Kasumi

The group of Saviors returned to the city with one less member. Mizaki was sobbing her eyes out, all of Takomaro's calmness disappeared from his face. Even Akiven wasn't talking anymore and Alkoram looked furious. The only one whose expression barely changed was Satsuhiro. The only moment where the Savior had shown any emotion that wasn't "intense brooding" was when he heard about the girls Kasumi had seen in the blood pond.

No one spoke as they walked back to the palace. They made it all the way back to the room where they had their meeting without saying a word. Kuro was there, speaking with a scholar in brown robes as everyone came in.

"... Well," Kuro raised a brow. "Doesn't exactly look like things went well?"

"Where were you?" Akiven asked with venom lacing his words. "The whole point was that you'd show up eventually."

"It took more time speaking to everyone than I thought it would," Kuro replied.

"Calm down, Akiven." Takomaro urged. "Kuro's presence would have changed nothing."

The white-haired savior clicked his tongue, sitting down and putting his feet up on the table at the center of the room. Kuro noticed Mizaki, wiping her tears, and looked around.

"Where's Magnolia?" He asked.

"... She didn't make it." Takomaro, with clear strain in his voice, responded.

"What?"

"The anomaly was a portal to some sort of different dimension," Takomaro explained, sitting down. His hands were shaking as he talked. "There were, of course, demons. They were far more powerful than we anticipated. We ended up having to run away, and, Magnolia was taken."

"She tried to help me..." Mizaki explained as tears reemerged. "I... She died because of me!"

The girl sobbed as Kuro took the information in. Kasumi sighed.

... And they ask me why I'm not working. Kasumi thought as each of the Saviors sat around the table. She remained standing, her arms crossed as she pressed her back to the wall. Who would want to go through this all the time? Losing people you love, admire. What kind of fool would want to live a life like this?

"I'll contact Magnolia's family myself," Takomaro said, "for now though, we need to figure out what exactly we'll do about that thing."

"It could be that Mizaki's spell wasn't strong enough," Satsuhiro told them, "if that's the case, there are ways to enhance a spell's potency. We could find different ways to try the dispel strategy again."

"Good. Get to discussing it with the mages." Takomaro ordered him.

"What? Sir," Satsuhiro furrowed his brows, "I need to return home. I..." his eyes briefly went to Kasumi, "I heard something troubling. I need to check on my family."

"This is too important, Satsuhiro," Takomaro told him. "Those demons could come pouring out of that portal at any moment. You need to work this out quickly. Pearl is likely in unimaginable danger."

Satsuhiro took a deep breath.

"Alright, sir."

Despite the fact that technically speaking, Takomaro wasn't anyone's boss here, Satsuhiro still followed the order.

Kasumi crossed her arms.

"Can I go?" She asked.

"Are you joking?" Alkoram asked. "One of our members just died and you don't have the decency to-"

"To do what?" She cut him off. "Me staying here won't change what happened."

"Sure, but you could stand to show some respect."

"It's alright." Takomaro stepped in as Alkoram raised his voice. "It's fine. Go ahead." He nodded to Kasumi.

The dark-skinned woman bowed a bit and walked out of the room.

Now, she thought, I need to get some sleep.

---

Keiko

Sitting across from her grandmother was not something she'd expected. At her grandmother's request, the two were left alone. Ash and the others were off in the fields.

Keiko took a sip from some tea Metsumi made the both of them. She imagined her grandmother had a stern expression as she waited for her family member to speak. It was so awkward for her, in all honesty, she'd forgotten that her clan was a thing. Training Ash and... everything else surrounding the half-demon had occupied so much time in her mind that to her, she wasn't even Keiko Zayama anymore.

She was just Keiko.

"I will keep this short," her grandmother stated, "you must return to Jade."

Keiko felt her heart go cold.

"What? Why?" She asked.

Her grandmother scoffed.

"The original intention of the agreement made was to send you away to train an up-and-coming Savior. However, the intention was never to have you in the company of a murderer," hearing those words, Keiko paled. "It has come to my attention that Varcon's killer has been lodging here. This is unacceptable. You must depart immediately."

Keiko understood what she was talking about, to some degree.

She was never told outright, no one had walked up to her and said much, but she'd pieced things together based on what she heard. What she knew was this: Varcon messed with Kaori somehow, Kaori killed him for it, Kaori escaped Jade and was living here with her and the others. She didn't particularly care because, well, she knew Varcon was a piece of shit and that Kaori was too good of a person to kill senselessly. She probably had a very good reason for what she did.

She hadn't expected anything like this to come out of it though.

"B-But, surely," Keiko responded, "you've heard why she did this," she said, even though she didn't know the details.

"Regardless of the circumstances, how this looks is that we, the Zayamas, are sponsoring a killer. I will not have it. Such a stain on our reputation cannot be tolerated."

"How many people even know that I am here?" Keiko asked.

"Enough," her grandmother replied. "More than enough. Now, quit your whining and get your affairs in order."

"What!?" Keiko felt herself getting angrier by the second.

"I have decided to be generous enough to give you a week to prepare. Once that's done, you are to leave."

"I... Grandmother, I am an adult, I refuse!" Keiko stated.

And she was slapped for it. She didn't even register what had just happened until a few seconds passed and the stinging set in.

"Preposterous," her grandmother replied. "An adult would have their Spirit Eye awoken. You have no such thing. Even if you were thirty years old, to the Zayamas, you are still a child." She heard a chair slide back and footsteps go to her left. "A week. If you fail to show up to Jade after that, I will send relatives to personally come and get you. Save yourself the shame and show up on your own."

Just like that, the woman walked out of the house.

Keiko raised a hand and held it to her cheek. She felt tears springing up at the corners of her eyes.

"Sweetie," she heard Metsumi say, footsteps drawing closer to her, "are you okay?"

"Y-You heard that?" Keiko asked.

"She's a very loud woman, even by my standards." Metsumi chuckled a little. Suddenly, Keiko was being hugged. "It'll be fine, don't worry."

"... What am I supposed to do?" Keiko asked, choked up.

Metsumi had no answer.

They remained in that embrace for a while, until Keiko told the older woman she was okay and Metsumi went back to her daughter. Keiko stood up and walked back to her and Ash's room. She laid down on the bed and put her hands on her stomach, breathing in as she shook her head. This is awful. She thought.

She didn't know how long she was like that, but a few minutes later, the door opened and she heard footsteps coming closer.

"Keiko?" Kaori asked.

"Yeah?" She replied, turning away from the voice though. She didn't want the Savior to see her like this.

"Uhm..." Kaori sat down on the bed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Metsumi told us what your grandmother said, how are you feeling?"

"... Like trash," Keiko sighed. "I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you two, we have so much to do."

Another pair of footsteps came but didn't come close to the bed.

"Uh, we'll think of something," she heard Ash say, with an unusually soft tone, "maybe Satsuhiro can help. But, we'll figure something out."

Keiko smiled a little.

"I..." She took a shaky breath. "I don't know. Maybe. Hopefully, we can do something about this. I... I really like the two of you."

"Aw!" Kaori wrapped herself around Keiko and the blind girl couldn't help but chuckle.

I... Keiko thought. I need to fix this. I don't want to lose them.

---

Kasumi

When the Savior got back to her home, she flopped face-first onto her bed, closed her eyes, and didn't reopen them for several hours. She didn't plan on getting up to do anything either. She certainly didn't feel like eating tonight, nor did she plan on doing anything Savior-related. The mages up at the palace didn't need her input, they could figure out a solution to the portal problem by themselves.

Overall, today had been a very good reminder of why she retired.

Sadly, it didn't seem like the world wanted her to sleep for too long. A knock at her door woke her up and she groaned as she got off her bed.

"Coming!" She yelled out.

She walked through her house and down the stairs to answer the front door, hoping it would be anyone at all that wasn't related to the Saviors. When she opened the door and found a basic-looking man in a tattered white shirt and ripped shorts, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes?" She asked.

"A letter, kona." The man replied, using a formal word native to Pearl that essentially meant 'friend'. He handed her an envelope, bowed, and walked away.

Kasumi closed the door and walked over to a chair she hadn't cleaned in ages, sitting down and ripping the mail up.

"What the...?"

When she saw who had sent it, her eyes widened and her lips parted of their own volition. This letter was coming from Jonoko Matsubo, her ex-husband.

Memories passed by her eyes, ones she thought she'd forgotten.

--

Kasumi was crying her eyes out. Surrounding her were so many people from Pearl, acquaintances, relatives, friends, and yet, not one of them was the person she cared about the most. No, that person was lying in the black coffin in front of her. A hand made circles on her back as she couldn't even bring herself to look at it.

"Kasumi," Jonoko said, "it's okay. She's in the after-realm now."

His words did absolutely nothing to soothe her.

His words wouldn't erase the fact that her daughter had suffered a terrible fate at the hands of monsters simply because she couldn't be there to defend her.

She cursed the day she was chosen. She cursed the boy she'd saved that day. She cursed everyone who pushed her to become a 'hero'.

--

She stared at the hastily written words on the paper with confusion. How long has it been? She wondered. What could he want now?

Shaking her head, she tried to calm herself down and read what was said.

Dear Kasumi,

I hope you have been okay since everything happened. I wish I could have a better conversation with you at the moment, knowing it's been so long since we've spoken properly. However, I am writing you now because something has come up and I am hoping you will arrive sooner than the other help I've asked for. I will keep this short, as I know you've always been the type that likes to get to the point quickly. A portal has opened up outside of my village. Demons have been spotted roaming around the village's perimeter. We are afraid this could mean some sort of attack is imminent. I have already sent word to the Palace and to the Council at Jade, but in the case that they don't arrive in time, I am writing you now. I am still living in the same village, Velnum, east of Pearl. You remember where it is, right? Please, I beg of you to come help.

With fondness, Jonoko.

Kasumi took a deep breath.

She didn't want anything to do with this, but she also understood that with Pearl's focus on the portal that appeared outside their walls, and with Jade being so far away, there was a high likelihood that if anything happened, the other help Jonoko asked for wouldn't come.

Ugh, she shook her head.

She didn't particularly hold her ex-husband in high regard. He'd left her all those years ago and only now when he needed help, did he ever reach out to her. However, at the same time, she understood two things.

One, it wasn't like she made it easy for him to connect with her after their daughter's passing. She had all but closed herself off.

The second was that the situation did indeed seem desperate. No one else would probably move to help as fast as she could.

So, she stared down at the letter.

I... She paced back and forth for a few seconds. Eventually, she took a deep breath. I'll just go see what's up. She decided.

With that thought, she packed a few things up and walked out into the nighttime streets.