Chapter 432 141 - The meaning of obligation (part 2)

Chapter 432 141 - The meaning of obligation (part 2)　　"(Oh – or maybe she just wanted to get married to that guy's grandson?)"

"(A sudden change of heart...?)"

...but then both sentinels changed their train of thought – making Zoemi have a bad feeling about the phrase 'sudden change of heart' as it made him think about Surou...

The blue-haired second prince was under a hex and his affection was directed towards a person that would not receive the same amount of it if not for the third party interaction.

Arisu, the white-haired capture target was the factor connecting both cases... could it be more than just a coincidence?

Arisu was most definitely the one responsible for messing with Surou, but could the same be said about Ehmi?

Although she on the other hand did have a problematic past experience that she didn't even remember – that was showing up as a younger version of herself but with platinum hair...

|Hold up...! I couldn't ask Aspakeony about it before, because she was missing! Why didn't I think about it sooner?!|

"(Other things on your mind?)"

"(Coma.)"

Zoemi realized, getting wide-eyed and his hand trembled before he lowered it with a slightly paler expression, even though his sentinels had a rather sensible response to that question that they did not realize was a rhetoric one.

"I am fine with the practice fight – I will definitely not embarrass myself as I did before, but please go easy on me, it has been only a few months..."

Grazio, who of course wasn't in Zoemi's head and had no access to the little talk that the black-haired boy had with his sentinels, said with a timid expression and nodded before smiling bashfully.

"Sorry, Grazio – change of plans. I just remembered that I had a very important task to do! Maybe next time!"

But then Zoemi moved past him in a hurry, throwing the training sword back into the storage shed and rushing to the Academy's building.

"...huh...?!"

The red-haired boy let out a confused voice as his jaw dropped watching the black-haired boy's back.

"Once again, sorry for the confusion!"

Zoemi waved at him before walking into the building and going to the headmaster's office.

"(Master, do you want to be teleported, or maybe you would like shadow-gate better?)"

His first sentinel offered innocently.

|Thank you, but it's okay – no matter how little, actually getting transported by mana interferes with my own mana and it brings out the pain which I do not like at all. Besides, it's not that far away, and if you are worried about me, we can talk along the way.|

Zoemi thought in response and smiled.

"(Okay~!)"

"(~!)"

The sentinels cheerfully agreed – the walk and the talk weren't all that long, to begin with, and soon enough the black-haired boy was standing in front of the door to the headmaster's office.

He also asked his sentinels to open the seal on the room using the death attribute mana and to not damage it, since it was preferable for him to not use his own mana – like he ad already said himself.

"(Master, it's open~!)"

|Good job~|

The second of his sentinels called out proudly, and Zoemi praised them in his thoughts.

The black-haired boy then proceeds to open the door and walk inside.

"Hello...? Aspy, it's me..."

He called out in a hushed voice, which he expected to already shock the gray-haired necromancer – but to his disappointment, there was no response.

At the first glance, the headmaster's office was empty.

"..."

Zoemi furrowed his brows – he expected either at least one of the necromancer's puppets or her herself being there at such an early hour, but it seemed like the actual headmaster had some things to do.

Or she was in the bathroom behind the hidden door – or just sleeping in the augmented closet's drawer of which both could hide her shadow easily.

Since it didn't feel right to just leave the room without checking those two places, the black-haired boy walked towards the closet first and kneeled by it.

When he grabbed the handles and started pulling it out, he already knew that something indeed is in the drawer as it had actual weight to it that surpassed the normal weight of just some blankets and plushies that would always be stuffed inside of it.

|Sleepyhead~|

As soon as the drawer was out, it indeed revealed the dark-skinned gray-haired girl, peacefully sleeping in one of her nightgowns literally buried in a pile of plushies that worked as a makeshift blanket.

"...nnn...?"

Stirred up by the sudden movement of the drawer that should not have happened without her knowledge, Aspakeony twitched and made a grumpy noise.

Her eyelids trembled and she moved around when the colder air from outside the drawer came in contact with her skin.

"Hello, Aspy~ Sorry to bother you at such an early time but..."

Zoemi spoke up in a soft, apologetic voice as probably no one liked to be woken up when they thought they could have been asleep for longer, but the gray0haired girl had a curious reaction to his voice.

"...nnn...!"

"...!"

*thump*

Without opening her eyes, she frowned and reached out toward Zoemi, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him right back into the drawer filled with various plush toys.

"(...friends...)"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Zoemi was about to speak up about what happened, especially about being faced with yet another argument about why the medium is premium pressing against his face as he was being treated as an oversized stuffed toy, but then a silent and extremely distant voice whispered in his head for the first time since he woke up, stunning him completely.

"(Eh?! Who was that?!)"

"(Hello...? Is anyone else here too? Show up!)"

Even his sentinels reacted in confusion which proved that it wasn't just their host's imagination – but alas, the answer they all were waiting for didn't come as the mysterious voice did not call out again.

|That must have been the original personality... Now that I think about it... it was getting stronger before the tournament, I remember it calling out to me quite clearly, even to the point of taking over my body... but why does it sound so distant now? And since it did take over my body before, why didn't it do the same thing when I was in a coma?|

Zoemi thought to himself, so concerned that in fact while his mind was focused on the matter, his body subconsciously reacted to being hugged, and hugged back.

"(Eehh...? So it was that weird thing from way back? I thought it got chased out when you got punched by the white-haired man!)"

"(Yeah, I thought so too!)"

The boy's sentinels spoke in concern, trying to figure out what was going on.

"...oh dear goodness... now I've done it, I couldn't control myself anymore and I kidnapped him..."

"...?!"

Just then, the Aspakoeny who woke up because of being hugged back, muttered in her raspy morning voice, sounding worried but somewhat content about the black-haired boy in her arms.

Instead of letting go and confronting him about what was going on, the gray-haired necromancer only hugged him tighter, grabbing him with her legs and nuzzling her cheek against the opt of his head since she couldn't do that to his face that was currently buried in her chest.

"I should have known that Benevirau will forget to tell you to hold back and not show off your real power... he never was one to hold himself back, but on the other hand, he also never tried to run away from the responsibility either, so I should have predicted that..."

"...?"

She sighed heavily, causing the black-haired boy to frown in confusion.