They reached the central plaza at dusk.
The Ferris wheel turned slowly in the wind. The lights were beginning to come on in the stalls. The carousel music played.
Jameson turned toward Serah.
"You see?" he said. "This place works well. For anyone who needs a place to stay." His light red eyes looked directly at her. "Especially for someone who's just been left alone."
Serah's markings pulsed.
"I wasn't left alone."
"Not yet," Jameson said, with the specific softness of something that isn't a blow but a weight. "But A_D_M is coming. And when they arrive, Kai—"
"Kai will come back."
"Serah."
Her name in that voice, with that tone. The faint pink aura that had surrounded her for hours without her fully naming it.
Jameson extended his hand toward hers.
"You'll be safe here," he said. "I'll make sure—"
---
The sound was sharp.
Jameson was launched backward.
Not two steps.
Not five.
He crashed through the nearest preserves stall—wood, jars, everything—and landed three meters beyond among the remains of the counter, the little bell from the counter ringing as it struck his head.
Silence in the plaza.
Serah turned.
Kai was standing where Jameson had been a second ago.
Hand in his pocket. Relaxed posture. The expression of someone who's just done something completely reasonable and doesn't consider it requires additional explanation.
But his eyes—which normally evaluated everything with the same neutral temperature—had something different.
Not rage.
Something colder than rage.
"Don't even think about it," Kai said, without raising his voice, without taking his eyes off Jameson among the wreckage of the stall, "laying a hand on my woman."
---
[GarcíaFTW: WE CAME BACK FOR YOU SERAH]
[NocheEterna99: "MY WOMAN." HE SAID IT.]
[StreamerHunter: THIS WHOLE THING WAS A TRAP FOR JAMESON.]
[xSorinx: "enough for the message" — he didn't kill him. It was exactly what was necessary.]
[Pedro_Sierra: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ KAI ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ WE KNEW IT ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]
[Deral_Bleattler: ←←←←← KAI ARRIVED ←←←←← JAMESON →→→→→ [destroyed stall] →→→]
*[User_7741: (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:･ﾟ✧ KAI PROTECTS ✧ﾟ･: ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)]
[NocheEterna99: and we found out some interesting things.]
[StreamerHunter: Jameson was so dumb to believe Kai would really leave Serah alone. SO DUMB.]
[GarcíaFTW: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Jameson's plan lasted exactly as long as it took Kai to get there]
---
[Current viewers: 2,100,000]
[The system considers this the most romantic thing it has recorded in its operational history]
---
Serah was looking at him.
Not with the expression of someone rescued.
With the expression of someone who recovered a missing piece of their life.
The silver markings that had been irregular for hours returned to shining with their usual intensity.
Intense. Stable. At Serah's rhythm.
"You said you were going to the guild," she said.
"Well, I lied a little." Kai kept looking at Jameson.
"I needed Jameson to believe his system had affected me and made me leave, so I could observe him properly."
"And so he wouldn't notice I was still in the village."
"How long have you been watching?"
"Since the plaza with the colored benches."
Serah processed this.
"And you waited until now?"
"I wanted to see how far he'd go." A pause. "And I wanted you to see it too."
Serah looked at him.
"Why?"
Kai finally took his eyes off Jameson and looked at her.
"So you'd know how to recognize it next time," he said. "Without me having to be there."
---
[GarcíaFTW: IT WASN'T JUST RESCUING HER. IT WAS TEACHING HER.]
[StreamerHunter: Kai turned a trap into a lesson. INTO A LESSON.]
[xSorinx: Serah looks like she's processing two things at once and doesn't know which to deal with first]
[Pedro_Sierra: (╥_╥) this is too much for my heart (╥_╥)]
[Deral_Bleattler: "my woman" + "so you'd know how to recognize it" = Kai being Kai and being perfect at the same time]
[User_7741: ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ωﾟ)ﾟ｡ it hit me straight in the soul ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ωﾟ)ﾟ｡]
---
Among the remains of the preserves stall, Jameson slowly got up.
His jaw was red. Not broken, but the path to get there had been close.
He wiped the corner of his mouth.
Looked at Kai.
Then at Serah.
The pink aura that had surrounded him—faint, persistent, built over four years of practice—had completely vanished.
Jameson assessed the situation.
Then, to everyone's surprise, he let out a short laugh.
Not malicious.
Genuine.
"Four years in this world," he said, "and I ended up miscalculating with a simple mortal like you."
Kai looked at him.
"What did you miscalculate?"
"That you had left and would abandon the place as easily as any of the other Streamers and even inhabitants of this village would." Jameson brushed the dust off his robe.
"Everyone I know here is like me. People who take what they can before someone takes it from them." He looked at him.
"You left something valuable in this village and came back. That doesn't fit my model."
Kai studied him for a moment.
"Is that an apology?"
"It's an observation." Pause.
"Though I suppose you can take it as acknowledgment."
"After all, you're different."
---
[GarcíaFTW: "it wasn't an apology. though I suppose you can take it as acknowledgment" — JAMESON SAID THE SAME THING AS AT THE BEGINNING]
[NocheEterna99: the full arc in one sentence]
[StreamerHunter: Kai notices it. I saw it on his face.]
[xSorinx: the question is what Kai does now with Jameson]
[Pedro_Sierra: ┬─┬ノ( º _ ºノ) Kai setting the table again]
---