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Keiko

A Week Later

"Stay calm!" Kaori shouted at her. 

That\'s a lot easier said than done.  Keiko thought as she dodged out of the way of a claw that was aimed at her neck. The Zayama spun in place and slashed, feeling nothing but air.  Wow, these things are fast. She heard her opponent snarling some meters away and put her sword between them, trying to calm her nerves. 

Keiko was currently fighting her first demon.

Kaori had been sent a letter explaining that a few demons had been spotted nearby, which meant that she needed to go clear them out. Keiko\'s teacher, however, figured this would be a good opportunity for Keiko to test her skills against the Savior\'s main enemies. 

So far, Keiko understood why these creatures were so feared, why humanity had yet to win their war against them. It proved this point when Keiko heard its feet leave the ground, meaning it had leaped up. Keiko rolled to her right, but she stumbled in the process. She nearly fell, but she managed to balance herself and heard the demon fall back down where she had just been. 

Predicting that it was in a crouched position of some sort thanks to its little stunt, Keiko performed a downward slash and caught its body somewhere, earning a squeal. But, instead of retreating after being wounded like most regular creatures would, the demon seemed invigorated by the pain, swiping towards her. Keiko stepped back and felt a gust of wind on her forehead, meaning she had just dodged an attack that could have killed her. 

Again, predicting its position, Keiko stepped forwards and stabbed. Her sword slashed through her opponent\'s flesh, and Keiko quickly kicked it away and walked back, getting into a fighting position again. 

However, the fight was done at this point. 

"WOO! You did it!" Kaori cheered from the side and Keiko took a few deep breaths, nodding. 

"I guess," Keiko muttered as she reverted her weapon. 

"I\'m honestly pretty surprised," Kaori said, her voice growing slightly louder which meant she was getting closer. "Back when I first fought these things, I was scared out of my mind." 

"I didn\'t say I wasn\'t scared," Keiko replied. 

"Could have fooled me, you handled yourself like a pro," Kaori said, and Keiko could hear the smile in her proud tone. "Just remember, for next time, understand that a demon won\'t stop trying to kill you, no matter how wounded it is. They don\'t run, they just attack. It\'s what they\'re designed to do." 

"Right," Keiko nodded. 

"Okay then," Kaori clapped her hands, "I think that\'s good enough for now."

"What? I only fought one."

"It\'s dangerous to fight demons for too long. Remember, I have a Fire affinity. I literally can\'t heal you if you get hurt out here. So, one demon a day seems alright to me. So, let\'s go back." 

"But..." Keiko hesitated. "I... Shouldn\'t we be trying to get as much done as possible?" What Kaori was saying went against everything she\'d been taught. 

"At the risk of dying?" Kaori chuckled. "Keiko, It\'s not being \'lazy\' to want to avoid getting hurt. Plus, we have all the time in the world to get you where you need to be. Calm down a bit."

---

Because of that, Keiko was right back where she usually was these days. Waiting for the day to pass while Kaori would occasionally speak to her. She heard her teacher put a cup down on the table in front of her and the smell of tea reached her nostrils. Keiko mumbled a "thanks" and she heard her teacher sit next to her. 

However, almost as soon as she did, someone knocked on the front door. 

"I\'ll get it," Kaori said, needlessly, since Keiko didn\'t plan to get up anyway. It wasn\'t her house after all. 

Her teacher took a few steps away from her and then gasped loudly. 

"Hm?" Keiko hummed when she heard Kaori exclaim like that. Then, she greeted someone. 

"KASUMI!" Kaori said loudly and another voice joined hers, laughing. 

"Hahaha, hello," this new woman replied. 

Uhm... Who is this supposed to be?  Keiko asked herself. 

---

Kaori

Seeing her old friend in front of her brought more joy to Kaori than she would have expected.

However, seeing her daughter come out from behind her and tackle Kaori with a hug was even better. 

"Nozomi! Oh my gosh, you\'re so much taller!" 

Kaori wasn\'t kidding. The last time she\'d seen this girl, a year ago, she had stood at around 60 centimeters tall, now she was closer to 90. The little girl really did look like a younger reflection of her mother, with dark cinnamon skin and crimson-colored short hair. Kasumi watched them hug it out with a smile on her face. 

Once they separated, Kaori did the same with the older woman, embracing Kasumi. By the time they were done, Kaori\'s cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling. 

"Come in, come in!" She said, excited and she stepped aside. 

"Thank you, come on, Nozo," Kasumi held her daughter\'s hand as the two went in.

Seeing her brought a flood of memories back to Kaori\'s mind and the blonde suddenly felt like she was right back at pearl, two years ago, when she and the others had gone to help out with some demon-related issues. Of course, this also reminded her of when her wife was still alive, but Kaori did her best to push those thoughts away for a bit. 

The older Savior walked in and her eyes fell on the blindfolded girl sitting at the kitchen table. 

Kaori walked over and gestured at her. 

"This is Keiko," she said, and the Zayama pushed her chair back and stood up. "Keiko, this is Kasumi. An old friend of mine, and um, another Savior." 

"Hello," Keiko bowed, her hands held together. 

"A pleasure to meet you," Kasumi replied. 

Keiko then said:

"Can I go train for a little bit? Outside, I mean." 

"Of course," Kaori replied and the blindfolded girl walked out of the house on her own. 

"So," Kasumi said, as she watched Keiko exit, "you\'ve been assigned an apprentice?" 

"Yeah!" Kaori replied. "Oh, wait, are you hungry? I can whip something up for you." 

"Some water would be nice, and you, Nozo?" 

"Some water..." Nozomi echoed what her mother said and Kaori\'s heart melted upon hearing her voice. 

"Coming right up!" 

After getting a few drinks for everyone, the three of them sat at the table and Kaori couldn\'t keep herself from grinning as they chatted. 

"Wow, I haven\'t seen you in so long!" Kaori exclaimed. "How have you been?" 

"Everything\'s been good, thankfully," Kasumi said. Her voice always had this gentle tone to it that Kaori consistently found relaxing whenever she heard the woman speak. It was like she could put someone to sleep just by telling them the weather. "The Royal Council wanted to speak to me about something, so Jonoko, Nozo, and I came to Jade. I wanted to see you on the way, though," Kasumi explained. "Catch up, you know?"

Kaori nodded eagerly. 

"Oh, well," Kaori smiled somewhat nervously, "I don\'t really have much to say o my end, but about a week or two ago, I started training Keiko. That\'s been fun."

"Really?" Kasumi asked, putting a hand under her chin.

"Yeah! Keiko is, well, she\'s a serious one. The super responsible and proper type, but it\'s been nice having someone around the house..." She didn\'t finish that sentence. She had meant to add "considering how lonely I\'ve been".

"Gosh, I, what have you been doing lately?" Kaori asked then, wanting Kasumi to take her away from where her train of thoughts was taking her. 

"Well... Nozo," Kasumi smirked and looked over at her daughter. "Wanna show her?"

Her daughter nodded and grinned as she raised a hand. 

"Sever the... Wait, what was it?" Nozomi spoke softly. "Oh.  Sever the line between what is real and what isn\'t."

Suddenly, a flower appeared on Kaori\'s table. 

"OOOH!" Kaori applauded her as the flower quickly faded away. Kasumi did the same, chuckling proudly. 

"I taught her a couple of spells," Kasumi said and Kaori could see so much love and adoration in her eyes as she looked at Nozomi. "She\'s really into it. I think I\'ve got quite the little illusionist in my hands," she added, stroking her daughter\'s hair. 

"That\'s so cool," Kaori replied. "I mean, she\'s learning from the best so, I\'m sure she\'ll be awesome at it." 

"Heh, thank you, I guess being outstanding just runs in our veins," Kasumi shrugged. 

However, then, her look turned slightly more serious.

"Kaori, I..." She started. "I wanted to check in on you though. I mean, after... After everything that happened with Ash, I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright. Have you been well?" 

Kaori\'s throat felt tighter as she heard that, but she nodded. 

"... As good as anyone could be after their wife passes away. Especially in the way that she did," Kaori responded. "But, don\'t worry," she was quick to continue, "I\'ve been holding myself up. Promise. I\'m just... Taking things slowly. But... But I know that, whichever afterlife Ash is in now, Magia\'s, Lumina\'s, or Alkoth\'s, she wouldn\'t want me to just be sad all the time. I understand that."

Kasumi nodded.

"Don\'t forget to reach out to people though. Satsuhiro told me he might just take this place back if you don\'t go out every now and then." 

Kaori rolled her eyes light-heartedly. 

"He\'s welcome to come by anytime he wants to. I haven\'t seen him and Metsumi in so long either. It... It feels like only yesterday we were all drinking together, laughing it up in a tavern. I\'d like to do something like that again." 

"I\'ll be sure to let them know once I\'m in the city." 

---

Keiko

She could faintly hear the conversation going on inside, but she tried her hardest to block their voices out. She needed to focus. 

Relax.  Keiko told herself.  Relax. Pretend you\'re alone. That no one else is around for miles. 

Then, she took a deep breath, feeling her shoulders loosening up just a little. 

Now, try it again. 

"Iridos." 

However, she didn\'t succeed. Instead, lighting surged through her body and Keiko gritted her teeth, bearing the pain as the ability failed. 

Earlier, Kaori had said she needed to slow down. That they had all the time in the world, but Keiko disagreed. She had expectations, she had a family she needed to please. She had a role she had to play. 

She couldn\'t afford to just sit back and let the world pass her by. She needed this. 

So, although it hurt more and more with each attempt, Keiko tried again, and again, and again, hoping that someday her persistence alone would let her stop being such a failure.