Shin dashed into the alleyway, hesitating for a second before he procured something inside his pocket. 

It was his own paintbrush, the only belonging he brought along. 

A second later, he twisted the tip of the paintbrush, revealing a hidden cap. Underneath the cap, the paintbrush had been sharpened like a knife. 

"No, please! Stop hitting him!"

"Still not planning to pay us back, huh?!"

“Yo-you...you are the ones who forced me to take it--” 

Shin picked up his pace, before he dropped and slid past the assailant's ankles, nicking him with his deadly paintbrush. 

The assailant immediately cried out in pain, crouching down to hold his ankle that bled profusely. 

Shin stood in front of the older couple protectively, a cold glare in his eyes. 

The older couple were surprised by the presence of a scrawny, thirteen year old child.

"Who the fuck is this kid?"

"They adopted a child?"

"Who cares! Beat them all up!" 

The men charged at Shin and the victim who was still groaning in pain on the ground. The lover of the man caressed his face, utterly concerned before she glanced at Shin again. 

Shin clicked his tongue. 

What am I doing?

This isn't what I came here for. 

Not to save people, but to…

Shin felt a hand on his shoulder, making him turn. 

"You silly child, run! Don't get yourself involved in this, you'll get hurt!" 

Shin felt his resolute heart wavering. 

Once again, the image of the teary-eyed woman with a concerned expression was replaced by his mother. 

Shin gritted his teeth, holding his ground as he shook his head. 

"This time, I'll protect the both of you."

***

The four of them explored the streets, with Hana buying any delicacy she was curious to taste. In the end, her hands were filled to the brim with snacks and candies. K’xug let out a sigh, taking a bag from her hands, freeing up one of her hands to eat. 

They eventually stopped at a corner with a long bench, settling down. 

She brightened up like a little child, munching and squealing to herself about the taste of the local food. 

“Cecil, Cecil. Try this, they just cooked it!” Hana chirped. “It’s sweet, salty and soft! They go together so nicely!” 

“Alright, alright. You bought too much, it’s all going to fall out from your arms!” Cecil laughed, taking one box of food from her other hand. “Are you really going to eat them all?” 

“Mhmm!” 

“You really have a good appetite, Hana.” Cecil added, shaking her head. 

Hana giggled, moving the food in her hand closer to Cecil, picking it up with a toothpick. “Open your mouth, ahhh!” 

Cecil stared at food in Hana’s hands, it bore a resemblance to the food in her world called “takoyaki”. She opened her mouth, chewing on the food Hana offered to her and she immediately felt the hot air from the food flooding her mouth. 

She blew out the hot air, fanning her mouth. 

Xue watched Cecil’s actions closely, unable to resist the small smile tugging at his lips. Somehow, her tiny actions now seemed so adorable in his eyes. 

Cecil realised Xue gazing at her, her words slightly muffled as she spoke with the food in her mouth. 

“Do you want some too, Xue?” 

“No,” Xue shook his head. “You can enjoy it with Hana.” 

“But it’s delicious, you should definitely try it,” Cecil said, naturally picking up a piece of the food that has been nicely sliced into pieces by the chef, with another toothpick, offering it to Xue. “Here you go.” 

Xue blinked in shock, surprised that Cecil had taken the initiative to feed him. 

Kai: “Oh, Cecil is feeding us again--” 

This time, Xue shut off the link to his other soul fragments to his head instantly. With peace and quiet just between him and Cecil, and no one else, Xue indulged himself. 

“You really don’t want to try it?” Cecil frowned, starting to move her hand away. 

“No, I’ll try it,” Xue caught her hand, his voice gentle. “You are feeding it to me after all.” 

With those words, Xue shoved the food into his mouth.

Cecil slowly withdrew her hand, blinking rapidly to herself. Once again, she realised what she had just done. 

I just...I just fed Xue like it was a natural thing to do. 

Cecil bit on her lower lip. 

Since when did it feel so natural? 

“You are right,” Xue spoke up, his smile growing a tad bit wider as he blew the hot air from his mouth as well. “It is delicious.” 

The raven-haired woman began to feel somewhat shy, ducking her head. 

“Ye-yes, it is.”

Meanwhile, Hana had been stuffing her mouth with food after food, and it was no surprise her mouth had been stained. K’xug noticed it, pointing to her and his mouth. 

Hana blinked innocently at him, swallowing down all her food and licking all over her mouth. 

K’xug furrowed his eyebrows, one particular stain was just out of reach. Thus, without hesitation, he stuck his thumb out and wiped the stain off her lips. 

“Ahhh, so it’s over there!” Hana giggled, pulling K’xug’s hand to her mouth as she stuck her tongue out.

She licked the stain off his thumb without warning. 

K’xug froze on the spot, his different coloured eyes growing wide. 

“Thank you, K’xug! You are so nice!” Hana chirped, before she hummed thoughtfully. “I wonder if you are this nice to other--” 

Hana widened her eyes, shaking her head and hands. 

“I mean, nothing! Nevermind! Forget what I just said!”

Cecil raised her eyebrows at Hana. 

Hana sighed in relief before she requested Cecil’s aid in helping her take more items. She grinned sheepishly, taking out a piece of handkerchief and cleaning K’xug’s thumb with it, rubbing the spot a few times for extra measure.

“There you go, all clean now!” Hana beamed, turning to Cecil. “Okay Cecil, I’ll take back everything now!” 

“Careful...careful!” 

“Don’t worry, I got it!” 

Cecil noticed K’xug statue-like state, glancing at him. She recoiled in shock when she saw his face burning up in an instant, staring at his thumb which was trembling slightly. 

“K’xug, ar-are you okay?” 

K’xug was startled from his daze, looking at Cecil. 

“What’s wrong, K’xug isn’t feeling well?” Hana asked in worry. 

K’xug cleared his throat awkwardly, shaking his head as he looked away. 

Xue was amused with the rare sight of a shy K’xug, when something deep within him started to stir. The smile dropped from his face, and he grew solemn. 

The soul fragment that was originally far away…

It has closed in on us before I realised it. 

Xue rose to his feet, garnering the attention from the three. 

“Xue?” Hana tilted her head. 

K’xug threw Xue a curious glance.

Xue took a few steps forward, before a hand wrapped around his wrist, stopping him. 

“Xue, what happened?” Cecil questioned, concerned. “Is there something wrong?” 

“It’s nothing, I have something I need to check on,” he softened his look, patting her hand on his wrist. “Just stay here, I’ll be back quickly.” 

“No, I’m coming with you.” Cecil insisted, standing up as she placed the remaining bags of food on her seat. 

“Cecil, I--” Xue started to say, before he sighed and acquiesced in her decision. “Alright, come with me.” 

Xue was really reluctant to have her follow him, however, he did not want to restrict her in doing whatever she wanted. 

“I...just don’t feel good, letting you go off alone like that,” Cecil said, concerned yet apologetic. “Sorry, am I being too intrusive?” 

“It’s fine, do what you want,” Xue answered softly, before lowering his voice even more. “And thanks...for your concern.” 

Xue could not deny that those words made him feel warm on the inside. 

Cecil smiled. 

“We’ll come back, wait for us here.” 

“Okay, bye bye! Come back soon!” Hana waved at them. 

K’xug just gave them a simple, curt wave. 

***

Cecil followed behind Xue, and she realised Xue was walking deeper into the streets. Moreover, this part of the streets wasn’t as rowdy compared to the main part of the streets, and Xue seemed to be sticking close to the alleyways. 

“Xue, where are you exactly planning on going?” 

“It’s around here somewhere.” 

“What is?” 

“My soul fragment.” 

“What? Shin is here? Now?” Cecil blurted out in disbelief. 

But that’s impossible! 

He is supposed to be trapped inside a house or something! 

Xue paused, turning to look at Cecil. 

“You even know the name of my soul fragment?” 

Cecil flinched. 

She was too surprised, hence, she blurted his name out by accident! 

“I-I actually knew his name for a while now,” Cecil swallowed nervously. “Because of my--” 

“Seer powers?” 

Cecil smiled forcibly, nodding. She herself knew it was a complete lie, even now, and it did not help that the word “seer” reminded her of the life-threatening moment in the jail cell with Veau. 

Xue knew that Cecil was lying about her seer powers, since Veau exposed her pretence. Xue knew Veau well enough, that lying about something like that was something he would never do. 

Nevertheless, Xue decided he would play along. 

It didn’t matter to him why Cecil knew about things that she should not be knowing about. 

Everyone had a secret they would want to keep after all, no matter who it was. 

“I am no longer surprised,” Xue responded, stretching his hand out to Cecil. “Stay close to me, I do not know what might happen.” 

Cecil nodded, taking Xue’s hand. 

Somehow, that action of hers accepting his hand caused something in him to flutter and he smiled to himself. 

Xue led Cecil down for a few moments, before he arrived at a stop in front of an alleyway. From within, they could hear the sounds of struggles and panicked shrieks. The two of them glued themselves to the wall, to prevent themselves from being spotted. 

“What’s happening?” Cecil peeked, frowning. “That’s cruel, they are all beating up on one man and the woman is left to watch--” 

“There is still one more among them.”

Cecil squinted her eyes, gasping. “A child?!” 

“Bo-boss, should we stop?” 

“Continue!” 

“But--” 

“I said continue!” 

“No, stop it! Stop! At this rate you are going to kill them both! The child is innocent, he just simply stepped in to help us, he is not related to us in any way!” 

“Shut the woman up, and bring her with us later.” 

“N-no, don’t touch her!” The man groaned out. “You can beat me up all you want, but not her--” 

“Shut up!”

Shin shielded his face and hands from the kicks and punches, gritting his teeth as he curled into a ball. His scrawny body was no match against five men that were almost thrice his size. 

“My soul fragment is that young child.” 

“Xue, I don’t think I can watch on any longer,” Cecil stepped into view, whipping out her daggers. “It’s obvious what they plan to do to the woman, after beating their victims dead.” 

If it was the past Xue, he would have naturally extended his hand to help these people, no matter where or who they were. Mortals, angels or demons, he would not hesitate to step in to help them. 

However, that part of Xue was long gone. 

There was no heart in him to offer such benevolence anymore. 

Thus, seeing Cecil in such a manner, Xue was conflicted since he knew such a trait could be taken advantage of. 

Kai: “You’ll be by her side the entire time, Xue. All of us will.” 

Zasiok: “You can protect her.” 

Leonaut: “All of us will.” 

Isleif: “If anyone dares to harm Cecil, kill--” 

Kai hurriedly shut Isleif up, preventing him from influencing Xue’s mind. Alric and Sid joined in somehow to shut Isleif up as well. 

“Do what you wish,” Xue answered, his voice gentle. “I’ll be right behind you.” 

Cecil nodded, rushing forward and wielding her daggers, inhaling deeply as she closed her eyes. There was a lack of flora in this area, which meant that Cecil had limited access to her element. 

If she could, she would have binded the assailants with vines and knocked them out. Alas, she had no luxury of choices at this moment. 

She had to resort to the more violent method that involves shedding some blood. Something she still hadn’t managed to overcome, but she knew she had to overcome eventually.

She utilized the rock given by Kai to create some noises, distracting the assailants from the victims before she dived right into the action with her daggers. Tightening the grip on her daggers, she steeled herself to hurt them, slicing two of the assailants who were caught off guard by her sudden presence. 

The three other assailants did not hesitate to attack back, and Cecil dodged their attacks with ease. 

Training with K’xug had improved her leaps and bounds, after all, the man himself was not simply a mortal. 

She managed to take another two out with her powerful, spin kicks. The last man among them tried to sneak an attack on her, which was fortunately stopped by Xue. 

“Wh-what the hell?” 

“Boss…” 

“What are you waiting for? It’s only a few cuts and punches, and there’s only two of them!” 

“But boss, you are the only one with the least injuries among us…” 

“Get them, you fools--” 

A spear was aimed right at the leader of the assailants, making him yelp in alarm. He gulped nervously, taking a few steps back. 

“If you don’t want to feel your skin start burning,” Xue said lowly, the head of his spear was gradually covered in green and white flames, the heat of it trickling towards the men. “Scram.” 

The men scrambled off with their tail tucked in between their legs.

The young child and older man on the ground stared wide-eyed at Cecil and Xue, whereas, the woman observing from the side had fainted from the shock and terror, tears still streaming down her face.

Shin gazed at the raven-haired woman before him, the afternoon sunlight accentuating her features and her long, black hair that cascaded down to her waist. She was panting as she spun around, twirling the dagger expertly around her hands before she sheathed them. 

Bending down, she offered her hand to the two of them.

“Can you stand?” Cecil smiled at them, her voice soothing. “Here, let me help you.” 

Shin was stupefied, and he reached out his trembling hand to Cecil. Unfortunately, he could not reach her. 

Cecil moved closer, her hand wrapping around his and her smile grew wider. 

“You’ll be alright now.” 

Somehow, that action of her reaching to him and her comforting words hit Shin, straight into his heart, causing him to falter. He tightened his hand around her petite hands, struggling to swallow his saliva. 

Her hand is so warm. 

“...th-thank you.” 

***

Pt. 1

《 start 》

It doesn’t matter what it is. 

It doesn’t matter why you are lying to me. 

I’ll wait until you are ready to open yourself up to me. 

I’ll wait as long as it takes. 

Since the only thing I want to do...is stay by your side. 

For a long, long time. 

《 stop 》

***

Pt. 2

《 start 》

Soft and sweet!

Fluffy and salty!

Yummy!

K’xug is so nice! 

Hmm…hmmm?

I wonder if K’xug is this nice to other people? 

Maybe I should ask--wahh! 

What am I doing?! 

That’s only what jealous people ask in the romance books I have read!

《 stop 》