The Crimson Vermillion (Invited)

Kona guided Julius and Mura towards their mansion. Arriving at the mansion Julius was fascinated how big the mansion was, but it wasn't as big as the guild hall. Entering the manor Kona asked if Julius and Mura could wait in the guest hall while she brings Akina towards her bedroom. Julius nodded in agreement and started to inspect the hall. He noticed that there were 10 statues placed in the hall each of the plates underneath them said that they were part of the 10 wizard saints, there was also a statue of Heero. So these are the 10 wizard saints... Julius has never heard of them... In fact Julius doesn't even know what they are nor does Julius know who these people are except for Heero... Julius did find it strange that foreign's have statues of wizards from Fiore.

Julius walked around the hall more and noticed that Mura was watching towards a painting. Julius read the nameplate below the painting. "The six samurai's" Do you know what they are Mura-kun? Julius asked while he kept inspecting the painting. So this is what samurai armor looks like... Julius is amazed that they could fight while wearing that. Suddenly Mura spoke up towards Julius giving him a quick summary on who Kona and Akina are. Hmmm... Demon hunters... Sure is an interesting occupation...

Suddenly out of nowhere Akina spoke up apologizing towards Mura and Julius. Kona explained to them the situation. Mura though it was weird for someone to have demon blood in their lineage to kill other demons. Well it isn't that weird... It's like you said it's normal for other samurai's to kill each other... It's the same for pirates... Julius' parents would Julius stories on how they killed a lot of pirates that were leaning to the darker side... Julius explained to Mura. Oh by the way where are Julius' manners! My name is Julius Seas a water mage and guild mate of Mura-kun! It is a honor to meet you! Julius bowed when he introduced himself. Julius hopes you don't mind but... Julius has 2 questions... Why are they attacking Akina-san? She hunts for demons wouldn't that make them a sort off ally? Is just for the sake of eradicating all the demons or is it something else? And Julius other question is what were those zombie like things Julius encountered in the back alley... They should have been dead by the stab wound they got from the sword that was stabbed into them!

“Well, the bloodline of the Tojos were demon and that they do hunt demons, the ryoudo and the Nanatsu families who also make up the Demon Hunter’s Organization questioned the Tojos about that issue and I guess they had some sort of agreement. I can’t go into details since only Akina knows about it.” She answered Mura’s question, now its time to answer Julius’s question.

“My, my its nice to meet you!” She giggled and responded with a gesture of her own with her maiden’s uniform.

“About that, I’m just not sure but the Demon Hunters aren’t considered allies of the church, they aren’t that close, anything that isn’t human. They’d execute non-humans or humans that choose to defile their purity by means of procreating with interspecies, or selling their souls to gain more power, possessing evil and malefic powers or perhaps anything that is supposed to be dead and should be dead. What you saw earlier were probably the dead, I don’t know exactly how it happened but I think its best to ask that to Akina when she wakes up.”

What is supposed to be dead and should be dead, it was clear to Kyuken why he feared her blades.

“I’m sorry but can you guys stay here for a while? Unfortunately Lady Akina insists that she and I would look for Master Shiki ourselves and would hire locals to help, he could have brought some of our trusted warriors but they are needed in Midi more, we don’t have bodyguards right now. Akina isn’t in good condition to have intruders ambush her while she’s resting” Lady Akina Tojo would more or less likely to take care of herself while she sleeps with an assailant in her room, her hair would automatically defend her but from the battle against the executor, she was weakened.

“You’ll be compensated of course for the trouble!” Kona bowed down and if both mages are in agreement, they are to go to their respected positions and rooms if they so decide to stay in and sleep, even if intruders were to enter the property, they’d all be alerted immediately. The compound was surrounded with an invisble field that notifies anyone in the compound that someone came in by means of creating a “gut feeling” someone is there. In any case all they can do is act as guards or stay with them till morning comes.

---

The executor returns, descending down in front of the halls of Kardia cathedral, standing and waiting for her was a priestess.

“Sister Shirouko, you acted recklessly and caught the attention of the Fairy Tail Guild, no one is to know about this yet but us, agents of the church. They cannot be involved.”

“Claudia, we cannot stop the incoming phenomena that’s about to arrive in Fiore, anyone from the church or even any God can’t stop its advance and the eyes Ive seen tonight, were eyes of worry and doubt, its a liability.”

“Like I said sister Shirouko, it cannot be helped, when it comes, we will deal with its “manifestations” if the Magic Council catches on with what’s happening then let them try to resolve this themselves. Besides we have a secondary target in this country, I do hope you haven’t forgotten about it.”

“………. Claudia!”

“….. It came early..”


And if Julius and Mura were to look outside and gaze upon the moon, for a brief moment they could have swore… that they have seen the image of the moon, smiling red.

---

The next day Akina was awake and is sitting in the living room, drinking tea that kona served, awaiting patiently for the two fairytail mages to arrive to her.

This was quite new information for Mura; he would've never guessed that the famous Tojo family of Midi were descendants of demons; at least, a bloodline of a demon. He sighed in relief after hearing that the two other Demon Hunter's Organization families had an agreement with the Tojo's, despite their bloodline, and letting them stay a part of the demon hunter clan. "I'm relieved," he responded wiht a voice of ease. After her greeting to Julius, she explained about the relation between the Demon Hunters and the Church; the objective of the Church sounded very similar to the one of the demon hunters', executing sinister beings as demons and etc. Perhaps they didn't agree with the Tojo family and their relation to demons, which is closer than the sword to their throats. You could say that it was like the conditions between foreign samurais; despite your joint goal in life, you can still count among yourselves as enemies. In the beginning, that sounded like a case of discrimination, but it was most likely more complicated than that.

Kona suddenly asked for Mura and Julius to stay here and support them in finding Shiki in the future. As of now, they were asked to work as guardians, due to their lack of trusted warriors from Midi. That was where Mura's strange relation to them, which was bonded by blood, struck; he gave them a quick nod and answered: "Yeah, of course! i don't mind..!" Even Kyuken was sceptical of his fast agreement, but why deny it? They were obviously needing help from them, so this was a very nice act. He even layed an arm around Julius and pulled him closer, pointing out that they would BOTH help them. not even asking Julius, he continued: "We'll be sufficient. Count on that." It must've been a little rude for him to just pull Julius into this, but he didn't realized that yet. Kyuken appeared in his normal form and stood proudly before Kona, a sparkling look on his face and with the words: "And of course, I'll watch out for you all. See it as an act of gratitude for your support in my past..."

They were then pointed to their respected positions, not surprising as the building was quite large. It had several bedrooms, and Mura was supposedly going to stay overnight here with Julius and Kyuken. "Okay... Kyuken," he slowly spoke to his samurai spirit, "I got to ask you a favour... and I know that I wouldn't really trust you enough to do this, but... could you watch out for Akina in her room? Just in case..." The samurai snapped his neck in shock for a brief moment, then quickly shook his head and nodded. "I'm on it, Mura..!" he replied, before disappearing in the blink of an eye. A vein was apparent on Mura's forehead at the moment, but he did ask him a favour, so he couldn't but roll with it. The shaman would say good night to his guildmate, before moving towards his room; surprisingly, he left a pair of clones to guard the hallway. That was his way of guarding; two persons were good, four were better. And then he could rest properly, without always staying alert in times that didn't need him being awake. He then entered his room and threw himself on the bed, thinking of what happened today. His eyes shot out of the window as he spotted the... seemingly crimson moon, a sinister feeling travelling through his spine. "Huh... what a weird phenomenon," he commented.

_________________________________________________________________________________


The sun rose up from the horizon, its rays revealing a sleepy Mura on the bed. No signs or alerts of intruders were heard throughout the night, so his mind was calmer now. He stood up, only to expect a falling clock from somewhere (a habit that usually happened back at his home). After pulling himself together, he went out and walked downstairs, not wearing his shirt but having it on top of his shoulder for some weird reason. Obviously, he had his pants on and all, but the guy cared not of flashing his torso, even if it was unconsciously happening. He would find Kyuken beside Akina, a very lewd face that triggered Mura's distrust; if he just knew what that crazy guy had done during the night. "Good morning," he greeted them, before looking for Julius, "Hm... Kona. Akina." His eyes would dart towards them with a serious look. "Did you see the moon tonight? It was... strange," he told them, even though that he belived it to be due to his exhaustion and a case of hallucination of sorts, "It was all red and... creepy. Did you see it, Kyuken?" The samurai would snap a little, and then think back to the night, only causing a blush on his face. Mura was convinced that he didn't spot shit, honestly. "I guess that Julius might've spotted it too... weird."

Akina started explaining the bloodline of the Tojo family it didn't really made any sense to Julius maybe it was because he was to much of a airhead. Kona giggled and did a gesture back, Julius smiled. She then went off explaining her theory on why the church isn't close with demon hunters since the church wants to kill everyone that gives up their purity to gain power. But that doesn't make any sense! Akina-san never choose to be born with demon blood! How can the church be so cruel on killing someone who didn't got a choice in the matter... Akina-san even tries to expel demons... Oh Julius is going to give those church thugs a piece of Julius' mind! Julius was starting to get a bit provoked. Kona didn't had a answer on what those walking bodies were and proposed to aks Akina when she woke up.

Kona also asked Mura and Julius to stay for a while with them as bodyguards since the warriors they requested where more needed in Midi. Before Julius could answer Mura already made the decision for him and even held Julius close to him as a sign that he has to stay. Of course we'll stay Kona-san! We would be a disgrace to the Fairy Tail guild if we declined! Julius and Mura got guided to their rooms and both said goodnight to each other.

Julius turned on the light in his room and was amazed on how big it was. This room is even bigger then Julius' living room... In the room there was a bed, a desk with a chair and a door leading into a small bathroom. Julius putted off his pirate coat and T-shirt putted them on the chair. He walked towards his bed putted off his shoes and landed himself on the bed and fell asleep.

Julius woke up in the middle of a night he got up and grabbed something to drink he looked outside and noticed that the moon was looking weird. It was glowing red Julius thought it looked strange and went back to bed again.

The next morning Julius woke up and went downstairs fully dressed. He walked into the room and saw that Mura wasn't fully dressed showing of his torso to everyone Julius rolled his eyes and sat down on a couch. *yawn* Good morning Mura-kun, Akina-san and Kona-san! Did you all sleep well? Julius asked though Mura wasted not time ans asked the three if they saw the moon last night. Hmmm... Now that you mention it... Yeah the moon sure looked weird last night.

Now the two mages are present, they were both requested to sit down before Lady Akina as Kona would serve tea. She has an irritated expression on kyuken, especially since what Kyuken had seen early this morning. Its natural for Kyuken to peep into Akina’s room, coming to know his perverted tendencies and he’d expect that Akina would usually undress herself.

(Will be sending it to mura what Kyuken saw, Mura may choose to share it with Julius or not, I wouldn’t care.)

“I’d like for you to know that Kona acted on her own according without my permission and allowed a pervert to sneak into my room without permission.” Her cold and penetrating glare was shot at Kyuken who she is upset about.

“The tales about you were true then, Samurai.” Akina won’t go into the actual story how Kyuken and the Tojos met as long as he kept quiet about what happened early this morning. And if the reader were to be wondering about this, the typical story of a samurai meeting the tojos was just by accident when he practiced his lecherous behavior, peeping on one of the daughters of the Tojos, who is Akina’s great, great, great, great grandmother. Foreplay followed thereafter.

“For someone who is spiritual artist, it seems you fail to control and discipline your own spirit, Mura of Fairy Tail, I will let this go once but should this happen again, you’ll be discharged of duty as well as your credibility as a Fairy Tail mage.”

Akina turned to Julius. “You were wondering about the corpses you’ve seen last night. Of course they are classified as the dead but I didn’t expect some of the dead to be in Fiore, they are monsters nonetheless.”

“I’d like to say that I didn't expect the presence of the Church Agents here in Magnolia, hence it’s expected that they would keep a close eye on the mansion. I believe Kona had not explained this to your properly but the priority of the Demon Hunter’s Organization is to silence and eliminate rouge demons that could prove to be a threat to society, since the sight of demons is common in Midi to which some were hostile in the early era, the Demon Hunters Organization was formed. You are aware of this right Mr. Kyuken, Mura?” She shot another cold glare at the two of them.

“But regardless of how good or bad demons are, the Church considers them as heretics, abominations of nature that would wrought and defile the sanctity of God’s creatures and eliminate all those who root evil, the Church however has only qualms against the Tojo family because, as Kona explained without my permission….”

Kona bowed her head in apology

“… my family have to bred with some demons themselves so that we can have the powers to eliminate powerful demons, some what the Ryoudo and the Nanatsu cannot.”

“Now then, let me remind you I hired you Fairy Tail mages to be my guide and to look for my brother; however we have one obstacle, the agents of the church who could be residing in Kardia Cathedral. Fortunately the mansion has a good distance but knowing them, they could come anytime and attack us. During the day, we are to search for brother but when night comes, we return to the mansion and prepare ourselves in case of an attack, may it be either the Church agents or the monsters you could have seen in the streets.”

Akina sipped on a cup of tea, ending her explanation and lecture. More questions will probably be answered later.

---

As of now it’s expected that Akina and Kona would go out trying to look for the brother, Julius and Mura are free to decide what course of action they should do next.

(To put it simply, you guys can do whatever your characters wish to do during the day, this means you can have plans or interact with anything in the plot, and by anything I also mean, anyone. When you think you have enough, your characters are to return to the Tojo mansion, signaling the end of your investigations and interactions, I can choose to even call the both of you if the thread is long enough, night time is going to be the finale of this episode.)

Anything can happen now write what can happen and should happen in the day

NOte: This episode takes place before FT became branded as a dark guild which should make sense.

"Huh... weird," Mura replied to Julius; it appeared that the shaman wasn't the only one who saw the strange phenomenon last night. He was intentionally wanting to think about it, but was interrupted by Akina's complaint about Kyuken. Seriously, it wasn't surprising; that bastard had done similar stuff like this for an eternity, literally. And despite her main anger towards Kyuken, it hit Mura as well as she could've found this as a bad representive of his guild. Sweatdrops trickled down his chin as he thought about that, swallowing and all kinds of signs of anxiety. The shot shaman bowed in excuse, replying: "I-I-I'm sorry about that... it won't happen again, I swear..!" Man, that pervert brought him into troubles every day; despite being shaman, he wasn't very good at training spirits' natural behaviors, not to mention a 600-year old samurai whose lust had stacked through the years. All odds were against him in that case.

Mura caught words of 'the dead', a phenomenon that he absolutely despised; in a brief moment, he remembered his encounters with the vampires in Midi and their advantage against his life-hurting magic. How can a guy who alters spirits affect a spirit-less? That was the ultimate obstacle for the young samurai, and it appeared to have returned to Fiore. He nodded quickly to her explanation, once again reminded of the vampires of Midi; they were pretty much like undead demons or something. Man, her death glare was annoying and creepy as hell. Kyuken was anxious, too; for God's sake, it was all his fault! He'd better feel bad for himself, for now. She told about the Church and their generalizing of all demons, as it sounded to be; although, their qualm against the Tojo's appeared to be their only exception, due to their breeding program that sounded to help them defeat stronger demons. As if true power was inherited; that was something that the young samurai could identify himself with. The latest Onmyoji, descendant of the First; that was only one example. His connection to the Kensho family was another; and, at last, his connection and lineage to the so-called god of death, Pluto. It was like a reminder to all those facts of his.

Once her lecture was over, Akina and Kona went out to search for Akina's brother. Before he headed out, Mura grabbed Kyuken's shoulder. "Just what the hell were you doing last night, you pervert..?" he asked, while transferring Kyuken's spirit into himself. Before the samurai spirit could protest, an image popped up before Mura; what seemed to be Akina's jaw in... "!!!" The shaman leaped backwards, steam erupting from his nose as he was recovering his foothold in an instant, "What the heck..." His cheeks were blushing with embarrassment as he kind of misunderstood the image's appearance. "Seriously! How could you peek on them like that?!" he complained to the samurai. Kyuken tried to protest: "You know me more than everyone else, Mura! i couldn't hold myself back! Besides, what I saw wasn't just dirty..." The samurai would shut his mouth with a hand, before he could reveal any more information. Moving his eyes towards Julius, Mura would speak: "So... hey, let's help them find their brother. I still remember his look..."

Whether Julius followed him or not, the samurai went out towards the downtown of Magnolia to search for the guy in the picture from earlier. They would ask several people, some of them having no knowledge of a guy with that profile, and others just showing them the WRONG ones. It would continue like that, until he found himself near the Cathedral in a kiosk. He was still anxious of the priest from earlier, not really wanting to meet her at the moment. "Come on... it's as if he left the entire city," Mura mumbled. The morning had left scars on him, as in his appearance; he looked tired, blushing appeared out of nowhere and he couldn't concentrate quite normally. However, he was still determined to help the Tojo family find their brother, no matter the obstacles that might face him on the path. "... and you aren't helping, Kyuken!!!" he suddenly shouted at the samurai, whose behavior was once again on the loose. The woman was quite shocked by Mura's outroar, quickly moving away and leaving Kyuken with no view of her panties. The samurai cried out comically in the distance as Mura would recover his focus, until he moved on...

Julius looked a bit weird when he heard that a pervert sneaked into Akina's room. Akina looked very angry and cold and scolded Mura for not having his spirits under control. Akina-san please don't be to mad at Mura-kun... Julius is pretty sure that Mura-kun had no idea that one of his spirits acted perverted... Julius tried to defend Mura the best he could of course he couldn't tell if Mura really knew if one of his spirits did what he did and Julius actually doesn't want to know.

After Akina was done scolding Mura she directed herself towards Julius and explained to him what those corpses were Julius encountered. Akina said it were just monsters.

Akina also didn't anticipated that the church agents would follow Akina and Kona all the way towards Magnolia and she was pretty sure that they'd keep a eye on the mansion. Julius didn't really liked the idea off being watched but there was no turning back now.

Akina reminded the two Fairy Tail mages that she hired them to search for their brother but thanks to the interference of the church agents they could be a obstacle. Akina explained that they would be searching for their brother during the day and at night they would prepare themselves in the mansion for a possible attack. With that explained the two ladies left the mansion

Mura walked up towards Julius suggesting that they should find their brother together. Ummm actually... Julius has to go home to get Squable since he has been left alone the whole night... And with all the fuss there is right know Julius is afraid he might be at danger at home... Julius promise he will follow you as fast Julius can! Julius said goodbye to Mura and took a sprint towards his home.

Julius had finally arrived at his home and he was greeted by his parrot. Oi Julius-kun! Where have you been this whole time! You have no idea how worried I was! Squable said. Well actually... Julius explained the whole situation. I see... Well that is quite the story... Anyway we have to go now! We have to search for Mura-kun! They both went outside and started walking around town searching for Mura. As they were walking around town they could here gossiping from people about last night's events.

Julius sat down on a bench to rest. Oi Julius-kun! Is something the matter? It isn't you to look down! Squable said worried. W-W-Well... Julius has no idea about this whole religion, spirit, demon things... Akina-san, Kona-san and Mura-kun understand what they are talking about but Julius has no idea what they are talking about! Julius just feels more like a burden right now... Julius sighed and petted Squable.

Poor Julius, it seems that the discussion that they had  was something that was a bit complicated to him, the dead, the church, the Demon Hunters, everything seem to be Morse code for him. The bench Julius sat at was a place where there’s barely anybody crossing this path, it wasn’t a public route for all those entering and exiting magnolia; neither it is the market place. It’s a residential area that is divided by a river leading up to the open seas.  The only gossip that went around in town was that they had heard some strange noises across the neighborhood and stains that they can’t even identify themselves.


Before he could ever continue his search for his partner Mura, Kona was walking down the lane only to find him there. She was in a complete maid uniform unlike her previous one.

“Julius?” She called out to him.
“Is something troubling you? You look sad.”  She looked at him and the moment their eyes met, Kona looked deeply into his soul, confirming her assumptions.

“Do you want to talk about it?” With her was a basket of bread and treats from the bakery.
“Lady Akina asked me to go shopping while she manages some business with the mage’s resource management and told me if I ever find the both of you, you’d be given bread.”

She reached out a loaf of bread to Julius, and complimented it with a warm smile, like she always wore.
For a moment, Julius felt warmth coming from Kona, as she sat beside him.

---

Mura and Julius are still far from each other, while Julius is way over the residential area, Mura was strolling near Kardia Cathedral, of course foreplay came with him and Kyuken but thankfully it didn’t get much worse, they could have started uproar with such silliness.

While Mura was strolling in the area near the cathedral, may it be a few blocks away or two, he noticed a strange foreigner in robes, she seemed to be a nun, or perhaps a priestess? It’s hard to tell when their uniforms were similar. It gave Mura a strange vibe, when he was concentrating on his objective and probably disappointed by Kyuken, she gave him a strange mysterious aura but nothing that seemed ominous of the sort. She was humming, passing by and went on with her merry way back to the Cathedral.

Indeed, this priestess intends on playing the piano today, she went inside and came towards the new piano, the organ Kardia Cathedral had a few strings snapped so she had to play on the electric powered piano herself. She was accompanied by a taller looking teenager who was helping her get the piano in tune.

The white haired priestess did not need to test out the keys, she trusts that the rhythm would be fine as it is now. She sat down in place and started to play the song, the Amazing Grace.


She pressed down the keys, trying to be gentle with every touch, every note went well with the other and upon hearing her play, and there’d be feelings of nostalgia. The white haired pianist, felt the keyboard, she need not to look at the keys as she has mastered playing the piano. She closed her eyes, remembering the days of her childhood whereas she spent her days as an innocent little girl with the two people who she considered her older siblings.


And one of them is standing next to her.

Simply beautiful…

The boy found his foothold outside the store after having rested for a while now. "Okay... I think that I can continue our searchings, Kyuken," he informed his spiritual companion, while looking around the Cathedral from where he stood. The building was large, indeed, and he'd never entered it before. That sounded strange as he did live in Magnolia and all, but now that he thought about it, he never had a thought crossing his mind saying that he should visit the place. Of course, he would have Kyuken's spirit on his grab as he didn't expect any more lewd actions to be done by him. "Hm... he must be somewhere," he mumbled as he began walking closer to the Cathedral; obviously, his mind was switching subject at the moment. He had his other hand inside his pocket as he began looking at the clouds on top of the cathedral's roof. His mind settled in peace, differently from earlier, and gave him a more concentrated focus and mind that was inpenetrable by annoyance...

A brief vibe crossed his mind for a second, apparently from the strange aura that passed the street and passed him and Kyuken. It was completely random to happen, but his cloud-seeing was interrupted, somehow. Not interrupted in an annoyed way, but in a fascinated, curious fashion that he hadn't felt in a while. His eyes slowly followed the moving person, before returning to himself as he found it rude to stare at people like that. Although, it was quite weird; yet, he didn't want to dig too deep into a random vibe like that. She was walking towards the Cathedral, and before she entered, Mura had decided to try and ask her for help. He could at least try and see if she'd seen Akina's brother or anything. Although, when his feet entered the cathedral, he heard some of the most beautiful piano play in his life. Spare him for not having heard as much as you might think, because he came from a country of totally different music taste. And yet... it was heart-touching. Remarkable.

Oh, how he didn't want to interrupt her in her piano playing. All his earlier thoughts were fading away slowly as if he was losing his concentration like before. Kyuken, too, was outshined by the majestic tones and rhythmic sounds that came from the piano player. However, the samurai was reckless enough to ask out: "Who is that angel..?" Mura interrupted him with a 'shh', probably loud enough to be heard by the piano players...

As Julius continued petting Squable he closed his eyes and concentrated himself on the sound of the river. Julius always calmed down as he heard water flowing it reminded him of home of simpler times. Julius' concentration broke as he heard a woman's voice calling out to him. Julius got startled and accidentally squeezed Squable. Ouch! Oi Julius-kun that hurts! Who is that woman? Squable said angry. Kona-san? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Akina-san? Oh uhhh this is Squable! Julius' parrot. Julius said. Ah so you are Kona-san... Hmmmm You sure one hell of a babe! I alway- *SCUACK* Julius grabbed Squable before he could finish his sentence. He held Squable in front off him and gave him a death stare. You better show some respect parrot! Julius said in a low and cold tone.

Kona asked if something was troubling him. Well actually there is something... Julius bit his lip he wasn't really good at telling what was troubling him since he always puts himself second place. Before he could continuing answering Kona grabbed a loaf of bread saying that Mura and Julius would be given bread while Akina made some arrangements. Oh thank you Kona-san... Julius tornend a piece of bread and fed it to Squable.

Kona sat down beside Julius and he felt a sudden warm and safe feeling overwhelming him. Julius took a deep breath and started talking. The thing is... Julius is oblivious to this whole spiritual crunch thing... Julius feels so useless right now... Julius thinks you made a error for asking Julius to aid you and Akina-san... Julius has no knowledge at all... Julius was at the edge of tears.

Upon the end of playing the hymm, the White haired priestess clasp her hands together, offering her practice and work to the lord. The rays of sunlight pierce through the mosaic windows, warm sunlight illuminated the church, there was no need for candles.

The taller priestess standing next to her fervently pats her head and sways her hand over to her shoulder. “Brother would love it” She said.

“You think so? I wish he didn’t have to go ahead of us but foolish brother chose to pursue Big sister Ciel anyways.” She exhaled, disappointed that the brother wasn’t here. The orange hair girl, glanced behind to see Mura who have entered recently. She pats the white haired priestess’s shoulder and proceeds to attend to the new visitor of the church.

“Good morning, is there anything I can help you with? Are you here for a confession?” She bowed in greeting, making sure that he doesn’t see her smirk before raising her head to face him. The white haired priestess was in prayer as she cannot attend to Mura just yet, she was praying that her brother be safe.

“Her name is Claudia Eleisia, and myself Shirouko Eleisia, what brings you to Kardia today?”

---

“How can Julius say that when nothing has happened yet? Besides not everyone is good at something but it’s the thought and effort that counts.”
She looked aimlessly at the sky.

“Though there’s just one thing about the human ability to comprehend things or remember them. It’s probably because you don’t deem it as important but if you understand something clearly then that’s probably the thing that is important to you” she reminiscence the past when she, her sister, Lady Akina and Master Shiki were still in the main household.

“Things we understand are things we deem as important no matter how trivial they are, things we don’t understand aren’t important or haven’t caught our interests.” Kona stood up and bowed to Julius.

“I must be off for now; will you come and attend for tonight? Akina has suitable roles for the both of you. If we cannot find Lady Akina’s brother today, then we must prepare ourselves for the night.” She turned and left, erasing the feelings and thoughts of doubt in Julius’s mind with a kiss on the forehead.

Before Julius could even answer, she was gone.

The taller one who stood up moved over to him after spotting his arrival; a friendly atmosphere that was only overshined by the reflecting light from the mosaic windows. The hall was quite silent without the piano play, and echoes could be heard from the lady's footsteps. Obviously, Mura wouldn't let Kyuken move an inch as the samurai spirit was wiggling around with a forceful grab on him. He greeted the lady with another bow after her turn, before replying: "Actually, I'm just searching for this guy. He's been lost for a while, and I hoped that you guys may have seen him anywhere lately..." Mura would give her the sufficient characteristics of the male on the picture from before, the brother of Akina. His eyes took a quick glance around the Cathedral, and then again at the one who played at the piano as this lady, calling herself Shirouko, mentioned their names. "Oh..! Sorry for my manners," Mura excused, while scratching the back of his head, "Nice to meet you both. I'm Mura Kensho." The samurai spirit would make his appearance as well, suddenly all free from Mura's limit-breaking grab. "Milady," he greeted Shirouko with a quick bow, "Nice to make your acquaintances. I'm-" Mura would launch the light spirit upwards with a grab on the back, forming him into the same, bluish ball as before. "-Just a friend of mine," he explained to her with an awkward laugh, "But really, if you see this guy, then it would be very helpful to tell us... well, sorry for interrupting or anything." Somehow All relaxed he would appear...

Julius listened closely to what Kona had to say. She had a point that nothing had happened yet, maybe Julius worries to much about screwing something up. Julius continued on feeding Squable bread and also kept listening to Kona. Julius kept thinking about the things Kona was saying. She suddenly stood up and bowed and asked if Julius would be present at night. But before Julius could respond to Kona she kissed him on the forehead. Julius froze as all the doubts and thoughts were being erased about what they were discussing. When Julius could finally move again Kona was gone. Huh? What happend?! Were is Kona-san? Julius asked Squable who was eating the whole of bread. *munch* She kissed... *munch* you on the forehead... *munch* and left. This is some good quality bread she bought! Squable said. Hey! That bread was ment for us both! Julius said angry.

Julius stood up from the bench. Come Squable let's go and try to do some investigating! Investigating what?! Umm... Well... to be honest Julius isn't sure either... hehehe! Julius laughed awkwardly. Suddenly Julius heard rustling coming from a bush. Who's there?! Come out and show yourself! Don't let Julius come and get you! Julius slowly walked towards the bush and looked inside it... nothing. Do you think someone is spying on us? If that's the case then Julius is pretty sure Akina-san, Kona-san and Mura-kun are probably also being spied on... Julius went back into to town and proceed in caution.

Julius was walking beside one of the canals off Magnolia town. He whispered something at Squable. Take a deep breath Julius is going to swim. Squable nodded and gave Julius a sign that he could. Julius dove into the water and swam away at high speed using his water magic making sure that whoever was spying on them would lose track of them.

“Oh, is he a missing relative to you?” asked Shirouko who was in attendance to Mura. Claudia who was playing the piano stood and came after her elder sister.


“You have not interrupted us so there’s no sin you’ve done, welcome to the church and I’m sorry to say that we have not seen the boy of which you speak off… but perhaps…” Claudia stopped, a thought occurred to her and then she continued. “The Lord may give you the opportunity to reunite with the one you are looking for if you whisper a prayer.”

Shirouko raised an eyebrow at the white haired priestess, it seems that whatever Claudia said startled her for a moment but then exhaled and gave Mura a warm smile. “Like she said, a prayer always works.”

“Then let us pray to the Lord in hopes for his return” said Claudia, inviting both Shirouko and Mura to kneel down and pray in silence. Afterwards an exchange of bows have been made and of course like any other clergy who wishes to spread the awareness of thy Lord, she offered Mura prayer books and a rosary. “Take it, it may be of some use to you someday” Claudia said.

---

Julius was right to be alert but what he was feeling was something the entire town was feeling, De ja vu. It was strange indeed and while Julius traversed through the canals, Kona and Akina were close by, deciding to end their search for now.

“We are lucky that they responded to our request! Isn’t that good news Lady Akina?” Kona smiled as she skipped merrily down the lane.

“The more help, the better and faster it is to find big brother.” Akina was handed a sandwhich as she started eating. “I also intend to find Hisau as well, Kona don’t worry, she’s also part of the family.”

Kona giggled. “I’m sure my sister will be fine! Lady Akina isn’t that Julius?”

“Mmm, good that he’s going on with the search, Kona I’m having a strange feeling about this whole town.”

“What feeling Lady Akina?”
“Well we’d expect an enemy attack later on but its just that I can feel that the town is going to be involved somehow.”

---

Mura tilted his head as a response to Shirouko after her question. It wasn’t that he was a close relative to him, but they did origin from the same country. Did that count? Or perhaps it was just because that he was the brother of one that he was helping, heck, feeling close to. As if they were all his family, just because that they were from the same country. He already had a big, repeating, BIG family, so all his feelings of Midi descendants were kind of strange. Perhaps he wasn’t satisfied with just a normal, blood-related family? That sounded like stuff coming from a rather ungrateful guy, whom couldn’t describe Mura’s bond to family. “Yeah, you can say relative...” he replied with a confused feeling on his lips. As the lady’s younger sister would walk up to them, Kyuken’s eyes shone with reverence and blunt awe. It appeared that he had a taste for many kinds of women, which wouldn’t ease the fact that he always had to pull Mura into trouble with his haunt-teasing that, apparently, always happened in the shaman’s proximity. “Oh, what an angel…” the spirit let out, although stuck to Mura’s hand like before. He bowed his head to the white-haired lady as a quick greeting, while listening to her response. It appeared that she hadn’t seen this Shiki-guy, but her optimistic atmosphere was very helpful. Mura began thinking of how many days had went since he crossed paths with the Tojo’s, and that he should just keep going. Besides, it would be painful and straining to break an oath that he made (with Julius).

“Hm… a prayer,” he spoke to her. That wasn’t a strange word for him; he had been praying at several shrines back at Midi, so perhaps that was just what he needed at the moment. However, Shirouko was quite surprised for a brief moment. How come? They did hang around here and all, so it appeared strange for the shaman. Also, now that he paid a little more attention, the brunette did remind him of… something. He wasn’t quite sure, though. “Huh… alright, I guess,” he continued as Claudia kneeled down to pray. As he did the same, Kyuken sneaked up to his ear and whispered: “Hey, is it just me or does the brunette look resembling…” Mura would exchange eye-contact with the samurai, as well as his response in complete silence. Due to their close relation, the samurai understood quite well. “Hm… hey, pray for me too, you know…” Kyuken spoke back to him with a comical sweatdrop on his face.

After getting a prayer book handed, he nodded in response to the white-haired lady. He did feel having peace around him at the moment, which wasn’t exactly rare for him. “Well… thanks a lot,” he said to them with a faint smile, “I probably need as much help as I can get at the moment.” With that said, he turned back and walked out of the Cathedral, only to get struck by this thrilling feeling, not too thrilling and yet possible to notice. As if a danger wasn’t finished yet. "Hm... where are you, Shiki?" he spoke to himself as Kyuken looked up at the grey sky…

Julius jumped out of the water and landed with his knees bend. He stood up and dried himself and Squable off with his water magic. Julius looked around the town to get a idea where they are. Julius could see the Fairy Tail guild being close to him. It seems like were close to the guild... *groan Oh lord...Julius forgot to eat breakfast... Then why didn't you eat the bread? Julius was planning to but YOU eat the whole loaf before Julius even could take a bite! Squable gulped. *sigh* Anyway... Let's just go to the guild to get something to eat... I'll have the steak! You aren't getting anything!

BGM:

As they walked towards the guild Julius had a anxious feeling. Squable... Julius doesn't know how to describe this but... Do you also feel a bit anxious? Now that you mention it... Yeah I do feel kind of anxious and I have no reason to feel that way. Julius started to think he didn't had any reason to feel anxious either. And then he remembered something. Squable did you happen to look out of the window last night? Let's say at around midnight did you see the moon? Julius recalled that the moon was looking weird. Hmmm... Now that you mention it yes I did and teh moon looked really weird... Maybe it's because of the moon that were feeling anxious... But that couldn't be possible since the moon isn't here right now... You know let's just drop this and head to the guild... Squable nodded.

BGM:

Julius and Squable arrived at the guild hall and seemed like nothing was changed, the guild was as lively and loud as ever. Julius sat down at a table and ordered a steak for himself. Do you think anyone here knows about the events of last night? Julius think they do but maybe they don't want to make a big fuss about it... When Julius finally got his steak he started to eat like a beast.