The cool, sea breeze whipped the girl’s face, and her golden hair danced gently in the wind. Kigami stood right next to her, but Kimoko could see that his thoughts were somewhere far away. She wasn’t sure where his thoughts were wandering, though whether he was pondering Estella’s fate and what the future held for Amori, or perhaps he was thinking about his sister and what else he could do to save Zonrumi.
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Kimoko gently touched his arm, and the demon shook himself out of his trance.
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“What are you thinking about?” she whispered.
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Kigami just shrugged.
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“About everything,” he admitted. “About Amori, Estella, what the future holds…about you and me…about my betrayal.” Kimoko placed her hand on his shoulder, and Kigami sighed. The girl’s gaze on her skin.
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“You know, I didn’t tell you this out loud, but your fighting skills…I’m impressed, where did you learn that?”
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Kimoko felt her heartbeat quicken, and the hand on Kigami’s shoulder grew heavy. His question hung in the air, and the answer she had in her head seemed too difficult to say.
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She pursed her lips, searching for words. What could she say? That she had been raised to kill demons? That she had been trained all her life by a kind of demon hunter to treat people like him as enemies? Kimoko looked into his eyes, trying to read how much this truth would hurt him. Once, she would not have hesitated to tell the truth. But now, now, she had only the fear of losing his trust in her heart.
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Finally, after a moment of silence, she answered quietly, in a barely audible voice:
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“I was raised among demon hunters. My family… my ancestors, were trained to eliminate people like you.” Kigami shivered, but he did not withdraw his gaze, did not turn away. Kimoko felt the weight of her words fall on him, but he did not draw any weapon. Though she saw pain in his eyes, the pain of reality clashing with what he had known about her all this time.
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“I didn’t know…” he finally said, his voice muffled, as if trying to find balance in what he had just heard. “And… I don’t know what you’ll think of me now. But… I’m not like them. My life is not what demon hunters imagine it to be.”
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Kimoko closed her eyes, guilt and fear spreading through her body, but she still couldn’t tear her gaze away from him.
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“I understand it’s hard…” she replied, her voice still shaking. “But you have to know that my whole life I’ve had one mission. To destroy demons. That was all I’ve studied. And now… now I don’t know what to think, what to feel.”
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She paused for a moment, trying to gather the thoughts that had escaped her in the crowd of emotions.
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“But… you… you’re not like them. I stopped seeing that when I met you for real. You’re someone else, Kigami. And I don’t know what that means to me.
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Kigami raised his hand as if to comfort her, but then dropped it to the side, feeling that he couldn’t force her to do something she wasn’t ready for.
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“I know it’s hard, Kimoko. And I understand that it might be unthinkable. But… I won’t hurt you. I never will.” They fell silent for a moment, the winds that still whipped their clothes around seemed to calm down in the face of this silent confrontation. Kimoko felt her heart pound, but now for a completely different reason not because of fear, but because of something she couldn’t name.
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She looked at him with a gentle but worried look.
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“And what if you find out that what I told you… that who I am… is something you can’t accept? What will happen then, Kigami?” Kigami was silent for a moment, looking at her with a gentle but firm look, full of determination.
“If you truly love someone, Kimoko, it’s not who you are that determines my feelings for you. It’s not what you’ve done in the past, or where you come from. It’s who you are now, with all that you’ve been through. That’s what I care about.”
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Kimoko took a deep breath. She could feel the moment changing them both. Now that the words hung in the air, everything became even more real. Love. Responsibility. Trust. All of that was on the table, open for evaluation.
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The silence between them was heavy, and Kimoko had no idea if that moment had changed anything between them.
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-Thirty minutes later
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Kimoko and Kigami stood next to each other. Many other passengers who had traveled with them milled around them. Kimoko grabbed the demon’s hand so she wouldn’t get lost in the crowd. They slowly walked forward.
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The girl looked around, her eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kigami glancing at her. His pale cheeks took on a slight blush.
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She turned to him, but he immediately looked away and cleared his throat nervously.
“I saw you well, you can’t hide it.”
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“But I don’t know what you mean…” he said in an innocent tone, as if he really had no idea.
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Kimoko just rolled her eyes, a gentle smile appearing on her lips. Kigami continued to look at her… at her lips. Clenching his fists.
“I wonder what her lips taste like.”
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“Kigami… Kigami! Hey, I’m talking to you!”
“Huh?”
“I asked if you knew anything about Nokta.”
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Kigami put his hand to his forehead, as if he was thinking hard about something.
"Nokta, the land of night… All I know is that Nokta is always night and that its rightful inhabitants are creatures of the Noctis species. They have pale bodies, feathered tails, and pointy ears... I heard some of them can step into the dream realm to feast on nightmares... Other than that… I don’t know anything more about Nokta. And about their god… well, only what Estella told us."
“So we really don’t know anything?”
“You could say that.”
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The girl sighed. Not only did they know nothing about Nokta, but they also couldn’t be sure that the land they were standing on actually belonged to it.
“So to sum it up: we have no idea if it’s Nokta, we know nothing about their deity, we’re tired, hungry, and we have no idea what to do next.”
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Kigami just nodded. head. Kimoko sighed again, her arms falling limply along her body.
''Fuck..."
Kigami looked at her with his smile, she knows to well. He had an idea, that involved her.
“Maybe you should ask someone for directions to the City of Night?” The girl narrowed her eyes. She knew it.
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“Why me?” She asked.
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“Because you beter in small talks than me. Now go, kitty…” The man gently pushed her forward.
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“Because I'm beter in small talk? Geez, what kind of argument is that? He could have just said he didn’t want to do it himself. I would have understood.”
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She reluctantly moved forward and approached the first person she saw. However, as soon as she got closer, she was hit by the strong smell of alcohol. Instinctively, she turned on her heel and returned to Kigami. She knew it would end with nothing.
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The demon stood with his back against the wall of one of the nearby buildings, waiting patiently for her. As soon as he noticed her, he moved away from the wall and approached her.
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“So, did you manage to find out anything, kitty?”
Kimoko sighed heavily.
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“Nothing. The person I was trying to talk to was so drunk that communication would be impossible, so I just kind of gave up."
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“Wait… was she drunk? Where there’s drunks, there’s alcohol. Where there’s alcohol, there’s a bar. And there are a lot of people in a bar… and not all of them have to be drunk.”
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“So you’re suggesting that someone from the bar can help us?”
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“Mhm. But first we have to find it.”
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Kimoko raised her head, looked at Kigami… and then suddenly burst out laughing.
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The demon looked at her in slight disbelief.
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“What’s so funny?”
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“Kigami… look up.”
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He did as she asked.
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A wooden board hung above the entrance to the building, the words written in white paint:
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“The Mad Fox Bar.”
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Kigami raised an eyebrow.
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“Well… some things are closer than they seem.” He walked to the tavern door and opened it, and with his free hand he made a gesture to Kimoko to let her know she should go in first.
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The girl took a step forward, but hesitated just before entering. She glanced at Kigami, who only smiled at her encouragingly.
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“Well they say ladies go first. Don’t worry kitty, I’ll be right behind you.”
Kimoko rolled with her eyes.
"Stop calling me that..." she muttered under her breath as her silhouette disappeared into the tavern.
ns216.73.217.110da2
and then Add to home screen.