Type Six - Path's Pain
It was late by the time Nine and Manami arrived back at Suzaku Peristylium. Kurasame was surprised that they managed to complete their mission within a day and granted them a free week, because the rest of the pairs have not made it back yet.
"We make a pretty good team I'll admit." Nine said, legs on the coffee table the spare room for Class Zero.
"I guess," Manami said, drying her wet hair with a towel, "I wonder how the others are going?
"They'll be fine. More importantly, what's up with that crystal gem?" Nine asked, eyeing the Crystal of Wisdom, which sat motionlessly on the coffee table.
"I don't know. When I touched it, I heard voices in my head. One I could hear clearly was, 'The first piece has been retrieved, nine more to be collected'."
Manami said, repeating what she heard in her head earlier.
Nine frowned with a raised eyebrow, "...You a psychic or something?"
"I'm not a psychic, but I heard the voice perfectly." Manami's eye twitched noticing that Nine didn't believe her.
"Whatever. It's probably just your head. We did just have a fight with a dragon after all." The dragoon said, reaching for his bottle.
Manami said nothing, instead, putting her hand into her pocket to grab something. She pulled out her paladin crest and blinked.
"Hm?"
"What?"
Nine sat up, feet onto the ground and stared at Manami. She held up her crest to Nine and he noticed the Kingdom of Serpentania's insignia in the middle.
Circling the insignia was what appeared to be holes, but they weren't deep. The holes looked to be made for small gems, just like the crystal gem Manami retrieved from the dragon.
"The crystal gem we got from that Crystal Dragon fits exactly into one of the holes." She grabbed the small gem and placed it into the hole, watching it as
it sinks in and finally embedded itself into the crest.
The Crystal of Wisdom's gentle blue and pink shone from the crest, adding more colour to the gold and blue crest. Nine whistled.
"Nice. So what about the other holes?" He asked.
"Maybe...this is how I can gain my paladin powers. I have to collect nine other gems." She said.
Nine eyed the crest in her hands. If that is true, then that dragon they fought carried the first gem, meaning the other nine gems are carried by other beasts. And for some reason, that worried the dragoon.
[][][]
"So the Crystal of Wisdom has been placed into one of the slots of your paladin crest. This does seem like a possibilty for you to receive your paladin powers." Khalia said, looking at the paladin crest Manami placed onto his desk.
"The first crystal gem was carried by the Crystal Dragon. The rest are carried by other beasts." Manami said.
"I see. Well now, if we find another beast, we shall inform you. However, you have completed your mission for today, so take this time to rest and talk
with your friends from Class Thirteen." Khalia smiled at the dark haired brunette, before handing back her paladin crest.
Manami nodded, bowed to the principal of Suzaku Peristylium and made her way to the spare room. As soon as she stepped foot into the room, two arms
wrapped themselves around her.
"Kya!"
"Hello Manami!"
Manami turned her head to see Jack grinning at her. She smiled awkwardly.
"U-Um, hello to you too Jack." She said as the katana wielding student let go of her.
He grinned, "You and Nine are the first back from your mission hey? You two either worked well together or you did so horribly that you managed to finish your mission first."
"Hey!" Manami exclaimed, slapping Jack lightly on the arm.
He burst out laughing, "I'm kidding! Good job though."
Manami smiled and Ace approached her, hands behind his back with a smile on his face, "It's great to see that you're well Manami. I'm impressed you managed to finish your mission so quickly."
"Ace! When did you and Jack get back?"
"Just a few minutes ago. We saw and figured you were here too. Speaking of which, here." Ace brought his hands to the front to reveal a small bouquet of Galbana Lillies.
"Oh wow Ace, they're beautiful. You went to the deserts?" Manami asked, accepting the bouquet.
"Yeah. Not a pleasant experience." Ace frowned and Manami noticed some sand on his uniform.
She turned to look at Jack and noticed his uniform was covered with specks of sand as well. Manami raised an eyebrow.
"Sandstorms?"
"You have no idea Manami."
Manami chuckled, "Well, you're back and that's all that matters. What was your mission anyways?"
"Exterminating flans threatening a village in the desert," Jack grinned, "Nothing we couldn't handle of course."
"Sounds like a handful though. Flans are really annoying." Manami frowned, remembering her past encounter with the jelly like monster.
"We had a few problems, but it wasn't all that hard. I'm surprised there wasn't any signs of a large beast though. They usually show up when we
complete our mission." Ace said.
"Eh? You didn't encounter a boss?" Manami asked.
"Yeah. Did you?"
"A Crystal Dragon."
Jack whistled lowly, "That must have been a pain to kill."
"Not really. Look for an enemy's weak spot and hit it. It's not that hard." Manami said.
"That's right! The dragon got its ass kicked!"
All three turned to see Nine leaning on the door frame, a large smirk on his face. Ace frowned.
"It may be really easy for you because you have a habit of attacking stronger enemies." He said.
Nine shrugged, "So? You're just jealous that you're not as strong as I am."
"But you don't use your brain. At least I think before I act like an idiot."
"What did you say?"
Manami and Jack watched uneasily as the two blondes started to glared at eachother. Ace's glare was more calm and serious, whilst Nine's was
menacing and rough. Manami shoved her bouquet into Jack's arms and stood between Ace and Nine.
"Enough, the both of you. There's no need to glare at eachother and there's certainly no need to taunt eachother." She said, but Ace frowned at her.
"He didn't do anything to harm you right?" He asked, making Nine growl.
"What do you take me for Ace?" Nine growled out, eyes narrowing with every word, "It's not like I wanted to kill her. If I wanted to, wouldn't I have done
it sooner?"
Manami's eyes went wide as Ace narrowed his eyes, "What are you trying to say Nine? Are you saying that Manami is an obstacle?"
"No, but if you like her so much, why don't you be her partner instead? If her being my partner is going to have you at my throat every five minutes then I
don't need her!" With that, Nine left the room, making sure to slam the door shut.
Manami frowned, taking the bouquet from Jack, before heading out of the room too. Ace stopped her just as she stepped out of the room.
"Are you alright?" He asked, concern written all over his face.
"I'm alright Ace. I just need some time alone now." Manami smiled, but the pale blonde knew that it was forced.
The card wielder watched as she made her way back to her room and closed the door silently. Jack folded his arms, his usual grin no where in sight.
"Aren't you going to go after her? You and Nine are both at fault for this."
"She needs some time alone. If I did follow her, I'd probably make the situation worse. I just hope she hasn't started to distrust me."
[][][]
"Galbana Lillies are so pretty!" Sayuri's eyes sparkled as she eyed the red flowers in the vase, "Where'd you get them?"
Manami lowered the book she was reading, "Ace gave it to me."
"Aw! That's so sweet of him! He likes you!" Sayuri teased, walking up to the dark haired brunette, who scoffed.
"So says you. There is no way he'd like a failure like me. Ow!" Manami rubbed her head where Sayuri had hit it.
"Stop calling yourself that! You're not a failure, don't listen to what those jerks say!" Sayuri scolded, referring to the villagers back in Manami's kingdom.
"Come on Sayu, it's true. That's why I've abandoned my title as princess." Manami said, getting up from her bed and placed her book on her desk.
She went to her wardrobe and grabbed some clothes, "I'm going to take a shower. Do whatever you want, just don't break anything."
"You got it!" Sayuri grinned, making Manami chuckle, before she made her way into her bathroom.
The blonde let the grin on her face disappeared as she grabbed Manami's PDA and pressed on Nine's number. Sayuri waited for him to answer and when
he did, she narrowed her eyes.
"Oi, what did you do to Manami? She's way too quiet when I went to visit her." She said in a serious tone, not the usual happy and cheerful tone she
always uses.
"Who the hell are you? And why are you using Koizumi's PDA?" Came Nine's rough reply and Sayuri pushed back the urge to roll her eyes.
"Listen, if you do anything to hurt Manami, we, Class Thirteen, will bring down Class Zero, you hear me? Because I am Manami's friend, Sayuri Hamano
and I don't like seeing my friend hurt or upset." Sayuri threatened Nine, who scoffed at the other end.
"Whatever. Class Thirteen is nothing. If you do so much as to try to attack our class, we won't hesitate to do the same to you Hamano."
"You don't scare me Nine. Just don't hurt Manami and we won't bother you. You and the rest of Class Zero, are not in our good books right now."
"Tch, tough talk for a ditzy girl like you Hamano. Didn't you used to like us?"
Sayuri closed her eyes before re-opening them, "I never liked you guys. I only acted that way because I wanted to fool you and know your secrets to why your class is so superior."
"Ha! So even the ditzy moron of Class Thirteen has guts and strength! No wonder why you guys are known as the Rebellious Class!"
"We're rebellious but so are you Nine," Sayuri looked at her fingernails, "More importantly is Manami's paladin crest leveling up?"
"Leveling up? What the hell are you talking about Hamano?"
"What I meant is, is Manami's paladin crest gaining powers for her to become the Serpent Paladin?"
"You mean the gem she placed into her crest? She needs the other nine."
Sayuri stayed silent, "I see. Well then, that's all I wanted to know. Bye."
"Oi, wait!"
The blonde cut the line and sighed. She looked down at the PDA before punching in her student ID. Sayuri then stood up and looked out the window, a
troubled expression on her face and mostly in her emerald green eyes.
"...She's just one step closer to become the Serpent Paladin...and a step closer to pain." She muttered.
At that moment, she heard the water stopped running the shower and sat on Manami's desk, plastering a grin on her face. Manami exited the shower,
with a towel on her head which she used to dry her hair.
"I see you didn't try to destroy my room." Manami said.
"Why would I do that? What sort of friend would I be if I trashed your room?" Sayuri giggled and bounced over to Manami, "I put my student ID number
into your PDA so contact me whenever you need someone to talk to kay?"
Manami blinked a couple of times, before smiling softly, "Thank you Sayu. You're such a great friend."
Sayuri grinned one more time, before exiting her friend's room. As soon as she closed the door, she leaned her back against it as the grin slipped from
her face and into a straight line. She narrowed her eyes, before heading back to her own room, with Manami's paladin crest in her mind.
It was late by the time Nine and Manami arrived back at Suzaku Peristylium. Kurasame was surprised that they managed to complete their mission within a day and granted them a free week, because the rest of the pairs have not made it back yet.
"We make a pretty good team I'll admit." Nine said, legs on the coffee table the spare room for Class Zero.
"I guess," Manami said, drying her wet hair with a towel, "I wonder how the others are going?
"They'll be fine. More importantly, what's up with that crystal gem?" Nine asked, eyeing the Crystal of Wisdom, which sat motionlessly on the coffee table.
"I don't know. When I touched it, I heard voices in my head. One I could hear clearly was, 'The first piece has been retrieved, nine more to be collected'."
Manami said, repeating what she heard in her head earlier.
Nine frowned with a raised eyebrow, "...You a psychic or something?"
"I'm not a psychic, but I heard the voice perfectly." Manami's eye twitched noticing that Nine didn't believe her.
"Whatever. It's probably just your head. We did just have a fight with a dragon after all." The dragoon said, reaching for his bottle.
Manami said nothing, instead, putting her hand into her pocket to grab something. She pulled out her paladin crest and blinked.
"Hm?"
"What?"
Nine sat up, feet onto the ground and stared at Manami. She held up her crest to Nine and he noticed the Kingdom of Serpentania's insignia in the middle.
Circling the insignia was what appeared to be holes, but they weren't deep. The holes looked to be made for small gems, just like the crystal gem Manami retrieved from the dragon.
"The crystal gem we got from that Crystal Dragon fits exactly into one of the holes." She grabbed the small gem and placed it into the hole, watching it as
it sinks in and finally embedded itself into the crest.
The Crystal of Wisdom's gentle blue and pink shone from the crest, adding more colour to the gold and blue crest. Nine whistled.
"Nice. So what about the other holes?" He asked.
"Maybe...this is how I can gain my paladin powers. I have to collect nine other gems." She said.
Nine eyed the crest in her hands. If that is true, then that dragon they fought carried the first gem, meaning the other nine gems are carried by other beasts. And for some reason, that worried the dragoon.
[][][]
"So the Crystal of Wisdom has been placed into one of the slots of your paladin crest. This does seem like a possibilty for you to receive your paladin powers." Khalia said, looking at the paladin crest Manami placed onto his desk.
"The first crystal gem was carried by the Crystal Dragon. The rest are carried by other beasts." Manami said.
"I see. Well now, if we find another beast, we shall inform you. However, you have completed your mission for today, so take this time to rest and talk
with your friends from Class Thirteen." Khalia smiled at the dark haired brunette, before handing back her paladin crest.
Manami nodded, bowed to the principal of Suzaku Peristylium and made her way to the spare room. As soon as she stepped foot into the room, two arms
wrapped themselves around her.
"Kya!"
"Hello Manami!"
Manami turned her head to see Jack grinning at her. She smiled awkwardly.
"U-Um, hello to you too Jack." She said as the katana wielding student let go of her.
He grinned, "You and Nine are the first back from your mission hey? You two either worked well together or you did so horribly that you managed to finish your mission first."
"Hey!" Manami exclaimed, slapping Jack lightly on the arm.
He burst out laughing, "I'm kidding! Good job though."
Manami smiled and Ace approached her, hands behind his back with a smile on his face, "It's great to see that you're well Manami. I'm impressed you managed to finish your mission so quickly."
"Ace! When did you and Jack get back?"
"Just a few minutes ago. We saw and figured you were here too. Speaking of which, here." Ace brought his hands to the front to reveal a small bouquet of Galbana Lillies.
"Oh wow Ace, they're beautiful. You went to the deserts?" Manami asked, accepting the bouquet.
"Yeah. Not a pleasant experience." Ace frowned and Manami noticed some sand on his uniform.
She turned to look at Jack and noticed his uniform was covered with specks of sand as well. Manami raised an eyebrow.
"Sandstorms?"
"You have no idea Manami."
Manami chuckled, "Well, you're back and that's all that matters. What was your mission anyways?"
"Exterminating flans threatening a village in the desert," Jack grinned, "Nothing we couldn't handle of course."
"Sounds like a handful though. Flans are really annoying." Manami frowned, remembering her past encounter with the jelly like monster.
"We had a few problems, but it wasn't all that hard. I'm surprised there wasn't any signs of a large beast though. They usually show up when we
complete our mission." Ace said.
"Eh? You didn't encounter a boss?" Manami asked.
"Yeah. Did you?"
"A Crystal Dragon."
Jack whistled lowly, "That must have been a pain to kill."
"Not really. Look for an enemy's weak spot and hit it. It's not that hard." Manami said.
"That's right! The dragon got its ass kicked!"
All three turned to see Nine leaning on the door frame, a large smirk on his face. Ace frowned.
"It may be really easy for you because you have a habit of attacking stronger enemies." He said.
Nine shrugged, "So? You're just jealous that you're not as strong as I am."
"But you don't use your brain. At least I think before I act like an idiot."
"What did you say?"
Manami and Jack watched uneasily as the two blondes started to glared at eachother. Ace's glare was more calm and serious, whilst Nine's was
menacing and rough. Manami shoved her bouquet into Jack's arms and stood between Ace and Nine.
"Enough, the both of you. There's no need to glare at eachother and there's certainly no need to taunt eachother." She said, but Ace frowned at her.
"He didn't do anything to harm you right?" He asked, making Nine growl.
"What do you take me for Ace?" Nine growled out, eyes narrowing with every word, "It's not like I wanted to kill her. If I wanted to, wouldn't I have done
it sooner?"
Manami's eyes went wide as Ace narrowed his eyes, "What are you trying to say Nine? Are you saying that Manami is an obstacle?"
"No, but if you like her so much, why don't you be her partner instead? If her being my partner is going to have you at my throat every five minutes then I
don't need her!" With that, Nine left the room, making sure to slam the door shut.
Manami frowned, taking the bouquet from Jack, before heading out of the room too. Ace stopped her just as she stepped out of the room.
"Are you alright?" He asked, concern written all over his face.
"I'm alright Ace. I just need some time alone now." Manami smiled, but the pale blonde knew that it was forced.
The card wielder watched as she made her way back to her room and closed the door silently. Jack folded his arms, his usual grin no where in sight.
"Aren't you going to go after her? You and Nine are both at fault for this."
"She needs some time alone. If I did follow her, I'd probably make the situation worse. I just hope she hasn't started to distrust me."
[][][]
"Galbana Lillies are so pretty!" Sayuri's eyes sparkled as she eyed the red flowers in the vase, "Where'd you get them?"
Manami lowered the book she was reading, "Ace gave it to me."
"Aw! That's so sweet of him! He likes you!" Sayuri teased, walking up to the dark haired brunette, who scoffed.
"So says you. There is no way he'd like a failure like me. Ow!" Manami rubbed her head where Sayuri had hit it.
"Stop calling yourself that! You're not a failure, don't listen to what those jerks say!" Sayuri scolded, referring to the villagers back in Manami's kingdom.
"Come on Sayu, it's true. That's why I've abandoned my title as princess." Manami said, getting up from her bed and placed her book on her desk.
She went to her wardrobe and grabbed some clothes, "I'm going to take a shower. Do whatever you want, just don't break anything."
"You got it!" Sayuri grinned, making Manami chuckle, before she made her way into her bathroom.
The blonde let the grin on her face disappeared as she grabbed Manami's PDA and pressed on Nine's number. Sayuri waited for him to answer and when
he did, she narrowed her eyes.
"Oi, what did you do to Manami? She's way too quiet when I went to visit her." She said in a serious tone, not the usual happy and cheerful tone she
always uses.
"Who the hell are you? And why are you using Koizumi's PDA?" Came Nine's rough reply and Sayuri pushed back the urge to roll her eyes.
"Listen, if you do anything to hurt Manami, we, Class Thirteen, will bring down Class Zero, you hear me? Because I am Manami's friend, Sayuri Hamano
and I don't like seeing my friend hurt or upset." Sayuri threatened Nine, who scoffed at the other end.
"Whatever. Class Thirteen is nothing. If you do so much as to try to attack our class, we won't hesitate to do the same to you Hamano."
"You don't scare me Nine. Just don't hurt Manami and we won't bother you. You and the rest of Class Zero, are not in our good books right now."
"Tch, tough talk for a ditzy girl like you Hamano. Didn't you used to like us?"
Sayuri closed her eyes before re-opening them, "I never liked you guys. I only acted that way because I wanted to fool you and know your secrets to why your class is so superior."
"Ha! So even the ditzy moron of Class Thirteen has guts and strength! No wonder why you guys are known as the Rebellious Class!"
"We're rebellious but so are you Nine," Sayuri looked at her fingernails, "More importantly is Manami's paladin crest leveling up?"
"Leveling up? What the hell are you talking about Hamano?"
"What I meant is, is Manami's paladin crest gaining powers for her to become the Serpent Paladin?"
"You mean the gem she placed into her crest? She needs the other nine."
Sayuri stayed silent, "I see. Well then, that's all I wanted to know. Bye."
"Oi, wait!"
The blonde cut the line and sighed. She looked down at the PDA before punching in her student ID. Sayuri then stood up and looked out the window, a
troubled expression on her face and mostly in her emerald green eyes.
"...She's just one step closer to become the Serpent Paladin...and a step closer to pain." She muttered.
At that moment, she heard the water stopped running the shower and sat on Manami's desk, plastering a grin on her face. Manami exited the shower,
with a towel on her head which she used to dry her hair.
"I see you didn't try to destroy my room." Manami said.
"Why would I do that? What sort of friend would I be if I trashed your room?" Sayuri giggled and bounced over to Manami, "I put my student ID number
into your PDA so contact me whenever you need someone to talk to kay?"
Manami blinked a couple of times, before smiling softly, "Thank you Sayu. You're such a great friend."
Sayuri grinned one more time, before exiting her friend's room. As soon as she closed the door, she leaned her back against it as the grin slipped from
her face and into a straight line. She narrowed her eyes, before heading back to her own room, with Manami's paladin crest in her mind.