*Kimura*

I stared at my former camp instructor. Sweat beaded her face. I'd thought that she would be happy to see me, but I was wrong. Seemed the others knew about her having had a relationship with someone who could be her nephew. But, I knew she was ashamed to have had a relationship with a former student.

I cleared my throat. "Does it matter? If you have time for gossip, you have time for training," I snapped, walking away.

Hyosetsu smirked. "My thoughts exactly. Though, I'm surprised that you of all people said it."

"B-buzz off, bookworm!"

"Hey, don't use bookworm as a bad word!" Anis snapped. "My older son, husband, and I are all bookworms."

Hyosetsu scoffed. "It is alright. I am used to it by now."

"You two seem close," Tetsu said, glancing back and forth between us. "Are you friends?"

"No. We are not friends. We only know each other because we attended the same summer camp four years ago." He glanced at Jun. "That said, I didn't know that you were related to Tetsuya. However, it all makes sense now. Mom did say that she heard about the camp from the sister of a fellow knight." He eyed the chair-ridden Anis.

Tetsu snickered. "Feels like everyone knows my family better than me."

"You could say that. I did know your father longer than you had," Osamu said as he came out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Osamu! Want to come shopping with us? We're going to go buy clothes for Hideo!" Rene said.

He shook his head. "I abhor shopping."

"Hard to believe you were a model if I hadn't seen your photoshoots," Anis said.

Jun chuckled. "Come on, it's not that hard to believe. He clearly has the looks."

The king of Kuroriku rubbed his neck and turned away. The tips of his ears seemed to be red.

"Come you two, don't tease Osa!" Rene said, tackling her older sisters.

I smiled. Well, I better get going. I've eavesdropped longer than I'd intended.

"You don't want to come with us, Kimura?" Rene asked.

I raised a hand and waved it. "Nah. I'm good. Really should get back to training."

"Say, you learn that mana overload technique from Jun?" Rosa asked, glancing up at me.

I turned around. "Yes, what of it?"

"Huh? But my aunt doesn't have either plant nor fire mana," Tetsuya said.

Jun put her hands on her hips and chuckled. "Oh, I didn't teach him how to use it that way. I simply taught him how to use the Second Heaven aura defensively. Since you're the Shield Knight, you could benefit from learning it, kiddo."

Tetsuya beamed. "Well, let's see it!"

Jun stepped away from her sisters and the others.

"Hold on, don't do that here!" Osamu snapped. "Teach him in the Angelic Dome!"

Jun sighed. "You have nothing to worry about. Unlike Kimura, my mana technique won't scratch the floor."

"Come to think of it, Hideo might have something similar," Tetsuya said.

"He does?" Rene asked.

Tetsuya nodded. "Yeah. He uses his aura to grasp his opponents."

"Seems you have a discerning eye. It's the same principle. Shaping energy and output are the keys to mastering Second Heaven and the higher forms," I said, grinning.

"Right. Kaliq mentioned that during our training in Munil." He stared at his hands. "While I've mastered mana gathering, I'm still not very good at shaping it beyond using it to increase the size of my shield. Well, I also have my sphere, but that's so basic that it doesn't count."

Hyosetsu held out his hand, causing an almost blue-flame-like aura to manifest from his hand. "You did choose to strengthen your base form. By doing so, you gave up things like this." The aura hardened together, forming a fine ice blade. "Not to say that your limited use of the basic sphere is anything to scoff at. It did push me to my limits. Well, what they were back in Munil."

Tetsuya grinned. "So, you're saying that you've gotten stronger! Still, it almost makes me wish that I had taken the same training path as Hideo."

"Osamu did the same thing as you, but he's almost at mana control good as Jun," Anis said, pointing at the king.

He cleared his throat. Once again, the tips of his ears were red. "I'm not that good."

"And he has Zen Mode to boot!" Rosa said, gleaming.

"Osamu has always been a man of multiple talents," Eiko said, chuckling as she walked out of the kitchen.

"That so?" Tetsuya asked.

"Yes. He can even do the things you peasants can, like fix vehicles."

Tetsuya's narrowed his eyes. "Now you're just pulling my leg. That's even more difficult to believe than him getting half-naked pictures of himself taken."

The king grumbled.

"He's also great at basketball, too," Rene said. "Uncle taught him!"

"Oh, really? Then how about a game?" Tetsuya asked, smiling at him.

Osamu grumbled. "Fine, but just so you know, I have not played in years."

"Huh? But I saw you playing by yourself not too long ago," Rosa said, tilting her head.

He squeezed his neck a little and sighed. "That was alone. Playing a game against another isn't the same thing."

"You can play while we go shopping," Rosa said. She grabbed the chair and smiled at Anis. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of my mother-in-law."

"Aww. That's so sweet!"

Tetsuya blushed. "T-that's going to get some getting used to." He glanced at Osamu.

"Don't think about it," Osamu said, sighing.

"Hmph, I was just thinking about how weird it would be to call you that. I rather not call you by it!"

Rosa's stomach growled. "Uh, before the game and shopping, how about we eat?"

Tetsuya walked over and chuckled. "Okay!"

I turned away and walked upstairs. My ears twitched as I heard steps behind me. Could it be King Osamu? 

My eyes widened. "Jun?"

She rubbed her left arm and took a deep breath. "I, uh, wanted to thank you."

"For what? For keeping quiet? It's no big deal. Plus, it's not like there's anything between us still," I said, walking away. Those weren't the words I wanted to say, but they were what I had to say. 

I turned around and saw Jun walk away slowly. Staying apart was the best for the war effort. We could think of such things later. Right now, I had to focus on getting stronger. I'd almost lost to a little girl the other day... Plus, I didn't wish to let another abysmal slip past me like that white-haired one.

"Don't you think that was cold?" a voice called out.

I gasped and turned to see Emon crouched on the floor with a piece of toast in his mouth. He looked like the kid that I'd met years ago.

"Weren't you eating?" I asked.

He bit his toast again and smiled. "Yeah, but I decided to come up here. Reno and Hide were arguing again."

Ugh, those two were like water and oil.

I grinned. "Well, since you're here, want to spar?"

He hopped to his feet. "Sure!"

Good thing Emon was here. If not for him joining me, it would've been harder getting Jun out of my head. Being left alone with such thoughts sucked.

*Tetsuya*

[Sometime later]

After eating, Osamu and I headed to the court. Eita eagerly followed behind. As soon as he caught wind of it, he wanted us to do a two-on-two.

"Ready, little bro?" Azami said as he spun the ball on his index finger.

Osamu snatched the ball from him and smirked. "Of course. What about you? You haven't played in years, right?"

He shrugged. "I'd picked up some games while living on the streets. Even won food from some kids!"

Osamu narrowed his eyes. "Kids?"

"Older kids. Like around Rosa and Eita's ages. Seriously, I wasn't so desperate to make bets with little kids. It would be like taking candy from babies if I did so!"

"Wait, you played them alone?" Eita said, holding out his hand.

He smirked. "Of course. I bet that I could beat their entire group. Those kids had no confidence in me winning, but those inflated egos aided me."

"And here I thought he would be the weak link," Eita whispered to Tetsuya.

Tetsuya laughed. "Wish I could've played him as a kid."

"He probably would've had me, Taku, Tere, and Con team up to take him on if so," Serra said, sighing. He, Eisuke, Setty, Piedad, and Con had joined us. For some odd reason, Hyosetsu had decided to join the girls and Hideo on their shopping trip. Did he think that they needed extra protection? Regardless, I was thankful. It made me stress out less. No one knew when nor where the demons could appear. Well, other than the Sky Father.

"Ha, you would only have been able to give me a good match as teenages at the youngest. As kids, I would've needed to play you while in a wheelchair and with a hand-tied to make it fair," Uncle Aza said, grinning.

My cousin narrowed his eyes at his father. "Hmph, after this, how about a race? In that, I'm confident that I can win."

Azami smiled at his oldest. "You know, this is the most self-assured that I think I've ever seen you. Try to have this level of confidence when it comes to other things. Such as with girls."

Serra blushed. "S-shut up! I didn't ask for your fatherly advice." He turned around and walked away from us.

"Did he forget that he was the referee?" Eita asked, blinking.

I laughed. It felt odd to see Serra be the one acting bratty out of us two.

"Seems his cousin has rubbed off on him," Azami said, sighing.

"Setsuko, right?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled. "Yeah, but you too. Anyway, enough talking! It's time to play ball!"

Osamu spun the ball and nodded. "Yes." He glanced at Serra.

Serrano took a deep breath and turned back to face us. His uncle threw him the ball.

"Begin!" Serra yelled, throwing it high into the air. Basically, toward the ceiling!

Azami jumped high and grabbed the ball as it came down.

Darn, we lost the ball already!

I pointed left and formed a squiggle with my finger. Eita nodded and went around the royal twins. The king stopped and looked at the blond teen suspiciously. Like I'd thought, getting past him wasn't going to be that simple. Well, it wasn't like I'd done my job either. 

I appeared in front of Azami and snatched the ball away.

"W-what? Hey, didn't we agree to no powers and abilities?" Azami asked.

I snickered. "What? This is my normal speed." I'd removed some of my weights for this match. I didn't want to lose to that jerk of a king.

"I see that your training hasn't been for naught," the king said as he rushed past me. The ball, he'd snatched it.

I sighed and jumped into the air, blocking the hit.

Azami ran to the ball, but Osamu held his hand up and pointed toward Eita. With their defense non-existent, I only had to get this over to Eita, and we would have our first point!

"Eita!" I screamed as I snatched the ball from the ground. I threw it high into the air in an arc.

"Hoho! Don't think so!" Azami said, jumping and pushing it back to our side of the court.

"Nice one, Aza!" Osamu yelled as he pushed against me.

I pushed back, but only as much as I felt that I could get away with without Serra calling a foul.

He pushed back. We both watched as the ball reached us. That back and forth felt a lot longer than it truly was.

The two of us smiled as we jumped for the ball at the same time. I will beat Osamu!

**Solar Note: Hope that you're enjoying the downtime ^^. There won't be much, if any, once the war actually begins, so getting these moments in now. I decided to publish this chapter a bit early while it's still July 31st to mark the royal twins' birthday.**