“Dear lord… It feels like I haven’t seen you in years and now you’ve grown up.” Arata said as he leaned to the wall of the other building in the alley. His small plate of snacks that he had not eaten, was put on the stairs, in the small space beside Darrion, with additional snacks that were meant for the three of them—courtesy of Haku.“If you think that dealing over the guilt of not being able to get someone his justice because the person had tried to save me is a part of growing up, then yes. I’ve grown up.” Jai said as he leaned to the parlor’s wall, right in front of Arata. Shoru occupied the top of his head. He brought her with him because he didn’t want her to disturb Grandma Hanabi and Haku.Arata winced. “Yikes. You’re gloomier than I thought.”Jai only shrugged. “So what brings you here tonight? Sorry for not being present at the post office today. Darrion and I were… Recuperating.”Shoru whined and moved a bit on top of his head. Darrion had deactivated her wind barrier for
Grandma Hanabi entered the kitchen again after she gave Haku the new batch of food. She heard sounds from the back room and decided to have a peek. She lowered the heat of the stove and tip-toed to the back room’s doorway. She saw Jai and Darrion sitting around the table and enjoying the snacks and the grated ice that Haku had re-frozen. But the other guy, the windlet with messy spiky hair but charming smile, was nowhere to be seen.“Ara, where’s your friend?” Grandma Hanabi approached them.“Oh, he left.” Darrion said.Grandma Hanabi looked disappointed. She pouted slightly with both of her hands on her hips. “He didn’t even finish the snacks. How rude.”“Ah, he wants me to relay his apology and promise to come next time.” Jai immediately said.Grandma Hanabi huffed. “He better be. And I’ll make sure to fall in love with our food!” The old lady clapped her hands with confident smile.Her reactions sent smiles on Jai and Darrion’s faces.“What will you two have? Donkatsu? Or eggs?” As
A while ago, in another place.The sound of a rather heavy flap echoed in the garden of the royal palace. The garden was faintly lit in the night since it was mostly lit by the moonlight. Also because Her Majesty, the queen, didn’t plan on spending her evening in this park. If the queen wanted to spend time here, some more lights would be added. But as usual, it was kept by the park lamps, which are small structures resembling the top floor of a pagoda with a single light ball under each of its roof, to help the patrolling guards to navigate the area better.Like this soldier who was wearing full plate armor made of iron. He walked in the paved hallway of the garden. The soldier took a turn to the right, where there’s this small little forest. There were some trees and plants, also some flowers. There were only several lamps in this little forest, mostly in the pathway, but they are far from each other. The late King didn’t want it to be very well lit since he wanted it to feel like a
The fact that the ‘pawn’ of the stabbing died unexpectedly (surely he’s killed, there’s no other way around it), had crushed Jai’s hope in obtaining a lead. He was the targeted person, not Claude, and he had thought to get to the bottom of this when the case was brought up after he came back to Shouha.Working on this case is not only to satiate his curiosity, but also the justice for Claude since he took the strike in Jai’s place. Even though it wasn’t a very complex poison and still treatable, the kind hunter almost loses his life, which made it a bit hard for Jai to let the case go just like that. But he knew he had to tell Claude, he was just not ready to share the bad news since he thought that he needed to give another solution to deal with the situation.Darrion had told him to tell Claude however it is, just come clean, but Jai didn’t listen to him the first time.“But it’s the truth. What else can we do? It’s not our fault the man got killed.” Darrion replied.“No, it’s not o
When they went to the hospital, Doctor Inoha and Doctor Nekoba were already there in front of Claude’s door. They seemed to be discussing something on a chart Doctor Inoha was holding.“I think that Doctor Sadame, we can give him 45mg of Haruki extract that is exposed to night air for a month. That will press the X factor to a minimum, but since Haruki extract is mild, like water would, it’s better to put it last… Don’t you think so?” Doctor Inoha asked.Doctor Nekoba nodded her head. “Yes… And probably, to gather the rest of the toxins which I think has been reduced significantly from the last medication, how about Grilled Black Snake pill, twice a day for day and night consumption?”“But he’s not suffering any diarrhea and it’s too thick for his current condition. I don’t think it’s necessary even if there’s no side effect.” Doctor Inoha noted.Doctor Nekoba smiled. “It’s not necessarily only for diarrhea, but for toxins in the stomach too. But maybe you’re right, it is too thick. I
Doctor Nekoba entered Claude’s room an hour after his visitors had left. Since Doctor Inoha was preparing the prescription for his next treatment phase, Doctor Nekoba would be monitoring him. It was after meal after all, the doctor needed to get his condition.‘He should be sleeping now, just like usual.’ The doctor thought as she made her way to the room. The secret royal guard didn’t really like her presence. She was too talkative for him, even regarding her as similar to ‘a nagging auntie’ and even calling her that once.But Sadame Nekoba isn’t someone who would feel insulted of such nicknames. Instead, she used it to her advantage and kept ‘nagging’ on the certain patient. She didn’t bother him with words a real nagging auntie Besides, he never asked her to leave, which further concludes that he didn’t actually hate her presence either. So she enjoyed her time there, sharing about her research, even though the royal guard might not understand her at all. At least, it helps him sle
The Chief of Southeast Windlet Post Office sat quietly in his seat as he read the post office’s log for the past week. His lips crept into a small smile when he saw the content.“He is really meticulous. Guiding Jai to help with the case is a risky but excellent idea. It brings the windlet agency fortune, fame, and more annoying people asking for collaboration.” Baji sighed as he put the report down. “An even smaller hole for the wind to go for now. How do I solve this newest problem now…? And Jai’s stabbing incident had not been finished yet.”The man sighed again. He leaned his back on the seat and starred at the piles of unopened scrolls on his desk. “So many information…” He whispered to himself. He sighed again and let the wind blows. A reply came back almost immediately, telling him that the two temporary windlets were downstairs.‘They finally come to work today. That news shocked him. He must’ve wanted to hear from the perpetrator’s own mouth. How should I approach him today?’
Jai lowered the confession document.“Have you finished reading it?” Gilbert asked, sipping on his own tea.Jai nodded slowly. The look on his face was unreadable, but the two older men in the room knew exactly that he was slowly coming to the conclusion.Baji put his teacup on the desk and looked at Jai. “So… Do you want to keep on with the case?”Jai stared back at him. Then he glanced at the document in his hand, recalling what he had read.The content wasn’t something saddening nor devastating. It was just… Somehow expected.The dead man was just doing what he was paid to do. Someone strange in black robe paid him to stab Jai with the knife. He was helpless and couldn’t think of other way to survive, so he accepted to do it. Besides, the person promised to help him get out of prison if he, somehow, end up being there. So he had less concerns and more confidence in carrying out the evil request.The person told him that Jai would be around in the café that day, so he went there and