A few days passed at it was the day before Kazuos first match and he is training hard
His muscles ached. His breath came in steady bursts.
He wiped his face with the back of his glove and straightened.
"Do you think I'm ready?" he asked.
Setsuna shrugged, tossing him a rice cracker. "I think you'll manage yourself," he said. "Even if your magic control is still bad."
Kazuo frowned. "Thanks… I guess."
"You learn fast," Setsuna said, cracking the rice snack in half with his teeth. "But you've gotta stop overthinking every move. That's what nearly got you dropped in the battle royale."
Kazuo glanced down at his hands. "I know…"
Setsuna's voice dropped slightly. "Just because no one says it out loud doesn't mean it's not real. Killing's allowed. You have to assume that Kaya is going to end you."
Kazuo nodded, slower this time. "Yeah. I know. She hates me anyway."
"Good. Remember that." Setsuna brushed dust from his sleeve, voice sharpening. "And don't forget — you can't kill anyone. You do, and Cedric has the perfect excuse to get rid of you without risking a revolt."
Kazuo exhaled, jaw tight. "I don't even know if I could. Even if I had to."
A beat.
Setsuna looked at him for a moment longer, then said with a faint grin, "Still… learning a new spell that fast? That's insane. Even for me."
Kazuo shrugged. "Sora said the same. She thinks it has something to do with my magic affinity."
Setsuna gave a short nod. "Her instincts are right. That'd be the only explanation that makes sense."
Setsuna started walking off, stretching his arms behind his back.
He gave a lazy wave over his shoulder. "Well, it's afternoon. I promised Sora I'd buy her that ridiculous new bow she saw."
Kazuo blinked. "Wait, now?"
"Yepp."
Kazuo stared after him. "Wait—you can't just—"
Setsuna vanished around the corner.
He raised his hands. "Aaand… he's gone."
He sighed and looked back at the training field.
Tomorrow was coming fast.
The grounds were empty.
Just Kazuo — seated beneath the barracks wall, quiet, still — the flicker of lamplight tracing the sharp edge of his jaw. A soft breeze stirred the dust at his feet.
Elyria watched from a distance.
He's finally alone…
This is my chance.
They had agreed it was necessary.
Her father wanted to understand Kazuo for the sake of Yurelda's future — to assess the anomaly, to weigh the risk.
Even though they are both in the same boat this isn't what drove her.
I want to know how he even exists.
A boy with one black eye and one green shouldn't have survived this long — not here, not within this system. That alone should have broken him.
And yet… he lived.
With warmth.
He didn't defy the world. He just didn't bend to it.
And that silence — that calm resistance — disturbed her more than open rebellion ever could.
What is driving him? What kind of fire lets someone like him stay whole in a place like this?
She needed to understand. Only for herself.
Elyria stepped forward, her pace steady, deliberate.
Kazuo didn't move.
Then — as if sensing her presence before hearing it — he looked up.
For just a breath, she wondered if he already knew why she came.
She stopped a few steps from him.
She met his gaze. "I came to wish you luck for tomorrow." Her voice was composed.
Kazuo blinked, then gave a small nod. "Thanks, Lady Elyria."
A stillness settled between them — not heavy, just present.
She shifted her weight slightly. "Are you nervous?"
He exhaled through his nose. "A little, yeah. I'd be lying if I said otherwise."
Then he glanced at her with a half-smile. "What about you, princess?"
She hesitated. "I'm not the one in the arena."
"Doesn't mean you're not bracing for something," he said quietly.
Elyria didn't reply. Her eyes drifted toward his face again, and then lingered… just slightly too long.
Kazuo noticed.
"You stare more than most," he said, his voice dry.
She blinked, then caught herself. "I did it again, didn't I?"
He raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching faintly. "It's alright."
"I'm sorry," she said, and this time, the words held weight. "It's not out of disrespect. I just… I've never seen eyes like yours."
Kazuo looked at her. "I didn't choose them."
"I never thought much about them, to be honest. But everyone else did. Like they were supposed to mean something."
Elyria's brow furrowed slightly, her voice low.
"We were raised to believe that our eyes define everything — who we are, where we belong, what we're meant to become. It wasn't just belief. It was law. A truth too deeply rooted to question."
She took a slow breath, her hands curling slightly at her sides.
"So when I saw yours. It didn't just unsettle me. It shattered something. Because everything I was taught, everything our kingdom is built on — the order of bloodlines, the structure of fate, the rules that draw the lines between us — all of it was meant to be certain."
Her eyes met his again.
"And then you appeared. With eyes that shouldn't exist together. And suddenly, that certainty... had a question mark."
Kazuo looked at her for a moment, then lowered his gaze, the weight of it settling in.
"So that's what it is," he murmured. "That's why you keep staring. Not because you're afraid. But because I make everything you believe… uncertain."
She didn't deny it.
"I don't believe in destiny," he said. "Not like you do. Because if eye color decided fate, then what would that say about everyone born with black eyes?"
Elyria stood silent for a moment. Then said, quietly, "It's cruel. I know that. But… it's the only world I've ever known. You can't just rewrite it overnight. And forcing change… always leaves scars."
Kazuo nodded once, slowly. "Yeah. I get that."
His eyes drifted toward the torches flickering along the far wall.
"But recently… I've started to care a little." His fingers tightened slightly on the medallion. "Not because of what people say. But because of something I saw. In a book."
"A book?" she asked.
He looked up, eyes distant in thought. "In the royal library…there was this old tome. Whispers of Water."
Elyria's brows lifted slightly. "That's not a title I recognize."
Kazuo gave a small nod. "It was old. Most of it was full of water-based spells and fragmented writings, but near the end… there was a single page. No explanation. Just a full illustration."
"A massive serpent. White as snow."
Elyria's voice caught gently. "A white serpent?"
"Yeah," Kazuo said. "But that's not what made me stop. It was its eyes."
He looked at her now, gaze steady.
"One was pitch black. The other… gold. Not brown. Gold — like the sun hitting metal."
Elyria's expression changed. Her eyes widened — just slightly, but enough.
"Are you sure?" Elyria asked, her voice quieter now — sharper, edged with something she hadn't meant to reveal.
Mismatched eyes… like his?
The thought rang in her mind.
Kazuo held her gaze for a long second. Then shrugged.
"It's probably nothing. Just coincidence," he said. "I mean… Tetsu told me mismatched eyes are pretty common in the animal kingdom. Nothing magical about it."
But even as he said it, there was hesitation under the words. That kind of unease you tell yourself not to feel — but do anyway.
"Still…" he murmured, almost to himself now, "it felt strange. Whis is making me question things too."
For a moment, Elyria didn't speak. Her posture remained composed, but something behind her eyes shifted. The kind of reaction someone trained their whole life not to show.
The change didn't escape him.
Elyria didn't speak again. She only gave a slight nod, her expression unreadable.
Then, without another word, she turned and walked away — footsteps light against the stone, cloak brushing the dust behind her.
But as she stepped beyond the edge of the lamplight, her thoughts wouldn't quiet.
Whispers of Water…That name. That serpent.One black eye. One gold.
A part of her wanted to dismiss it — call it myth, coincidence, nothing more.
But she couldn't.
Should I look into it myself… or tell Father first?
The thought lingered as she disappeared into the dark.
Kazuo sat alone again, the breeze tugging gently at the corners of his sleeves.
He stared at the empty space where Elyria had stood.
Then he exhaled and leaned his head back against the wall, eyes rising to the dark sky above.
"Tomorrow, huh…"
He drew in a breath, held it for a beat.Guess I better be ready.