The city's night pressed in.
muffling the world outside the knight's small, cluttered home.
Izuma sat at the battered table, poking at the carrot-thing floating in his soup. Lira kept watch by the window, arms crossed, eyes sharp and wary. Adia sat beside him, nervously twisting her sleeve.
The knight—masked and robed, as always—bustled about the kitchen, humming a tune that sounded like a lullaby for babies. He seemed at ease, a little too at ease.
"So… do you live here alone?"
Izuma's question broke the silence.
The knight spun around, nearly tripping over a stray boot.
"Alone? Well, yes! Except for the rats and the occasional spider. They keep to themselves mostly."
He grinned, the mask gleaming under the lantern light.
Lira arched an eyebrow.
"You don't get many visitors, do you?"
"Only the best kind,"
the knight replied, winking with one glowing violet eye.
Izuma forced a smile, but his mind was elsewhere. He needed to know more.
"Can I ask something? Hypothetically… say someone got swept away by a river. Woke up in a place like this, with no idea how they got here. Is that… normal?"
The knight cocked his head, thinking.
"Rivers are tricky. Always moving, always changing. But waking up somewhere strange? Happens more than you'd think. Especially if you hit your head."
Adia's eyes widened.
"You fell in a river, Izuma?"
He shook his head, waving it off.
"No–Not really,I–It's just a hypothetical."
He glanced at Lira and Adia, trying to keep his tone light.
"When I first woke up here, everyone sounded like they were speaking a different language. But after a while, it all started to sound normal. Maybe I hit my head or something."
Lira's gaze sharpened, her eyes narrowing as she studied the knight and then Izuma. She said nothing, but her posture grew tense, as if she was piecing something together.
"Sounds like a concussion. That could explain the confusion." She muttered.
Izuma nodded, but kept his thoughts to himself. He needed to survive. That was all that mattered.
He looked at the others, saw worry in Adia's eyes, resolve in Lira's. He realized, with a jolt, that he was just trying to survive. That was all he could do.
One day at a time.
He looked back at the knight.
"Say someone ended up here with nothing. No money, no papers, no connections. What would you do? How do you get by? Is there anywhere safe for someone like that?"
Lira answered first, voice low and steady.
"Keep your head down. Don't draw attention. Find work if you can—honest or not. Stay out of the noble districts. Avoid the guards. Especially the knights."
A nerve twitched on the knight's face as if that was a direct attack to his heart.
Izuma nodded, filing it away.
"And if someone asks for papers?"
"Lie,"
Lira said flatly.
"Or run." The knight continued.
Adia looked uncomfortable.
"It's not always that bad. Some people are kind. But… most are scared. Of what they don't understand."
Izuma frowned.
"And magic? Is it really everywhere?"
Lira hesitated.
"Yes. But don't ask about it, And if you can use it, Don't !, unless you have to. The council watches everything. And there are… other groups. People who enforce the rules in ways you don't want to know about."
Izuma's mind spun with questions.
"Is there any way home? Has anyone ever… left?"
His mind has finally caught wind of what just flew out his mouth, the first word's to reach his thought process was,
~ Oh shit...
The room fell silent. Lira and Adia stared at him like he'd just asked if the sky could be folded up and put in a pocket.
Lira blinked, then burst out,
"Leave? You mean, like, leave the city?"
Adia looked even more confused.
"You mean, like, move to the next country?"
Izuma froze, Then shook his head,
"Uhh–Dont–Never mind. Forget I asked." He stuttered.
The knight gave a strange, searching look,Then his eyes flashed a deep voilet–pink. For a moment, his mask was unreadable,his face grew pale. He set down his spoon, the air in the room growing heavy.
"You know, sometimes people end up here because of… because of summ—"
He stopped abruptly, as if catching himself, and clamped his mouth shut. The silence was sharp, almost electric.
Lira's eyes widened, her gaze flicking from the knight to Izuma and back. She didn't say a word, but her jaw clenched, and she watched Izuma with new wariness. She knew. Or at least, she suspected.
The knight cleared his throat, forcing a smile.
"Anyway! If you ever get caught, just tell them you're my apprentice. Or my long-lost cousin. Or a traveling zarrot salesman. That last one always gets a laugh."
Izuma managed a weak laugh,wondering what is a "zarrot", but the tension lingered. The knight's next words were softer, more respectful.
"And You–" He stopped glancing at adia.
"You saved me, you know. Back at the bridge."
Adia blinked twice, surprised.
"Me?"
She asked, tilting her head innocently.
He nodded, his tone losing all its usual bravado.
He looked down as if trying to remember something in vivid details, then said.
"I was… not in a good place. I'd lost a lot. I was thinking about… well, letting the river take me, ya know'. But you showed up. Gave me bread. Sat with me. You didn't have to, but you did."
Adia blushed, looking away.
"It was nothing. You looked sad. I just… didn't want you to be alone,a–and not to mention that bread was a bit molded."
He smiled, the mask somehow gentler.
"It meant more than you know."
A tear seemed to form in his eye, he turned to an angle where it couldn't be seen by anyone,Izuma notices this but lets the moment play out.
Lira watched the exchange, her suspicion shifting to something softer—maybe respect, maybe understanding. But she still kept her distance, as if waiting for a truth to surface.
Izuma, feeling the weight of the knight's gaze, spoke quietly.
"Thank you. For helping us."
The knight nodded, still a little pale, but a new respect in his voice.
"You're tougher than you look, Izuma. Most people would've broken by now."
Izuma managed a weak, surprised smile.
"M-Me?"
He stuttered pointing to himself.
The knight nodded.
Izuma blinked twice then looked down, with a crumpled voice he uttered.
"W–Well I'm just trying to survive for now."
The knight tilted his head, as if considering something, but didn't press further.
"That's all any of us can do." Lira continued.
For a while, the conversation grew quiet, the air thick with things unsaid. Lira's eyes kept flicking to Izuma, her mind clearly racing. Adia, sensing the tension, tried to lighten the mood.
"S-So… what do people do for fun here?"
The knight perked up, the tension finally breaking.
"Well, there's carrot juggling, mushroom racing, and of course, soup disasters. I'm top five in the world at that last one."
Lira blinked.
"Top five?"
Adia echoed,
"Top five what?"
The knight just grinned behind his mask.
"Oh, you know. Top five at… soup making...disaster soup making.... It's all very official."
Lira stared at him, mouth open.
"You're joking."
Izuma glanced at the soup and thought, "Top five....at soup disasters?–that's not too hard to believe. "
Adia giggled, but the joke flew right over her head.
The knight shrugged, humming to himself as if nothing had happened.
They spent the rest of the night talking—about the city, the world, the little things that made life bearable. Izuma asked question after question, desperate to understand the rules of survival. How to find work. How to avoid trouble. What to say if stopped by a guard. Lira answered most, blunt but honest. Adia chimed in when she could, softer, more hopeful.
Eventually, they drifted off—Lira by the window, Adia curled on a blanket, Izuma on cushions. The knight sat by the door, humming softly, keeping watch.
Izuma's dreams were a blur of strange streets, unfamiliar faces, and voices he couldn't quite place. Somewhere in the haze, he heard it—a faint, distant call, gentle and warm, echoing from a memory that felt both close and impossibly far away.
"Izuma… Izuma, wake up, honey…"
It was his mother's voice, soft and loving, the way she'd called him for school or to dinner, the way she'd always sounded when he was small and safe. The sound tugged at something deep inside him, a fragile thread pulling at his heart.
In the dream, he reached for her, desperate to hold on, but she was already fading, slipping through the fog like a whisper lost to the wind. The world around him spun, colors bleeding into one another, and then darkness.
He woke with a start, his heart pounding in his chest like a frantic drum. The room was dim and quiet, shadows stretching long across the floor. For a moment, he lay still, disoriented, his breath shallow as he listened to the steady rhythm of the others' breathing.
The knight's soft humming floated from the doorway, oddly comforting amidst the uncertainty.
A sudden wetness traced down his cheek. Izuma's fingers brushed it away—one solitary tear, born of memories he wasn't ready to face. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to breathe deeply, to steady the ache that gripped his chest.
" This pain… I can bear it " He told himself, "silently. Just survive. One day at a time."
Morning broke pale and watery
the first light filtering weakly through the crooked windows.
The knight was already up, bustling around the kitchen with surprising energy, humming a new, off-key tune that somehow fit the chaotic atmosphere. He set out breakfast—burnt toast and something that might have been eggs once, but were now charred beyond recognition.
They ate quickly, eager to leave the cramped house and wash the bitter, burnt aftertaste from their mouths. Lira was insistent; they couldn't linger here longer than necessary. Suspicion was a dangerous thing in this city.
Outside, the city greeted them with a burst of life. The streets were brighter, busier, alive with the sounds of merchants shouting their wares, children darting between stalls, and the constant hum of everyday chaos.
Izuma's steps slowed as he caught sight of a massive banner hanging over the main square. Painted in bold, vivid colors were ten imposing figures, each more awe-inspiring than the last. At the number 5 spot, in grand lettering, stood a tall, imposing figure, with a knights helmet and 3 horn–like–things sticking out from the top, it read:
RINJI – THE SPEEDBLITZER
Izuma stared at the banner, his mind oddly blank. The significance eluded him, the connection not yet made.
Adia nudged Lira gently.
"Hey… doesn't that look like…"
Lira stepped forward, squinting against the morning light.
"Eh? Uhh... Hmm—"
Her eyes widened as she focused on one figure.
"HUH?... No way. That can't be…"
Adia's mouth dropped open, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Izuma, look!"
Izuma glanced up, then back at the knight standing quietly behind them, then back at the banner again. For a long moment, it didn't register.
Lira's voice dropped to a breathless whisper.
"That's… that's him."
Adia's eyes grew impossibly wide, her voice trembling.
"He's… he's one of the G—Guardians?"
Izuma's jaw dropped, the realization crashing into him like a tidal wave. His heart skipped a beat, pounding so loudly he thought it might drown out the city's noise.
"So that top five reference… it wasn't just a gag?"
The knight, standing calmly behind them, shrugged with a casualness that only made the moment more surreal.
"Oh, that old thing? Must be a different guy. I'm only top five at soup disasters."
Lira stared, utterly speechless. Adia looked as if she might faint. Izuma simply gaped, the truth settling over them like a thunderclap.
For what felt like an eternity, none of them spoke. Even the bustling city noise seemed to fade into silence.
They were utterly, completely shocked.
And then, breaking the silence, all three shouted in perfect unison:
*HIM? TOP 5?!*