*Hyosetsu*

I smiled as I flipped the pages of the book. The library here sure was quiet. And thus far my loudmouth brother had yet to pop up to annoy me.

What if something happened outside? Surely it was nothing, but I could never be too sure. Hideo's sister was losing color. What if she passed away?

I closed the book and stood up. On the way out, I saw nobody. Figured Rosalba might've tried sneaking a peak into some books at least. Although, she did care immensely about others. Even those she barely knew.

The school was as silent as the library. At least there was no crying, thus far.

"Hmm, you returned?" a voice called out.

I glared at the king of Kasai no Ki as he made his way toward me.

"I was only reading a few books is all," I said, ruffling my hair.

He laughed. "Don't be so annoyed. Well, it's good to see you're doing better."

Why would he feel that way?

He waved before turning around. "See you later, young man."

Why did I feel as if I were talking to a parallel-world version of myself whenever I talked to that guy? Well, given this world had its own Rosa and Yuko, he might've been that for me.

I scratched the back of my head and followed him. This place was new to me. Getting lost would be mortifying. I could've used my seismic sense to try to find my way, but it wasn't as well developed as Prince Ryonoko's or Takuya's. It's why I didn't bother wandering off too far when I was a kid. Although, I would wander off to wherever books were, but that tendency made it easy for people to find me. But whenever I was spooked and no bookstore nor library was around, I would worry my caretakers as it wasn't easy for me to find my way back to them. Dense crowds didn't make them finding me easy either.

"Hyo! Feeling better?" Rosa yelled, coming out of a hallway, accompanied by Ximena and Suzuki.

"Be honest," Suzuki said.

"Why do you think I'll lie?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

She shrugged. "You strike me as the type to do so. Not all that different from a few people I know."

Did she refer to Hideo?

"You aren't wrong," a voice called out. It was Asil.

"You came with us?" I asked, blinking.

He chuckled. "Seems even your observation skills have limits."

I grumbled. In my defense, we were a large group of people.

"I stayed back to check this place out," he said, eying the library. "It sure is big. Almost as large as your place."

"That gives me an idea!"

I smiled faintly. "An idea? Did not think that small brain of yours could come up with so many. Hopefully, this one makes some sense."

She pouted. "My head is average! Anyway, you had other friends like this jerk, right?" Rosa asked. "If they're as strong as him, why don't we ask them to help us?"

My face faded and I turned away. "No."

Asil sighed. "Figured you would say that."

"Past beef?" Suzuki asked, tilting her head.

Ximena pursed her lips but didn't say a word.

"You could say that. Hyosetsu was not always the brooding guy you see before you," Asil said.

"Sis said that too," Rosa whispered. "You contributed toward him becoming this way, correct?"

Asil hung his head low. "You could say that. But we weren't the only ones."

"Shut up, Asil," I said, starting to walk away.

Asil sighed. "And here I thought you had finally started to grow up a bit. You cannot run from the past forever, Hyosetsu."

I curled my hands into fists. Maybe having him join us was a bad idea. 

"I can try," I mumbled as I continued walking away.

"I think Asil's right," Rosa said. "You cannot run away from your former bullies forever. It is better to confront those who wronged you. Not that I am saying to resort to violence. Peaceful means would be better."

I looked over my shoulder. She gave me a fiery glare. "What do you know?"

Rosa sighed. "I have to put up with seeing Eiichi almost every day."

I stopped. She had a point there. How did she do it? Hmph, it had to be because of her naivety. She was far too forgiving for her own good. If that Tetsuya ever were to cheat on her with Yuko or anybody else, she probably would forgive him. She and Yuko both worried me. Being nice was one thing, being nice to the point one would let themselves be pushed around if the need arose was another. I'd learned that the hard way growing up.

"Guess you're emotionally stronger then," Suzuki said, giving me a side glance as I passed by her.

"Seems she is," I whispered before wandering off.

"Hey, you're going to get lost!" Asil snapped.

"I'll find my way back."

"Like it'll be that easy!" I jumped back as Setsuko jumped out from behind a stone pillar. 

"You were there this whole time?" I asked.

She put her hands on her hips and scoffed. "Seems you haven't entirely recovered if you couldn't pick up on that."

I turned around. "Yeah. You're right. Think I'll read some more books."

Rosa followed after me.

"I'm not running away," I said.

"I know. I want to read some books too. Why I was heading here in the first place."

I chuckled. "Surprised it took you this long to get here."

Rosa swung her hands behind her back and giggled. "I wanted to make sure Ki was alright first."

"Is she?"

"She woke up. Mr. Suzuran gave her some low-tier prana restoration pills and wrote up a recipe for Hide to follow. Although, Eiichi said he would take care of that."

That skirt chaser turned out to be more reliable than expected.

"Did they figure out what was wrong?"

"Yeah," Setsuko said as she and the others followed me too. "Dine's core was absorbing Kiara's mana and prana, leaving her in that weak state. It's probably why Dine stopped taking her body over, to preserve Kiara's energy."

"Hide is frantically trying to think of how to split Dine's core away from Kiara," Suzuki said. Her face grew pale. "But right now, it's too dangerous. Kiara will almost surely die."

Could I figure something out? 

"He was to head to Sera too," Rosa said.

"I can watch over his siblings," I said.

"You?" Asil asked, covering his mouth.

I furrowed my brow. "Yes, me."

"But you suck with kids!"

Setsuko chuckled. "He actually used to be good with them when he was one. I remember he could calm baby Kohri better than his parents could."

I blushed. "That was long ago, though." I probably couldn't do that anymore. Plus, my little brother was unique.

"It's alright. We're going to be around to help too," Rosa said, grinning.

"We're taking them with us to Xian," Setsuko said.

"I see. That resolves that," I said, opening the door to the library. Although, being away from them remained an issue. He could get rather anxious when away from his family. Unlike me, who got annoyed around mine.

"Hopefully. Eiichi's going with him, so he'll have someone to talk to," Rosa said, smiling.

I turned away as I felt my cheeks warm up. "Yeah."

"What's wrong? Wish you had someone of you own to talk to too?" Asil asked, chuckling. "I mean, you do have us."

I grumbled. "It's not that!" Ugh, he really could be a pest. Why was I friends with him in the first place? I really had trash taste as a kid. Given I fell for the naive Rosa, my choice in relationships, be it friendship or romantic, might've been awful in general.

***

I looked up from the book I had been reading for who knew how long. Rosa who sat next to me drooled on the table, eyes closed. She clung to her plushie and muttered unintelligible stuff.

My nose wrinkled. "Is she really a princess?"

Setsuko chuckled as she put a cape over her. "She's probably dreaming about the books she read right now."

Ximena smiled. "Think that's our cue to get going."

Suzuki nodded. "Yeah, but we should put away these books first."

I got up and picked up my pile of books. "Alright. Once I finish up, I'll carry her."

"No need. I'll do it. She is my little sister," Setty said, wiping her sister's mouth with a handkerchief.

I winced at the thought of getting slobbered on. "Be my guest."

Once I finished putting away my books, I yawned as I walked out of the library. I'd managed to learn about several ice spells. Now all I had to do was apply what I read to reality.

"Hey! Had fun?" Kohri asked, grinning as he waited on the bridge leading from the library. Tetsuya, Roa, Eita, Conrad, and Serrano accompanied him.

"Where's Etsuo?" I asked, blinking.

"He's with Kiara," Roa said with shifty eyes.

"Something the matter?" I asked.

"He's worried about Dine," Kohri said.

Roa bit his lip but didn't say a word.

Dine, huh? That girl killed several of my mother's men and women. From what I heard, she was even strong enough to trouble Zafir. It stood to reason that a young girl like Kiara would struggle to keep an abysmal of that level well fed. If Kiara could retain most of her energy, would Dine then die? But, that would be dangerous. A starving animal was deadlier than a well-fed one. Or at least more likely to resort to drastic means. The less one had to lose, the more one would lash out. All the incentive was there. As the firstborn son, it was something I made sure to engrave into my head. Else, the people would have my head.

"Have you thought about teaching Kiara mana control?" I asked.

"Rene suggested that too," Setsuko said as Ximena and she stepped out of the library, carrying her sister on her back. "Mr. Suzuran said that before, it would've been dangerous due to the abnormal flow of mana, but now that it's been aligned, it should help."

Tetsuya lurched ahead and took Rosa from her.

Roa sighed. "It sucks that Dine's fate is tied to that girl's."

"Blame your cousin. She's the one who tried to kill her," Serrano said.

"She's yours too."

"Where is Etsuo's sister anyway?" I asked. "Did she come with us too, as Asil did?"

"She was moping around when she heard about Kiara and Dine's situation," Suzuki said as she walked out. "Reno was trying to cheer her up. He does bear some of the responsibility after all."

"Suzu! So this is where you went. Didn't think you were much of a reader," Eita said.

Suzuki scoffed and leaned toward him. "And why's that?"

"W-well, you were raised without books, right?"

She furrowed her brow. "I had a few. But it's because of that, that I want to expand my horizons a little."

Tetsuya laughed. "Surprised Amu and Takuya didn't show up here."

Serra smiled. "Goes to show how seriously Taku's taking his training."

"What about you, Tetsu? Weren't you learning from your aunt too?" Ximena asked.

Tetsuya nodded. "Yeah, but I decided to take a break to check on Briar Rose here."

I smiled slightly. She did look peaceful. Hopefully, the dragon witch wouldn't get to her.

"We better get going," Setsuko said, eyeing her sleeping sister.

"Today was a long day, but it doesn't feel like we got much done," Suzuki said, sighing.

"You were reading books on fire magic, weren't you?" I asked.

She nodded. "A few. But reading and performing them doesn't mean much."

"You could train with Nori," Ximena said.

"That reminds me of the last time we trained together." Suzuki smiled. "Think I'll do that."

Eita smiled. "That cat boy really has grown."

"He seems different on the outside, but he's still the same nice kid we met back in Elitia," Ximena said, giggling.

Serrano nodded. "Although, I do think he's matured a bit on the inside."

Tetsuya smiled as he glanced at Rosa again. "Same goes for Yuko snd to a lesser degree, Rosa."

I stretched. "Yeah. Well, good night." I stopped. "Wait, where are we staying at tonight?"

"The dorms are empty right now, so Shin'en suggested we use those," Kohri said. "Onami, Yuko, Teresa, and Nico are spending the night st her uncle's place."

Tetsuya sighed. "Hopefully Yuko doesn't pull an all nighter."

Serrano laughed. "Think only you would do that."

I turned away. He surely wasn't the only one.

Tetsuya laughed as he marched on ahead. "Let's get the princess to a nice bed and continue our training."

"I'll join you," I said.

He blinked. "You sure?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I want to try out a few things."

Roa grinned a bit. "I look forward to seeing these 'few things' of yours."

I shrugged. "It's my first time trying them, so don't expect too much."

"I trust you will learn them quickly," Kohri said, running over to me.

I furrowed my brow. Why did he think that? Usually, I liked repeating the same thing over and over again until I felt I'd achieved a level of mastery before moving on to the next thing.

'Don't worry yourself,' Baldo's voice echoed in my head. 'I can speed up the learning process. Think of it as having a backup brain.'

I smiled slightly. Usually, I wouldn't take him up on that. My brain might've been annoying at times, but I still thought highly of it. But speeding things up was a good idea. It felt like we had plenty of time, but in truth, the clock was ticking quicker than we expected.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**