I left Jessie’s room and walked out to see Nigel casually leaning against the railing right outside the room. His posture was awkward, and he was whistling like a moron.

  So obvious.

  “Hear anything interesting?” I asked, sliding beside him to look down at the busy bottom floor of the inn.

  “Hear something? Me? No way!” explained Nigel hastily. He never made eye contact with me. “I was just walking up here, saw Jessie’s door was closed, knocked, then decided to wait. Actually, I was about to leave, but—” He cut himself off. “I’m sorry. I heard everything.” He looked me directly in the face through my strands of hair. “Your eyes are very pretty.”

  “To hear everything, you must have heard a few things and decided to stick around and snoop,” I assessed, ignoring his last sentence.

  “Yeah…” Nigel paused. “People downstairs were talking about how Jessie brought a young devil girl to her room, so I thought I’d investigate since it seemed…odd, given the kind of person she is.”

  “It was a lot of rambling,” I joked. “But I did get to watch her throw out her, um, friend, though.”

  “I waved to him as he ran to his room.”

  “He seemed friendly.”

  “He did,” admitted Nigel.

  We laughed.

  “You’re gonna be so strong one day,” Nigel said as we quieted down. “I’ve only got brown eyes, so I’ve got a long way to go. Hey, Jessie’s going to start teaching you, yeah? Did I hear that right?”

  “That’s what we agreed on. She overloaded me with books, complained about religion, made fun of Tart, tore me down a little bit, and sent me on my way.”

  “Yeah, she does that.” Nigel’s eyes seemingly sparkled. “So we’re training together?”

  God, he is such a little puppy. Just an adorable, happy little puppy that’s willing to follow me wherever I go. I don’t hate it.

  “We are. What’s Jessie like as an instructor?”

  “Unserious but very patient and intelligent,” said Nigel. “She has quirks, but you’ll learn them quickly.

  That doesn’t seem very promising. I hope I’ve seen all the quirks already, but somehow I doubt it.

  “I guess we’re staying in Sandy Branch longer than expected. Or are you joining us on the road?” asked Nigel.

  “There’s no way my mother would allow that.”

  “Then we’re staying! Everyone’ll be excited. Except Tart. She hates this place.”

  It seems like Tart kind of hates everything. But from what I can tell, that’s Jessie’s fault.

  “Hey, wanna go practice sword fighting?” asked Nigel suddenly. “You’ve practiced before, right? I saw you out in your yard. You were pretty good!”

  “Barely. I’ve only been at it a few weeks. Archery? I’d take you on any day and win.”

  “I’ve never shot a bow before.”

  “Then let’s make bets on who’ll hit the most targets. Come on! I’ll go easy on you.”

  “No thanks!”

  Well, at least he wasn’t totally gullible.

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  “Hey, brats, before you go, I need to give Yen something,” said a voice from behind us—Jessie.

  We turned to see her standing against the doorway with a coy smile.

  “Here.” Jessie tossed a thin strip of black cloth at me. “Consider it a gift.”

  Nigel and I both stared at the “gift.”

  “Thanks?” I looked up at Jessie. “I’ll…treasure it forever?”

  Jessie sighed. “It’s a magical item. I bought it in Camden from a craftsman who specialized in making clothes from mana crystals and monster parts. Tie it over your eyes. You’ll be able to hide them without losing your sight.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  Cautiously, I put it over my eyes and tightened the fabric. The next second, the blackness faded away, and my vision cleared. It was like I wasn’t even wearing anything, though I could still feel the soft cloth on my face.

  “Amazing,” I breathed out. “I can cut my bangs.”

  “And you should. You won’t be able to fight with your hair the way it is,” replied Jessie. She turned back into her room, waving behind us as she did. “Don’t beat her up too badly, Nigel.”

  “I won’t!” chimed the boy.

  I should have taken that as an insult, but I was too baffled by the blindfold. I kept taking it off and putting it back on, completely at a loss for how it worked. It didn’t set off any “memories” for me either, meaning something like this was entirely new to me.

  “Yen?” Nigel tapped me on the shoulder. “Ready?”

  “Oh. Yeah.” I fastened the blindfold again. “Sorry.”

  Nigel and I left Beginner’s Rest for a field off to the north of town. I brought him to a flat and bright clearing still close to town in case something happened to either of us.

  “What style do you want to practice?” asked Nigel. He handed me a practice sword from his codex before retrieving his own from the same place.

  “I just awakened a few days ago,” I reminded the boy. “I know the styles. There’s the Warring style, Heavenly style, and Chaos style. Can’t use a single one, though. Obviously.”

  “Oh. Right. So no mana. Gotta remember that.”

  “I couldn’t defend it if I had to, so no, please. Just swords, please.” I smiled. “We take away that little advantage, and I can probably thrash you, can’t I?”

  Nigel flinched. His usual carefree attitude dissipated slightly. “Sure. And I don’t mind the handicap. Working with the basics is also important. I don’t mind.” A glimmer of pride flashed across his face. “Looking forward to it.”

  “How long have you been using a sword?”

  “Hmm, since I was six?”

  Right, so he’s going to kick the shit out of me. This’ll be fun.

  I primed myself in the general stance I “remembered” from my past life. It still felt awkward, though. My body wasn’t quite adapted for it yet.

  “Oh, nice! Good stance!” said Nigel. He primed himself as well. The joy left his face as an intense calm overcame him. He looked focused and older. I flinched a bit. “Here I go.”

  Nigel held the sword in a similar stand to me, though his posture looked more solid than mine. I could tell from how he tensed his wrist and held his sword that years of practice were engrained into him.

  If I can hold him off for a little while without getting walloped, I’ll call that a win.

  Nigel moved at me with a speed my mind couldn’t comprehend. In the next moment, a sword cracked fast into my forehead, and I woke up on the ground.

  “I’m so sorry!” cried Nigel. He was standing over me, shaking my shoulders. “I thought you’d at least defend yourself! And I accidentally used mana a little! I couldn’t help it!”

  “Why’d you have to apologize like a dick?” I muttered, hurt. “I suck, don’t I?”

  “A little,” admitted Nigel. “But that was kind of a cheap shot, still.”

  “You’re supposed to lie.”

  “How would that help you?”

  “…fair.”

  “Can you get up?” he asked.

  I tried, but the world around me swirled. Instead, I flopped back down as everything remained blurry. “Not yet.”

  Worried, Nigel stared at me for a moment. In the next, he laid down beside me. “You want me to get a bow so you can shoot me?”

  I laughed. “What good would that do?”

  “I’d feel better.”

  “I wouldn’t.”

  “Then there’s no way to fix this.”

  “Fix this?” I questioned. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I used mana when we agreed we wouldn’t. I’m just so used to it now that I forgot. Barcus beats the Warring style into my daily. It’s kind of an instinct to open fights with a Rapture. I’m really, really sorry.”

  I ignored his whining. The dizziness eventually subsided, and I stood. “Okay. Round two. Let’s go.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I nodded.

  “O-Okay.”

  “If you hold back, I’ll spit in your food the next time you eat something.”

  “Okay, okay! I won’t!”

  Nodding, I resumed my combative stance, and Nigel did the same. I waited, and Nigel made the first move.

  “Owww,” I mumbled, dropping to one knee.

  Inches away from me, Nigel stopped his swing and relaxed his stance. “Are you—”

  I quickly stood up and pointed my blade at his throat. “The winner? Absolutely.”

  Flustered, Nigel dropped his sword. “Cheater.”

  “I feel like I wouldn’t care in a real battle if I got to live in the end,” I replied.

  Nigel frowned like he hated that answer, but he didn’t dismiss it either. “Fine, fine. You win. Lesson learned.”

  I smiled. “Glad I could help!”

  Nigel laughed at himself, and I chuckled right along with him.

  I couldn’t say I was actually happy. I didn’t feel any different from usual.

  But the feeling was there, I think. Just a thin wall away.