"You know…I actually sort of taught Mr. Moon how to fight a long time ago..and I taught your teacher his Tokubetsu too..and it's the same as you. It's possible for you to learn how to attack in ways that aren't a punch. The best part about fighting isn't winning or losing..It's that you can make it whatever you want…but you aren't either of them. Mr. Moon was very good at attacks and fighting..but he had no affinity for grappling…What if you integrated wrestling into your style?"
"You taught Mr. Moon how to fight? And he was good? It's still hard to imagine him doing that!"
He slowed down to a stop.
"Yeah, I like doing whatever in a fight, but isn't wrestling just hugging someone really hard?"
"No. Wrestling is much more complex than just squeezing someone…There is far more to it. It's more so to wear your opponent out. Most people don't think about that. They focus on using a weapon or a technique or some form of magic…No one ever thinks of the intangibles when it comes to fighting…You need stamina to win serious fights on your own..and if you can wear your opponents down in a way where most can't defend themselves by using the lightning cloak..You'll elevate to the next level."
"As long as it's cool I can try it out next time! But if it's lame then I won't do it!"
"Very well..I will send you back so you can traverse these floors...Please remember our conversation today..."
"I will! And I'll ask around about wrestling then."
He was ready to move on before he thought of something.
"Oh, before you send me back. You knew Mr. Moon, right? I'm not really sure how much you care about it or how you guys knew eachother, but…"
He scratched the back of his head as he spoke.
"He still visits your grave sometimes. That's how I learned your name. He never lets anyone from Leordoba come with him though, not even Hiurina, and she's known him for longer than anyone back home! Always goes alone, don't really know why. But when he comes back to his tea shop he's back to normal!"
A shop that in the past, Mr. Moon never would have made. He never liked it, but…he did promise to share a cup of it with Kyōki so many years ago…
For the first time in their meeting Kyōki showed an expression other than a solemn one. She looked at him silently, probably the longest silence Matsumi had experienced up until that point. After a few minutes she spoke.
"I see…Well then….Whenever you see him again tell him I appreciate it….That makes me more happy than anything i've ever heard…"
A tear came to her eye before falling to the ground, bouncing off the grass. Once it did Matsumi would find himself in a small bed, still with the necklace attached to him, no longer looking at the Collective Unconscious that she had brought him too. The sun was rising, shining through the room onto his face. He could feel the energy surging through him, he had gotten a nights rest and a meal.
"Hm? Why are you-"
"-crying?"
He finished his sentence back in the real world, his vision a little blurry as his eyes snapped open. The sun bothering him as he covered his face with his hand.
"M-Matsumi! You're awake! Oh thank goodness!"
He fully woke up with a gasp.
"Kibō! You're Okay!"
He might as well have jumped out of the bed as he hugged her excitedly.
"You were worried about me?"
"Y-Yes Matsumi! You are very high energy…It wasnt like you to pass out like that….Is everything okay?…Are you feeling okay?"
Kibō rushed to his side and started to touch him, checking his vitals, his breathing, his heart beat, his eyes and more. As if it were hospital and Matsumi was getting a physical.
His heartbeat was very fast, a combination of what he saw in the unconscious and seeing her uninjured.
"I'm fine, I'm fine."
As she kept on touching him to check if anything were wrong, the necklace bound to his chest was one of the things she could feel.
Kibō immediately jumped at the touch of the necklace and it's pendant. She pulled back immediately.
"….An ancient artificact?….Matsumi…How did you….?"
She had a face that almost resembled one of fear. She looked back at him into his eyes.
"The Fallen Angel's Necklace….You never had this…I would've sensed it before….."
"Oh! You know about it? Pretty cool, right? I'd let you see it better but I don't know if I could even take it off."
"I wouldn't recommend that…If you take it off it will rip a large amount of mana and energy from your body with it…It's a very powerful necklace..and is bound to you for the time being…Barghest may know more than me since she was friends with its creator….."
"Feels like everyone knows Barghest, that's cool. But we still have to get to her, I'm all pumped up now!"
"Well we we're leaving soon so make sure you have everything so we can go to the 12th floor."
"Where's the other two?"
"They're visiting one of the shops. After they're back we were going to leave."
"You stayed back to look after me? Hey, thanks. I'd probably get lost on my own!"
"That's the last thing I'd want…You are still new to this kind of world…Who knows who or what would be out there."
He looked her in the eyes and smiled.
"You're really nice, hard to believe you're from the tower."
"I wasn't originally from here…Long ago I lived in the mortal world just like you.."
She smiled. She didn't know him long but she loved his fun going nature.
"You were?! Where were you from? Maybe I know the place."
He scooted closer to her, clearly interested.
"Well a very, very long time ago I was born and raised by two very powerful witches in a coast off the islands called the Silviara Isles. You see back in my time there was a small period where Humans, Sages and Witches all lived with one another and we co-habituated peacefully. It wasn't a very long time, but after a lot of warfare broke out, and I grew I moved to a small area called Monte Carlo, A french city filled with interesting people, and of course witches at that time. I met and helped lots of people."
"I know both of those places! Vermelha is from Monte Carlo too, all witches are I think. But how'd you get stuck in here then? You come here alone?"
"Well back then Heldor's Tower was a place for witches to train…I ended up coming with a few friends…and they ended up disappearing. You see, in Heldor's Tower most places allow you immortality, and your death here does not happen in reality…but there is a space in the last thirty floors from floor seventy up, where that is not true…Unfortunately my crew was obliterated…and afterwards, I was left alone..Unable to climb downwards due to exhaustion…Eventually I lived here for some time in the shadows before I was captured after my status leaked to the public."
"So…you've been that high up already? You and your friends must've been a pretty awesome group. Maybe some of them escaped like you, witches are pretty tough. I would know, I'm practically surrounded by them!"
He chuckled a little.
"And you definitely showed me that was true, anyone else would've been out for way longer after what happened to you.You rock, Kibō."
Naturally, Matsumi had a natural gift to lighten up the mood, even if by accident.
Kibō smiled.
"T-Thank you Matsumi!…I haven't been in the best mental space recently…You know…Maybe you aren't the strongest…but your heart is the brightest…and now things may be easier that I've recovered and i'm conscious…Thanks to the eleventh floors mechanics!"
She held a thumbs up, propping up energetically from the bed.
"I think the others should be done by now…I'll tell you a lot more stories later…For now we have to beat the tower!"
"Hahaha! Now, that's an awesome plan!"
Matsumi stood up too. He gave a her a thumbs up as well, pushing his knuckles against hers for a thumbs up fist bump.
"I'll be waiting for those stories of yours, you better not hold out on me!"