Three days after the ceremony that crowned Veronica as the next Lord of the city and declared the black fire and elite squad as the protectors of the city had passed, every citizen of the city were at Kojin's memorial. They were all wearing black, the sky seemed to be very dark, and the environment was gloomy. Some were crying, some felt sad, even Diablo attended the memorial. While looking at Kojin's grave with a sad look on his face, he was having an inner dialogue "Kojin, you were always there for me. As a kid, while I was being shunned by everyone in this city, you opened up to me. You had no business with me, and even tho you didn't really feel all that empathetic for me, you still showed me kindness. Thank you.", the dark clouds started to disappear, the sun started to shine down brightly. Diablo asked himself "How much more? How many people do we have to lose?". Alex on the other hand started to remember the times were Kojin usually took care of him while his grandpa was always away "That's right, Kojin always looked out for me as a child. While grandpa was always away on missions, Kojin always came to check up on me. He bought some food for me and gave me cool clothes. He even trained me a lot of times just too make sure i wasn't lacking. May your soul rest in peace.". Later on after the memorial, the rest of the day seemed to be bright but quiet, people kept going on with their lives, but the place was rather quiet than it usually was. The news of Kojin's death had spreaded across other countries, especially the Lightning country, City of Steel, and the Country of Raijin. Lady Najenda was in her office while working, although she was just finishing them up "Kojin's dead, huh? Well damn, that's a shame. Wasn't expecting him to go so soon.". She turned to her window looking at the bright environment "Its about time I retired, I'm getting too old for this."(She's only 45). Lady Shinra from the country of Raijin had already declared that she was retiring from her lordship position. Although it had happened three days before she heard of Kojin's death, she was heavily wounded emotionally and mentally after fighting zodia in the war. Despite all that, she seemed to be behaving like her normal self. One week had passed since that day, Raquel was in Alex's room. She was sitting on his bed while eating some of his snacks, Alex came In from the shower wearing black shorts and a white shirt. His white hair was wet, but it some how looked bright "Ahh damn, the shower has been hitting different lately. Summer begins next month. Guess we can catch a break and go to our normal slice of life activities. Looks like you've made yourself comfortable, Raquel.", raquel responded "How many times have I told you never to have a shower without me whenever I'm around?". Alex replied "Ahh? Calm down. I just felt a bit of nostalgia, that's all. Besides, you seemed to be enjoying my snacks, why disturb you?". He lays on her lap while Raquel starts to clean his ears "I can't believe its been a week since Kojin passed away. Its too damn sad.", Raquel added "Well, God gives and he takes as well. It was a battle that decided the fate of the world, people were bound to die. Both the good guys and the bad guys.". They both went silent for a good moment, the environment was quiet with birds chirping outside. Raquel asked "By the way, Alex. Did you die during the war?", Alex didn't respond for a while. He closed his eyes and replied Raquel's question "I did die. But that's not important right now, I'm still here with you, aren't I?", Raquel just smiles "Yeah, you still are, and im grateful for that.". Meanwhile, Kinto was in the Iron Country, Rin's house in paticularly "So what brings you here? Wasn't expecting to see you, I thought you'd be trying to recover.", Kinto replied "I'm here to see your brother, Kazu to be exact.". "Why do you want to see him? Is there a problem?", Rin asked in confusion. Kazu and Shouya were having a sparing match in a stadium, Shouya was causing hands to bursts out of the ground and attack Kazu, Kazu was jumping around at a great speed, dodging and turning between them. Kazu continues to do this while acknowledging the fact that Shouya's attack speed has gotten faster. He ended up lunging at Shouya, wanting to land a punch, but Shouya was about to do the same, landing a blow of his own. Before their blows collided, Rin walked in the stadium they were sparring out and yelled "Enough you two.", the two brothers paused for a moment and realized Rin and Kinto were watching them the entire time "HUH?". Few moments had passed, Kazu and Kinto were standing face to face, along with Rin and Shouya being by their brother's side. Kazu asked "What do you want? I wasn't expecting to see you.". Kinto, trying to be funny, replied "That's not how you thank someone who saved your country from total enaihilation", Rin elbowed him on his arm, signifying that its not time for jokes. Kinto smiled nervously "Riiiiight. Hehe. Either way I came to return something.", he performed a few hand signs causing a sheated sword to appear on his palms in a cloud of smoke that slowly dissappeared. He explains "This was Kenji's katana. I thought I'd give it to you guys since you were like siblings to him. To Kenji, you three were his only reason to keep moving forward, his sword was rather in shambles after our fight, so I took it and repaired it.". He stretched out the sword to Kazu "Here, have it.". Kazu looked at the sword for a moment and sighed, he grabbed the sword from Kinto "Thanks, Rin told me everything. About how Kenji and our dad were close. How he protected us from our higher ups because we were too strong for our age, how he wanted us to hate him so we'd become stronger on our own. It's kinda sad if you think of it.", the place became quiet with a sad tone. Shouya kept quiet before telling Kinto "Kinto, thanks for saving our country, and thanks for returning this to us. By the way, how's Alex doing?", Kinto replied "You're welcome, and Alex is doing well. I'll tell him you were asking of him. I'm off.". Rin followed him "I'll accompany you.", Kinto waved "Sure.", and proceeded to leave with Rin's accompany. Kinto and Rin were walking together on the wastelands of the Iron Country. As they walked, Kinto looked at the beautiful synergy of mountains and tall hills "Wow the landscape of your country looks beautiful, glad im alive to see it.", Rin replied "Yeah they do. Hey kinto, I want to ask you something.". Kinto stopped walking before he turned around "What's up?". Rin shyly asked "Would you... um.. would you like to be my boyfriend?"
END OF CHAPTER.