Chapter 22 Thank you

Two days later, on the 24th of May, in a room of district 4's public hospital, Emma, that was wearing fancy clothes with a lab coat under it, was inside this room, with an angry expression on her face and her arms crossed, as she looked at Tatsurou that was sitting in a hospital bed with hospital clothes, covered in bandages, looking away from her.

"Kurokami-kun...when I tell people that leave the hospital "see you soon" I don't mean for them to come back a week later, even more injured than last time and unconsious again!" Emma said with an angry, stoic tone, this made Tatsurou look away from her even more.

"I'm sorry..." Tatsurou said with an apologetic tone as he kept looking away from Emma.

"Listen, I understand that you can't stay put when people need help, but remember that you could get hurt or worse, honestly next time something like this happens, I'm going to tell Hime!" Emma said as she took out a cigarette and began to light it up, but this was when Tatsurou finally looked at her.

"Y-You wouldn't do that, right?" Tatsurou asked a bit worried but also scared because if Hime knew he was getting into fights and getting hurt, well, let's just say that Tatsurou should probably run away to another country.

"Well, I don't want to be that kind of person, but I worry about you, and it pains me a lot seeing you coming to the hospital looking like you were run over by a car!" Emma said with a worried tone as she looked at Tatsurou.

"But well, even if Hime duck taped you to a chair, to stop you from getting hurt, I think that you would find a way to still go and help whoever needed you..." Emma said as she took a puff from her cigar and smiled, as she began imagining Tatsurou duck taped to a chair, Tatsurou on the other hand, just looked at Emma without saying anything.

"Well, just keep in mind, that there are people that love you, and that would be sad if something really bad happened to you, myself included..." Emma said as she placed her hand on Tatsurou's shoulder.

"I know, Emma-san, I promise that I will be more careful!" Tatsurou said as he smiled upon hearing Emma's words.

"As long as you understand..." Emma said as she turned her back and began leaving the room, but as she did, she turned back to Tatsurou.

"Oh! and Kurokami-kun, you already got Shirayuki-chan, don't go cheating on her!" As Emma said this Tatsurou blushed as he looked at Emma with an embarrassed expression on.

"W-What are you talking about, Emma-san?!" Tatsurou asked still embarrassed and confused about Emma's remark.

"I mean, first you help a cute shrine maiden, that visited you every day, when you were hospitalized, and now it was a cute nun that you helped and she came visiting you every day with Shirayuki, your such a little-ras-cal, Kurokami-kun!" Emma said as she smiled and giggled like a kid that was making fun of someone.

"W-Wait! You're getting the wrong idea, I'm telling you, Emma-san!" Tatsurou said still embarrassed, trying to make Emma stop and correct the misunderstanding, but then.

"Um...excuse me..." A shy voice of a girl was heard, that made both Tatsurou and Emma look in its direction, the girl was Marie, that was wearing her school uniform with a nuns habit on her head and holding a bouquet, but she was giving off a different vibe, the way she was acting, felt as if it wasn't the girl Tatsurou had met, a few days ago.

"OH! Speaking of the devil! I will leave you two alone now, so you can talk without a problem!" Emma said as she left the room still giggling, and after she left, there was a silence between Tatsurou and Marie, until she approached his bed.

"Ku-Kurokami, these are for you..." Marie said with an embarrassed tone, as she handed Tatsurou, the flower bouquet that was filed with daisies and yellow roses.

"O-Oh, thanks!" Tatsurou said as he held the bouquet in his hands.

"It's a get well gift from Honoka and her mother, there's also a letter inside it..." Marie said still in an embarrassed tone, as she pointed to the middle of the bouquet, Tatsurou then took the small pink letter with drawings of stars and opened it.

"Thank you for saving me Tatsurou, you were so cool when you fought that evil man, I hope you get well soon, and ready to help other people!" Tatsurou read what was in the letter out loud and after finishing it, he smiled.

"They wanted to come personally to thank you, and give you this, but a lot has happened, so they said that they would come later..." Marie said in an informative tone as she looked away from Tatsurou and grabbed the chair next to his bed and took a seat.

"It's okay, I'm happy that Honoka's safe and sound, and they don't need to thank me, it wasn't anything special..." As Tatsurou was saying this Marie interrupted him.

"Nothing too special? Your kidding, right? You just defeated a knight of the Lion Emperor, you risked your life in the process, how can you say that?" Marie said in an angry tone as she got up from the chair and got close to Tatsurou's face, this made him blush as he saw Marie's face only a few centimeters from his, and silence reigned for a bit.

"W-Well, I mean you're being too modest here, you did something that not a lot of people would have been capable of, honestly if you and Shirayuki hadn't shown up, god knows what would have happened..." Marie said breaking the silence as she realized that she was a bit too close and took her seat again and began looking away from Tatsurou, but it didn't last long.

"A-Anyways...Kurokami, I didn't have a place to stay for the past two days, so Shiryauki let me stay with her in your place, for the last two days..." Marie said as she looked a bit away from Tatsurou.

"You don't have to worry about that, I don't mind and Shirayuki did the right thing by letting you stay...and I'm also happy to see that your frineds..." Tatsurou said as he smiled to the now flustered Marie.

"Well, how couldn't I become Shirayuki's friend...she's such a sweet and kind girl, she honestly grew on me quite a bit..." Marie said as she smiled a bit.

"I'm really happy to hear that, Chateunoire-san..." Tatsurou said with a honest tone as he smiled too.

"But, I have to ask you Kurokami, why did you come to help me, after everything I did? I treated you like an enemy, I said that I would kill you, if you look at all of these things, you had no reason to help and yet you did, why?" Marie asked in a curious tone, as she looked at Tatsurou in the eyes, upon hearing this he sighed.

"The reason is pretty simple, when I saw your face, the day you left my place, I knew that something was wrong and that you were about to do something crazy, and I just couldn't stay still without doing anything, knowing you were going to get yourself hurt..." Tatsurou said with an honest tone to Marie again.

"I see, so you were worried about me, but then again, why?" Marie asked with a curious tone again.

"The "why"? Well, believe it or not, I never once, for a second, considered you an enemy, but a friend!" Tatsurou said with a confident tone that made Marie blush a bit.

"A friend? Really? After all that happened, you considered me a friend? You really are a weird one, Kurokami..." Marie said as she sighed and smiled.

"Well, I didn't think you were a bad person, and looks like I was right, perhaps a bit quick to judge people, but other than that, in my eyes you are a good person!" Tatsurou said as he smiled, but Marie just got embarrassed again.

"I'm sorry about that! But you're right, I shouldn't judge people like that, it was a terrible mistake, but I hope you will forgive me for that, Kurokami..." Marie said as she too smiled at Tatsurou.

"It's already forgiven, Chateunoire-san!" Tatsurou said as he smiled again.

"Kurokami...you can call me Marie, it's simpler, but do you mind, if I call you by your first name too?" Marie asked as she looked a bit away from Tatsurou.

"Well, I don't mind if you do that, but are you sure?" Tatsurou asked as he looked at Marie that was now looking at him blushing from ear to ear.

"Yes...it's alright!" Marie said still blushing and embarrassed.

"Well, then I hope we can be friends officially now, Marie-san!" Tatsurou said to Marie, as he extended his arm to her, but Marie interrupted him.

"Wait! Since we are friends, could you call me without honorifics?" Marie asked this with an embarrassed tone as she looked down.

"No honorifics, really?" Tatsurou thought to himself a bit embarrassed, but he complied with her demand.

"Ok then, I can do that, Marie..." As Tatsurou said this, Marie turned away from him as her face became completely red with embarrassment, this made Tatsurou a bit confused, as the silence reigned again.

"So, can I ask you something?" Tatsurou said this to Marie which caught her a bit off guard.

"Y-Yes, what is it?" Marie asked a bit curious.

"When we met, you called me Endbringer, ever since you called me that, I always wanted to ask you, what it is, and what it means?" Tatsurou said as he looked at Marie with a curious yet serious expression.

"I'm not the right person to answer you're question, but what I can tell you about it, is the following..." Marie said as she made a small pause and Tatsurou looked at her with both high expectations, but also a bit of nervousness.

"Well, from what I learned in the classes about Magic and its legends, the name Endbringer, is given to someone with extremely powerful and dangerous magic, what you are capable of doing with it, I don't know for sure, as for the name, it comes, from what I have been told, that whoever holds this power is capable of destroying the world, if he so pleases..." As Marie said this, she looked at Tatsurou that now had a shocked expression on his face.

"The power...to destroy the world?" Tatsurou asked with a scared tone as he trembled a bit.

"Stay calm Tatsurou, you can't take my words too much to heart, I don't know much about it, honestly, like I said what I know is from what I have been told in classes..." Marie said in a reassuring tone to Tatsurou.

"This is quite the shock honestly, I always thought that I just had a weird Esper power and suddenly I'm told, it's actually magic and a dangerous one at that, I don't know if I should be scared or impressed..." Tatsurou said as he looked at his hand, still thinking about the "ending the world" part.

"But I have to say, that I don't believe, what I have been told any longer..." Marie said with a confident tone to Tatsurou, which made him look at her a bit confused.

"What I mean is, that even if your power is something that is said to be bad, I now see that it is what you make with that power, that tells if you are a bad person or not, and after what I witnessed in the museum, I see that you are in fact a good person!" Marie said as she smiled at Tatsurou, sure of the words she said.

"Marie...thank you..." Tatsurou said with a happy tone as he too smiled, but then, Marie looked at the small clock in the wall of the hospital room.

"Well then, it's almost time for me to go back..." Marie said with a tone that had a faint hint of sadness.

"Go back?" Tatsurou asked with a curious tone.

"Well, I have to get back to France, and report to my superior, what happened, honestly, I should have gone two days ago, but I convinced her to let me stay until you waked up, so I could talk to you..." Marie said to Tatsurou still with that faint sad tone as she got up from her chair.

"But before I go, I want to give you something Tatsurou, a thank you gift of sorts..." Marie said as she looked at Tatsurou, and blushed a bit.

"A gift? Wait, Marie you don't have to..." As Tatsurou was trying to tell Marie this she interrupted him.

"No, I have to give you this, because you didn't just save my life, you also stooped me from making a mistake, so could you please, close your eyes for a moment?" Marie asked this with an embarrassed tone and expression, at first Tatsurou was a bit suspicious, but he then complied and closed his eyes.

"Don't open them, ok?" Marie said this and Tatsurou just nodded with his head as kept his eyes closed, he was a bit nervous since he didn't know what Marie was up to but then after a bit, Tatsurou felt something pressing against his right cheek, Tatsurou upon feeling this opened his eyes and he saw Marie kissing him on the cheek, Tatsurou blushed from ear to ear as he saw this.

"I told you not to open them didn't I?" Marie said in an unbelievable cute voice while she blushed and slowly moved away, Tatsurou, on the other hand, was still processing what happened as he placed his hand on the cheek Marie kissed.

"This is my way of thanking you, for what you did..." Marie said as she smiled and began walking towards the door.

"Once again, thank you Tatsurou, for everything you did, I will always remember you and Shirayuki, but also what you did for me..." Marie said as she got close to the door and looked at Tatsurou once more before leaving, and as she faced forward once again, she began to tear up as she left the room, leaving Tatsurou alone with is thoughts.

"This was quite unexpected..." Tatsurou thought as he placed his hand once more on the cheek Marie kissed and he smiled while blushing, and who could blame him, anyone would be happy, if they were kissed by such a beautiful girl, but his happiness was cut short as he felt an aura of impending doom, hovering over him, it was when he looked at the entrance of the room that he saw who was giving this aura off.

"S-Shirayuki-san, how long have you been there?" Tatsurou asked as he trembled, upon seeing Shirayuki on the entrance with an angry face.

"Ever since you started calling each other by your given names, without honorifics..." Shirayuki said with a monotonous tone as she approached Tatsurou's bed, he felt a chill down his spine.

"W-Wait Shirayuki-san, it's nothing like, what you're thinking, it was just a simple thank you!" Tatsurou said a bit panicked while trying to explain what Shirayuki saw.

"It was just a thank you and nothing else, right?" Shirayuki asked still with an angry expression and tone.

"Yes, it was, I'm telling you!" Tatsurou said in a reassuring tone to Shirayuki, that after hearing this became a bit calmer.

"Ok then..." Shirayuki said as she turned away from Tatsurou, and began pouting.

"Shirayuki-san?" Tatsurou called her, but it was mostly useless as she kept looking away and ignoring him

"I can't believe what Marie just did, but then again, it was just a small kiss on the cheek and I did something far worse..." Shirayuki thought to herself as she blushed and remembered when she kissed Tatsurou on the lips.

"Well, it's okay since it was Marie, but even so kissing him so suddenly like that, but it was just a thank you kiss on the cheek, so everything is alright..." Shirayuki thought to herself again a bit relieved, as she turned to the confused and worried Tatsurou...