

Elyria watched from a distance. He's finally alone… This is my chance.

They had agreed it was necessary.

Her father wanted to understand what Kazuo was — for the sake of Yurelda's future.

Even though they were both in the same boat, this wasn't what actually drove her.

I want to know how he even exists.

A boy with one black eye and one green shouldn’t have survived this long — not here, not within this system. That alone should have broken him. And yet… he lives. Not only that, but with warmth. With kindness.

And that silence — that calm resistance — disturbed her more than open rebellion ever could.

What is driving him? What kind of fire lets someone like him stay whole in a place like this?

She needed to understand. Only for herself.

Elyria stepped forward, her pace steady, deliberate.

Kazuo didn't move. Then — as if sensing her presence before hearing it — he looked up.

For just a breath, she wondered if he already knew why she came.

She stopped a few steps from him.

She met his gaze. "I came to wish you luck for tomorrow." Her voice was composed.

Kazuo blinked, then gave a small nod. "Thanks, Lady Elyria."

A stillness settled between them.

She shifted her weight slightly. "Are you nervous?"

He exhaled through his nose. "A little, yeah. I'd be lying if I said otherwise."

Then he glanced at her with a half-smile. "What about you, princess?"

She hesitated. "I'm not the one in the arena."

"Doesn't mean you're not bracing for something," he said quietly.

Elyria didn't reply. Her eyes drifted toward his face again, and then lingered… just slightly too long.

Kazuo noticed. "You stare more than most," he said, his voice dry.

She blinked, then caught herself. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"It's alright."

"I'm sorry," she said, and this time, the words held weight. "It's not out of disrespect. I just… I've never seen eyes like yours."

Kazuo looked at her. "I didn't choose them. I never thought much about them, to be honest. But everyone else did. Like they were supposed to mean something."

Elyria’s brow furrowed. “We were raised to believe our eyes decide everything — who we are, where we belong, what we’re meant to become. It wasn’t just belief. It was law.”

She drew a steady breath, fingers curling at her sides. “So when I saw yours… it didn’t just unsettle me. It broke something.”

Her gaze locked on his. “Eyes that shouldn’t exist together — and suddenly, what I thought was certain… wasn’t.”

Kazuo looked at her for a moment, then lowered his gaze, the weight of it settling in. "So that's what it is," he murmured. "That's why you keep staring. Not because you're afraid. But because I make everything you believe… uncertain."

She didn't deny it.

"I don't believe in destiny," he said. "Not like you do. Because if it were true… then what am I supposed to be?"

Elyria’s lips parted, but no answer came. The silence stretched, heavy between them.

His eyes drifted toward the torches flickering along the far wall. "But recently… I've started to care a little." His fingers tightened slightly on the medallion. "But because of something I saw. In a book."

"A book?" she asked.

He looked up, eyes distant in thought. "In the royal library… there was this old tome. Whispers of Water."

"That's not a title I recognize."

Kazuo’s voice dropped, almost as if speaking it aloud might summon the thing itself. “It was old. Most of it filled with water spells, broken notes… scraps. But near the end, there was one page untouched.”

He drew in a breath. “There was a single image.”

His gaze sharpened, distant, replaying it in his mind. “A serpent. Vast. White as snow. Coiled around a ruined temple.

Elyria's voice caught gently. "A white serpent?"

"Yeah," Kazuo said. "But that's not what made me stop. It was its eyes."

He looked at her now, gaze steady. "One was pitch black. The other…yellow."

Elyria's expression changed. Her eyes widened — just slightly, but enough. "Are you sure?"

Mismatched eyes… like his? The thought rang in her mind.

Kazuo held her gaze for a long second. "It's probably nothing. Just coincidence," he said. "I mean… Tetsu told me mismatched eyes are pretty common in the animal kingdom. Nothing magical about it."

But even as he said it, there was hesitation under the words. The kind of unease you tell yourself not to feel — but do anyway.

"Still…" he murmured, almost to himself now. "It felt strange. Which is making me question things too."

For a moment, Elyria didn’t speak. Her posture remained composed, but something behind her eyes shifted — the kind of reaction someone trained their whole life not to show.

Then she gave a small nod. “It’s probably nothing.” Her tone was calm, measured. “But… thank you for telling me.”

She straightened, gathering the folds of her cloak. “I should take my leave. It was… nice speaking with you, Kazuo.”

With that, she turned and left.

But as she stepped beyond the edge of the lamplight, her thoughts wouldn't quiet.

Whispers of Water…White serpent. One black eye. One gold.

A part of her wanted to dismiss it — call it myth, coincidence, nothing more.But she couldn't.

Should I look into it myself… or tell Father first?

The thought lingered as she disappeared into the dark.

Kazuo sat alone again, the breeze tugging gently at the corners of his sleeves.

He kept staring at the space where Elyria had stood. Something about her visit bothered him, though he couldn’t place what.

He pushed the thought aside with a slow exhale, leaning his head back against the wall, eyes lifting to the dark sky above. “Tomorrow, huh…”