Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Logi Skrímsli.

Xenon and Kazuhiko went to the hot spring, feeling excited since they never seen one before. On their way, they saw Daiki walking through the corridor, "Ozawa!"

Surprisingly, Xenon called out his name. Daiki look at his back and flinched as soon as he saw Xenon, "O-o-o-o-oh! F-F-F-Fukumoto...Xenon-san...and S-Sawatari-san...i-i-i-is s-s-something the m-m-m-matter?", he stuttered horribly as he obviously trembling like a leaf when he look at Xenon. Kazuhiko jabbed Xenon's ribs with his elbow mouthing, 'It's your fault that Ozawa-san scared of us! Do something!'

Xenon rolled his eyes and sighed, "Relax. I don't bite."

Even when the prankster said that, Daiki continued to tremble like a leaf. Xenon got irritated as he was about to yell when Kazuhiko stopped him by smacking on his back, "Don't worry! I'm here! I can stop him from doing anything stupid!"

"...Y-yes...", Daiki nodded hesitantly, "So what is it...?"

"Are you heading to the hot spring?"

"Y-yes...."

"We're heading there too! Can we come with you?"

"...O-okay..."

"Great!"

This time Kazuhiko got irritated when Xenon gave no response so he jabbed him again with his elbow, earning a glare from the prankster. He scowled, "Fine."

Daiki trembled again when he sensed a scary aura on him and immediately showed them the way. While Daiki was busy looking around, Kazuhiko scolded Xenon for scaring Daiki again, who seems to be ignoring him.

When they arrived, they immediately took off their clothes and headed to the hot spring. Kazuhiko look around in excitement, "Whoa! I never see a real hot spring before!!"

Xenon sweatdropped at his friend's attitude as Daiki chuckled, "H-he...look really excited."

"Well, he never went outside Fallmont before so it's understandable.", Xenon stated. Daiki stared at him, "...Um...Fukumoto-san...?"

"Hm?"

"...You sound like you have been outside the--"

Xenon coughed, cutting the timid boy off, "I don't know what are you talking about."

"Um--"

"Don't ask."

"Um...okay..."

They then relaxed, letting out a sigh. As Xenon put the towel on top of his head, Kazuhiko asked Daiki if Maia was doing okay.

"She's fine but just to be safe, she can't fight for the time being."

"Oh...I'm glad."

For a few minutes, they were talking about their life and even cracked some jokes. Daiki finally started to warm up to them as they talked.

"EEH!? She is your childhood friend!?", Xenon asked, a shock expression evident on his face as Daiki nodded, "Hai. She is. We've been together since we were 5 years old."

"No wonder you're rather...straightforward towards me."

"I-I'm sorry! I always said it out loud..."

"I'm not that mad anymore."

"O-oh..."

Xenon sighed as he leaned back, "But still...I still can't understand that girl. She saved me yet she treated me badly."

"Um...maybe because you treated her badly too...", Daiki remarked quietly.

"What did you say!?", Xenon yelled. Kazuhiko laughed, "I think that's your karma Nii-san!"

Daiki titled his head, 'Nii-san...?'

Xenon frowned and grumble, "Very funny. I don't want to befriend that girl...she's way too blunt to befriend with..."

Suddenly Daiki stood up, "That's not true! Mai-chan may be blunt but she is kind and helpful character! She's caring and selfless and innocent and--! ...Oops.", he suddenly sat down while covering his mouth, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell..."

Xenon and Kazuhiko stared at him, dumbfounded before Kazuhiko smiled, "You must be cared a lot about her huh?"

"W-well...she's the one who always stay beside me...so...I-I..."

"That's fine. Xenon probably triggered you to make you yell at us."

"How come this is my fault!?", Xenon yelled.

Daiki laughed nervously as Xenon were arguing with Kazuhiko. He look down, '...They said Mai-chan saved Fukumoto-san right? I wonder why he actually treated her badly...? She wouldn't started it first...'

"Fukumoto-san, why did you hate Mai-chan?"

Daiki's sudden question made Xenon flinched, "H-huh? What?"

"Why did you hate Mai-chan?", Daiki repeated.

'It's because she wouldn't let me go look for Kazu and even touch my bag without permission!', Is what Xenon would want to say but suddenly he didn't have a heart to tell Daiki that as he look really worried about her. He kept quiet before sighing, "Well...that time I was desperate to find Kazu but she didn't let me as I got injured so...I started...yelling at her...", he trailed off as he look away, "And to make matter worse, she touched my bag. I hate people who touched my bag..."

Daiki frowned, "Oh."

"Typical Nii-san.", Kazuhiko sighed as he shook his head.

"Uh...fine! I'm the one who started it! Happy now!?", Xenon yelled. Daiki pouted, "And here I thought she might do something serious to make you hate her. Knowing her, she would never start it first. She's way too kind to start fighting to begin with."

"Really now...?"

"Yeah."

Xenon sighed, "...Fine...I'll try and talk with her. Though I'm not sure if I can survive without yelling at her."

"Xenon, you can't jinx it now.", Kazuhiko stated.

"Yeah yeah."

They went out of the hot spring and went separated ways. Daiki went to check on Maia while Kazuhiko and Xenon headed back to their room to rest.

Xenon was watching the sky while Kazuhiko fall asleep, tired from today's event. The prankster sighed as he look at the gunner sleeping peacefully, '...If I think about it, I never told Kazu about my past. Well, I never feel comfortable talking about it anyway...'

He stood up and quietly decided to take a stroll. He closed the door gently as not to wake Kazuhiko up and went outside. He walked around, watching the townspeople suffered from the Logi Skrímsli's attack. He frowned, wanting to do something to ease their pain but didn't know what to do.

He then heard a scream, jolting him up and immediately look at the direction, "It's here! The Logi Skrímsli! Run for your life!!"

The townspeople immediately ran away in panic as soon as they heard someone yelled the monster's name. He sensed a powerful aura coming from the entrance and rushed there.

He spotted the Loki Skrímsli just outside the entrance. He took out his katana to fight it, "I can't let anyone get hurt..."

"Fukumoto-san!"

Xenon turned around to see Daiki run towards him, "Ozawa?"

"I heard the townspeople screaming Logi Skrímsli so I come here as fast as I could! I didn't know you're here...", he look around, "...Alone?"

"I was happened to take a stroll alone when I heard them yelling too.", Xenon look back at the monster, "At any rate, we can't leave it alone..."

"I-I'll help you!", Daiki said as he took out a white feather pen, "I'm not strong but at least I can cast some spells to weaken it!"

Xenon stared at him before nodding, "Alright. Just don't get hurt. I'll be counting on you Ozawa!"

"Hai!"

They faced the monster and get ready to fight.

While Maia & Kazuhiko...

Maia was walking around, looking for Daiki when she heard the innkeeper said, "Logi Skrímsli is here!? Oh dear...not this again..."

She hid at the corner to listen to their conservation.

"Yeah. That monster will destroy this town for good..."

"No...if he destroy Milky Town for good...we'll be refugees..."

She clutched her fist, 'I need to find Daiki and deal with that monster! But I can't fight with my recently healed arm...'

Kazuhiko walked at the empty corridor, look a bit grumpy as he look around. He woke up due to people screaming in fear and when he found out Xenon wasn't at the room, he decided to go and look for him, "Where is he...?"

There, he spotted Maia, hiding from someone, "Kinoshita-san...?"

She look back at Kazuhiko before immediately look down, "...Sawatari? What are you doing here?"

"That's my line. Aren't you suppose to be in your room, resting?"

"I want to talk to Daiki about something but I couldn't find him anywhere. Anyway, you should hear some people screaming."

"Y-yeah. I considered it was a rude wake-up call since I was sleeping.", he said sheepishly, "What happen?"

"...Logi Skrímsli are here."

"Wh-what?"

"He's here to destroy this town for good."

"Oh no..."

Maia made a realization expression, "Daiki...don't tell me Daiki is planning to fight that monster alone?", she look outside, "If that's true then he won't stand a chance. He don't have fast reflexes and his stamina is pretty bad..."

"I can't find Xenon anywhere either. I bet he's with Ozawa-san.", Kazuhiko said, "I hope they're okay...we need to get going and help--"

"--Wait."

Kazuhiko stopped on his tracks and look at Maia, "What is it?"

"...Unless you have found its weakness, you can't beat it."

"R-really...? What should we do then...?"

"...You're good at using that gun right?", she pointed at the twin guns that Kazuhiko have on his pockets. He nodded, "Y-yeah. I trained with them ever since I was little. Why do you ask?"

"I have a plan..."

She told her plan to Kazuhiko, who nodded in determination, "I can do that! You can count on me!"

Xenon & Daiki...

Xenon was trying to kill the Logi Skrímsli but so far, it have been unsuccessful. Daiki was at his limit as he finally let his knees fall to the ground, "I-It's no use...unless we found its weak point, we can't beat it...even with Water Elemental Spells..."

Xenon was at his limit too, "But...at least we managed to lose its strength."

The monster does look like it was weakened but nonetheless it won't fall until they critically hit its weak point. Suddenly Logi Skrímsli attempted to tackle Xenon. Before Xenon could react however, the Logi Skrímsli suddenly changed directions and its arm went right at Daiki who is defenceless.

"Ozawa, get out of the way!", Xenon screamed in horror.

Daiki could do nothing as the Logi Skrímsli attempted to gut him. He closed his eyes tight, ready to feel the pain when suddenly--

"Now Sawatari!"

"Aqua Laser!"

He heard a gun shot and a wail from the Logi Skrímsli so he opened his eyes, "...Huh?"

Xenon look back and spotted Kazuhiko and Maia running towards their direction. Kazuhiko then shouted, "Ozawa-san! Finish it with your Water Elemental Attack!"

Daiki wasted no time casting the spell and yelled, "Splash!"

A water suddenly gathered above the Logi Skrímsli and made a direct hit. The monster wailed and slowly fall to the ground. They panted, "We...we did it!"

Kazuhiko went to Daiki, who fall to the ground, panting heavily due to overuse magic, "Ozawa-san! Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah...I just need to rest after casting too many spells...", Daiki assured as he panted heavily.

Maia slowly went to the monster to check if its alive or not. Xenon turned around and spotted Maia went near it, "Oi, get back!!"

She stopped in her tracks as she felt tremor from the ground and look at the raising monster, catching her off guard, "Huh!?"

The monster roared and immediately aim its arm at Maia to attack. She didn't have time to react as the arm already trying to gut her.

"Mai-chan!!!", Daiki screamed her name in horror.

She closed her eyes shut, ready to receive pain but it never came. She heard a clang sound and immediately opened her eyes to see Xenon intercepted its attack. He raised up his free hand and yelled, "Time Out!"

The monster suddenly stopped, giving Xenon the opportunity to attack, "Aqua Punch!"

His fist were filled with water and punched on its weak spot. The monster wailed in pain and slowly fall down to the ground. Xenon knew it was dead, judging from its aura slowly disappeared so he gives a thumbs up, "It's completely down!"

Maia was speechless because she's surprised that he appeared in front of her so suddenly, 'He's a bit far from me yet he noticed that monster was still alive...? Is it possible that he's like Daiki? Or...something else...?'

"--Oi."

She flinched and look at Xenon, who look a bit concerned, "...Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"...I'm fine. Thanks for saving me.", she replied. Before Xenon could even reply, the townspeople gathered around and yelled, "They...they beat the Logi Skrímsli! They beat the Logi Skrímsli!!"

"Hooray!! We're safe!!"

"Nice job guys!!"

They got embarrassed by their attention before a old man approached them and bowed, "...Thank you for helping us dealing with the Logi Skrímsli. We are forever in your debt."

"O-oh no! We just happened to be there...", Daiki said humbly, "...But I'm glad we could help."

"Please accept this gifts.", The old man gave them fire charms, "It's not much but at least you have fire resistance on your side now."

They hesitantly took one each and thanked the old man again before they decided to go back to the inn. Xenon had to carry Daiki, who collapsed right after he entered the inn and so he carried him with Maia on his side. They walked in silence. Xenon sighed, "...Hey."

"...What?"

"...I just wanted to say...thank you."

"Why are you thanking me? I'm the one who should thank---"

"No no, not this incident. I meant...thanks for saving me back then, when I was injured..."

"...Oh."

When they reached their room and Xenon put Daiki to his bed, he was about to leave when she stopped him, "Wait."

He turned around, "What is it?"

She sighed, "I suppose I should apologize to you...I misjudged you.", she reached out her hand to him, "Let's start over, shall we?"

Xenon stared at her before smirking and chuckling, "Heh. I could say the same thing to you. I'm sorry for yelling at you. I was too worried and angry for Kazu's safety and the fact you touched my bag. But I'll try to forget it.", he grabbed her hand and shook it, "Yep. Let's start over. Allow me to formally introduce myself, my name is Fukumoto Xenon."

"...Kinoshita Maia. Don't be surprised if I'm too blunt for your taste."

"Don't be surprised if I keep yelling at you too."

They exchanged more words before Xenon left. He sighed in relief, "That went well than I would have expected. I guess she's not so bad like Ozawa said."

He walked back to his room, thinking, 'I have to take a detour if I don't want to get caught. Looks like I need to look for the places that not in Protection of Estoark.'

With that in mind, he nodded and opened the door. He saw Kazuhiko already fall asleep so he planned to do his research now.

'Time for a research!'

To be continued...

Bonus!

Maia: *Sitting near the window, watching people celebrating* ...... *Look at Daiki*

Daiki: *Sleep soundly* Zzz....

Maia: ...Well, they're not that bad...I guess I can trust them around Daiki...