After my shower, Shunsuke surprised me by telling me that he wanted to go out. I quickly agreed, as I wanted to know more about the humans. We arrived at the restaurant soon enough. Shunsuke gestured to the entire room, "You can pick the seat,I will get the dinner."
I nodded and looked around for the seat I wanted. There was one in the back that I wanted. It was in a good spot for me to see the door and thus be able to watch and observe everything around me.
"You like to seat in isolated places don't you?" Shunsuke asked as he sat down opposite me in the little booth. He glanced over his shoulder at the door, where I was staring.
"No," I shook my head, taking my eyes back to Shunsuke. "It's good for observational reasons. No one can sneak up on us."
He nodded, absorbing what I had said. "Don't you miss your friends in the shadow world?" he asked after a few moments. A woman in an apron brought a tray with two glasses; she set the drinks down in front of us before she left with a smile. Shunsuke grabbed a glass and took a sip, eyeing me, waiting for an answer. "Well?" he said after a few moments.
"I don't need Friends " I said, with no emotion. What were they good for? Other than betraying you and turning their backs on you, leaving you alone?
"Well that sounds Sad. I obiously have family. So what about a lover,or boyfriend? I am pretty sure you had someone special." he persisted. He seemed like he really wanted to know more about me. IT seemed only fair. He had no choice in sharing his life with me, but here I was, a complete stranger who he knew nothing about.
I took a sip of the beverage placed before me. "I did twice," I answered. "But, they didn't work out." I wasn't sure how much he wanted to know about that sort of thing.
"How come?" he asked, his head tilting to one side curiously. Sort of like a puppy. The thought made me smile to myself.
I shrugged, "There were better women out there, apparently." I looked down at the ice cubes that floated in the glass. I used my straw to poke at them and swirl them around.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he seemed to regret his question.
"It was my own fault," I continued, hoping to put him at ease. "I was too busy with my job. I didn't really make a whole lot of time for them."
"That's no excuse," he replied, taking another sip out of his drink.
I shrugged. "It is what it is." There was nothing I could do to change that, and it made no sense to linger on it. He seemed to be unsure of what to ask me, so I decided to answer a few of his questions from before. "The Shadow World is n't as different from the human world as I would have thought."
"How so?" he asked. The woman from earlier came back with a tray full of food. She set the baskets in front of us before she slunk off again.
"Well," I said as I took a bit of the BBQ pork. "The concepts are all pretty similar. And the layout is much the same. I mean, the jobs are all close to the same, we go to school, we raise families, and we all an average life span of about eighty years. But," I took another bite of the pork. "The way we execute things are so different."
He nodded as he ate.
"When we are born, we are brought to the high priest of the village. The priest blesses us and tells our parents who the kid is about to become."
"Who did high priest say you were going to become?"
I looked down at my food, unable to look Shunsuke in the eyes. "The Corrupted."
"The corrupted?" confusion flickered across his face.
"The Corrupted are a race of people who don't abide by the Law our founding father put in place. The deliberately go against everything the Shadow World stands for. A better way for you to understand it would be the villains," Dia responded from her perch in my cage. She knew I would have difficulty answering.
"But, you aren't one of the Corrupted, right?" Shunsuke said.
"No, but there is an anger that boils deep inside of me. I cannot let anyone get the best of me, or I tend to lash out. It takes quite a lot to calm me down again once that happens." I looked up, wondering how he was going to view me after hearing all of this.
"WEll, I know not to piss you off now," he responded with a small smile.
I forced a smile of my own. He seemed to be taking it all really well. He probably wasn't really taking it all in, but who could blame him?
"So, Dia calls you Lady. Why do you have that title?" he asked.
"The Ghile family is head of the Shadow World. My father is the King, and my mother is the queen," I said quickly, shoving food into my mouth.
"Wait, you're a princess?" Shunsuke stuttered, nearly choking on his food. "They let princesses go out and fight and whatnot? Aren't they supposed to stay in the palace and do... princessy stuff?"
I gave him an incredulous look. "Being of the royal family makes me inclined to do something to prove to my people I am worthy to rule. If I cannot go out and fight for my people, why would I expect them to do so for me? But, I have no interest in ruling. My brother gets that honor. I'm not suited for royalty. I am much more suited to stay out here on the battlefield."
"You have a brother?"
"Yes, and three sisters. I am fifth in line for the thrown."
"She is the second oldest, but because she has not married and settled down, her sisters are all going to be picked before her," Dia butted in.
"Wow, that sounds pretty harsh," Shunsuke commented.
I shrugged, finishing the food. "I was engaged once, but I couldn't stand to be home. I was constantly ridiculed on my being a warrior. With my abilities, how could I stand around and do nothing? But, that obviously didn't work out. But, it was for the best. After the affair, my parents don't trust me, so I was pushed to the end of the line for thrownship."
"Sounds rough," Shunsuke responded. "But, you said abilities?"
"I can move things with my mind. I can also talk to you in your head," I replied. Like right now, I said inside his head. When he jumped, I smiled softly. It was kind of nice to talk about all of this. Is this what it was like to have real friends?
"Wow," he said with a smile, "That's super cool." He finished up his food as well and drank the rest of his drink. "Ready to go?" he asked.
I nodded and we walked back to the house. "I think it's nice of you to move away from your grandmother. You must really care about her," I told him.
He smiled down at me. "I care about her a lot. I wouldn't want her to get hurt because of me."
It must be nice to have someone look out for you like he did for his grandmother. "I can help pay for rent," I told him. "It seems only fair since I'll be living there as well."
"With what money?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Good point. Shadow World money didn't exactly hold any warrant here. "Oh, well," I had nothing.
"Don't worry about it. You're protecting me. Anyway, this way, you won't have to sleep on the floor anymore," he responded.
I nodded with a small smile. We would be living together for awhile now. Just the two of us. Together. I smiled at the thought for reasons unknown even to me.
