Canary POV

Night had long fell as ARF gathered for dinner at nine in the evening after Hawk and Dove trained and planned for the next day. None of us disturbed them in their preparation for tomorrow.

I noticed that Hawk and Dove were more relaxed and gathered my courage and asked, “How did Kotel avoid Flare Blitz?”

“I theorized before that Flare Blitz could be barely avoided on reflex. The interval is extremely short.” Explained Hawk.

“Somewhere in the upper half of 0.08 and 0.09 seconds.” Added Dove.

While I was in awe of Dove’s accuracy, Kiwi asked what I wanted to ask, “You can distinguish such short intervals of time?”

“Yes. I’m good at that. Unfortunately, I cannot react that quickly. While not as much as Hawk, I think a lot when fighting. At those time intervals, dodging is only possible for people with high reflexes and nothing in mind.”

“The general plan for Dove against Blitz doesn’t require her to dodge Flare Blitz on reflex though.”

“What about Blitz’ second Ability?” asked Kiwi.

“Probably an Ability that allows the Player to sacrifice any amount Health for a stronger strike. Difficult or impossible to block. Since Flare Blitz has no additional effects, this second Ability probably increases in power the more Health sacrificed.”

“Can Dove win?” I asked.

“Kotel was very close. Granted, he did miraculously avoid the Flare Blitz and Blitz was trying to hide his second Ability. Dove should stand a chance. Especially since, Dove unlocked her second Ability after defeating Razor.”

I was only slightly surprised by the news. After all, most of the top Players unlocked them already. Dove and Hawk explained to us her new Ability for the next few minutes.

---

“What about you Hawk?” I added, “Kin is the favorite to win is he not?”

“I’ll do my best. Without knowing his second Ability, I cannot say anything for certain.” Answered Hawk.

“Speaking of second Abilities, you managed to hide yours as well.”

“Indeed. Since Kin is a Wood Paladin, his second Ability will likely be more on a protection one like his first one. These types of Abilities tend to be less useful in Duels.”

“I’m curious now. What’s Swan’s, Zoe’s, and Gin’s second Abilities?” I asked.

“Swan’s new Ability makes her pierce the ground with her spear like Earth Spike; however, other details were yet to be revealed. Zoe’s is Purifying Water. It removes all negative statuses on a single target. If the target is not inflicted with any negative status, the target will be protected from the next negative status inflicted on him for twenty seconds. Cooldown is also twenty seconds. There are no details about Gin’s yet.”

Dove POV

After a few minutes of talking, everyone else decided to call it a night. Ever since Hawk confessed to me, they always left to sleep earlier to give us some time alone. To be honest, I was worried they might eavesdrop on us at first, but they never betrayed us. Of course, they expect us to tell them once I accept Hawk’s confession.

“You’re worried, aren’t you?” I asked as we both sat at the sofa.

“There’s no use worrying if worrying won’t help you.” He replied.

“I know that’s what you think; however, it is human nature to worry. You are no exemption. In fact, because of your talents, you worry more than most.”

“It’s fine. After all, I’m the one who knows best how to remove other people’s worries.”

“Indeed, you are. You may not know this, but I kept an eye on you a lot in university since I knew you liked me. Sometimes, you would do out-of-character out of the blue. I didn’t understand. In fact, I thought you were retarded; however, it only appeared so because my analyses were focused on you alone. When I finally included others as well, it dawned to me. You did these ridiculous things to keep things relaxed: when people were heavily stressed, when they were on the tip of lashing out, or when their emotions were about to burst.”

“Stalker! I’m calling the police!” joked Hawk.

“Even so, there was no one there to do the same for you.”

“I do the same for ARF as well. Are you saying you will do it for me?”

“I’ll do my best. At the very least, I’m as good as you at reading people when you are distracted. Even during these times, your reading capabilities are far beyond that of normal people. The larger difference would be knowing how to fix it. Unlike you, I never played the role of the person fixing everything in the background. While I may able to see and understand your problem, I may not have the solution to fix it.”

“Just being there for me is enough…” replied Hawk timidly.

“My presence does help. You might be satisfied by that. But I’m not! I want to do my best for you as well!”

“I… my grandparents spoil me. They give me what I want whenever I ask. That’s why I grew never asking people for anything. I didn’t want to be a spoiled brat. I manipulate the circumstances so people’s natural course of action is to give me what I want. When I do this, I feel I have earned what people give me.”

“I realized this from our common friends’ stories of your family. That is why think of this as something you have earned for bettering the hearts and minds of many and enduring the opportunities of being spoiled. From now on, I will be the only person to spoil you and to relief your negative mentions.”

What!?

I expected Hawk would be emotional at this moment, but he broke down in complete tears and began seemingly lost all energy in the body. This time was even worse than the incident with Alcor. In fact, this is the worse I think is possible for a person to break down. I gently caught him to stop his fall. I stood and embraced him. Hawk immediately buried his face in my lackluster chest and cried. Even under these conditions, I would have pushed him away; however, I couldn’t sense a shred malice from him, so I let him be.

After a while, he mumbled, “Why?... Why do you have to say the exact the same words as her? Stop! I don’t want to lose you. I can’t! I onto held unto life since I promised her to live on. Why now when I’m starting to find a new purpose? If I lose you too…”

Hawk’s word about the person he held dear the most popped in my mind. The person he claimed to be greater than the Canary’s sister who has achieved inhumane feats. I wanted to know more… about what happened… about Hawk…

Hawk did not say a single word more. I wanted to ask. I wanted to ask so badly. But I knew. He’s not ready yet. He himself will tell me when he’s ready. That is why I will be patient and wait.

Eventually, Hawk fell asleep crying nonstop. He would always be mumbling a name I could not discern.

I lay him down to sleep, but even in his unconscious, he did not let me release my embrace. He held tightly to me like a child to his mother.

Hawk grew up with his grandparents and without his mother. This was probably the first time someone did this to him.

Instead, I lay down with him, still in embrace. Tears flowed endlessly even in his sleep.

---

Weaving a story from the limited information I had, I could infer this:

Hawk lost someone he loved more than any other person in the world sometime before university. Family, best friend, or lover I have yet to confirm. This person is overly talented yet ` Hawk at the very least can keep up with this person. “She” confirms it’s a girl. The girl shouldn’t be far from his age, since she would serve as Hawk’s mother figure if she was. Hawk let the girl spoil him, implying that that the girl is not younger than him. The girl is likely quite similar to me both in appearance and personality. I knew Hawk really liked my appearance since he first saw me. I also said the exact same words as her. Hawk’s communication article in university was about choosing the best word between its synonyms in formal writing. This detail meant Hawk was very particular about word choice. For me to use the exact same words as her led me to conclude the likelihood of similar personalities. The girl likely died by human causes. Hawk was very ground to reality. As much as he dislikes concepts such as destiny, he never fights it. If he lost her to any event out of humans’ control, he would have accepted it and moved on even a little bit. But he had yet to take a single step. This meant Hawk believes until this day that he could have saved her. Hawk directly relates spoiling him to her death, implying that spoiling him was a major factor to her death.