XII. An Ally? Maybe?

Youya's POV:

I was woken up by the high shout that filled the entire hotel and gave me a headache

"Neee! You! Onna(woman), untie me... NOW" said the red-haired magician who was struggling to loosen the rope that tied him tightly to the hotel's bed.

"Shut up, you moron!" Replied Ayane-san with boiling blood in her veins. "It's all your fault to begin with!" she said looking like a certain angry 'red hot-blooded habanero'.

"We're so sorry, but it's necessary that you stay still so that your wounds won't reopen" Interrupted Hina-san with a gentle calm voice to ease the escalating aggression between the said two.

"You're ***** kidding me! Who do you think you are?! Don't you know who I am?!" The still-unable-to-get-free red-haired teen yelled with a scary ton, still struggling with all his might with the ropes.

"Of course we don't! Are you an idiot?! We did just find you nearly dead on the ground! We don't even know your name" said Ayane-san trying to loosen herself from Hina-san's grip, which by the way was the only thing preventing her from killing the tied magician.

"Ayane-saaan, please, stop it" begged Hina-san hopelessly when she got tired of Ayane-san's struggles. She got tired of both of them so she stepped forward and untied the ropes. The boy sat up on the bed, still too injured to stand.

"Hmph, you don't deserve to know, but you can call me Rin-sama if you insist" said the red-haired teen, Rin, swaggering with a proud face.

"YOU, don't get so cocky, we saved yo-"said Ayane-san before she was interrupted. "Rin-sama, I know you're still recovering, and the fact we did just meet make it sound impolite of me to ask directly. But...what were you doing there? You met someone right? And I believe you did something to make him snap, didn't you?" Said Hina-san with an unnoticeable frown, she was upset for some reason.

Ayane-san's face turned serious and she crossed her arms tightly. It was just then my head got cleared and the memories of what happened came back rushing.

"Um, where are we?" were my first words since I woke up. The three of them turned and looked at me as if it was only then they remembered my presence.

"Oh, Youya-chan, you're awake. How are you feeling?" Said Hina-san with a whole another concerned tone than the one she was just using with Rin.

"Just okay" I replied simply. I paused and hesitated before telling them about the magician I saw. "Hina-san, I think... I found the person you were searching for" I told them carefully while observing their reactions. Hina-san was almost unaffected by what I said. Rin wasn't interested at all, while Ayane-san was scowling.

"Oh, so you know that bastard?" Grinned Rin widely and faced an angry-looking Ayane-san. "What did you just say?!" She gritted her teeth and tightened her grip, I could tell she was ready to attack any second.

"Now, now, let's take it easy, I think we can come to a settlement that satisfies everyone" said Hina-san calmly.

"What settlement? You want us to cooperate with him?!" Protested Ayane-san. "And what could HE possibly offer, huh?" She added while not even trying to hide her contempt.

"What did you sa-" Rin was starting his counterattack before he was interrupted by Hina-san. "You are a black, aren't you?" She asked.

Rin's playfulness and bumptiousness turned serious and suspicious at a split of a second. I didn't really get what she meant with black. I knew about the rankings between the magicians. But I thought there were only 3 categories (green, blue and gold).

"You ....how-...how do you know about that" said Rin in an unexpectedly quiet voice and a serious face that he didn't show before. I could feel the threatening tense ambiance in the room. 

Silence remained for a few long seconds, with everyone on edge. Then it was suddenly cut by a burst of loud laughter from Rin. What was he laughing for? He really does give me a bad feeling with those manic waves of laughter of his!

(I imagine his laughs as zack's from 'angels of death'. If you haven't watched that anime then go do it now, it's awesome🔥😎😏)

"I see" he said when his laughs had turned into quieter chuckles. "Yeah you're right, I'm a black. You gotta be at least a gold for noticing that" he added looking straight at Hina-san.

"Well, thank you, but I'm only a blue, I did study much thought, so I know my thing" she said with a big, wild smile. It was honestly creepy.

"Aa~ah, I wasted my entire life hiding just to get caught like that" he said and chuckled. I didn't find that funny. Especially not knowing what he meant by hiding and getting caught.

"Don't worry, Rin-sama, I won't hand you over, but you need to cooperate with us to find that magician again" Said Hina-san with full confidence now that she had the upper-hand.

"We're gonna find HIM again?!" He said with pure excitement. "I'm totally in!" he grinned evilly.

"Why are all of you so possessed with that  magician?" I stated suddenly causing all of them to stare at me.

"I don't know about those women, but I want to have a match-to-death with the strongest magician!" Rin said with wide excited eyes and a wild grin.

"He doesn't have time for your nonsense!" Ayane-san stepped in angrily and pulled Rin from his collar, lifting him up slightly off the bed. Killing instincts were coming from both of them.

"Ma~ ma, we don't care about your motives as long as we find what we want, right Ayane-san?" said Hina-san to calm things down a bit while she squeezed Ayane-san's shoulder lightly. Ayane-san gritted her teeth again and let go, but was surely still upset.

"Um, sorry for sounding so ignorant, but what is a black? I thought there were only greens, blues and golds?" I asked.

"Ah, I didn't tell you so it's natural for you not to know. Well, remember what I said about how you're a green if the father is a magician and a blue if the mother is a magician, while you're a gold when both parents are magicians?" I nodded remembering what she said in chapter 3 (Forth wall? What's that?)

"Well, there is this tiny possibility for two normal parents to give birth to a magic-user child. Those are called blacks, but there are so few of them, not only because the potential is hardly 1%, but also because they're a threat to the nobility system. Being born to non-magician's means they're not nobles. And that carries the risk of magic spreading between normal citizens and more magicians would be born non-nobles" Hina-san explained. "That will cause the nobles to lose their advantage and control over normal citizens, which is why those blacks won't live if they got caught"

"That's....awful" was the only thing I managed to say. I felt a sudden empathy for Rin, I mean, Rin-san, for being a black and having to hide his entire life as he mentioned.

"Well, I didn't leave the nobility for nothing after all" commented Hina-san. Hina-san is not a bad person at all, so I assume I can't consider that all nobles are scums. But I still hate them so much, even though I personally haven't seen anything from them.....

yet