The Descendants of Ardwall

It was a sudden knocking that made Hajime jump out of his skin, nearly making him drop the book he was holding when he quickly sat up on the couch.

His heart raced when he looked up to stare at the door. He held his breath for a few moments, as if he didn’t want whoever was out there to hear him breathing. After all, what if it was somebody dangerous?

Don’t be such an idiot, Hajime tried telling himself, though he made no move to see who it was. Somebody dangerous wouldn’t knock.

More knocking came. Whoever was out there didn’t make it sound very urgent. For a moment, Hajime wondered whether he should just let the visitor think no one was home. A glance at the clock above the door told him that it was already fifteen minutes past eleven. Who would come visiting at this hour anyway?

He glanced backwards into the hall, silently wishing Arthur would come out and take a look himself. That, of course, wouldn’t be likely. His stepfather had been cooped up in his office all evening trying to get rid of some paperwork. He hadn’t even come out to have a proper dinner with Hajime, though he must have apologized about it over twenty times by now. Growing up twelve years with a Councilman made you wonder why your father’s workload only seemed to triple just as you were finally out of school for the summer.

Not wanting to disturb Arthur – and convinced that no danger could have come from anyone who had the decency to knock twice already – Hajime got up from his place on the living room couch to see who it was. He’d been looking through a book of atlases Arthur had wasting away atop the coffee table. Before the knocking interrupted him, Hajime had been trying to memorize as many Northern Country towns and villages as he could. One day, he swore he’d visit all of them.

He pulled the door open once he reached the end of the long hallway. Almost immediately, he took a startled step back, eyes widening slightly at the sight before him.

The stranger sure looked like he could’ve been trouble. At first glance, it appeared that the young man had come to the wrong address. He looked six or seven years older than Hajime was right now but was definitely at least half of Arthur’s age. Why was he wearing such dark sunglasses even when the sun was already asleep? You almost couldn’t have made out the stranger standing there in the first place, what with all his clothes being black. Only his pale skin stood out against the evening.

Well, that – and a silver emblem Hajime didn’t recognize, embroidered right on the sleeve of the young man’s leather jacket. It took only a moment for Hajime to realize it was of a slanted archery bow with some kind of bird right in the middle of the open space. Strange. What did it stand for?

Perhaps a better question would have been: who was this young man, and why was he here?

A heartbeat later, the stranger cleared his throat and spoke. “Is this Arthur Massimo’s place?”

Hajime wasn’t sure what shocked him more: the young man’s clipped and serious tone when he talked or the fact that he was looking for Hajime’s stepfather.

“Uh...” Hajime stared at the stoic face. “Yeah, this is where he lives.”

Guess he didn’t get the wrong house, after all, Hajime thought.

So he was here to see Arthur. Most of the visitors that came to see Hajime’s stepfather weren’t ever this young. Not that the Massimo residence got a lot of visitors in the first place, being all the way near the town’s border as they were. Those who did come were usually friends or other Council members. This young man looked as if he could have been a fresh graduate from the Academy. He couldn’t possibly be another Council member like Arthur, could he?

“Yuri?” Why, that was Arthur right now. Hajime turned around to see his stepfather just coming out of his room at the end of the hall, still in the suit he’d put on early this morning. “Is that you?”

The young man – Yuri – craned his neck up, sunglasses-covered gaze looking over to where Arthur was. “Arthur, yes. Good evening. Is now a bad time?”

Hajime saw his stepfather glance into his room. Contemplating whether or not he’d lie about the amount of work he still had, no doubt. Hajime tried not to frown.

Yes, it is a bad time, he wanted to say for Arthur. He almost did, in fact. Council work doesn’t do itself. And Arthur doesn’t get to rest much lately.

After reaching a snap decision in his head, Arthur turned to look back at his visitor, a small but weary smile on his face. Work – and the years – had aged him, you could tell. His dark hair now had a few streaks of gray here and there, and bags seemed to be a perpetual accessory under his hazel eyes.

“No,” Arthur still told their guest despite how tired he looked. “Not at all, Yuri. Please, come in. And watch your step, the doorframe is elevated.”

Why would Arthur warn him about the –?

Oh.

So that was why the young man wore those sunglasses even at his hour. He was blind.

Hajime suddenly felt very, very stupid.

Glad that the young man probably couldn’t see the blood rushing to his face, Hajime wordlessly shut the door once their visitor had crossed the threshold, a hand tracing the wallpapered hall with every step he took.

Arthur was regarding his guest with what seemed like sympathy, though it was an emotion he often tried not to show. Hajime knew that Council members were expected to be professional and as neutral as possible, favoring nobody over anybody else. But perhaps a blind young man was enough to cause an ache in anyone’s heart, even a Council member’s.

Why was Yuri here to see Arthur then? Hajime was almost anxious to find out.

“Did you just come from a mission, Yuri?” asked Arthur. “Perhaps you’d like some water or something to eat?”

The young man shook his head without stopping in his tracks. He’d gotten used to the floor, it appeared, because his gloved hand no longer kept constant contact with the wall. “No thanks, Arthur. There’s a reason I had to come despite the time. There are some, ah” – at this, he paused meaningfully – ”confidential matters I wanted to speak with you about.”

Hajime was smart enough to know that the young man was referring to him. Now that only made his curiosity grow. What did the stranger have to discuss with Arthur that was so important that it had to be kept away from stray ears?

Arthur’s face had turned slightly grim, as if he already knew what this visit was about. His hand went to the knob of his door. “Let’s take this inside my office then.”

Despite his lack of sight, Yuri managed to make it down the hall, turning right in time to follow Arthur into his private office. Hajime was about to wonder how the young man knew exactly where Arthur had been standing if he was blind, but he pushed away the thought. Right now, he just really had to know why their guest had come pay his father a visit at this hour.

So when Arthur shut the door behind him, Hajime padded his way through the hall, trying to make as little noise as possible. Eavesdropping wasn’t very becoming, he knew, but there was nothing like confidential matters to make you do something you otherwise wouldn’t do. Besides, what was the harm in satisfying a little curiosity?

As quietly as he could, Hajime pressed his ear to the chilly wooden door. Holding his breath as if the two grown-ups inside would hear him breathing, he began to listen.

You could make out shuffling noises from the inside, the scrape of two chairs across the floor, and then more shuffling. Then there was silence.

After what seemed to be an eternity, it was Yuri who first spoke. “Is there any news about the recruitment of Silverfire’s brother?”

Silverfire? Was that an actual name? How odd.

“Silverfire’s brother...” Hajime had to press his ear even closer to the door to hear Arthur’s reply. He was already certain his stepfather sat at the far end of the office where his leather seat was. Why, it was even easy to imagine Arthur right now, fiddling with a crane-shaped letter opener – a habit of his Hajime had observed that seemed to be part of his earliest memories. “You mean Nicolae’s brother, don’t you?”

There was no audible reply from their dark-haired guest, so Hajime assumed he’d just nodded.

“Well, no, we haven’t heard as of yet,” replied Arthur. “But if the boy already has been recruited to Listing, I assure you I would be the first to find out. The last of the news I got from Sebastian was that they were still keeping an eye on him and his parents. Though from what he told me, his parents want to bring him back soon, especially should his powers...ah...reawaken. But this is rather old news, perhaps from a month ago. We have yet to hear from Sebastian or even Tom and Ellen again.”

Hajime was having a very difficult time following the conversation. These names were all unfamiliar to him. And reawakening powers? He wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. The only thing he could understand from all of it was how Yuri’s coming here involved Arthur in the first place.

Arthur was the Council member in charge of new recruits and all incoming students at Listing Academy – where Hajime would soon be a student of, come autumn in a few months. In spite of how tiring Arthur’s post appeared to be, Hajime was quite proud of his stepfather’s line of work. After all, how many people could claim their fathers recognized every student to have ever stepped foot in the Academy over the past twenty years?

“I see,” said Yuri a little thoughtfully. “If I may request a favor from you, Arthur... Could you let me know immediately when they plan to return to the realm?”

“The recruitment of Demis doesn’t seem like it would be a concern of Bounty Hunters, Yuri.”

Bounty Hunters? That sounded cool, whatever it was. What did Bounty Hunters do for a living? Hajime felt himself pressing his ear against the door even more firmly. If Yuri was a Bounty Hunter, then he wanted to hear about it as much as he could.

You could hear the sad smile on the young man’s face when he replied, “It’s not for the Bounty Hunters, Arthur.”

There was a meaningful pause before Arthur said anything after that.

“I understand. It’s...personal, is it not?”

There was a scraping sound of chairs sliding across the floor that made Hajime’s entire body tense. He’d already formed a plan to scramble to his room if any of the grown-ups seemed to make a move to exit the office. What would Arthur say, after all, if he caught Hajime eavesdropping? Oh lords of Ardwall, he’d never hear the end of it.

“But if you don’t mind my asking, Yuri,” Arthur continued, “why the sudden interest in Nicolae’s family just now? It’s been six years. Surely it’s not just because his brother is soon to enter the Academy?”

An eerie silence fell upon them, as if the young man were debating whether or not to answer Arthur’s question.

Finally, Yuri replied, “I sensed Silverfire’s spark pattern here in Silva for the first time in years just last night. I followed it all the way to the Doors.”

From his lessons at prep school, Hajime knew that a spark pattern was unique to every Demi. It was the spark that was the source of all Demis’ unique powers. In some cases, mortal – or Median, as their kind preferred to say – children could have one, even if both their parents were Medians too. Hajime prided himself in the fact that he’d only been a year old when he’d awakened his spark.

So what sort of Demi was Yuri then, especially if he could detect others by their spark patterns? He’d never heard of such an ability.

A Bounty Hunter. That must have something to do with it, with what it was people like Yuri hunted down. And that silver emblem that’d been on his jacket – it must have been the insignia of this group of his. And these Bounty Hunters must have tracked down Demis. Hajime congratulated himself for making the connection.

Yuri had also mentioned the Doors... Those served as the border between this world and the Medians’. How many times had Hajime found himself thinking about where his Median birthparents might have been behind them? He’d seen the Doors once. Massive things, they were. At the very edge of town, flanked by giant trees and overgrowth, they appeared so unassuming – quite plain, in Hajime’s opinion, if you didn’t mind the sheer size of them. It almost seemed as if walking through them would only take you to the next village or region, not some other realm altogether.

Hajime briefly wondered if the Doors looked exactly as they did on the other side. Hard to imagine Medians walking past a gigantic pair of wooden doors straight into their world. Perhaps the Doors on the mortals’ side was more inconspicuous.

Arthur was suddenly speaking again, “His spark pattern?” He sounded incredulous. “A Demi as skilled as Nicolae wouldn’t let himself be detected that easily. With all due respect, Yuri... Are you sure he’s not just making the Guild run around in circles?”

Yuri’s tone was suddenly sharp when he answered, “Silverfire has masked his spark pattern behind some skill he’s had up his sleeve for years, yes” – ah, so this Silverfire and Nicolae were the same person? Why did Yuri call him by such a strange name? – “But this is the closest any Bounty Hunter in the Guild has come to finding him in the six years he’s been gone. And while some of you Council members might have thought a lone thirteen-year-old running away in the dead of night would’ve had him dead in a week, Arthur, I always believed he was still out there. He’s kept himself alive for six years. Last night was proof of that.”

Hajime actually thought there was a hint of hurt in the young man’s voice right when he said that. Almost as if he and this Nicolae – this Silverfire – had been good friends. Why, they were probably the same age. About nineteen or twenty, perhaps.

But running away at thirteen? That was Hajime’s age right now. Why would anybody want to do that?

“Yuri, you can’t –”

“No, Arthur.” Their guest’s tone was clipped. “You can try talking me out of it all you want, but I’m going. And I don’t need the Council’s help to do my job.”

Hajime was frozen in what he thought was fear upon hearing Yuri speak that way. Part of him wanted to barge in there and tell that young man that no one could talk to his father that way, yet he naturally hesitated. Hajime always hesitated.

And because he knew he would never have the courage to stand up to anybody, he continued to listen.

You could hear Arthur’s deep sigh even through the thick door. He only spoke after an eternity had passed, perhaps to relieve the tension that was beginning to thicken the air. “I suppose you’re going off to find him then. To try to get him to come back and all.” These were pacifying words, it seemed, because Yuri didn’t cut him off this time. Arthur wasn’t posing questions either. In fact, this felt like a subject the two had spoken of before.

Hajime had to press his ear closer to the door to hear Yuri’s soft reply. “I leave immediately for the Median realm. I return in a week if unsuccessful.”

Arthur could have sighed again just then. Hajime imagined his stepfather rubbing a calloused hand over his weary face. “Very well then, Yuri. With all the sincerity in my heart – and with the blessing of Silva’s Council – I wish you nothing but a safe journey ahead.”

“Thank you, Arthur.” The young man sounded honest in his speech, as if he needed all the blessings in the world for his mission. “Ah, by the way – that kid outside... He’s your stepson, isn’t he?”

Hajime felt his ears perk up. The new topic was probably brought up to help relieve that tense moment before, but he wished Yuri could have chosen a better one instead. Hajime never knew how to react when people started talking about him. A part of him was almost embarrassed of what he might hear, especially from Arthur.

“Yes, you’re right. That’s my son Hajime. I don’t think you’ve ever had the pleasure of being properly introduced.”

“I’m ’fraid not. Hope I didn’t give him too much of a scare by showing up at this hour.” There was a smile laced in the young man’s seemingly blank tone. “I seem to have that effect on kids.”

Arthur chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about it, Yuri. Hajime tends to be afraid of a lot of things, even at his age” – at this, Hajime bristled, feeling the sudden urge to stomp inside and defend his honor, but a calmer part of him begged otherwise. He felt his cheeks burning from embarrassment. Truth be told, part of him feared Arthur was completely right – “but it’s usually the most frightened ones who rise up to difficult occasions, eh?”

Upon hearing that, pride swelled up in Hajime’s chest. See? He could be brave. He just had to find these difficult occasions, like Arthur said. He’d prove it, even if to himself, that he wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone.

“Fatherhood suits you, Arthur,” said the young visitor, his tone solemn and almost reverent. He’d spoken so softly that Hajime almost missed the words. After a terse moment, Yuri cleared his throat. “Well, I really shouldn’t take up more of your time. I’m sure you still –”

If that wasn’t Hajime’s cue to scramble away as quickly as he could, he didn’t know what was. By some miracle, he managed to dash through the hall, straight into the living room and right onto the couch, all before the door opened. Because you could see into the back of the living room from Arthur’s office, Hajime stretched himself out on the couch to make it look like he’d been there the whole time. Almost immediately, the door to Arthur’s office clicked open. Hajime’s heart was still pounding.

“– fine, Arthur.” That was Yuri right now. “I’ll see myself out. Good night.” Arthur’s door suddenly clicked shut.

Hajime feigned both nonchalance and innocence as the dark-haired blind man walked past through the hallway. He didn’t even think Yuri would know he was there until he stopped in his tracks and turned towards him.

“I don’t think you gave me your name, kid.”

Surprised their guest had known he’d been there, Hajime stammered for a moment before answering.

The young man seemed to test the name on his tongue. “Ha-ji-mey...” he murmured, pronouncing every syllable with a smile in his voice. Hajime didn’t think he’d ever heard someone so cool say his name like that. He should know; after all, everybody he met repeated his name the first time they heard it. “Your name is almost as strange as mine in this region. But I hope you don’t mind if I prefer to call you kid instead.” The corner of the young man’s mouth pulled up into a lopsided smirk. “Name’s Yuri, by the way. Yuri Duboff.”

Duboff. It wasn’t a last name Hajime had ever heard in their small town of Silva. Yuri seemed to imply he wasn’t even from their region of Ardwall.

“Uh, yeah. Sure. I don’t mind.” Hajime actually thought it was a little cool that the Bounty Hunter could just call him whatever he liked.

“Great. Well, was nice meeting you, kid.”

Just as the young man turned back, a hand reaching towards the wall being the only proof he was blind, Hajime found himself blurting out, “How do you do it?”

Yuri looked back. An eyebrow was raised over his dark sunglasses, so glaringly out of place during the night.

Hajime felt blood rush to his cheeks, and he was glad their visitor couldn’t see. “Uh, I mean... How you do things, you know...when you’re...um...”

The young man smirked humorlessly, almost as if he got asked this question many, many times. And he probably did. “Same way I knew you were eavesdropping, kid” – Hajime was suddenly glad Yuri couldn’t see the stupid, surprised look on his face – “Maybe I’ll tell you exactly how another time. But don’t worry.” He raised his hand to his temple in a two-fingered salute. “I won’t tell your old man what you did. Consider it our little secret.”

With nothing more than that, he left, and Hajime found himself having more questions than answers that night.

But like every day in Hajime Massimo’s life, the days passed. And the more days went, the more he forgot that the visit of their strange young guest ever happened.

"Do you consider yourself good at sports, Hajime?”

That was Noah Fieschl, daughter of Listing Academy’s Chairman. Hajime had just come from the shop to pick up groceries for Arthur when she, together with another classmate Reymie Strauss, had bumped into him and decided to chat.

They were in the middle of the street this sunny afternoon. There were a few people out and about at this hour, but Silva wasn’t the biggest town to begin with. If you stayed here long enough, you could probably get to know just about everybody.

Hajime made sure to put the two paper bags he was holding somewhere that wouldn’t get in the way. The streets were narrow, so he didn’t want someone ungraciously falling over his groceries. Or crushing them, he noted while grimly imagining the scene. That would be such a waste.

He brought himself back to whatever it was Noah had asked him just now. He remembered she’d asked about sports.

Sports? He thought. Why would Noah Fieschl go asking him about sports?

Hajime was about to say that he wasn’t much of an athlete. However, he became incredibly aware that Reymie was standing right there beside Noah, an expectant look on her face. Suddenly, he didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t really interested in sports in front of her.

“I suppose I am...” he replied vaguely, stuffing his hands into his pockets with a shrug. “Why’d you ask, Noah?”

It wasn’t really a lie. He’d always done well in their physical education classes in preparatory school. While he didn’t know so much about sports either here or in the Median world, he still did better than a decent amount of boys in his grade. The two girls wouldn’t think he was lying, would they? Especially Reymie...

There was a victorious glint in Noah’s pretty blue eyes. “I’m glad you asked, Hajime.” She really did sound glad. “It’s because I’m already organizing the Ronnin team over the summer. For our incoming first-year class at Listing Academy.”

Hajime was uncomfortable for a moment. Rather than risk looking like an idiot in front of the two girls by pretending he knew what this Ronnin was, he decided to be honest.

“Uh, what’s Ronnin again?”

Noah and Reymie exchanged a look only girls could understand. It appeared to say, Boys can be so silly, can’t they? It wasn’t the first time Hajime had seen this nonverbal and universal look shared between girls in his class. Part of him didn’t understand it. It was as if they had a kind of secret telepathy among them.

Finally, Noah turned to Hajime and, with a small girlish giggle, said, “Only the official sport in every academy known to this realm, Hajime.”

Again, Hajime had never been much of a sports fanatic. As someone who’d lived in this realm most of his entire life, it struck him as strange that he’d never heard of Ronnin until right now. He wasn’t surprised in the least that Noah knew, though. As the Chairman’s daughter, you probably knew a lot of things about what went on at academies.

How did Reymie know about Ronnin though? Had Noah told her about it? Or, well, Reymie did have a relative working at Listing Academy…

“Okay,” Hajime said slowly. “I don’t really get why you’re asking me about it though.”

“Because Noah wanted to ask you to join the Ronnin team, Hajime!” Reymie exclaimed excitedly, casting a knowing glance at her friend.

Hajime tried to stop himself from turning red after she’d addressed him so directly like that.

Finally, he pointed at himself and said, albeit a little dumbly, “Me?”

Noah nodded, firm and confident. Chairman’s daughter through and through. “Luke Evans has already agreed – or, well, volunteered would be more of the right word for it – to be team captain. He’s a big fan of Ronnin, you know.”

Luke Evans? Hajime hadn’t seen him in months. Well, not that he saw him often at all. Silva was such a modestly-sized town that you were bound to know anyone and everyone here, running into them in the shops, on the streets... Evans was an odd case altogether.

Even though he was Hajime’s age, Evans never really attended prep school with the rest of their class. During most of the day, he was always just...gone. Sometimes Hajime didn’t see him for weeks at a time. Why that was so, it was hard to guess but no one really wondered about it after a few years. It was what it was.

Hajime frowned. “Is it even a good idea to ask me to join if I don’t know the game? How do you even play it?”

Again, the two girls exchanged glances, though this time it was a little more cautious than sly.

“Er, it’s a little hard to explain right now,” said Noah when she turned back to Hajime. She fiddled with a lock of her fair hair. “It was derived from a Median sport called soccer, though the rules and mechanics are, ah, more suited to Demis like us.” She probably meant their powers were involved. Interesting. “Hang on. You probably don’t know what Median soccer even is, do you, Hajime?”

Hajime shook his head in confirmation, smiling sheepishly. It wasn’t even a surprise that Noah knew things from both this world and the other. She was one of the most hardworking people in class. How did she find the information that she did anyway? It seemed an awful lot for someone their age.

“I know it,” Reymie piped up, though it came out as somewhat hesitant.

Well, she had been recruited to this world when she was already seven. Hajime still remembered the very day a pretty girl was introduced in the front of his prep class. They’d been doing math at that time. Young Reymie had been wearing a headband with a flower on the side. Ah, little memories...

“At least,” continued Reymie, “a little vaguely. I think I remember playing it with cousins I had back in the Median world. You kick a ball around a lot. I wasn’t too good at it since I’d always been the youngest. And my cousins were all boys and played rough.”

Reymie kicking a ball around with her cousins when she’d been a little girl? What a sight that would have been. Hajime tried not to smile at the thought.

She suddenly looked at Hajime, and Hajime tried not to stare into her caramel-colored eyes. “You might not know a lot about Ronnin or even how to play, Hajime, but I think you’d pick it up fast. You’ve had your powers the longest over anyone else in town.”

Again, with great difficulty, Hajime tried to fight the blood rushing to his face from the compliment. But part of him was particular proud that Reymie remembered he’d been a year old when his spark was awakened. He wondered what else Reymie might have remembered about him.

“Well, what do you say then, Hajime?” Noah finally asked, an eyebrow arched in the most impressive way Hajime had ever seen. The small smile she tried to hide wasn’t lost on him either. She seemed really excited about organizing this team. “Want to give it a shot? Like Reymie said, you’ll be a great addition to the team.”

Of course, saying no to a girl was one thing Hajime was slightly afraid of doing. But while he wasn’t crazy about sports, and especially of this game called Ronnin, there was something promising about the thought. And, of course, Reymie had said he’d be good at it if he learned. Who could say no to that?

“Count me in,” he said with a grin.

Noah grinned back. “Great! Our first meeting as a team will be after lunch, exactly a week from now at my house. Luke and the other boys will be there. See you then, Hajime!”

So exactly one week later that sweltering summer, Hajime found himself ringing the doorbell to Noah’s home. Despite being the residence of Listing Academy’s Chairman himself, the house wasn’t too fancy. It didn’t even look like it’d be the Fieschl’s home. A balcony on the second floor overlooked the street Hajime now stood on. Vines and flowers intertwined every now and again through the walls, railings, and windows. Rhododendron bushes lined the sides of house. Hajime had always thought Noah’s home would be incredibly serious, given her father’s occupation.

His fetish with new places wasn’t lost on seeing his classmates’ houses. Hajime could vaguely recall that Noah had three other siblings. The house seemed like it could fit their family of six just fine. He was just starting to trace imaginary pictures with the cracks running through the white walls when he heard footsteps coming from behind. Hajime turned around. And he suddenly couldn’t believe what – rather, who – he was seeing.

An unmistakably familiar face from his childhood was staring right back at him.

“Raiden?” he breathed out in disbelief, the name coming out of its own will. “Raiden Larter? Is that really you?”

This was his closest friend from six years ago. He was finally back in Silva.