A Dream, A Goodbye, and A Promise

“...hime...Kirihime...”
“Hm...? Who’s that...?” Kirihime slowly recognized the voice that kept on calling her. “Is it Ryou? Aah...I can’t even open my eyes...how long have I been sleeping...?” She struggled to open her eyes but her body felt so heavy.
“Kirihime...sorry...but as I thought, I can’t stay by your side.”
His next sentence froze Kirihime.
“I’ll become human again and make a family with another human. That’s why...goodbye, Kirihime.”
“Ryou!!!!”
Kirihime quickly sat up, her heart was pounding wildly. She looked around, but there was no sign of Ryou. She glanced at the calendar and found that she had been asleep for three full days since they went home after defeating Maou.
Then Ryou’s last words flashed across her mind.
“Ryou!!” Kirihime leapt to her feet, but almost fell down since she moved too quickly. “Ryou!! Where are you?!”
Despite that, Kirihime managed to stand up and drag herself out of her bedroom. She immediately went to Ryou’s room on the first floor, but strangely, everything had been cleaned. Even Ryou’s belongings like clothes and daily necessities had gone.
“No...” Kirihime fell to her knees. “No...this isn’t possible!! Ryou!!”
Stubbornly refusing to accept the reality, Kirihime checked the mansion from the first floor until the attic. Sometimes she felt like she saw someone moved from the edge of her sight, but when she checked, no one was there. After walking around the mansion looking for Ryou to no avail, Kirihime collapsed on her bedroom once again, exhausted.
“Ryou couldn’t possibly just leave me here alone. He promised that he’ll give his life to me. Or...did he have a second thought?” Kirihime thought.
“I’ve had enough of you!”
She imagined Ryou shouting that and shuddered, because it wasn’t impossible for even the gentle and patient Ryou to snap.
“No!!” Kirihime sat up. “No matter how angry Ryou is, he would never leave without saying anything...”
Her mood immediately dropped like a rock when she remembered that dream-like words.
Suddenly Kirihime jerked to her feet.
“The antidote!! If Ryou really had become human again, he’d have taken the antidote in my study!”
Kirihime stormed outside her room and immediately went to the study.
BLAM!!!
“SURPRISE!!!”
Kirihime instinctively jumped back when she heard the shout. With face as pale as paper, Kirihime looked around the study, from Hanzoku, the banner hanging on top of the shelves that said ‘surprise’—as if the message wasn’t clear enough—and big, beautifully decorated chocolate cake, to Kushu—who was clearly satisfied with her reaction—and finally her eyes stopped on the boy she had been looking for frantically.
For a moment, no one spoke as the three men waited for Kirihime to react.
“You...” Kirihime whispered.
“You?” They tilted their head.
“YOU’RE IDIOT!!!!!”
The next second, Kirihime had moved so fast that she looked like she had teleported from the door to ontop of Ryou. Kirihime grabbed Ryou’s collar so suddenly that the two fell on the floor. Despite having knocked the boy so easily, Kirihime wasn’t satisfied enough and kept shaking Ryou violently.
“How dare you left me alone when I was asleep??!! Did you even think how panic I would be?! Not to mention that catastrophically misleading dream!! Were you planning to kill me secretly with a heart attack??!! Huh???!!!” Kirihime lashed out her anger at the powerless Ryou.
“W-W-Wait a second, would you?! I don’t even understand what are you saying!!” Ryou tried to break free, but this time Kirihime had iron grip on him.
“You don’t under—I thought you were going to leave me alone, okay?!”
Kirihime’s voice broke and the room went silent.
“Y-You were saying goodbye!! And I couldn’t find you anywhere! And your room was emptied out! And...and...” Kirihime scrambled for words.
Suddenly Ryou caressed her hair. “Sorry.” He said softly. “For leaving your side without saying anything.”
Being treated like that, Kirihime’s anger subsided and she let go of Ryou, who was clearly relieved.
“You’re not...going to leave me...?” She whispered.
Ryou shook his head. “I’ve told you, right? I’ll give half of my life to you. That’s why...”
“All of it.” Kirihime corrected him with flushing cheeks. “...I said I’ll give all of it to you.”
Ryou, who realized what she meant, quickly averted his eyes with an embarassed face.
“Um...you guys...” Kushu interrupted casually. “We’re here too, you know?”
“That’s the third time.” Kirihime glared daggers at him.
“Well, why don’t we do this over?” Hanzoku calmed them.
Both Ryou and Kirihime stood up, then Ryou, Kushu, and Hanzoku looked at Kirihime with warm eyes.
“Welcome back, Kirihime!!!” They said in unison.
Kirihime couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah...I’m back!”
Not so long after, earlier incident was forgotten and everyone enjoyed a slice of cake. Though for Kirihime’s case, some slices of cake.
“Se-Seriously?!” Kushu burst out laughing when Kirihime told them about her dream. “That’s very ridicu—”
Stab!!!
“So you now know why I reacted like that.” Kirihime continued without sparing another glance at Kushu, who had a fork stabbed on his forehead.
“Well, the part where you kept seeing someone is probably true.” Hanzoku confessed while handing out a new fork for Kirihime. “We decided to keep this a secret, so we must sneaked around to prepare everything. Everytime we almost ran into you, we must hid to avoid being found out.”
Kirihime sighed. “Just...tell me first before doing things like this, okay?”
“Then it won’t be a surprise!” Ryou argued.
“Then don’t make it a surprise!” Kirihime shot back.
As the two kept bickering, Hanzoku continued to watch them carefully. All of the sudden, Hanzoku remembered something.
“Ryou, how did you bring Kirihime-sama back at that time?” Hanzoku casually asked.
Ryou flinched, but quickly wore a straight face.
“Oh yeah, I’ve been wondering about that.” Kushu added.
“Well...at that time...” Ryou knew he couldn’t tell them about that man, so he decided to change the story a bit. “I was desperately using every magic that I know, and suddenly Aether inside me created a new soul for Kirihime. But after that I can’t use Aether anymore.”
Kushu and Hanzoku nodded, but Kirihime narrowed her eyes. Ryou started to sweat, but he kept his face straight.
“Speaking of which, why did you move your belongings, Ryou?” Kirihime remembered.
“Ah, I took everything that I need when I trained with Hanzoku. It’s a little bit of a bother to keep going back and forth, so I brought some clothes and things like that. Before you wake up today, I went to get it back.” Ryou explained.
Kirihime sighed. Then she faced Hanzoku.
“Hanzoku, I really appreciate your help, both for me and for my knight. Thank you very much.” Kirihime bowed to him.
“Don’t be, Kirihime-sama. I’m just doing my duty.” Hanzoku shook his head.
“Duty...?” Kirihime, Ryou, and Kushu repeated.
“That’s right—I promised to tell you everything when I met you. Kirihime-sama, I used to be Maou’s right-hand in demon realm, a knight who devoted his entire being solely for his king. Much like Ryou and you.” Hanzoku started.
Kirihime glanced at Ryou, remembering his father’s words to Ryou.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but Maou used to be a different person, a much kinder person.” Hanzoku continued, while the three’s eyes widened in surprise. “But as time passed, he changed. He started planning to conquer the human world. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen to me. We got into a lot of arguments. Then...he went to human world with me to protect him secretly. Maou created a noble family and named it Kojou Clan.”
Hanzoku took a sip from his cup before continuing.
“He expanded his influence everywhere until he proposed a young maiden from another noble family. Ichijou Emilia.”
Kirihime inhaled sharply as this was the first time she heard this name.
“I thought he really loved her and she could change Maou, but I was sorely mistaken. I kept watching over them until Kirihime-sama was born. Since then, Maou’s attitude completely changed. He practically locked Emilia-sama and her newborn baby inside the mansion. Even so, I didn’t take any action because I still thought Maou wouldn’t hurt his own family.”
Hanzoku’s eyes were filled with regret.
“When Kirihime-sama was three years old, Emilia-sama took her out of the mansion for the first time, in order to run away. I was ready to stop them, as Maou ordered me, but Emilia-sama shouted something like destroying all mankind. The next second, Maou pierced her heart with his bare hand.”
Kirihime staggered back and Ryou quickly supported her.
“That was the last string. I fought Maou with all I got, so that Kirihime-sama could run away just as Emilia-sama wished, but I was defeated. Maou brought Kirihime-sama back and I decided to disappear from Maou’s sight. Thus, I continued to watch over Kirihime-sama from the other side of the woods. Kirihime-sama, I deeply apologize for not being able to save your mother.”
Hanzoku bowed before Kirihime, who was at loss for words. But then she quickly collected herself.
“Raise your head, Hanzoku. It’s not your fault. It’s Maou’s fault. And I hope he properly apologize to Mother when he meet her.” Kirihime muttered the last part.
After such heavy story, the welcome-back party was dismissed and both Kushu and Hanzoku went back.
“Kirihime, why don’t you help—what are you doing?” Ryou, who was cleaning the study all by himself, looked at Kirihime.
She was sitting behind her desk as usual and was working on something, as if nothing had changed.
“Listen Ryou, don’t you think you’re a bit too naïve?” Kirihime sighed. “Even if we had stopped Maou, that doesn’t mean everyone else will stop making artificial Mazoku. Despite all what happened, I really did have interest in my own kind. So I was thinking of searching a way to restore all those artificial Mazoku who had lost their souls.”
“Kirihime...” Ryou was stunned by her resolve.
“Hey, Ryou...let me ask you again—are you really fine being an artificial Mazoku?” Kirihime looked at him with worried eyes. “I still have the antidote—you can walk away anytime you want, you know?”
Ryou left his cleaning and walked to Kirihime before reaching out his palm. “Okay, where’s the antidote?”
Kirihime searched around her desk drawers before unwillingly handed over a small tube filled with silver liquid. Still holding the antidote, Ryou opened the window and threw it as far as he could. With his enhanced hearing, Ryou certainly heard the sound of something broke outside.
“There, did that answer your question?” Ryou crossed his arm.
Kirihime was surprised, but still hid her smile. “You do know that I still have the formula for the antidote?”
“Look, the point is, I-I’m seriously in l-l-love with you, so if you kept questioning my resolve, it hurts my confidence!” Ryou stuttered.
Kirihime’s smile widened and she stood. “Then, shall we go, my knight?”
Ryou stared in surprise to a letter in Kirihime’s hand. “W-Where?”
“Another request for help. I found this in the mailbox when I went around looking for you.” Kirihime answered.
“To think the day where you’d check the mailbox would come...” Ryou teased her.
Kirihime pouted, but still offered her hand, just like the day when they first met. “Will you come with me?”
Ryou took her hand without hesitation. “Until the end of the world.”