Chapter Twenty-Two — I Love You Too, Idiot
📍 The Capital — MMM Building | Morning
The building was nearly a hundred feet tall.
Daishi stopped walking and stared up at it with his mouth open. "This place is immense."
"Central hub for adventurers and magic materials for the entire country," Kavato said, already moving toward the entrance. "S and SS rank quests are posted here. You won't find those anywhere else."
Inside was bigger than outside suggested. The main hall stretched wide and high, every surface stone and brass and old — the kind of old that meant important, not neglected. Quest boards lined one wall, covered floor to ceiling. The adventurers moving through the space were a different category from the ones back in Ramiya. Kiyoshi felt it immediately — the density of presence in the room, the weight of people who had been doing dangerous things for a very long time.
"The highest quest rank at the bar board was A," Kiyoshi said, reading a board near the entrance. "SS rank starts at five hundred large gold coins reward. Just for the monster."
"The materials on top of that," Kavato added. "Sometimes another five hundred."
Sakura was scanning the room quietly, her eyes moving. "The power coming off some of these people—" She stopped. "I can barely sense a few of them. They're masking it."
"S rank or above," Kavato said. "Don't stare. Extended eye contact with someone at that level is considered a challenge. It can go badly."
Sakura looked away.
They completed the entry formalities and made their way through to the MMM section — Magic Material Management — where equipment was checked, materials assessed, new inventions and formulas registered. It was quieter here. Smaller offices, less traffic.
The registration office had one desk, one chair behind it, and one witch asleep at that chair with her head on her arms.
Kavato tapped her shoulder gently.
The witch — young-looking, messy hair, ink on her fingers — blinked awake and looked at them with the specific expression of someone who had been woken up in the middle of something good. "Why are you here again?"
"We're here to register two items," Kavato said. "A new alchemical formula, and an invention."
Daishi stepped forward, chest out. "The 3rd Eye. My invention. I am registering it today."
The witch — Fumi — raised an eyebrow. "Two items in one day. That hasn't happened in 10 years."
Kiyoshi blinked. "That long?"
"Registration of genuinely new things is rare." Fumi sat up and reached for her scanning tool — a flat disc that glowed when passed over a magical item, reading its frequency and confirming its originality. "Guild cards out."
Sakura looked at Daishi. "Do you have a guild card?"
Daishi produced a card from his coat. "Blacksmith guild. I registered when I was twelve."
Fumi ran the scanner over the 3rd Eye, then over Kavato's sleeping potion vials. The disc glowed differently for each — steady for the periscope, pulsing for the potion. She noted something in her register.
Fumi was finishing the second registration when the door opened.
The woman who walked in through the window made the room notice her before she said a word.
She was tall — a full head above most people in the office. Purple coat, open at the front, over a fitted black dress that showed her shoulders and stopped well above the knee. Black hair falling loose past her shoulders. Purple eyes sharp enough to cut glass, moving over the room like she was deciding what she found interesting and what she didn't. Her body was the kind that made people forget mid-sentence what they had been saying — long smooth legs, wide hips, a chest that the coat barely even tried to conceal. She carried something around her that wasn't quite presence and wasn't quite danger — something in between, the feeling of a door you weren't sure you should open.
She spotted Fumi, and her whole face changed. A smile broke out — warm, genuine, completely disarming. Like a completely different person lived behind the sharp eyes and had just decided to show up.
Daishi's nose bled. He turned to face the wall.
Kavato looked at the ceiling with great interest.
Kiyoshi looked at her. Then very deliberately looked at the registration desk.
Fumi looked up. "Why are you here?"
The woman paused. The smile stayed. Something behind it tilted — she was genuinely searching. "I forgot," she said simply. "Why am I here again?"
No embarrassment. No hurry. As if forgetting why she had walked into a government office was a thing that happened to reasonable people all the time and she had made her peace with it.
Then her eyes found Kiyoshi.
She looked at him — really looked, the way someone looks when they've seen something that doesn't fit the pattern they expected. Her head tilted a fraction. Her lips moved, something murmured to herself, too quiet for anyone else to catch. Her eyes glinted with something — mischief, or recognition, or both, impossible to tell which.
Fumi cleared her throat. "This is Mahori. She's a regular. Mahori — adventurers. Registering today."
Mahori's gaze stayed on Kiyoshi. She smiled — slower this time, different from the one she'd given Fumi. This one had something playing underneath it. "How about a quest," she said, directly to him, like the others were furniture. "I have one in Heraki. One day. Ten gold total — two each for your group."
Kiyoshi's eyebrows went up. Ten gold for one day was exceptional. "I'm in."
"Kiyoshi." Sakura's voice was even. "We are already on a quest."
"It's one day," Kiyoshi said. "We're already in the capital. Heraki is right next door."
Kavato shrugged. "I don't mind. Count me in."
Mahori smiled. "Wonderful. Kiyoshi — meet me at the town bar tonight. Midnight. Come alone. I'll give you the details."
She left before anyone could add anything to that.
The room was quiet for a moment.
What is with that witch, Sakura thought. Is he getting a crush on her? No. Impossible. Why does he have to go to a bar with her alone at midnight? Who am I going to sleep with tonight? I'm still scared to sleep alone in this unknown place.
She was aware that this was her ego talking.
She was annoyed at her ego anyway.
📍 The Capital — Registration Office | Midday
Kavato received his alchemy master card from Fumi at the end of the registration process.
It was a small thing — standard size, his name and formula noted on the back, the official MMM seal pressed into the corner. He held it for a moment and looked at it.
He didn't say anything. But the way he held it said enough.
"Congratulations," Sakura said.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
Daishi received his inventor registration card with considerably less quiet. He held it above his head and made an announcement to the general office that the era of invention had officially begun, which Fumi received with the expression of someone who had seen this before and was choosing not to engage with it.
📍 The Capital — Streets and Dinner | Afternoon
They spent the afternoon in the city.
The capital was different from Ramiya — wider streets, more traffic, food stalls from every region of Yavior running along the main avenues. Daishi tried something from every third stall and kept detailed mental notes on all of them. Kavato knew the city well enough to navigate by memory. Kiyoshi walked beside Sakura.
The golden light of late afternoon came through the buildings at a low angle, hitting the street at the colour of warm metal. Kiyoshi glanced at Sakura when she stopped to look at something at a stall — a small carved figure, which she turned over in her hands and put back without buying. He looked away before she turned around.
They found a restaurant Kavato recommended and ate properly for the first time in two days. Daishi ordered three dishes and ate all of them. Kavato ate slowly and talked about the capital's history. Kiyoshi ate and didn't say much. Sakura ate and watched everyone and didn't say much either.
It was a good afternoon.
📍 The Capital — Hotel | Evening
Two rooms. Daishi looked at the keys, looked at the group, and grinned.
"Kiyoshi and Sakura sharing again?" His eyes were very bright. "Are you two dating?"
Kiyoshi's face went red. "Uh—"
"No," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "Kiyoshi is afraid of the dark. That's all. Who would fall for him anyway." She glanced at Kiyoshi. "Right?"
Kiyoshi laughed. It was mostly a real laugh. The part of it that wasn't quite real stayed behind his eyes for about two seconds and then he put it away.
"Right," he said.
Daishi nodded sagely. "I see."
📍 The Capital — Town Bar | Midnight
The street was quieter at midnight. A few people moving, lamp-lit windows, the bar ahead with warm light coming from inside.
Kiyoshi didn't notice the figure in the dark coat following him at a distance.
The bar was loud and warm and smelled of spilled drink and old wood. Mahori was already at a corner table — purple coat thrown over the back of the chair beside her, a cup loose in her hand, her black hair half undone from earlier. Her black dress sat low, barely holding its position on her shoulders. She had been there long enough that the staff knew her cup and kept it full without being asked.
She saw Kiyoshi the moment he walked in. Her eyes — slightly glassy, lit from inside with something that had nothing to do with the drink — found him across the room and a slow smile spread across her face. She raised one hand and waved him over, unhurried, like she had known exactly when he would arrive.
He made his way to the table. Sat down.
She looked at him over the rim of her cup with those purple eyes — amused, warm, and carrying something underneath that he couldn't name. The smile didn't leave. It just changed shape slightly, the mischief in it sharpening.
"Have some," she said, pushing a cup toward him. "Best they've got. And the best company to drink it with." She laughed softly at her own words, eyes glinting.
The bartender glanced over from behind the counter. "Got a young one tonight."
Mahori's smile widened, giggly and unbothered. "He's special."
"I don't drink," Kiyoshi said.
She set her cup down and leaned forward, her finger rising to trace a slow circle near his cheek, following the line of his face like she was drawing something. Her voice dropped, teasing and soft. "Just one sip?" she purred.
Kiyoshi's hands fidgeted under the table. His cheeks were already red. "Okay," he said. "Just some."
He took a small sip. The taste hit sharp and warm and spread through him faster than it had any right to.
Mahori watched him with open delight — the look of someone who had just confirmed something they already suspected. Then she leaned back in her chair, unhurried, and lifted one long smooth leg up onto the edge of his chair beside him. The hem of her dress slid back with the movement, showing most of her thigh, and she left it there with a slow playful sway, not commenting on it, just smiling at him like nothing unusual was happening at all.
She leaned in close, her hair brushing forward, and whispered near his ear.
The words had a structure. A rhythm. Not conversation — something else entirely.
His thoughts tilted sideways.
She stood, wobbled, grabbed his arm and held on — warm and close and smelling faintly of whatever she'd been drinking. "Take me to my room?" she said, her voice soft and sweet and just on the edge of a laugh. "I'm completely powerless like this. Help me and I'll give you a proper massage."
Kiyoshi stood, his head moving strangely. "All right," he said, from somewhere slightly far away.
Her free hand came up. One finger rested light against his lips. Her purple eyes were half-lidded, glassy, dancing with something. "There's some drink on your lips," she murmured, leaning in slowly, her smile curving. "Let me—"
"Stop."
The voice came from behind him. Controlled and very, very cold.
Sakura stood in the bar entrance, still in her coat from the street, face red with something that was not embarrassment. Her eyes were on Mahori.
"What were you whispering to him," she said. It was not a question.
Mahori blinked, straightening slightly, the drunk act settling into something more neutral. "I didn't know you were here. It was a mind-control spell. Nothing serious."
"Nothing serious," Sakura repeated.
"He has a strong will — it only lasted a minute. I was having fun. He didn't say he didn't want it." Mahori tilted her head. "Why are you this concerned? You're not that close."
The temperature around Sakura dropped noticeably.
"We are going," she said to Kiyoshi.
"Meet me tomorrow morning," Mahori called after them, already picking her coat back up. "I'll explain the actual quest then."
She watched them leave. Then, quietly, to herself: "Oh boy. The chance to examine him is gone. Something inside him — a curse? No, curses don't act like that. Never mind." She picked up her cup. "One more."
📍 The Capital — Streets | After Midnight
Kiyoshi couldn't walk a straight line.
The mind-control spell had worn off but whatever Mahori had put in the drink was still working. He was upright but not reliable — leaning, mumbling, his feet not quite agreeing with each other on direction.
Sakura looked at him for a moment.
Then she crouched, pulled his arms over her shoulders, and stood with him on her back.
She walked.
The streets were mostly empty. The golden streetlamps lit the way ahead in long intervals. It was cold — cold enough that her breath came out in small white clouds when she exhaled. Behind her, Kiyoshi's arms were draped over her shoulders and he was smiling at nothing with the loose happiness of someone whose filter had entirely stopped working.
"Why are you so dumb," she said quietly.
This is embarrassing, she thought. Carrying him like this.
But it's kind of—
She didn't finish that thought.
"Hey," Kiyoshi said, into the back of her shoulder. "Sakura."
"What."
"You know what?"
"What."
"I love you."
She kept walking.
"I'm going to work hard," he continued, his voice slow and warm and completely unguarded. "I'm going to surpass you. I'm going to protect you. You keep getting hurt because of me. You keep protecting me and I just — I heal you after. That's all I do. I feel like I'm good for nothing." His arms tightened slightly. "I'll never let you get hurt again."
Sakura's face was already red. She kept her eyes on the road ahead.
"Shut up," she said. Her voice came out softer than she intended. "You idiot. I love you too." She kept walking. "I protect you because if I get hurt, I know you'll heal me. Even if it costs you everything. But if you get hurt — who heals you? Nobody. So I have to make sure you don't." She exhaled a white cloud into the cold air. "So stop feeling useless. You're the reason I can fight like I do."
"I'll never let you hurt," Kiyoshi said.
"I'll never let you hurt either," she said back.
Kiyoshi was quiet for a few steps. Then: "After we get married, I'll build a palace. We'll have — one, two, five — children. And grandchildren." A pause. "What will we name them. We need one cute little princess. And a strong boy."
"Hey." Her voice cracked slightly. "Stop. Where are you going with this."
Far behind them, almost invisible in the darkness between two lamps, a periscope poked out of a hedge at street level.
Daishi, flat on his stomach in the cold, watched them through it with the expression of a man witnessing something sacred.
You are such an idiot, Master, he thought. Such a complete idiot.
📍 The Hotel Room | That Night
Sakura set Kiyoshi down on the bed.
He was already half asleep, still smiling. She pulled his shoes off, pulled the blanket up, and stood there for a moment looking at him.
Then she got in on her side.
She lay there in the dark — which was easier with him breathing beside her, it was always easier — and stared at the ceiling.
I love you too, she had said.
She had said it on a cold street to someone who wouldn't remember it.
She closed her eyes.
She pulled the blanket up and hugged him the way she had learned to sleep — close, arms around him, his breathing slow and even under her hands. The dark was just the dark. It wasn't anything else.
She slept.
📍 The Hotel Room | Morning
"Good morning."
Kiyoshi opened his eyes. Sakura was already sitting up, looking at him with an expression he couldn't quite read.
"My head," he said. "Everything hurts."
"You drank something Mahori gave you."
"I remember the bar. I remember sitting down." He pressed his hands over his eyes. "After that — nothing. What happened?"
Sakura looked at him for a moment.
"Nothing," she said. Her voice was even. "Not a thing."
"Did something happen?"
"No."
Kiyoshi looked at her. She looked back at him with a perfectly neutral face.
"...Okay," he said.
Down the hall, eye pressed to the keyhole, Daishi shook his head slowly.
Master, he thought. You are such an idiot.
✦ CODEX — Chapter Twenty-Two ✦
World Archive: Entries Relevant to Chapter Twenty-Two
ENTRY 086 — THE MMM (MAGIC MATERIAL MANAGEMENT)
The capital's central administrative body for adventurers and magic materials. Houses S and SS rank quests — unavailable at regional boards. Also manages registration of new magical inventions and alchemical formulas.
New registrations are rare — two in one day had not occurred in two to three years before Kavato and Daishi's simultaneous registrations.
ENTRY 088 — MAGIC TYPES: OVERVIEW
Three base sources: nature magic (trees, stone, living things — elves carry an abundance of it), holy magic (the root of all healing), dark magic (curses, harm, death — used by mages and assassins who specialise in it).
Demonic magic: a corrupted form of dark magic. Used exclusively by monsters. Origins not fully understood. Forbidden for human use.
An adventurer's MP is their surplus magic — more than the body needs for its own functions. Common people have just enough for vital processes. Those with very little magic are capped at F or G rank and limited to minor household-level spells.