~2650 words
Once the meeting was over, Kiyotaka did not hurry to do other tasks he had on mind. Instead, he just ensconced himself underneath the comforter until he was shoulder deep and just stared at the ceiling.
The blanket was warm and the outside was cold. He did not feel like going out in this weather and the pain in his body due to previous fights had rendered him unable to do much for the time being.
As he fell deeper into the blanket, his ears suddenly perked up. Looking over towards his balcony — which sat sequestered behind a floor-to-ceiling panoramic window — he saw a huge congregation of birds flying in unison.
It would've been a natural sight — given that migration is a ubiquitous phenomenon — had it not been for the disarrayed formation of those birds and the loud explosion followed by a uliginous, mushroom-shaped plume rising from somewhere close to the docks.
Kiyotaka stared at it for a long while before turning his back to it. "I am too tired for this." He groaned to himself, pulling the comforter until it demarcated his chin and he felt the warmth cocoon him.
The wounds on his back and arms were quite painful, however, the real damage was done to his Spirit Body. The Psychic Piercing had resulted in a lot of damage and even as of now, he could feel some kind of phantasmic pain.
His eyes closed and opened, as if struggling to stay up. And then they closed.
An hour or so later, Kiyotaka woke up to the sound of knocks on his door.
Once he did wake up, he noticed that he had been drooling in his sleep and his vision had gotten foggy. There were obvious signs of fatigue all over his body and his thighs felt cramped.
'How deep asleep was I...' He thought as he suddenly lifted the comforter and looked inside.
The area around his crotch was wet and sticky and it clung to his thigh as Kiyotaka sighed. 'Having a nocturnal emission at this age... Williams' endocrinological equilibrium really is all over the place, even after me almost digesting the Barbarian potion as well.'
"Come in." He called out, covering himself with the comforter.
Liv stood at the door with her hands tied in front of her. She bowed a little and spoke: "Sorry, I did not know you were sleeping."
"Its fine."
"I was wondering if you would like to eat some afternoon lunch? Miss Ada offered to make some... snacks, yes, that is what she called them." Liv's mannerisms were strange. After living in poverty for so long, despite the comfort, she did not feel at home and hence, many a time, her behavior and speaking pattern was quite strange.
Not that Kiyotaka cared about such menial things.
"Alright. Prepare the snacks. I will come down in about 30 minutes. You can serve it in my study room."
"Ok."
Saying that, Liv left as Kiyotaka removed the comforter from over himself. He sighed and removed his ruffled hair from over his face. As he was running his hand over his face, he felt a slight prickle.
Sighing once more, he jumped from his bed and made his way to the bathroom, filling his bathtub with warm water. As he waited for it to fill, he walked to the mirror and looked into it.
Flaxen beard was growing all around his cheeks and a layer of mustache was also evident. He could tell he'd have a thick mustache given how less space was between each hair follicle. After a moment of deliberation, he picked up his blade, applied soap to his cheeks and chin and removed the beard all together.
He granted some clemency to his mustache since he wanted to experiment with the look. The hair was barely visible over his lip, appearing as the faintest tinge of golden over his otherwise pallid integument. Once he was done all this, he noticed that the receptacle was filled to the brim, overflowing slightly.
He took off his clothes and jumped inside, making water splash everywhere. Staying with his head fully submerged in water for about 5 minutes, he finally resurfaced.
Kiyotaka took his time applying soap over himself. A rather dejected look appeared on his face as every time he ran his shampoo-lathered fingers in his hair, he'd see three to four strands of new blonde hair.
After he was done taking a bath and scrubbing his nether regions, Kiyotaka changed into some casual clothing. His innerwear composed of a black shirt unbuttoned at his throat and comfy trousers. Over it was a smoking jacket, thick socks over his feet and finished the attire by wearing a silver ring over his index finger and left Ember on his bedside table.
Having destructive thoughts inside his home was never a good idea.
His hair was let down as he did not feel like combing himself.
Hopping down with light steps down the stairs, Kiyotaka soon arrived in the main hall. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Liv outside, wearing a thick sweater and gloves while plucking out dead grass from his lawn. On the inside, he saw Ada in the kitchen, surrounded by Daisy and Freya, as she cooked something inside bubbling oil.
When he stood in there for some time, Freya's head — as if she had suddenly sensed something — snapped towards him. Her lips moved and Ada and Daisy turned to look at him as well.
The three bowed minutely, saying "Good afternoon" in unison.
Nodding his head, Kiyotaka walked straight into his study room.
Just as he entered it, he saw a carton laying beside the sofa. It was a wooden carton with ropes holding it in place. Kiyotaka poured some spirituality into Guile and tossed a coin in the air. This was a surface level Divination.
Since his Danger Intuition and Divination pointed towards no danger, he bent down and ripped the ropes with his bare hands. Lifting the cover, he saw multiple pods. They smelled like mud after a lot of rain and looked like a collection of heavy, exotic, elongated rugby balls or oversized, leathery pepino melons.
Their rinds were deeply grooved, leathery, and covered in small, rough warts, forming a mottled alchemy of colors, comprising of rich canary yellows, burnt oranges, deep purples, and vibrant, bruised reds intermingling with patches of earthy green.
Footsteps came from behind Kiyotaka as Daisy — followed closely by Freya — brought a tray. Kiyotaka looked up at them and turned his attention back towards the box.
"When did Mal bring this?"
Freya looked at Daisy and then at Kiyotaka. "Sorry... We don't know."
Kiyotaka was about to frown, but instead stood up and looked at the tray. It had a big plate with a huge pile of fried potatoes cut in thin circles that had been crisped up and had lots of salt and pepper over it.
Beside it was a thermos with around four to five servings of black coffee and a small bowl with sugar cubes in them.
Seeing Daisy carry the giant tray with her thin arms, Kiyotaka took it from her and placed it on his table. "Thank you."
"You're welcome!" Daisy replied cheerfully.
Unlike before, this time Freya did not look at Kiyotaka as if he was trying to prey on her little sister. Instead, she just stood in the back with a neutral expression on her face.
Kiyotaka picked up the box and placed it on the glass table in front of the couch.
"Are you studying well?" Kiyotaka asked, looking back at Daisy.
"I—I have a class in the evening. Freya will take me there in the evening."
Kiyotaka sat down on his revolving chair. "That would be unnecessary. I will take you somewhere else in a while. It's not far from here and the classes are conducted in the afternoon. Make sure to learn the route, because I can't take you there every day."
"Ok!" Daisy agreed. Freya motioned to her and she bowed her head. "Thank you so much, Sir!"
"Hmm. Alright, you can leave." Daisy bowed once again and began to leave.
Just as Freya turned around and was about to leave as well, Kiyotaka called out. "Freya. Stay."
Freya suddenly froze. Even though she had reevaluated her opinion about Kiyotaka, she was still inherently cautious around men. And while she had let her guard down — just a little — it did not mean that she was still not terrified of him.
"Y-Yes?"
"Close the door after you."
Freya looked down and nodded, placing her thin hands on the cold handle as she pushed it close. A moment or so later, she breathed in heavily and turned around to face him.
Her long brown eyes landed on him who was currently busy eating the chips.
Freya stood there for a long time as Kiyotaka kept eating hungrily. Once the mountain of chips was half-gone, he wiped his mouth and fingers with a tissue and looked up at her.
"Can you read?"
Freya was taken aback by the sudden inquiry but she did not let it show. "A little. Daisy used to teach me whatever she learnt, whenever she could..."
The horrendous past was something that flashed in her memories every now and then. Even now, when she remembered when how Daisy would take time to teach her, it made her eyes wet for a fleeting moment. It was unbelievable — to her — that that life was behind her. It — her current state and life — all felt like a sweet dream.
Looking back, Kiyotaka pointed towards a specific section of his study room. "Go there and read the names of all the books in the third row."
Not really understanding what this was all about, she obliged regardless. She walked over to the row of books that lined the entire northern wall and bent down a little to get a proper look at the books.
She pursed her lips and pinched her brows as she struggled. "A tr- A te- A teat?"
"Treatise."
"Ah... A Treatise on Systematic Botany, Flora of the Northern Continent, The Anatomy and Physiology of Higher Plants, Compendium of Medicinal Flora, Studies in V-vet-Ah, Vertebrate Morphology, The Fauna of the Feynapotter Highlands, Manual of Comparative Anatomy, Observations on Marine Inver-vertebrates, On the Nature of Chemical Affinities, Diseases of the Blood and Nervous System..." Freya continued to struggle and take names of different books until she reached the last one. "...and Atlas of Botanical Specimens."
"Can you tell the difference between them?"
Freya — who was not as educated as Daisy — struggled for a while but, much to her own surprise, she somehow figured it out herself. "These are all studies of internal mechanisms of living organisms such as water animals, land animals, plants and humans..."
She could not believe it herself. Her mind was able to comprehend something se could've never before.
"Correct." Kiyotaka pointed a chip at her before eating it. Picking some more crispy chips, he shoved them into his mouth. Once he swallowed them, he began talking once again. "I want you to read and understand all of them. By tomorrow."
"As you say... Sorry?"
Kiyotaka's eyes flicked towards her and she almost recoiled back. Standing her ground, she tried to force out the words. "But sir... that is too soon. How can I..."
"Do you want to advance? Or do you just want to stay at your current level for years? Who knows, I might die tomorrow. Will you be able to take care of Daisy in my absence?"
Freya had no rebuttal. She just lowered her head and bit hard on her lip. Turning around, she looked at the row of books. "I want to advance..."
"Then you must act how I tell you to."
Freya nodded and without talking back to him, she began to take out one book after another and began stacking them on each other. Despite having such thin arms, she was able to stack the countless books — with the stack of books being twice her height — and move around with considerable ease.
"You can study in your room. Have Liv give you food there and tell her that I have pardoned you from any work until tomorrow. I will leave a note, just in case."
Freya looked around the giant pillar of books. "Yes Sir. Umm..."
Realizing she had something to say, Kiyotaka nodded, prompting her to ask away.
"Your method of controlling the voices is working, but I have another issue." Her voice felt distant because of all the cargo she was carrying. "I sometimes see things... the world gains a lot of colors and I can see people's... inner body... I don't know how to put it into words... sorry."
"Its called Spirit Vision. You can use the same method as before to calm it and then add it a bodily reflex. It can be a bodily gesture, such as tapping or pinching your nose, lips, eyes, forehead. As you advance, you will be able to make the procedure vastly less conspicuous."
Freya seemed to understand what he was talking about and bowed her head — as much as her current position allowed her to. "Thank you, Sir... Thank you so much."
Not replying to the thanks, Kiyotaka asked instead: "Can you activate your Spirit Vision and look at me? What does it say?"
The stack of books wobbled as Freya's arm jittered, but she soon seemed to regain strength to hold them into place. Her eyes were glossed over as she looked at Kiyotaka and observed him.
"The red parts of your body are lightly dark."
'That makes sense. According to Sherlock, Red symbolizes person's limb—things that are required for movement. I am still in the healing phase.'
"And the... uhm, orange parts are darkened as well, but they seem to be enveloped by a white light, bit by bit."
'That makes sense as well. This means what she's seeing is my Ether Body which is a manifestation of a person's vital energies and physical form. The aura color seen by Spirit Vision is an external phenomenon of the Ether Body. From their thickness, brightness, and color, one can determine a person's health and emotional state. Once she advanced enough, she might even be able to detect a person's pathway from their Ether Body, but that would require some high level interpretation and decryption abilities.'
"Alright. I will teach you the meanings of the colors later on. You can go."
Freya bowed and left immediately after that.
Letting out an exhausted breath, Kiyotaka massaged his shoulder and injured arm while eating the remainder of the chips. Once they were done, he drowned them in two cups of black coffee with enough sugar to send a normal person into coma.
Just as he was about to turn towards the carton with cocoa pods in them, Liv walked inside as he turned his head towards her.
"Sir, there are two women who are here to meet you."
"Is one of them blonde and the other a brunette?"
"Sir, brunette?"
"Brown hair."
"Yes.. Yes they do have those features."
"Send them inside."
Kiyotaka poured coffee in a cup and hid the thermos underneath his table. As he busied himself in some odd form of calculation, he felt two people walk in. Looking up, Kiyotaka stood up and turned his attention towards the shorter one of the two.
"Good afternoon, Xio." He then turned his head towards the one with blue eyes. "Good afternoon, Miss Fors." He spoke in a Fluent manner which instantly eased both the ladies, their bodies losing the previous tension they had in them.
"Please, have a seat." He offered as he motioned for Liv to bring something for their guests.