The Third Commander

December 31st

Eleven o'clock at night

Beneath an atmosphere of joy and delight, amid the chaos of that celebration, Yol sat muttering.

"I don't understand at all what that girl is trying to do. I can't keep up with her."

"You're quite right. I may be troublesome at times, but that's no reason to avoid me."

Hearing those words, Yol calmed a little. "No... I feel sorry for that person."

Stella burst into tears the instant she heard those words, and began weeping loudly, grumbling about everything that came to mind, until she stopped all at once. That stirred Yol's worry for her, and he said, "Are you all right?"

She lifted her head and looked at him with a pale face and dead eyes. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine."

"However I look at it, you're not."

Then she stood, took up her staff and made to leave. "I'll go and carry on searching for him."

Yol answered her as he watched her unsteady steps while she made for the restaurant door. "Yes... take good care of yourself."

Will she really be all right?

The instant Stella left the place, a man of the Jinn entered, dressed in something close to trousers, with a formal shirt and a decorated sash around the collar tied in the traditional way of the middle ages. Yol carried on his muttering in a quiet voice, as though talking to himself. "But what really happened to that girl? How annoying."

And in a spontaneous way, his gaze met the man standing near him. Yol returned the greeting with the same degree of respect, and a warmer smile.

At one of the corners of the restaurant sat Aishin, wearing his usual formal suit with his long leather boots. In front of him was nothing but an empty cup, a large blue-and-white one adorned with a fine pattern. Beside him stood Kamelia.

"Just as I expected, I had a feeling there was something strange about fine food like this being served in a place like this," Kamelia said.

Aishin answered her as he turned a page of the book in his hand. "You can tell the moment you see this number of customers."

"You and he both have such severe social failure. But no matter. You've no customers anyway, nor any money."

Before she could reply to his words, the sounds of whispering began to rise throughout the whole restaurant.

"Look, isn't that the Third Commander of the Jinn army, Akihiro?"

"Yes, I heard he managed to block the First King's attack with a single wing."

"And the one beside him, isn't that the Third Commander of the King's army, Haizaki?"

"That mad boy who stormed Fari castle on his own. But I heard he left the army recently."

And the rumours began to increase little by little.

"Waiting for customers isn't one of my strong points," Aishin said. Then he stood on one of the tables and said at the top of his voice, "Gentlemen, are you enjoying your meal tonight?"

Everyone turned their attention to him, which left the whole restaurant in a state of quiet. Then he carried on. "After ten years of torment, you must all have been suffering the whole time."

Yol laughed a little, and beside him Akihiro, who was watching with a faint smile, said, "The old man's a little excited."

"Isn't he."

Then Aishin got down from the table and headed towards both Yol and Akihiro, still talking. "But before this night ends, we'd like to offer you one last show."

He took hold of both Yol and Akihiro spontaneously by the hand and dragged them hard towards the middle of the restaurant. "We present to you the Third Commander of the Jinn army, the First Shield and the Iron Wall, Akihiro, and the Third Commander of the King's army, Haizaki, putting their pride and their honour on the line."

Before Yol, or even Akihiro, could realise what was happening, the place erupted with strong cheers that nearly shattered the glass of the place. Aishin lightly took Kamelia's hat and began going around the spectators to collect money from them.

Yol and Akihiro looked at each other with greater hesitation, until Yol sighed and said, "What's going on here? Am I famous to this degree?"

Akihiro was paying attention to the voices of the people around him as they said, "Finish him, Commander. Show him the terror of the Third Division of the Jinn army."

"I always knew you were our pride, Commander. Break the nose of that wall they brag about."

"Even if he isn't the First Commander, crush that arrogant boy, sir."

"Don't be afraid of his height. Just pin him by the neck and mop the floor with him."

Akihiro laughed at the fact that not one of them held a logical reason for this fight, and couldn't stop himself from laughing along with them.

"What exactly are you doing?"

The cheers of the Jinn rose, while the humans lifted Yol from the ground so he stood on his feet, and pushed him towards his opponent. Then Akihiro said, "It seems your flight from the Jinn army was real. Were you that afraid?"

"A poor way to try to provoke me. In fact, I hate this kind of thing."

Before Yol could finish his words, Akihiro began talking. "I don't blame you for it. It's natural for some to withdraw if their commander is a cowardly loser full of pride."

Hearing those words, Yol realised at once that the one meant here was Hiroshi. "What are you talking about? What talk, coming from a man whose ability is nothing but a shield."

And as happens in single duels, each of them began walking in a closed circle.

"I don't know anything, really. I don't need to know anything about a stupid person like this Hiroshi. Chasing a better future, hmm. Can you believe a sane person spouts talk like this?"

Yol advanced quickly and punched him in the middle of his face. "What's the problem with someone having a dream they want to achieve?"

He pulled him hard and threw him to the ground. Akihiro then stood and wiped the blood from his nose. So Yol advanced to punch him again, a second time and a third, then with a back kick to his stomach threw him onto one of the tables. He made no movement, which drew Yol closer. The glass shattered into small pieces, leaving a sharp shard in Akihiro's hand.

The left side of Yol's vision began turning a dark red, and he realised his head was already bleeding. Without giving him room to think, Akihiro pounced on him with the broken glass in his hand and kicked his legs out vertically from under him. "You resemble him a lot. Believing that the right thing is to try to think about the possibility of being in the wrong."

Akihiro aimed the glass at his face and drove it in, only to realise then that he had struck the palm Yol had put up to shield his face. He carried on his talk as he drove the glass in further and further. "That's why you'll never be able to protect anything."

Yol seized the glass with his palm, followed by a kick to Akihiro's stomach that pushed him back. And while Akihiro held his nose and advanced towards him, he said, "You'll never understand that sincere desire to make this world a better place. And also. If only I could understand it...!"

Yol raised a chair and smashed it over Akihiro's head, then grabbed him by the collar again and said as he looked into his eyes, "What are you trying to do with all this?"

Akihiro laughed in his face and said, "For the fun of it. It's very simple. We only seek to enjoy this life to its very last moment."

Then Akihiro said at the top of his voice, "Isn't that right, men?"

And everyone in the restaurant answered him, and each of them began punching and hitting whoever was beside him, without distinction, human or Jinn. Every one of them was striking the person in front of him.

"This is how it is with us. You, do you have any idea what your commander Hiroshi did to reach this agreement?"

From the staff entrance came a middle-aged man with bulging muscles. Before he could utter a word, he grabbed hold of people who were in front of him and threw them out of the restaurant window. One of the Jinn tried to attack him and struck him, so he seized him by the neck and hurled him hard towards the main entrance. The man headed towards the two of them, but the head chef stopped him and said, "I'll handle these two customers."

At hearing what the chef said, Akihiro carried on his words a little. "Just as I expected, he didn't tell anyone about tomorrow, did he?"

"What do you mean? What did Hiroshi do?"

"Heh. That person is nothing but scum who chose to give up his pride and his creed in exchange for stopping this war."

Yol clenched his fist hard and swung it to hit him again. But a hand seized him from behind. Then a voice spoke to them. "That's enough of what's happened for today."

The instant he heard that voice, Yol turned around in complete calm as he said, "This voice..."

The instant he saw his face, even Akihiro was in a brief state of shock. Then he carried on, saying, "You're Itsuki, aren't you?"