The door clicked shut, sealing them off from the rest of the manor. Hatsune stood in front of it, her arms crossed tightly, green eyes burning with frustration. Her ears twitched, still flattened slightly, her body tense as if she were restraining herself from an outburst.

  Hatsune exhaled sharply, her foot tapping against the wooden floor. “I don’t blame you.”

  Klarion blinked. That was not what he expected.

  The Leporine snorted at his expression while her arms tightened across her chest. “I saw what happened, Klarion. You didn’t invite that kiss. You didn’t even react to it. Not really.” He tensed again when she scoffed. “But you also didn’t push her away, either.”

  “I’m sorry, Hatsune.” He sighed, rubbing his face. “It wasn’t exactly like I had time to think.”

  She studied him, eyes sharp. “And now? Now that you have time?”

  Klarion hesitated. The truth was, he wasn’t sure what to make of the kiss. Was it meant to stake a claim? To send a message to Hatsune? To Klarion himself? Or was it just that Jezeri was being who she really was after so long being a Sentinel?

  Her vivid green eyes had locked onto his, sharp and assessing, as if she could see through him—through his hesitation, through his uncertainty, through the tangled mess of thoughts he could barely untangle himself. Since he had met her, those eyes had held an intensity, a challenge, a fire that refused to be dimmed even in the face of what she had been through. And yet, beneath all of that strength, he caught the flicker of something else. A hesitation. A question she would not ask aloud.

  Her ears twitched, betraying emotions she worked so hard to suppress, though she tried to appear unaffected. Klarion knew better. The way her body tensed, the way she subtly shifted her weight—it wasn’t just tension. It was restraint.

  She was holding herself back.

  Klarion’s gaze dipped, drawn by the sleek curves of Hatsune’s form—the way her toned body moved with effortless grace, built for both speed and endurance. Her athletic frame was lean yet feminine, sculpted from what he assumed to be years of training, each motion fluid and precise. The soft gray fur that covered her lower arms seemed impossibly smooth, catching the light in a way that highlighted the subtle contours of her muscles, the silver streaks adding an almost ethereal shimmer to her figure.

  His eyes traced the curve of her waist, the strength in her legs, the way her armor clung to her without restricting movement. Hatsune was a warrior, disciplined and deadly, but she was also undeniably beautiful. The contrast between her sharp intensity and the quiet, effortless elegance she carried fascinated him.

  She was not just a Leporine and not just his bodyguard. Even in the brief time he had known her, he knew Hatsune was someone who would stand beside him, challenge him, push him to be better. And somehow, without him realizing when it happened, she had become someone he cared about. More than he had expected.

  Klarion swallowed, then met her eyes again.

  “I don’t know.” He shook his head, hurrying to cut Hatsune off before she could interrupt. “But what I do know is that I’d rather it had been you who kissed me.”

  Hatsune froze.

  Klarion saw the way her breath hitched, the faint widening of her eyes before she shut down the reaction, locking it behind a rigid posture and a clenched jaw. His words hung in the air, heavy and inescapable. He had meant them too.

  Her hands curled into fists at her sides. Not out of anger, he realized, but restraint. She was holding something back, something raw and real in a way that struck him harder than he expected.

  Then, just as quickly, she turned away. Her ears flicked, sharp and erratic, her shoulders tense with some internal battle she refused to let him see.

  Klarion wasn’t sure what he expected her to say. But when she finally spoke, her voice was too controlled. Too even. A careful mask to hide whatever she truly felt.

  “You shouldn’t say things like that.”

  His brows furrowed. “Why not?”

  Hatsune let out a short, bitter exhale—almost a laugh, but lacking any real humor. She shook her head, arms folding tightly across her chest as if bracing against something.

  “Because it changes things.”

  Klarion opened his mouth, then shut it again. That wasn’t the response he had anticipated. Her back remained to him, but he could see the way her fingers dug into her palms, white-knuckled. She was struggling with this. He could see it. And yet… she wouldn’t let herself act on it.

  Why?

  Before he could ask, she spoke again, her voice softer now, but no less certain. “You don’t understand, Klarion. There are expectations placed on me. On my choices. I don’t get to just… act on how I feel.”

  His stomach tightened with a mix of excitement and dread. Klarion almost stepped forward, but Hatsune’s ears twitched at the shift in his stance, so he stopped.

  Hatsune inhaled deeply, as if forcing herself to speak. “The traditions of my people — of my family — are clear. If I were to—” She stopped herself, shaking her head, ears flattening as she blushed deeply. She didn’t finish the sentence.

  But she didn’t need to.

  Klarion understood, even without her saying it. He watched Hatsune struggle with the words she couldn’t say. Her ears, usually sharp and alert, now drooped slightly, betraying emotions she was trying so hard to suppress. The deep blush dusting her cheeks only made it clearer—she wanted to say more. She just couldn’t for some reason.

  Her next words came quieter, resigned. “It doesn’t matter.”

  Klarion’s heart skipped a beat. That wasn’t what he had hoped to hear. He struggled to keep the defeated tone out of his voice. “Doesn’t it?”

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  She turned back to face him fully, her green eyes sharp, searching his face for something. But in the end, she only exhaled.

  “No. What matters is what comes next.” Hatsune drew in another breath, shaking off whatever storm had brewed behind her eyes, and when she next spoke, her voice was steady once more. “Be honest with me. Are you still committed to forging your own sword? To learning Whispers of Black Steel beside me?”

  The shift was abrupt. Deliberate. But despite the abrupt change in topic, he already knew his answer, as he had given it before. He nodded, firm and certain. “Yes.”

  Some of the tension bled from her shoulders. Just a little. Hatsune nodded, as if reaffirming something to herself.

  "I can't tell you more right now," she admitted, her voice still quiet, but now it was also resolute. "But if you follow through with both... and if you're willing to travel with me back to meet my family..."

  She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing. Klarion watched as her ears flicked back, betraying her nerves even as she held his gaze. Then—just for an instant—her lips parted, as if she were about to say something else, something more.

  His breath caught.

  But then, as if catching herself, Hatsune forced out the rest of her sentence. "...perhaps you might get what you want."

  Klarion’s eyes narrowed slightly. Perhaps. It was a dangerous word—one full of possibilities, but nothing certain. And yet, despite her attempt at restraint, Hatsune's face was burning. Just like his own was.

  Bright, unmistakable red. The both of them.

  She could barely keep herself still. Her hands clenched in a way that suggested they wanted to do something, and her gaze—though steady—held something fragile.

  For a moment, Klarion wondered what would happen if he stepped forward. If he reached for her hand. But Klarion didn’t move. Hatsune had said what he needed to do, and he would do it. The rest could wait.

  Hatsune shook her head, and the moment passed. She stepped closer, placing both hands on her hips, changing the subject. “When she comes back, you set boundaries. I don’t care what her intentions are, Klarion, but she doesn’t get to just do whatever she wants.”

  Klarion nodded, willing to set aside the tension between them for now. “Alright. When she returns, I’ll talk with her.”

  “Good.” She held his gaze for a long moment, and then finally, her shoulders loosened, the tension in her frame easing just a fraction. “Now, where exactly was your newest bodyguard off to? She had the look of a star elf on a mission.”

  “She is leaving the Imperial Academy to visit another world under House Blacksword’s control,” he admitted. “I haven't heard anything from my family since I arrived at the Academy. Not a word. It doesn’t make sense, and Jezeri thought so, too. So she is going to look into it, and either return or send word when she knows more.”

  Hatsune simply stared at him as if trying to decide whether or not he was serious. Then her lips pressed into a thin line, her ears giving an agitated flick. “So, let me get this straight. She just lost her class, which, if I’m understanding correctly, means a massive loss in strength, even for someone like her. Instead of staying here, where at least there’s some level of security, she decides to run off beyond the Academy’s reach to track down someone in your family? Alone?”

  “She seemed confident,” Klarion said, carefully. “I don’t think she would have gone off on her own if she thought it was reckless. And I agreed that it needed doing. Right now, she’s our only option to establish contact.”

  “And what if something happens to her?” Hatsune pressed. “You’re really just going to let her walk into something like this alone?”

  Klarion could only shrug in helplessness. “I’m not letting her do anything. This was her choice. And I trust her. I don’t think she would be going off on her own if she didn’t think she could handle it.”

  Hatsune let out an exasperated noise, ears flicking back for a heartbeat before she forced them forward again. “You barely even know her.”

  “And yet she’s the only person who’s currently in a position to do anything to help me figure out what’s going on.”

  “True,” Hatsune sighed, rubbing at her temple. “Well, if she doesn’t come back, that solves one problem.”

  Klarion shot her a look, and she rolled her eyes. “Relax, I don’t actually want her dead. I just…” She trailed off before letting out a final groan, rubbing her face. “I can’t continue with this right now. Do you want to go spar? I think there is space out back behind the manor.” Without another word, she left the room, but she clearly intended for him to follow, so he did after grabbing the greatsword Rolfun had given him.

  They made their way through the manor, coming to a large set of double doors near the back that Klarion hadn’t seen before. Hatsune opened them to the outside and led them out. There indeed was an open space, with more than enough room for them to spar. In the evening light, it looked like it had once been a meticulously maintained garden, its design meant to balance beauty with function. Traces of its former elegance remained. Stone pathways weaving through the space, now cracked and uneven. A central courtyard of smoothed flagstones, likely used for quiet reflection or, more likely given what he was learning about the nobility, sanctioned duels of honor, was now half-covered in dirt and stray weeds that had forced their way through the cracks. Despite its disheveled state, the area still held potential.

  Without warning, she charged him, and he was barely able to get up his greatsword in time to block her sweeping strike. The first clash of their blades rang through the neglected courtyard, sharp and decisive, and in that moment, words no longer mattered. Hatsune moved with relentless speed, her strikes fast, but not so hard or so dangerous that he felt at risk of being hurt in their exchanges. Still, he picked up his pace in turn. He met her head-on, forcing himself to match her intensity, adjusting, countering—though not pushing as hard as they had last fought, as they didn’t have practice weapons here. He would probably need to see about getting some at some point. Perhaps his Combat Studies professor would know where he could get some.

  He refocused on their sparring as Hatsune abruptly swung from his right, only to dance aside as he riposted. The slight smile that had bloomed on her face made it clear to him that this was what she needed it right now, after the conversation they had just finished. By the time their blades locked one final time, her breathing was heavy, her face flushed—not with frustration, but with satisfaction.

  Hatsune disengaged and sheathed her blade, ears twitching as she gave him a small nod as she worked to catch her breath. “Thank you for the spar.”

  “Of course.” Klarion worked to get his breathing back under control. “I’ll see about getting us some practice weapons later so we can make sparring back here part of our regular schedule.”

  “I think that is a good idea, what with all the enemies you seem to have.” Abruptly, she yawned. “I think we should head back in, have a quick dinner, then head to bed.”

  Klarion smirked, unable to resist. “The bed part, huh? I thought I had to do a few things first—like forge my own sword, learn Whispers of Black Steel alongside you, and, oh, I don’t know… meet your family before we got to that step.”

  Hatsune froze mid-step. Then, as if his words had finally registered, her ears shot straight up, her entire face going red again. “T-That’s not what I meant!” she sputtered, turning sharply to glare at him, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the way she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

  Klarion chuckled. They might not be able to do anything else for a while, but it was enough to know she was interested and that he could still make her flustered. “Really? Because that’s exactly what it sounded like.”

  Her ears flicked in agitation, and she stomped one foot against the worn stone of the courtyard. “You know that’s not what I meant, Klarion!” she snapped, though there was no real bite to it—only a mix of embarrassment and exasperation at his teasing. “I was talking about sleep. Because you, of all people, need more of it.”

  He lifted his hands in mock surrender. “If you say so.”

  Hatsune huffed, spun on her heel, and marched toward the manor without another word. She did turn back to see if he was watching her, however. Klarion, who was indeed watching her and grinning at her mock upsetness, followed after her.

  The rest of the evening passed in a blur—dinner, a few final conversations with his new servants, and the quiet hum of a new routine settling into place. It had been a good day, and the weekend was not yet over.

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