Bonds

The next day came, and Kizou got out of bed. He let out a slight cough and thought there probably wasn’t anything too crazy going on. Suddenly, he fell to the ground and felt an overwhelming soreness over his body.

Is this all from the magic training? Kizou thought to himself. I know Tomiko said I had four affinities, but I didn’t even do much with it.

He put his hand on his bed to help him stand back up. Footsteps could be heard running towards the door.

“What was that noise?!” Grandpa yelled as he walked in to find Kizou smiling at him with a bit of a strained look. He walked over to Kizou and put his hand over his head and realized that Kizou had a fever.

“Nothing, I just fell,” Kizou said as he tried standing back up.

“No, no,” Grandpa said as he assisted Kizou back into bed. “You’re staying put and not getting back up. You have a fever.”

“But I have to do the morning tasks and train with Tomiko today,” Kizou said as he looked at Grandpa from the bed. He let out another cough.

“If you get back up, I’ll forbid you from going out in the mornings to do those tasks and train with Tomiko,” Grandpa said with a serious look on his face.

Kizou looked at Grandpa and had never seen him that serious before out of concern for him. He took a deep breath and let out an exhausted sigh.

“Okay, fine,” Kizou said as he turned over on his side.

“Don’t worry, there’s always tomorrow,” Grandpa said with a smile as he patted Kizou’s head. He walked out the door and closed it to allow Kizou to continue to get some rest.

While Kizou was on his bed, he looked up towards the ceiling and thought about the past month that he’s been in the village. He managed to become acquainted with almost everyone in the village.

Grandma automatically cared and showed him appreciation which allowed Kizou to feel comfortable and welcomed into the village. Even though Grandpa started off with a bad impression, Kizou blamed it on his encounter with Shoma. However, Grandpa now shows the same care and appreciation that Grandma does.

Dax was a hard worker, and he’s supposedly the best sword welder in all of the Kingdom. It was crazy to Kizou that he was even in a small and remote village such as Rakai. Kizou was also impressed that Dax was dealing with a dragon scale that he even mentioned is one of the rarest materials in existence.

The shopkeepers were all nice as well and always gave Kizou items for helping them throughout their duties. Kizou didn’t mind delivering all of the orders, because it allowed him to get closer with the different villagers. At this point, everyone in the village knew who Kizou was, which made him happy. There were definitely still people who didn’t like him such as the kids who bullied Kizou, but Tomiko was there to save him.

Thinking back to Tomiko, Kizou still wasn’t sure what to think of her. Actually, Kizou didn’t know what to think about Tomiko’s whole family. Tomiko’s mother, Hoshu, didn’t talk to him that much, and Kizou hasn’t actually seen her often. The only time they had a long exchange was when they first met, but Kizou barely even sees her now. Osamu might be the most shady individual of them all as Kizou could never get a read of the guy. There are moments where it looked like his mind is that of a baby, but there are moments when even Kizou got intimidated. Either way, Kizou realized they both were overbearing parents when it came to Tomiko.

On the topic of Tomiko, Kizou realized that she was a strong and powerful girl. She was definitely smart and educated, which shows a lot, since the other villager’s kids looked as if they couldn’t tell if fire was cold or hot. The biggest concern that Kizou had about her was her swordplay and magic knowledge. While it was clear to see that Tomiko was a nice person, it was also clear to see that she had the potential to be dangerous. A girl the same age as him could probably kill him in a single strike.

Clearly don’t want to get on her bad side, Kizou thought to himself as he shuddered.

However, the more that Kizou thought about Tomiko, he saw how amazing she truly was.

She was a girl who was able to do so many things, and she was even kind enough to allow Kizou to be her student. Kizou started thinking back to his first impression of her and let out a laugh.

I can’t believe I said that she would’ve been attractive if it weren’t for her attitude, he thought to himself while laughing.

Kizou stopped reminiscing about his time with this new village and started going back to the question that’s been lingering on his mind since his arrival.

Who am I? Kizou thought to himself.

The question stung hard to Kizou, because he realized that he probably had other friends and family that were deeply worried about him. He wouldn’t want them searching for him every single day and night when he could easily just tell them that everything was fine.

A tear rolled slowly down his face as he changed positions and got on his side with his face pointed towards the wall. He didn’t realize how tired he truly was until he opened his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

As the day rolled on, Kizou opened his eyes to find that it was almost sunset.

Did I really sleep for that long? Kizou thought to himself as he positioned his body up from the bed.

As he turned his body, a small rag fell down from his head. It was wet and warm which might’ve been due to being on his head for so long. He looked down and saw a head faced down on the other half of his bed that was sleeping. He took a closer look and let out a smile.

Did she really come up to check on me? Kizou said with a smile.

Tomiko was sleeping soundly on his bed. Kizou looked down at Tomiko and truly realized that she was actually very pretty up close.

“No, I don’t wanna eat anymore vegetables,” Tomiko mumbled in her sleep.

Guess she’s just a kid like me, Kizou thought to himself while he tried to cover his laugh.

“Kizou, you’re not doing it right,” Tomiko continued to mumble.

Guess I’m in her dreams too, Kizou thought to himself as he looked away from embarrassment.

“Cyrus, come back,” Tomiko mumbled as a small tear dropped down from her eyes.

Cyrus? Kizou thought to himself.

There was no one in the village by the name of Cyrus, so Kizou was curious who he was. He didn’t want to seem like a stalker, so he decided that he would keep that name to himself.

Tomiko woke up and looked at Kizou with her eyes still showing drowsiness and a bit of drool coming out of her mouth.

“Look who’s finally awake,” Kizou said as he chuckled from looking at the sight of her.

“And what are you doing awake?!” Tomiko asked angrily.

“I just woke up,” Kizou answered back angrily. “I’ve been asleep all day!”

“That doesn’t matter!” Tomiko yelled out. “I put that rag on your head to hopefully make you feel better.”

“Oh, well thank you,” Kizou said with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” Tomiko answered back. “But you should go back to sleep!”

“But I feel completely fine now!” Kizou answered.

“Oh yeah?” Tomiko asked as she leaned her face in closely.

Wait, what’s happening? Kizou nervously thought to himself as Tomiko’s face continued to get closer.

As her face continued to get in closer, Kizou started becoming frantic and even more nervous. Suddenly, he decided that he should take things like a man. He started puckering up his lips. After a few seconds, he felt a forehead touch his forehead.

“See, you’re still burning!” Tomiko exclaimed as she looked down at him. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Kizou answered quickly and nervously. He was able to avoid the possible sight of him trying to lean in for a kiss.

I’m pretty sure my head is heating up now for a different reason, Kizou thought to himself.

“Well as your teacher, I order you to be a good student and stay in bed,” Tomiko said as she stood up.

“Okay fine, Ms. Tomiko,” Kizou answered annoyingly.

“I’ll teach you a bit of sword training tomorrow,” Tomiko said to hopefully brighten up Kizou’s mood.

“Really?!” Kizou exclaimed happily.

“Yes really,” Tomiko said with a smile. 

She started walking towards the door and turned around to give him one last wave. Kizou waved back, and she walked out the door. Tomiko stood outside the door and stayed frozen.

Was he going in for a kiss? Tomiko thought to herself as her face started turning red. I haven’t even held anyone’s hand besides Mom and Dad.

“Hey Tomiko, did you manage to talk to Kizou?” Grandma asked as she walked over to Tomiko.

“Yes Grandma, I was able to,” Tomiko answered quickly. “I gotta go now!”

Tomiko ran out the cabin, and Grandma’s curiosity got the better of her as she realized that something must’ve happened. She walked in the door to find Kizou sitting on his bed frozen as well.

Did I really just go in for a kiss? Kizou thought to himself as his face was already red. We’re just friends! Friends!

“Oh lookie here, did I manage to miss something?” Grandma asked with a chuckle.

“Nothing Grandma, I’m going back to sleep!” Kizou answered as he faced towards the wall again and put the blanket over him. Grandma couldn’t help but laugh as she walked out the door.

Kizou tried to forget about the events that just passed as he pointed his focus towards sword training tomorrow. However, Kizou wasn’t aware that the sword training he would receive would be his last training.