Chapter 6 — Rest

When Akito turned around, he saw Agasa wearing a light blue dress. The sight instantly surprised Akito, and he became flustered by Agasa's beauty.

"Ehm—eh? Agasa?"

Agasa then asked him how she looked.

Without thinking, Akito quickly complimented Agasa. Agasa's expression remained flat as she simply thanked him.

Meanwhile, Akito kept trying to focus. He then took the initiative to invite Agasa to the riverside they had visited yesterday.

Agasa quickly agreed to Akito's invitation, and the two of them began walking together toward the riverside they had visited the day before.

During the journey, they did not talk at all. However, from time to time, Akito glanced at Agasa's face, only to quickly look away whenever Agasa turned toward him.

Eventually, they arrived at the riverside.

The two of them sat there together in the afternoon, accompanied by butterflies and dragonflies flying around them. The sound of the flowing water created a peaceful atmosphere that calmed them both.

Akito began the conversation by talking about the future of this land, which had already been destroyed by the White Cloak Organization—from the members of the Kingdom being killed one by one, all the way to the death of the King.

At first, Agasa remained silent and simply listened.

However, Agasa eventually asked Akito,

"Then what will you do, Akito?"

Akito was immediately stunned.

He thought for a moment before answering.

"I'll try to take this land back, even though... I can't do anything right now."

Agasa then spoke again, saying that this land was already far too damaged to be repaired and that the chances of defeating Jugdrist were extremely small.

Agasa continued trying to make Akito's determination disappear.

But Akito spoke once more.

"In this world, above everything else, there must always be something greater. That includes strength."

Agasa was slightly surprised by those words, although she barely showed it.

Deep inside, Agasa thought that she should not stop Akito from attempting to kill her own master, Jugdrist.

She was also slightly curious about what first step Akito would take.

Suddenly, Akito called out to Agasa.

"Agasa... would you be my training partner? From now on, I want to practice fighting together with someone. But if you don't want to, that's okay, hehe..."

Hearing that, Agasa was once again surprised, and this time her expression changed slightly.

She then agreed to Akito's request to become his training partner.

After that, Akito stood up.

He wanted to prove that he could defeat Jugdrist, right in front of Agasa.

Once again, Agasa was surprised, although this time it was not visible on her expression at all.

Agasa also stood up.

"Want to try fighting, Akito?"

Her voice and expression remained cold.

Akito was surprised.

"Are you sure, Agasa? Ehehe..."

Akito thought Agasa was only joking.

But Agasa answered,

"No."

Akito was shocked by her answer.

However, he had no choice but to try fighting her.

He added that if Agasa became tired or felt any pain, she should tell him and stop the fight.

Agasa remained silent as she listened.

Deep inside, she was slightly curious about how far Akito's abilities had developed for now.

However, she would not take this fight seriously because Agasa had also begun to consider Akito someone rather important to her.

On the other side, Akito saw Agasa standing silently in front of him.

He then spoke again.

"Come on, Agasa. Attack me first."

Without hesitation, Agasa began to move.

However, she was not moving as quickly as she normally would during her usual battles.

This time, she simply ran forward and threw a punch toward Akito.

Thanks to the fighting experience Akito had gained during his time at magic school, he managed to block Agasa's punches several times.

Little by little, Agasa increased the variety of her attacks.

Even so, Akito was still able to avoid them.

In fact, Akito managed to land several punches on Agasa.

Because of that, the fight became somewhat even.

Suddenly, Agasa maneuvered and swung her leg toward Akito.

But her foot stopped directly in front of Akito's face.

Akito was instantly shocked by Agasa's fighting ability.

By this point, Akito had already begun to grow tired and tried to regulate his breathing.

Agasa, however, showed no expression or gesture of fatigue whatsoever.

Akito realized that none of the punches he had thrown had managed to truly touch Agasa.

As he thought about this, Agasa attacked again.

But this time, Akito had carefully calculated his movements.

Everything had already been planned in his mind.

He dodged Agasa's attack and launched a Fire Ball.

The attack hit Agasa directly.

When Akito saw the resulting explosion, he immediately felt that he had gone too far.

"Agasa! Are you okay!?"

From within the smoke, Agasa emerged.

She had suffered several minor injuries from the effects of Akito's Fire Ball, including a tear on the left shoulder of her dress that exposed a small part of her body.

Akito immediately turned his gaze away.

"We should just stop the fight."

Agasa agreed, and the battle came to an end.

The light of the setting sun became a witness to their battle.

Akito looked at Agasa, who had suffered several minor injuries.

However, what made it difficult for Akito to focus was the part of Agasa's body that was slightly exposed.

Suddenly, Agasa spoke.

"Your strength is strong, Akito."

But deep inside, Agasa knew that it was still not enough for him to defeat Jugdrist.

Hearing the compliment made Akito slightly embarrassed.

"You're strong too, Agasa! I didn't expect you to be this strong. And I was just lucky with that last attack..."

Agasa shook her head.

"No, no. I lost. Hmph."

She tried to make an annoyed expression based on something she had read in a book from the library.

However, that expression was instead considered cute by Akito.

Akito immediately burst into laughter.

Agasa was confused.

She wondered why Akito suddenly laughed when there was nothing funny.

But then Agasa remembered something she had learned: people did not laugh only because something was funny. Sometimes, people laughed because they were happy or pleased.

Because of that, Agasa felt slightly happy deep inside.

Yet none of that happiness appeared on her expression.

Seeing Agasa's usual expression, Akito immediately stopped laughing.

"Sorry for suddenly laughing."

Akito then added,

"Agasa, we'd better go home now so your wounds can be treated."

The sun had already disappeared, and night had arrived.

The two of them stood up, said goodbye to each other, and went in opposite directions.

When Akito returned home, he could not stop thinking about Agasa.

Meanwhile, after Agasa returned to the White Cloak Organization's headquarters, her wounds could be seen slowly healing.

The reason Agasa had not healed her wounds earlier was because she had been trying her best not to reveal her abilities in front of Akito.

She felt that Akito would easily suffer serious injuries if she released her full strength.

She also did not want to stay in the Kingdom with Jugdrist because she felt more comfortable in this place.

Inside her room, Agasa opened a book titled Emotions.

Around her were also many books about understanding human emotions, as well as a book titled How to Make Friends, which she had borrowed before.

It turned out that everything that had happened earlier had gone exactly according to her calculations.

Every action she had taken had been based on the books Agasa had read.