"…Kaito?"
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
The door opened wider.
Sumire stood in the doorway, white night-robe falling around her like mist. Candlelight glowed behind her, casting soft gold along her pale skin and long cobalt hair. Up close, the silver markings of a White Mage circled her arm like frost-bitten vines.
Her eyes—usually distant and unreadable—now held confusion.
And something else.
A faint tremor of surprise. Or maybe… relief.
Kaito realized he was just standing there.
"Oh—uh. Hey."
Smooth, Kaito.
Sumire blinked once. Slowly. As if grounding herself.
"What are you doing here?"
Kaito rubbed the back of his neck. "I—uh—I wanted to check on you."
Silence.
He panicked. Words spilled.
"I mean—it's just, your dorm was so far out and everyone was acting weird around you and… you were alone."
Sumire's gaze lowered. Her fingers tightened on the door.
"People don't usually come here."
"Yeah, Mikele said it was a terrible idea." He scratched his cheek. "He was very clear about that."
"Mikele is smart."
Pina chirped loudly from his shoulder as if to say I'm here too.
Sumire's eyes widened a fraction.
"That's… Elder Akusa's parreton. I didn't realize who Pina was last night."
"She just kind of follows me."
A faint breath of a smile formed on Sumire's lips.
Then faded.
Her voice softened. "You should go back. If the instructors catch you—"
"Are you okay?"
Sumire froze.
Kaito looked directly at her now. No stuttering. No nervous fidgeting.
"You looked scared today," he said quietly. "During the ceremony. Everyone sat away from you. You didn't say anything. I just, wanted to see if you were okay."
For a moment, Sumire only stared.
Then, so softly it almost didn't exist—
"…I haven't been asked that in a long time."
The words felt fragile. Like glass.
Kaito blinked. "That's… seriously?"
She nodded once.
The hallway was silent except for candlelight flickering.
Finally, hesitantly… Sumire stepped back.
"You can come in. But only for a moment."
Kaito stepped inside.
Immediately, warmth.
Not from the fireplace (which was unlit), but from life.
Her room wasn't like the others.
Books stacked beside her bed. Sewing needles and thread laid over folded white cloth on her desk. A small cup of tea steaming beside a journal. Sheets rumpled from where she'd been sitting.
It wasn't perfect.
It was human.
Sumire sat at the edge of the bed, hands folded in her lap.
Kaito stayed standing.
Pina jumped to the carpet, circled twice, and plopped down.
Neither spoke.
Finally, Sumire broke the silence.
"…Why did you really come?"
Kaito took a breath.
"I don't like seeing someone alone," he said honestly. "Especially when they don't deserve to be."
Sumire's eyes trembled.
Just a little.
"You don't even know me."
"Not yet. But you didn't seem like a bad person… even if you were a little obnoxious yesterday."
"How rude…" But her voice trailed off and she looked at him for a long time. Searching. Confused. As if the concept itself was foreign.
At last she nodded.
And quietly…
"Thank you."
Footsteps.
Not Kaito's.
Not Sumire's.
From outside. In the hall.
Both their heads turned.
Someone else was here.
And they had stopped right outside the door.
Neither of them moved.
Kaito held his breath.
Then, slowly, the steps faded down the hall.
Sumire let out a soft exhale and lowered her head. The tension left her shoulders.
"They patrol here too?" Kaito whispered.
Sumire nodded. "Not for me. For the building. A white mage dying on academy grounds would be… bad optics."
Kaito frowned. "That is a strange way to put it."
"It is a strange life."
Silence settled again.
Kaito sat on the wooden chair beside her bed. Sumire sat on the edge of it, fingers twisted together in her lap. Pina curled up on the rug, one golden eye half-open.
"When you stalked me with Pina-"
"Hey!! I wasn't…"
"Did you know I was a white mage?"
"No. But I saw a girl roaming Madrigal alone despite the rules stating we cannot. I guess I was worried you were in some trouble.
"And now that you know who I am. Are you not afraid?"
"How could I be afraid of someone who looks so sad?"
Her lips parted slightly, as if unsure how to respond.
A moment passed, soft and quiet.
Then Kaito asked, "Will you tell me about… this place? Why you're here alone?"
Sumire stared at the floor. Candlelight made her silver markings shimmer faintly along her arm. When she spoke, her voice was barely louder than a breath.
"I'm a bit of an outcast, which I'm sure you know by now. So… sometimes like last night I have to find food from the leftovers of the kingdom's people. I've long since thought of myself as a dirty woman, but I have a reason that no matter what, I have to live on.
"Sumire, I would've given you food any time you asked! Ol' Kusa is actually a bit of a glutton so we always had lots of food sitting around our place."
Bringing her hand over her lips, she stifled a giggle. "Dummy." But her smile subsided as quickly as it came; her tone turned serious. "White mages are born when a child carries too much divine mana. To some people, it is a blessing. To those who understand… it is something to fear."
Slowly, she rolled up her sleeve revealing her a shoulder, with a brand of an eye engraved into her skin. "This is the mark of Sanctus. I've had it since birth, and it is said the God's themselves engrave a white mage's soul before sending them to this world."
Kaito listened, unmoving.
"My mother was a healer in Madrigal. Kind. Quiet. She hid my arm when I was born. She covered the markings every day." Sumire's fingers tightened. "But the people noticed. They whispered. Said a white mage would bring attention from the gods. And where gods look… perfection was required or misfortune would follow."
Her eyes glistened, though no tears fell.
"They forced us out of the city and into the forest to the north. She became sick. There were no healers far from the capital. Her wish was for me to fulfill my duty as a white mage. To live a life much better than the one she could give me." A faint waver entered her voice. "And then… she died."
Kaito sat very still.
"I buried her. Walked to Madrigal. They wouldn't let me enter openly. That's why you saw me at night." She gave a small, humorless smile. "Now I'm here fulfilling my duty. In a palace. For one."
Kaito's hands curled into fists. "That isn't right."
Sumire looked at him. Not in disbelief. More like she was checking if he really meant it.
He did.
"What about you?" she asked quietly. "People don't look at you like they look at me. But you don't exactly… fit the mold either."
Kaito blinked. "Me?"
"Yes."
He shifted, suddenly aware of his own heartbeat.
"I was an orphan," he said plainly. "So was Mikele. He's the taller blue haired snob that always walks with me. We grew up in a place called Thistlemere Orphanage. It wasn't… great. But it was ours."
He could almost smell the woodsmoke and old blankets again; Hearing echoes of children laughing in the yard.
"Mikele was always stronger. Smarter. He got in fights with older kids when they tried to steal food. He used to give me the bigger half of his bread. I thought he was annoying. Didn't know he was just trying to keep me alive."
Sumire watched him quietly.
"When we turned eleven, the matron died. No money, no food coming in." Kaito's voice dropped. "Mikele kept the place running. Hunted from the same forest to the north you had to live in. Stayed up half the night reading books he stole from broken libraries. He said someone had to be strong enough that no one there would starve again."
Sumire's eyes widened almost imperceptibly.
"One winter, Elder Akusa came through the Madrigal slums. He saw me chopping firewood. Asked how I learned to carry so much weight at my age."
Kaito smiled faintly.
"I said, 'Because I have to.'"
Sumire's lips slowly pressed together.
"Akusa talked to Mikele. A week later, he adopted me. Gave me a home. Clothes. A bed that wasn't cold." Kaito looked down. "I wanted him to adopt Mikele too. But Mikele refused."
"Why?"
"He said someone had to stay behind to take care of the kids."
Sumire's expression softened. Something warm flickered beneath her usually distant gaze.
Kaito leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
"So… I train. I lift. I fight. Because I owe them. The kids. Mikele. Kusa. I want to protect them like they protected me."
"…That is a good reason," Sumire whispered.
Kaito shrugged, a bit flustered. "I don't know if it is good. But it is mine."
Sumire looked at him for a long moment.
Then, softly:
"Thank you for telling me."
Kaito rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly aware of how close they were sitting.
Pina sneezed.
The tension cracked like thin ice.
Sumire blinked, then, barely, a smile.
A real one.
Not polite. Not guarded.
Small.
Warm.
Someone knocked on the door.
Soft.
Once.
Then again.
Kaito stood up so fast the chair nearly fell.
Sumire's smile vanished.
Mikele's voice came through the door, calm but tense.
"Kaito. Glorgnir is on his way to here. I don't know why... and I don't think its a good idea to find out."
"So you're the Mikele he was telling me about."
"And you're the reason Kaito is doing stupid things."
Sumire paused for a moment, then nodded her head in agreement, "Yes, he is being very reckless right now."
Heat rose in Kaito's face, embarrassment at Sumire's betrayal. "Y-you can't agree with him! His ego is big enough!"
Sumire laughed, before covering her mouth as if she did something unforgivable.
"It's time to go Kaito."
"Right."
Sumire stood, candlelight catching on her white sleeves.
Kaito turned to her.
"I'll come back soon… If I don't fail the entrance exams. That okay?"
Sumire hesitated.
Then nodded.
"It is."
Kaito smiled.
She smiled back.