“Huh?” Seline slowly raised her gaze.

  He stood on the threshold—just as tall, just as calm. In the flickering light of the hallway lamp, she managed to lift her eyes to his chin before the air got stuck in her chest.

  She slammed the apartment door shut with a crash.

  Dust rained from the ceiling; somewhere above, a piece of plaster broke off and fell to the floor with a dry sound.

  Seline stood motionless, in complete bewilderment. Her heart hammered so hard it echoed in her temples.

  “Dan,” the girl whispered, staring at the closed front door.

  For another second, she couldn't move.

  Taking a deep breath, she opened the door again.

  He hadn't gone anywhere. He continued to stand just as straight and calm.

  Seline's eyes instantly filled with tears—not cold, not burning, but warm and alive. The kind she hadn't allowed herself all this time.

  “You…” her voice trembled.

  Thwack.

  The slap sounded sharp and unexpected.

  Seline's palm struck the Lord's cheek so fast that even he didn't immediately understand what had happened.

  “Where have you been?!” she screamed, choking on tears.

  Dan swayed on the spot.

  The punch wasn't strong—her hand was warm, almost fragile—but it cut deeper than any blade, deeper than Mirin's strikes, deeper than anything he had ever experienced.

  He looked at her, lost for words.

  “I…” his voice broke, “I’m sorry…”

  He looked bewildered.

  Seline looked at him through a veil of tears, hungrily, as if afraid he would disappear if she blinked. Memorizing every feature, every line of his face.

  “Sorry…?” she sobbed. “Sorry? You just vanished! You left me!”

  She began pummeling his chest with her fists. Again. And again.

  "Stop it!" she screamed at herself. "He's here. He came back."

  But joy, anger, and pain had twisted into one, sweeping away all reason.

  “Work,” the Lord said calmly, paying no mind to the fragile fists drumming against him.

  "My Lord… you are hopeless…" Rin thought, smacking his own forehead as he watched the reunion scene from the girl's shadow, "That's not an excuse. Not in this situation…"

  “Work, huh…” Seline repeated, stopping the barrage of blows.

  Dan nodded silently. Seline looked up.

  “So… you'll leave again?” the tear-streaked girl asked in a trembling voice.

  “Yes,” Dan averted his eyes, not understanding why he did it.

  The Lord of Darkness looked utterly confused. He didn't understand what was making him so pathetic and weak. He scanned the catalyst of his condition once more with an analytical gaze but only confirmed again that no magic emanated from the girl.

  “I was nearby and…” Dan shoved a hand into his pocket, “…decided to stop by. Wanted to give you…”

  Dan faltered.

  Seline kept looking at him.

  “A gift…” the Lord forced out.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Huh?!” Seline flinched from the surprise.

  Dan finally pulled out from his pocket the reason he had come. He extended his hand. On his palm lay a pendant with a blue stone on a golden chain.

  “Take it,” he said, a bit awkwardly. “It… it matches your eyes.”

  Dan’s hand trembled. But not from excitement. A searing, red-hot needle of pain pierced through his arm.

  Seline didn't know how to react; no one had ever given her anything like this. Her breath caught. Blood rushed to her cheeks. The world seemed to stop.

  Her hand trembled. Not from pain. A warm, sincere excitement made her hand move unsteadily.

  Dan watched her, waiting for her to take her gift. There, where just moments ago thousands of sharp needles had tried to burst through his skin, where pain throbbed, reminding him of the price of his power—something had changed.

  Seline’s palm softly came to rest on his hand.

  “What’s wrong with your hand?” the girl asked timidly, not expecting this turn herself.

  The pain he had grown accustomed to—sharp, stabbing, throbbing—suddenly eased.

  “Nothing. My own fault,” he tried to smile.

  "This isn't magic. Not even Lihgar could heal this… so what is it?" Dan thought, not taking his eyes off Seline’s fragile hand resting on his forearm.

  Seline slowly withdrew her hand and took the pendant.

  “It’s so beautiful…” she uttered barely audibly, examining the sky-blue stone. “So beautiful.”

  Though her eyes were still wet from recent tears, now they shone brighter than flame. An involuntary smile slipped onto her lips. She tore her gaze from the pendant and looked up.

  “Thank you!” the girl shouted, smiling.

  "I need to say something…" the Lord thought, observing the girl's reaction to the stone, trying to find the right words.

  “Put it on,” escaped Dan’s lips.

  Somewhere deep in Seline's shadow, Rin once again smacked his own forehead.

  Silence filled the hallway for several seconds.

  Mission accomplished. He could leave. But Dan kept standing there, motionless, as if something had him in a death grip in this hallway.

  Seline clutched the gift tightly in her palm, as if afraid it would evaporate if she let go.

  "The deed is done. Time to go. Need to say goodbye", the Lord contemplated his next move.

  “Want to take a short walk?” Dan asked and immediately fell silent, feeling more and more rooted to the spot.

  "What did I just say?" was the only question now pounding in the Lord's head.

  Seline blushed. From the surprise, she couldn't utter a word. She only nodded in agreement.

  “Just let me throw something on,” the girl added.

  “I’ll wait downstairs,” Dan said and headed for the elevator.

  “Five minutes!” Seline called after him.

  "Aaaah! I just came from training… I haven't even showered… And what am I even wearing?! I almost went out in my keikogi! How awful! What five minutes?! I won't be ready in an hour!" Seline ran around the apartment in a panic.

  She stopped abruptly.

  "Well, if he asked me out like this… maybe he doesn't care how I look?" she muttered, catching her breath as she looked in the mirror.

  Seline pulled a hoodie over her t-shirt. Looked in the mirror: "Hoodie and leggings… okay."

  She put on the pendant, ran her finger over the blue stone, and smiled.

  Dan stood by the building entrance, looking at the sky, replaying the situation he found himself in.

  "Near her, I lose control…" the Lord sighed, turning towards the entrance door.

  A loud creak sounded. The door opened, and Seline stepped out.

  “I’m ready!” the girl smiled.

  “Good,” Dan took a step toward her. “Want to go to the embankment?”

  “Yes. We can get ice cream, like last time,” Seline suggested.

  Dan nodded.

  For a while, they walked in silence along the night street. Only the sounds of passing cars broke the quiet.

  Seline even forgot about her aching muscles from training. She was excited but also calm, at least she wasn't showing it outwardly.

  “Where do you work, anyway?” Seline suddenly asked. “A lot of people work remotely from home these days.”

  Dan turned his head toward the girl.

  “My work requires personal presence…” he said quietly and added, “Always in different places…”

  “Mmm, I see,” she drawled. “I signed up for fencing, or rather, kendo.”

  Dan raised an eyebrow.

  “Kendo,” he repeated, looking up at the sky. “It used to be called something else…”

  “What?”

  “Kenjutsu,” Dan said. “The ancient art of the sword. Kendo must have evolved from it. A modern interpretation.”

  “Modern?!” Seline laughed. “Kendo originated in the nineteenth century.”

  Dan smiled.

  “Relative to the original source…” the Lord added, recalling the Tokugawa period in Japan. “You're right, it was a long time ago.”

  Seline laughed.

  Suddenly, Dan felt a surge of magical energy.

  “What is that?” Seline asked, looking ahead.

  Right on the square they were passing, a strong glow illuminated the space. With a crackle, like a short circuit, a Rift began to tear open in the air.

  "It's begun", Dan thought dryly and turned his head to Seline, who didn't understand what was happening and instinctively started hiding behind his back.

  Dan knew he had to act.

  “Seline,” the Lord said seriously. “You should go home.”

  “Huh?” Peeking out from behind Dan's back, she watched as the space before them cracked and a curved line in the middle of the square, like frozen lightning, sparked. “What about you?”

  “I need to go too,” Dan said and added, “That looks dangerous.”

  "Is he… scared?!" Seline thought, looking distrustfully ahead directly at the Rift.

  "It's just opening," the Lord analyzed. "There's still time."

  “I’ll walk you back,” Dan said and turned in the opposite direction.

  “O-okay,” the girl said quietly.