4.6 Once Upon A Time [VOL 1 END]

[In memory of her.]

Once upon a time lived a group of heroes who overcame great obstacles to defeat evil. Were they warriors on a mission to kill the demon king? Janitors whose coin went to feeding their children? Disillusioned folks fighting against self-destruction? Did it matter?

Once upon a time lived a group of warriors on a mission to kill the demon king, and they succeeded. So calamitous was the monster's power that its corpse froze a sizeable portion of the continent, thus taking away the color of the land around it, and giving it to the stars.

It was said that two things happened that day: the last tyrant fell, and magic finally slipped through the fingers of those at the top. What could life have been like centuries ago, where most people could only dream of witnessing the fantastic? Indeed, magic now belonged to everyone, and everyone belonged to themselves; such were the consequences of suffering.

Perhaps the world could only move forward through suffering. Why create, or think, or live otherwise?

Such was the tale of many, who spoke the names of few. Most people's names would die along with them, but not their actions. No matter what they did—no matter what anyone did, ever—every event in the world fundamentally altered it. Because of this, to try to go back was impossible. To regret was futile.

Yet...

"We've arrived," said the driver. "No need to pay me extra. I had fun."

"Are you sure?" Asked Akiha, who hoped he was.

"Yeah. Good luck with your, uh... with everything."

He would need it. "Thank you. I wish you luck with your endeavors as well."

At the station, people left. People arrived. Problems. Memories. Tales immortalized in the canvas that was time. Akiha, Cérise, Snail, Mish, Two-Rabbit and Pluie headed not towards another carriage, but the steam train. No one complained this time.

They'd slept until the sun's scorching caress had woken them up. Thankfully, the worst to happen was Akiha getting second-degree burns, which hurt a shit ton, obviously, but Pluie's first aid kit had treated the worst of it. Still, he'd be looking like a blushing mess for at least a couple of days, even with the kit's accelerated healing. Pluie himself had gotten quite red, since he had the palest skin tone next to Akiha. The fact he knew exactly how to treat burns spoke by itself.

"Falafel," said Two-Rabbit, and they heeded his petition on the way to the station.

Mish was light on her antics, for a change.

Pluie's newness kept him subdued.

Cérise didn't wander off, thankfully. He just trailed behind.

Snail, on her part, stuck close to Mish and Two-Rabbit, avoiding contact with her legal guardian at all costs. This also kept her subdued.

The magic anomaly would be investigated today; so they'd heard as they'd crossed the gate into the city. Regretfully, Akiha heard nothing about Kaz's ultimate fate.

Soon, the researchers at the oasis would find Lazslo's demonic traces in the magic field rupture. Best to leave before that.

The buildings, the walls, and the sand all shared the same shades, yet the city was anything but monotone. Why? Because of its people. In Akiha's hometown, nearly everyone looked the same—white hair, pastel eyes, slitted pupils, sharp canines. While Shiou natives all had pointy, elongated ears, his were the longest at the college by far. With how close his town was to the demon's corpse, long eroded into a skeleton... well, it wasn't too hard to reach certain conclusions.

During this time of the day, most people were either working or heading for lunch; few boarded the inter-city train. It made sense for it to run underground, since, well, sand dunes were probably not the most stable. The walls of the tunnel shared colors with the lapis lazuli tower where everyone (but Pluie) had met. Why? Should he ask? No. "Is this lapis lazuli, too?" Akiha inquired as they headed towards their seats.

"Probably," Mish replied.

"No," said Two-Rabbit.

"I said probably."

"It's lapis lazulite, so it's close. I don't want to talk about it."

Because they had both vertically and horizontally challenged individuals (Snail and Two-Rabbit, respectively) their seats lay at the very back: the Special Zone. Akiha had also paid extra. There were books on almost every desk as another government program to promote reading in younglings, which was far less asinine than punishing those who wore blue at the wrong place and time. Akiha paged through some of them, but even with the language grimoire, the... alphabet? Was so alien that it took almost a minute to read each sentence..

Two-Rabbit and Snail sat on the Special Zone. The rest weren't special enough. They sat nearby, however. Aside from them, the train had, what? Ten people at most? Only one of them read.

Akiha knew he should be...

...planning ahead.

...handing out letters.

...studying.

All he did was sit. His head hurt. His face hurt. His back did, too, due to the way he'd slept. Excuses, all of them.

"Hey, Ploo," Mish began, "Do you have any family in Kroprom?"

That was their next destination. After this, ever-so-slightly, the desert would begin to turn green. There were a few city-states left, but they would not be stopping in most of... maybe... "No," Pluie replied. "You're asking because of the blacksmith thing, right? It's a stereotype. Not all Raabi are blacksmith. It's like saying all beastmen like to be naked."

"Racist," said Two-Rabbit. He'd just sort of walked back to stand next to their table.

"Exactly."

Oh, for fuck's sake. Couldn't they have chosen any other topic? Yet Akiha enabled this. He couldn't resist. "What is Raabi?"

Mish pointed at Pluie.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be more clear."

"See the stuff on his hair? People from his tribe wear that kind of stuff. That's how you tell them apart."

The 'stuff' on Pluie's hair were a couple of feathers the size of a thumb, attached to the string tying his brown hair. Some beads—purple, cerulean, bright orange—decorated a few strands, so perhaps Mish referred to that, too... in which case, was Cérise also part of the tribe? Because he also had those, just in various shades of green. Also, both of them had a pair of golden earrings on their left ear. Since no one else seemed to notice, Akiha said nothing on the matter. Best not to commit any faux pas again. Leave it to Mish to be racially insensitive in everyone's behalf. "That's... nice," Akiha replied, which sounded racially insensitive for some reason. He cleared his throat. "Is your tribe from any city-state in particular?"

Pluie shook his head, self-consciously toying with the beads. "Not really. They're, um, we're from a group of border towns in the west. The international train passes just south of them, but I think we'll see some of them from afar. I think."

"Oh, right." Mish sighed. "They didn't let train tracks through their territory. I don't get it. You guys would make so much more money from tourism and stuff."

"Maybe. I don't know. I was born in Morr."

All this while, Cérise had been facing away from them, pretending to sleep, but now he glanced at them from the corners of his eyes. He caught Akiha staring, and while he didn't give a shit, Akiha did, so he pretended to adjust the sleeves of his shirt again.

Mish stretched, hitting Akiha's shoulder, though if she noticed or cared would forever stay a mystery. "That's too bad. Well... Kroprom still has a lot of good stuff in it, and we're rich now, so. What're you guys gonna purchase? Cuz I want new daggers. Diamond daggers. So sharp they'll cut air!"

"Air can't be cut," said Two-Rabbit. "And diamond is hard, but brittle."

"It's a matter of speech. Fine, mythril will do."

"MYTHril is a myth."

"Lapis lazuli? That one's good for magicians, right?"

"No." But then Two-Rabbit added: "Maybe the hilt."

Cérise nodded... to himself? While the others discussed the logistics of decorative stones on weaponry, Akiha poked his shoulder and, ignoring the scowl, asked, "Something wrong?"

If this had been Haku, he would've replied, 'Yes. You talking to me.' "No," Cérise said.

"This is your area of expertise, isn't it?"

"No."

"No?"

Mish, Pluie, and Two-Rabbit's conversation had moved on to gemstone-related casualties.

Cérise added, after a moment, "Maybe it used to be."

It was already hard to hear him with how softly he spoke and how deep his voice was, so when he mumbled that, Akiha had to keep himself from leaning closer, or asking him to repeat. "Did something happen for you to stop... never mind, that might be invasive."

"It is."

"Sorry." Akiha tried. He really did. Truly. "And if I tell you something invasive about me in return?"

Cérise's face said it all: and I'd care because...? "Go ahead," he said. Never mind. Then what did raising his eyebrows mean?

"Oh. I, uh. What would you like to know?"

"You choose."

Never never mind, he was being sardonic. Why didn't he mock anyone else? Anyone else? Was it better or worse that he didn't smile? "...I don't... I... like men?"

Worse. Way worse.

"Your turn. Fuck you."

Mish said, "Wait, I'm confused. Do you like men or you don't?"

Everyone stared at Akiha. And what's more—they didn't care. To them, the conversation might've as well have involved them from the start. Akiha glanced at Cérise, only to find he'd turned away from him, and back to the passing view. Coward.

When he took an embarrassingly long time to respond, Two-Rabbit came to his aid, or his doom. "No."

What did that MEAN?

"Oh." Mish patted Akiha's shoulder. "That's too bad. I hope you get the help you need soon."

"...thanks."

"If helps, I don't like men that much, either. No offense. There's nothing wrong with them or anything, but out of all of you guys, only Cérise bathed and it shows."

Yeah, no. That was it. Akiha tumbled onto the table.

"You killed him," said Two-Rabbit. "That was a joke. Just trying to lighten the mood. Now, what is not a joke is pneumonia. Don't bathe while out in the open at night."

Pluie's turn: "That's why I didn't... that's why..."

Back to Mish. "It's no biggie. I was just pointing out that Akiha has a reason for his androgyny." Silence. "I meant androphobia." More silence. "Let's just keep talking about what we're gonna buy."

"Portable baths," suggested Two-Rabbit.

Pluie burst out giggling, then tried to cover it, but that only made it worse. "S-sorry, I... I thought... joke..."

"It was a joke."

Impossible to tell when Two-Rabbit always seemed to have the exact same tone. Was that racist? Before showing up to this place, Akiha had never seen beastkin. Or sand. Or the sun. Or more than ten colors at once. Or... point was, he didn't know—anything. His life was a village next to the corpse of a giant, then college, then this. All the books in the world couldn't have prepared him for the world outside his snow globe.

Still, it could've gone worse. These were all people who'd joined his cause despite having nothing to gain. They couldn't be that bad, and they weren't. They weren't.

"After Kroprom, could we go to Khan?" Asked Mish. "They're right next to each other. It'll be quick."

They weren't 'heroes' in the sense that they'd never slay a demon king.

"No," said Two-Rabbit.

Those days were long gone.

"Aw, why n—hey, you're not the leader. Akiha is the leader. And he's androphobic, so I'm sure he'll agree."

"I'm not androgy—phobic," Akiha mumbled with his face still on the table. "Sure, Mish. Sure."

"WOO!"

In an age where any fool could pick a spell book, tame man-eating beasts, or hunt a dark lord, to be a hero was as simple as heeding a stranger's cry for help. Their names would not be in history books, but their actions would be a part of the world forever. Besides, if it hadn't even taken a week for them to take down a criminal organization, how bad could they be?

Without sitting up, Akiha asked, "To everyone present: can a janitor slay a demon king?"

"Yes," said Two-Rabbit.

That was fast. And what's more, Akiha expected him to say no. "Why do you think so?"

"Determinism is outdated."

"Agreed," agreed Pluie.

"Deter..." Mish trailed off. "I think what he means to say is that anyone can kill a dark lord if they believe in themselv—oh, sweetie! Hi!"

Snail. Had she finally decided to join? For obvious reasons, perhaps, she'd barely said anything today, and everyone had just sort of agreed to give her space. "Hi," she replied. "Hi, everyone, I just wanted to say that I think a janitor can slay a demon king, but I also think a demon king can be a janitor, or that a janitor and demon king can be friends. That's it. Bye."

"Wait!" Mish stood up. "Sweetie, just know that we're here for you, all right?"

"Hm. Sure."

Mish's ears flattened, and she glanced at Two-Rabbit for some reason. However, he said nothing.

"Sorry." Snail gripped her hands together. "I'm just... sleepy. Thank you."

"You can take a nap in the Special Zone," Pluie said.

"Yeah. Good idea. I'll do that."

Cérise, too, gripped his hands together, though he did so under the table. No one else noticed. Maybe no one else cared. Most probably, no one else thought they could do so.