Kaori stands outside the safe room with Shomei and Breeze, her expression conflicted as Shomei finished relaying what had happened in the Temple. “I’m... I’m so sorry to have caused so much trouble...”

  “We all have our breaking point,” Shomei replied with compassion and understanding. “This was yours and it was nothing to be ashamed of. You just lost control for a moment, and it was all that was needed for things to spiral. What’s important is that you were able to remember what was important.”

  Kaori frowns, confusion lingering beneath her guilt. “How did you guys manage to stop me?”

  Breeze hums innocently as she looked up then shakes her head dismissively with a knowing grin. “Okay! Confession time! Girls only!!” She says childishly.

  Kaori and Shomei both look at Breeze with curiosity at her sudden outburst and enthusiasm.

  “So Tai got in there first. I don’t know what happened while you were in there but when we finally got through I saw something I’ve never seen Tai do before,” Breeze blushes as she giggled girlishly. “So sweet!”

  Kaori’s face goes flush instantly in embarrassment, knowing Breeze was going to say something she wouldn’t feel comfortable hearing.

  “What was it?” Shomei asks with interest.

  “Well, you see...” Breeze thinks for a brief moment before continuing. “Tai was restraining Kaori on the floor right? On top of her. But she had her hand on his chest, and he was holding onto that same hand while he had his other hand on top of her free one like this.” Breeze does her best to demonstrate the way Tai was holding Kaori’s hand while against the ship. “Making sure he was holding you down and his face was so close to yours and his eyes.” She stops as her expression shifts, her actions no longer performative as she relaxed into a concerned stand. “I haven’t seen that look on his face before... He looked like he was trying desperately to reach you. Even though I could only see it for a second, it was all it took... I think-.” She shakes her head in reassurance. “No, I’m sure that he was really worried about you, Kaori.”

  Kaori turns around, facing away from both women and closes her eyes tightly, trying to hide her embarrassment. “Would he even go through that much for me when he knows that I’m not the one to forgive him?” She shakes her head seriously after the image of what Breeze had described went through her mind clearly, her humiliation at the thought growing.

  “Don’t be embarrassed Kaori,” Breeze reassures brightly. “That means there’s actually still a bit of human left in Tai. We thought that was impossible after all these years.” She crosses her arms lightly. “He’s always so mean...”

  “I’m sure it’s for forgiveness. I’ve got to tell him that I can’t be the one to give that to him as clearly as possible,” Kaori says quietly. “I just can’t make that sacrifice for him.”

  Breeze frowns worriedly. “So you’ve made up your mind on that then, huh?”

  “Yeah. It’s for the best. He won’t have to be so nice to me anymore,” Kaori says gently with a slight smile to herself. “He’ll be happy about that in some way, I’m sure.”

  ?

  Tai looks up at the sky as he saw the familiar ship rise up into the clouds then back down only seeing Breeze and Shomei escorting Kaori. “Where’s Keiji?” He asks seriously as they walked up.

  “He’s going to keep an eye on the Grand Master and Vicious,” Breeze replies cheerfully.

  He glances at Kaori. “You take care of what you needed to?”

  Kaori looks down, trying to find a way to avoid his question before answering anyway. “I decided to put it off for a bit. I wanted to do this first,” she says with a nod. “Please lead the way,” she smiles, attempting to be convincing in her resolution.

  “Suit yourself,” he says with disinterest while walking ahead, soon looking irritated to hear Breeze talking non-stop to Kaori.

  “And we can even go back to homeland and stay for a bit before you go back to the Palace. Oh! Maybe you can even have some of the Yaban work there as your guards! Wouldn’t that be nice?” Breeze exclaims excitedly, talking quickly all the while.

  “I’d like that,” Kaori says with a smile. “Will you visit often?”

  “Loads of times! So much you’ll get tired of me,” Breeze says with a grin. “What about you Shomei? Are you going back to Tinder after this?”

  Shomei shakes her head lightly. “I don’t think I will. I don’t know what I’ll do but I know I could do well with some distance from the Temple.”

  “Wanna travel with us?” Breeze asks excitedly.

  “Or you could stay with me at the palace,” offers Kaori genuinely. “Whatever you decide though, I don’t want to push you.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Shomei replies with thoughtfulness in her tone.

  Breeze looks ahead at Tai. “What about you? You think you’ll stay with us after?”

  “Don’t force me into your stupid conversation,” he says irritably as they entered a dense forest.

  “I bet he wants to go back to the palace,” Breeze says with a sly grin on her face, placing her hands behind her head lightly as she spoke and gazed up. “I mean if you have all the time in the world might as well spend it with a Goddess right?” She smiles at Kaori and teases her hair playfully. “Especially a really cute one.”

  Kaori looks down, blushing lightly at Breeze’s teasing, her thoughts drowning out the inevitable arguing forming between Tai and Breeze. “I’m sure he won’t want anything to do with me considering I have nothing else to offer him.”

  Shomei notices Kaori’s confliction through her deep thoughts before looking toward Tai. “Taiichiro,” she says softly, breaking between the arguing effortlessly.

  “What?” He asks rudely.

  “What exactly gives Yaban the power to control a God?” She asks in a calm, even tone. “It’s such a rare ability, uncommon to those these days isn’t it?”

  He looks ahead in the heavy silence attempting to think of a simple answer.

  “Tai...” Breeze says softly after a long moment of silence.

  “Yaban were closer to the gods back then. Special few who were chosen to bend the will of fate for the greater good, but at a cost to our own sanity,” he says darkly. “Anything else you feel the need to know?” He adds sarcastically.

  “Have you tried before?” Shomei asks casually.

  His eyes become narrow as he heard her speak in such a normal tone of voice. “Somethings shouldn’t be spoken of,” he mumbles quietly.

  Kaori looks at Tai worriedly for a moment then looks ahead as she noticed a grey stone wall covered with overgrown vines that covered a faint light. “Oh! What’s that?” She asks in contrived curiosity as she ran ahead, trying to change the subject.

  He turns and watches Kaori for a brief moment, then scans the area suddenly realizing where they were. “Don’t touch it,” he says suddenly, causing Kaori to stop just before her hand could reach the wall.

  “What is it?” Breeze asks curiously, walking up to look at the wall with Tai and Shomei.

  “The entrance.” He looks at it closely about to touch it, pulling away as the vines had moved to attack him. “Shit.” He steps back, holding his arm out in front of Kaori protectively out of instinct.

  Kaori takes a hesitant step back despite her growing interest in the wall once she noticed the soft light coming from behind the vines become brighter.

  He catches Kaori’s expression out of the corner of his eye before turning to her completely. “You can see it?”

  Kaori nods lightly. “Am I not supposed to?”

  He pulls Kaori forward, disregarding the pain he felt until he let her go, standing behind her. “See if you can calm it down.”

  Kaori holds her hands near her heart looking uneasy, then nods to herself and slowly reaches out to the wall. She winces lightly as the vines moved and wrapped around her arm.

  Tai quickly takes out his sword and cuts the vine only to have more to wrap around the both of them.

  Kaori winces in pain as the vines tightly wound around her body, forcing her and Tai closer together as the greenery tried to absorb them.

  “Kaori!” Breeze and Shomei try to pull the vines off with little success.

  “Nothing’s working!” Shomei yells with difficulty, struggling to pull off the vines.

  Kaori struggles to break free until a strong bright light caused her to close her eyes, only hearing Breeze calling out to her in panic and worry until everything was silent. She winces lightly before opening her eyes slowly, sitting up from the damp ground. She looks down at her hands, a dim green light surrounding the area. “My head...” She stands on her feet and looks around, rubbing her arm lightly. “Was it just me?” She whispers to herself lightly, sighing in exhaustion with the chain of events and starts walking down the narrow halls aimlessly until she reached a wider area where she saw Tai who had just stood to his feet.

  Tai turns and looks at her with narrow eyes. “What did you do?” He accuses aggressively.

  Kaori shakes her head, waving her hands in front of her in defense. “I didn’t do anything.”

  He glares at her suspiciously, then sighs in defeat as he looked around. “Looks like we’re inside either way. Guess it isn’t so bad,” he says exasperatedly.

  “Didn’t you need Breeze to come through?”

  “I can do it on my own,” he replies irritably.

  She looks at him, noticing his expression was lost in thought. “So, think there a reason it’s just us in here?”

  “Just the way it goes,” he dismisses, studying the walls intently before he turns to Kaori. “It’s this way.”

  She nods obediently and follows behind Tai. “I suppose since it’s the two of us here I’ll have my chance to tell him... If I can bring myself to it.”

  He stops at a wall and touches it lightly, his hand easily gliding through. “It’s not real so just walk through it.” He walks through with ease, leaving Kaori behind, confident she’d follow him.

  She steps toward the wall, hesitating for a moment, causing her to step back until she saw a hand reach out for her from the other side. She gently places her hand in what she knew was Tai’s, following inside after him with ease, looking up at him from a wide-open, moss-covered cave where stalagmites grew from the ground and glowed a dim green, as well as very few of the stalactites that protruded from the top of the cave.

  He looks down at her as she made her way in front of him. “Still don’t trust me enough to follow me?” He asks, not realizing he was still holding her hand.

  “No. It wasn’t that.”

  He raises an eyebrow, looking at her skeptically, the burning sensation in his hand remaining steady, ironically making it easier for him to ignore.

  She looks down, unable to move away from him, small orbs of light mysteriously starting to float around them. “No. No, now isn’t the time.” She shakes her head, disregarding the thought. “Is there somewhere else we need to go?” She asks with a kind smile as she pulled away.

  He looks around and starts walking away from her, deeper into the cave.

  She follows behind, her smile fading slowly as he continued forward.

  He stops quietly at a wall where a green glowing symbol shone dimly in front of him. His eyes glance across the wall for a moment as if reading it then turns and looks at Kaori.

  “Am I supposed to do something?” She asks with concern.

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  “No. We have to wait.”

  She frowns in disappointment. “Why?”

  “It can only be opened once the symbols become white.”

  “When might that be?”

  He shrugs lightly. “Don’t know. I didn’t write the code; I was just here to know where it is and donate blood.”

  She nods understandably then turns away, walking to a small boulder and sitting on top of it patiently.

  He sighs impatiently then turns and looks at Kaori noticing she was looking down at the dimly lit ground, that strangely glowed a little brighter around where she sat.

  She looks up toward Tai and tilts her head curiously. “Hm? Something wrong?” She asks.

  He glares at her steadily before turning his gaze back to the door, his expression hard. “So what’s the real reason you didn’t see the Grand Master before you left?” He asks seriously.

  She looks back down, the heavy silence between them weighing awkwardly on her. “I must have really been worried about you, huh?” She asks, deliberately changing the subject. “To not be able to remember much of what happened at the Temple. Breeze and Shomei said you were able to reach out to me and bring me back. I wonder what you had to have said to do that.”

  “Must not have been too important if you don’t know already,” he replies looking irritated that she had ignored his question completely.

  “Don’t think I could convince you to say it again could I?” She asks nervously.

  “Answer my question.”

  Her face becomes flustered as she looked down at her fists that clenched tightly on her lap. “I just...” She frowns worriedly. “How can I say it? He’ll think I’m being unreasonable but... I’m...” She feels herself becoming overwhelmed with emotion, causing her to stand abruptly and walk toward the entrance, looking at it seriously. “Why won’t you open?” She asks as though the door were a person.

  “Why do you insist on being so damn stubborn?” He steps over toward her, looking angry as he reached out to grab her but stops. His expression softens lightly as he noticed her broken expression, retracting his hand suddenly, taken aback.

  She turns her eyes from him shamefully. “Because I was scared,” she admits in shame. “What if there was something he said to me that just made me forget my purpose? Something that had made me weak, even if it were for a second. Then what? Would I have hurt him? Vicious? Breeze... Everyone... Until there was no one left?” She stares hard at the ground. “The first time I realized I’m capable of doing many things, and one of them is not being in control of myself.” She turns her gaze back up to Tai and smiles sadly, neither of them realizing a symbol on the door glowed a soft blue. “I’m capable of losing sight of myself, the promises I’ve made, all while everything is crumbling around me. I’m scared that little by little the purpose of my presence here will become tainted. Everything everyone has fought so hard for will become meaningless... I fear that one day everyone will sacrifice their everything and there will be no one left in this world who can reach me, and I’ll be alone in this; not knowing what to do or have anyone to turn to. I’ll be just like Aduro and there will be nothing anyone can do about it.”

  He stares at her blankly for a moment, trying to find the right words he wanted to say. “You are better than what you had become in that moment.”

  She looks up at him, the door suddenly shimmering a soft gold.

  He scratches the back of his head and sighs calmly. “I get you’re scared of things that could happen because of what’s already happened, and what’s been taken from you in your name, but worrying about what-ifs now doesn’t help.”

  She shakes her head seriously. “You say it like it’s so easy. It’s not happening to you. You’re not the one with this burden and still treated as a precious commodity... I’m trying hard to be stronger, to understand what my worth and purpose are, but it’s like I’m getting nowhere. I’ll always be weak.”

  He clenches his fist at his side lightly, looking frustrated before turning to Kaori and grabbing her arm forcefully and pulling her close to him. “When are you going to get it?” He asks with slight desperation in his voice.

  She stands motionless as she looked up into Tai’s eyes as he looked at her deeply.

  “You are the ruler of the gods, the most powerful entity ever known.” He moves to hold Kaori’s hand in his firmly, the pain from her touch starting to burn. “The fear you keep holding onto is going to do nothing but give the enemy the opportunity. Just let go of it all and know...” He pauses, struggling to continue. “I’m right here.”

  “He only says this because he doesn’t know yet... He could change his mind.” She steps back as he released her. “Um...”

  “Sorry I didn’t mean to do that, it’s just...” He looks at Kaori, noticing she was biting her lip and looking down nervously. “Kaori...”

  She keeps her gaze down, feeling her face becoming hot with embarrassment. “Please don’t say anything else. I don’t think I can bare it.”

  “Earlier I wanted... I wanted to apologize to you.”

  “Huh?” She looks up at him, her expression stunned. “F- for what?”

  “Everything really,” he says with his hands in his pockets and looks up at the cave ceiling that glowed weakly. “Being the one to make you come to a world that doesn’t deserve you first of all.”

  She places her hands near her heart, her eyes unknowingly becoming brighter, watching Tai closely as he had turned away from her and paced back and forth.

  “Because of my mistakes, you had to come here yourself, experience the pain we do... I’m sure you were happiest in the heavens, away from this fear and agony, and I just took it all away from you.”

  She shakes her head as she stepped toward him. “I don’t blame you.”

  He sighs hopelessly and shakes his head. “The time will come when you do, and you will hate me for it.”

  “N- no... I don’t think I could possibly ever feel that way toward you or anyone else.”

  “It’s alright. I don’t mind it... I’m prepared for it.”

  She frowns worriedly. “Then, do you think, no matter what choice I make, that you’d ever hate me?”

  He stares deeply into Kaori’s eyes, the heavy silence between them seeming to cause time to move slower. “I...”

  She keeps her hands near her chest, feeling her heart beating rapidly in anxiousness.

  “I won’t...”

  “Is this unconditional? When I tell him I can’t forgive him, will it just be me repeating the same mistake I made with Soujirou, but with him?” She steps back, her back touching the entrance of the alter room lightly.

  “I can’t think of anything that you can do that will possibly make me feel that way toward you,” Tai continues simply despite it weighing on the both of them.

  She feels her entire body become overwhelmed by a sudden warmth, unknowing that the entrance behind her glowed a bright white, and vines started growing rapidly and aimed to attach themselves to her.

  “Finally, I get to see you... I’ve waited so long...” A woman’s voice echoes distantly that only Kaori can hear.

  He takes out his sword as he saw the vines, cutting the ones as they closed in on Kaori before taking her hand firmly in his, pulling her into his chest for safety.

  Her eyes widen in surprise as she felt Tai embrace her protectively before closing her eyes as the vines wrapped so tightly around them that she was unable to see anything between them any longer.

  “Kaori!! Kaori where are you?! Answer me!” Tai yells out in the distance.

  Kaori opens her eyes slowly seeing she was in a well-lit room where a single green stone lay on a small moss-covered altar. “Oh! I must have made it into the altar room.” She looks around, not seeing Tai nor an exit of any sort around her. “Huh?” She slowly makes her way toward the altar, reaching out for the stone until a soft, gentle voice spoke from behind her.

  “I miss him dearly,” Says the woman’s voice softly.

  Kaori turns, seeing no one behind her. “No... That was in my head right? It almost sounded like... The woman from my dreams?”

  “It hurts to know you can only watch someone from afar... But I’m sure you know all about that,” The voice adds so gently that she barely broke the silence.

  Kaori frowns lightly. “What?”

  “Kaori!! Can you hear me?” Tai’s voice calls out once more.

  She places her hands near her heart as she looked down.

  “You’re being called dear...” The woman says kindly.

  Kaori nods to herself as she felt a loving touch on her shoulders even though no one was there. “Right.” She looks up and turns around, quickly taking the stone from the altar and holding it close. “Please give me the strength to protect those in this world... To protect the memory of those who you once cared for and their families.” She looks around her as flower petals started to fall from the high ceiling and a green glow absorbed her. “I will do my best in return.” She closes her eyes, seeing a faint image of Tai on top of her in the Temple, his forehead touching hers as he looked down at her desperately. “Breeze was right... Is this what had happened... That look...” She feels her heart beat heavily, hearing Tai’s voice from that moment whisper desperately.

  “If you come back... I’ll show you the good memories... I’ll create that world just for you.”

  She feels the warmth of the green glow fade around her, causing her to open her eyes and see that she was standing behind Tai near the entrance of the alter room.

  He stops and pushes away from the entrance and turns to Kaori, looking at her with widened eyes and a serious expression.

  She smiles lightly. “Miss me?” she asks, nearly teasing him.

  He glares at her for a moment before his expression became a forceful one of irritation. “Where the hell were you?” He says angrily.

  “I was inside. I don’t know how it happened, but I was in there.” She smiles faintly, looking at him innocently. “Were you worried?”

  “What do you think?” He mumbles irritably as he walked passed her and through the caverns.

  She hurries after him, speaking in a soft tone. “So, I’ve wanted to ask, do you happen to know anything about the guardian souls?”

  “They’re dead.”

  “Well besides that. Like do you know who they are?”

  “Not many people know. They’re just those chosen worthy of protecting you.”

  “Well... One was really close to you so I thought you might have more knowledge about it” She says quietly.

  He stops suddenly and turns to look at her with intense seriousness. “What do you mean close to me?”

  She looks up at him with innocence in her eyes. “O- oh... Umm, I think he was... I mean well what he showed me made it seem that way.”

  He glares at Kaori hard, intentionally making her uncomfortable.

  She looks down nervously. “Okay, how do I say this...” She thinks for a moment then looks at up at Tai directly. “I’ve seen parts of your past.”

  “What’s the name?” He asks aggressively.

  “R- Ryota,” she says nervously in response to his sudden hostility.

  His expression softens as he heard Ryota’s name. “You saw him...” He asks quietly, almost coming across as a whisper.

  “He asked me not to leave. From what he’s showed me it seems that he wants me at your side, but...”

  “He became a Guardian...” He whispers.

  “I think it happened the last moment you spoke,” she says uneasily. “I saw his soul leave him but not leave the earth. I think he wanted to do what he could for a cause you believed in. I don’t know much about him or the life you lived with him, but I do know that his soul... His is the one that called me before. He wanted to speak to me so desperately to show me how important you were to him... Is he... Important to you?” She asks hesitantly.

  He looks down a little. “He’s showed you what happened?”

  “At Twilight Woods... The promise he made to help you.”

  “Ryota... Was-,” He stops, and shakes his head. “It’s not important.”

  She hurries toward Tai and pulls his arm lightly before he could walk away. “No, wait.”

  He stands completely still, the pain from Kaori’s touch stinging lightly, yet showing no concern as he was lost in his thoughts.

  “You have nothing to say about him after all this time?” She asks desperately. “Don’t you think you should be happy to hear that he’s still trying to watch over you?”

  “Ryota should have never trusted me. He’d have been happier if he didn’t. He’s just another person I’ve hurt.”

  “But he didn’t look hurt. He looked relieved to know that he’s able to help. I think he knows you’re still trying your best and he wants to protect you.”

  “Even in death he’s making the wrong choices.”

  She lets go of Tai, her face frustrated. “That’s not what he believes!” She yells suddenly. “He had to have cared for you so greatly as to try this hard to help.”

  He turns and looks at her blankly. “Don’t talk about things you know nothing about.”

  “That’s a stupid come back!” She stares at him with determination. “You say you know everything, but I know for sure that you don’t! There’s no way you will ever understand how people think of you even if you can read their minds.”

  “Then tell me, dear goddess.” He edges closer to Kaori, backing her into a nearby wall as he spoke in a dark, cynical tone. “What is it people really think of me?” He asks seriously as he looked at her with a stoic expression on his face.

  She feels her face grow warm, blushing from discomfort as she looked up at him. “Well... Well, people really care about you. Keiji and Breeze show that no matter what your past is, you’re family to them. Ryota... Ryota truly cared about you to the point where he wasn’t able to rest his soul... Why can’t you see how impactful that is?”

  “And you? What does the most pure of all beings in the world think of the one that caused her to fall from the heavens?” He asks his voice lowering yet the question holding a dark aura to it as he leaned forward toward Kaori, the wall behind her glowing a soft white. “What possible good can you see in me when even you know yourself that there is nothing in this world that you can do that will allow people to change their minds about me?”

  “What do I think of him?” She stares up at him, the brightness in her eyes glimmering unbeknownst to her. “I care about you. The way I should care about everyone on Noroc.” She feels her heart skip a beat and her chest start to tighten before she nods to herself. “At the very least, I’ll do everything in my power to bring you the world you worked hard to see again. Even if people don’t think you deserve it, they’re not the ones that see you’re not asking for it for yourself, you’re still selflessly asking it for them.”

  He studies Kaori’s tense expression before he sighs heavily. “You shouldn’t show compassion to someone like me.”

  She closes her eyes tightly before shaking her head before looking back up at him, not realizing her eyes were shining brightly. “You don’t have a say about what I do,” she says firmly. “If I’m the ruler of all gods, humans, and Yaban then I should care for everyone unconditionally, and do what I believe is the right thing. That’s what you said before, right?” She stands straight up off the wall and stares up at Tai seriously. “So if I feel any sort of kindness for you, you should feel grateful, and appreciate it.”

  He glares at her and moves closer as if he wanted to put her back in her place. “You talk big for someone who has yet to realize her own strength,” he says quietly.

  She stands steadily, feeling her resolve slowly begin to falter she felt Tai’s body move closer.

  “The reason you shouldn’t feel remorse toward me is because you will end up just like Aduro did. Burdened with pain of mortals and cursed with ugly truths. Keeping me at arm’s length is already more than you need.”

  “I trust that you wouldn’t do that to me,” she says quietly.

  He continues to stare down at Kaori with an intimidating look in his eyes as he spoke. “You would, wouldn’t you? You really have no idea... All I’m capable of is being a burden of purity. Being the first of my kind, killing a god, fueling a thousand-year war... Causing people I once cared for to fall before their time came. You of all people should know that nothing good will come from me the longer you feel any sort of unnecessary emotion toward me.”

  Tears form in her eyes as Tai moved away from her, causing her to stand straight suddenly and speak loudly, with strength behind her voice. “So you feel unworthy of me? Is that it?”

  He stares at her, watching the tears flow down her face. He moves his hand subtly, wanting to reach out to touch her but clenches his fists at his sides instead, holding himself back.

  “I want you maybe to trust me the way you want me to trust you... The way I have trusted you. We don’t have to feel sympathy for one another, and you don’t even have to care about me in return either. I know what you’ve done, and I’ve seen what you’ve been through and as someone who is as pure and just as everyone says I am, then you have no choice but to see that I have decided you’ve been through enough and you don’t have to keep hurting or be scared of hurting anyone else anymore,” she says softly. “I know you are a good person... I’ve seen it.”

  “You... You stupid girl,” he says in a broken tone, his facial expression looking irritated as if he were holding himself back with difficulty.

  She places her hands near her heart and looks up at him, shaking her head but saying nothing else for a long moment, her gentle and wavering voice finally breaking the silence. “Will you ever stop and think of yourself again?”