Chapter 10: Cracks in the Mask
Kyūsei did not sleep.
He lay in bed staring at the ceiling while the crystal lamp burned low.
Because I failed you once already.
The words looped endlessly in his head.
Kazuto had said many strange things since they met.
You're alive this time.
For what follows you.
I failed you once already.
Each sentence felt like part of a puzzle someone else had already solved.
Kyūsei hated puzzles.
Mostly because his life had never given him enough pieces to understand anything.
He turned onto his side.
The second bed was empty.
Kazuto had not returned.
Morning came gray and cold.
Rain tapped softly against the window.
Kyūsei washed, dressed, and went downstairs.
The innkeeper slid a bowl of porridge toward him without asking.
"You look miserable."
"Thanks."
"No charge. Misery discount."
He blinked.
"That's kind."
"Don't misunderstand me. You and sword-boy keep bringing chaos. I need you alive long enough to pay rent."
He almost smiled.
"Where's Kazuto?"
She jerked her chin toward the door.
"Left before dawn. Said if you ask, tell you to stop brooding dramatically."
Kyūsei frowned.
"I'm not brooding dramatically."
"You are."
She walked away.
Traitor.
Rain had turned Valthorin's streets silver.
Blue crystal lamps glowed brighter beneath the clouds. Merchants covered stalls with canvas. Wagons rolled slower on slick stone roads.
Kyūsei wandered without direction.
Partly looking for Kazuto.
Partly trying to calm his mind.
He ended up near the central plaza, where a fountain shaped like spiraling dragons poured glowing water into a marble basin.
Children splashed near the edges despite the weather.
An armored woman shouted at them.
They ignored her expertly.
Kyūsei sat on a bench beneath an awning.
He still had one of the books from Master Eldrin tucked under his arm.
He opened it absently.
Read nothing.
"Reading upside down now?"
He looked up sharply.
Lyra stood there holding a basket covered with cloth.
Chestnut hair tied back today. Green cloak damp with rain. Same amused eyes.
Kyūsei glanced down.
The book was indeed upside down.
"…I was testing it."
"Brave experiment."
She sat beside him without invitation, shifting the basket onto her lap.
"You look troubled, reckless reader."
"Is that my title now?"
"For now."
He hesitated.
Then shrugged.
"Just thinking."
"That's dangerous in cities."
"Why does everyone here say that?"
"Because we've met people."
She lifted the cloth.
Inside were fresh pastries.
Kyūsei stared.
"You carry these around casually?"
"I sell them."
"Oh."
"And this one is cracked."
She handed him a warm honey pastry.
"So it's unsellable."
"It looks perfect."
"Exactly. Customers fear perfection."
He accepted it.
"You speak strangely."
"You look like someone who needed sugar."
Fair point.
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, watching rain ripple the fountain.
Then Lyra spoke softly.
"You're new here."
"Yes."
"And your friend with the dangerous smile isn't."
"…Kazuto?"
"That's the one."
"You know him?"
"Everyone in this district knows of him."
Kyūsei turned.
"Is that good?"
She considered.
"He helps people. He starts fights. He disappears for days. He pays debts for strangers and forgets his own."
That sounded annoyingly accurate.
"He's complicated."
Lyra looked at him sidelong.
"You trust him?"
Kyūsei answered too quickly.
"Yes."
Then slowed.
"I think so."
"Hmm."
"What?"
"Nothing. Just rare to hear certainty from someone wearing that face."
"What face?"
"The one people wear after life bites them."
Kyūsei went quiet.
She didn't press.
Instead, she stood.
"I have deliveries."
She began walking, then glanced back.
"You should smile more, Kyūsei."
"How do you know my name?"
She grinned.
"Your friend shouted it across half the market yesterday."
Then she was gone into the rain.
Kyūsei sat frozen.
Smile more.
People here said impossible things casually.
He found Kazuto at the training yard.
Or rather, he found the destruction first.
Three wooden dummies were split in half.
One target had been embedded into a wall.
Another was simply missing.
Kazuto stood in the center of the yard shirtless in the rain, sword in hand, body marked by old scars Kyūsei had never noticed before.
Some thin.
Some deep.
Some clearly not from monsters.
He was practicing strikes alone.
Each swing cut the rain itself.
Kyūsei stopped at the gate.
For the first time, Kazuto looked less like a joking older brother figure…
And more like a man built by violence.
Kazuto glanced over.
"You're late."
"You vanished."
"I exercised."
"You destroyed furniture."
"Same family."
Kyūsei stepped inside.
"We need to talk."
Kazuto stabbed his sword into the ground.
"That sentence always ruins mornings."
"You said you failed me once."
Rain pattered between them.
Kazuto's easy expression disappeared.
"You remember everything inconvenient."
"Answer me."
Several long seconds passed.
Then Kazuto walked to a bench, grabbed a towel, and tossed it over his shoulders.
"Fine."
Kyūsei's chest tightened.
Finally.
Kazuto sat.
Then pointed to the opposite bench.
"Sit dramatically."
Kyūsei wanted to strangle him.
He sat anyway.
Kazuto leaned forward, elbows on knees.
"In my first life…"
Kyūsei froze.
"…I had a friend."
The world narrowed.
Dark hair.
Rain.
Truck lights.
Hansuke.
Kazuto continued without looking up.
"He was quiet. Stubborn. Thought badly of himself. Couldn't see when people cared about him."
Kyūsei's pulse hammered.
"Kazuto…"
"One day I saw him standing in traffic like an idiot."
Kyūsei stood so fast the bench scraped stone.
"No."
Kazuto finally looked up.
And for once, there was no smile protecting him.
"No jokes now, Kyūsei."
The name sounded different from him suddenly.
Older.
Familiar.
"I pushed him out of the way."
Kyūsei's vision blurred.
"Hansuke?"
Kazuto exhaled shakily.
"Took you long enough."
Kyūsei staggered backward.
"This… no. You're lying."
"I wish I was."
"You died."
"Very observant."
"You were dead!"
"So was I."
Kyūsei's breath became uneven.
Memories crashed into each other.
Hansuke's hand slipping away.
Kazuto knowing his name.
You're alive this time.
I failed you once already.
"You remembered from the start?"
Kazuto nodded once.
"The moment I saw you in the forest."
"And you said nothing?"
"What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, welcome to another world, I died too'?"
"Yes!"
Kazuto barked a laugh despite everything.
Then his eyes reddened.
"I was afraid."
That stopped Kyūsei cold.
"Hansuke never admitted fear."
Kazuto smiled weakly.
"Kazuto does."
Rain intensified around them.
He looked down at his scarred hands.
"I got sent here first. Years before you. Some god with terrible taste said you'd come later."
Kyūsei whispered,
"The god sent you too…"
"He said I had one job."
Kazuto looked up.
"Make sure you live."
Silence.
Then Kyūsei crossed the distance in three steps and punched him in the face.
Kazuto toppled sideways off the bench.
"OW!"
Kyūsei stood over him shaking.
"You idiot!"
"Fair!"
"You let me think I was alone!"
"Less fair!"
"You watched me panic for days!"
"You were funny sometimes!"
Kyūsei punched his shoulder next.
Then suddenly he was crying.
He hated that.
Kazuto sat up slowly.
"…Yeah. That part I deserved."
Kyūsei grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a rough embrace.
Kazuto froze.
Then hugged back just as tightly.
Rain fell around them.
Two boys who had died once.
Two fools alive again.
Kazuto's voice came muffled against his shoulder.
"You still cry ugly."
Kyūsei hit him again.
"Worth it."