The Hidden World

Walking back to her dorm room, Yuna was deep in her thoughts. There was just too many things that happened today for her to process. First was theft of the Blazing Jewel which may or may not have been successful since the gem was never recovered. Second was discovery that Nataru Katem was a member of the Shikaku.

But the most important thing that Yuna discovered, at least to her, was about Yuki. She already knew that he was quite capable from her observations during the tournament, but that second round revealed something else. Yuki was probably the person that had saved her that night.

‘I need to know,’ she thought. ‘I need to know if he really was the one. And if he is, how? Why?’

With a nod, she made her decision. She walked into the Dormitory and entered the elevator. Then she hit the button for the top floor. The elevator shot up and opened with a ding. Yuna walked out and turned right before stopping in front of the entrance to Yuki’s room.

“Yuki?” she said, knocking on the door.

She glanced around but there was no one around. From behind the wooden entrance, she heard the muffled thump of a door.

“Yuna?” Yuki’s light voice called back. “Is the tournament done already?”

‘Oh, he’s actually here. Did he come back to his room after he lost?’

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “But they are having an impromptu assembly. Someone tried to steal the grand prize.”

“I know that,” he said, the door opening and revealing his face. “Why are you here?”

“Oh, I wasn’t participating and they let me go early,” Yuna answered vaguely.

“No, what I meant was why are you here? In front of my room.”

“I just wanted to talk,” she said, her eyes moving away from Yuki.

Yuki shrugged and walked back inside his room, leaving the door open. Yuna entered and shut it behind her.

“So why did you withdraw?” she asked.

“From the third round?” he asked back, sitting on the couch.

“Yeah, you had a chance you know?” she said. “You’re pretty strong.”

“No, you’re overestimating me,” he replied. “I may be able to beat elves but beastkin are another thing all together. Physically, they are much stronger.”

“Still, you could have tried,” Yuna said. She sat down next to him.

“I rather not. Losing is a bad habit,” he said. “Don’t try to pick fights that you can’t win. I need to shower. Do you mind waiting here? You can do whatever, just don’t break anything.”

“Okay,” she said.

Yuki got up and walked to the hall where Yuna knew the bathroom was located. She also knew that his room was right across from it. The lay out for each dorm room was exactly the same.

‘I don’t know how to ask him.’

Yuna wanted to ask about that night and to get verification that it was Yuki that saved her. The problem was that if she just came out and said it, it’ll make her look weird at best if she was wrong.

‘Well, he’s taking a shower so that will give a few minutes at least,’ she thought. ‘Maybe I’ll snoop around a bit.’

She went to the hallway and heard the sound of running water from the bathroom. Then she went to the otherside of the hall and saw the door to Yuki’s room cracked open. He didn’t close it properly when he went to get his clothes. She pushed it open and looked around. Yuki’s bed was messy and took up most of the room. At the back wall of the room was a closet. Next to the bed was a nightstand.

Yuna first went to the nightstand and looked through everything. What she found was nothing. Yuki had nothing inside of his stand, nothing on top of it, and nothing around it. She looked around the room again and noticed that the walls were very barren. There was no decoration of any kind.

‘He hasn’t bought anything for himself yet? He’s been here for so long.’

The last place that Yuna checked was the closet. It was the only place where something could be hid outside of magic. When she opened the door, the first thing that she noticed was the amount of clothes. There were jeans, shirts, pajamas, and even dresses.

‘Why does he have dresses? Maybe he likes to crossdress? They are cute dresses.’

Whatever the reason, it wasn’t important. Yuna didn’t care if he did do crossdressing. She dug pushed aside the hanging clothes and found what she was looking for. In the back of the closet was a long staff made of polished metal. A staff that looked exactly like the one her rescuer used.

“We can talk about this after,” a voice came from behind her.

She jumped back and turned her head to find Yuki standing at the door. He didn’t look angry or surprised at her snooping.

“I thought you were showering,” she stuttered.

“I decided to take a bath so I was filling up the tub and wanted to get something while it filled up,” he replied. The sound of running water could still be heard behind him.

“Oh.”

“You can do whatever,” Yuki said, grabbing a towel from the closet. “I’ll be done in about half an hour.”

Yuna nodded and walked out of the bedroom, going back to the living room. Then she sat down and waited. Her mind was blank from being caught.

After a little past thirty minutes, Yuki walked out of the hallway dressed in jeans and a long sleeve. He sat down on the couch next to Yuna, tucked his knees, and looked at her.

“So, what did you find?” he asked.

“You saved me?”

“Yes. And?”

“How did you know to come and save me?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”

“Coincidence. I was investigating as well, remember?” Yuki answered. “I was there at the right time.”

“But how? How did you beat that man?”

“The element of surprise is a very powerful weapon,” he said. “I managed to distract him enough for me to get the first hit in. Then I just went on from there and continued to beat him until he was unconscious.”

Yuna didn’t know how to reply to that.

“How strong are you?” she whispered.

“Look, I’m strong for a human. I can defeat your average elf. But that doesn’t mean that I can win against a strong elf. If you want, you can see it for yourself,” he offered.

“How?”

“Just drop by the training facility anytime between midnight and two in the morning. I’ll be there training,” he said.

“That late?”

“Mhm, that late. You can manage it right?” Yuki asked.

“I don’t know, I like to sleep,” she said. “Maybe I can manage one day.”

“If you come by then you’ll be able to judge my strength properly,” he said. “I don’t want you jumping to conclusions. Also, another thing.”

“Yes?”

“Can you keep this all a secret?” he asked.

“Secret? Why?” Yuna asked in return.

“I don’t want people to know how capable I am or the weapons I use,” Yuki explained. “It’ll attract attention and that’s the last thing I want. Please, just keep quiet about this. Don’t tell anyone.”

“I’ll try,” she said. Then an idea popped into her mind. “Do you by any chance use daggers to fight?”

“No?” he answered. “I use a staff as you should know.”

‘Well, there goes that idea.’

If he had answered yes, then Yuna was going to follow up with a question about his species. But it seems that the identity of the elf that defeated the golem was going to stay a mystery.

“Alright, thank you for answering,” Yuna said, standing. “I’ll see if I can come by for one of your training sessions.”

Yuki stood and escorted her to the door.

“Remember, keep this a secret,” he reminded. He opened the door and Yuna walked out. “Please?”

“I’ll try,” she said again and then with a small wave walked away, the door closing behind her.