TRUST ISSUES 2

"It's almost ten now. What could you possibly want to show me?" Jaita asked after letting Yuki in. She shut the door and walked towards the dinning.

"Allow me to run things at my own pace," Yuki replied.

Jaita turned sharply to face her. She was about to tell her off but gave it another thought. "Let's go to the dinning, we could make use of the table there," she said instead.

Yuki, who was still few feet away from the door clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Nah. The dinning? The dinning is too small for what I plan to do."

"So what do we do then?" Jaita rolled her eyes.

"Well," Yuki dropped the parchment in her hand onto the couch and clapped twice. The room was immediately filled with white flaky substances, which disappeared in an instant leaving only the presence of a massive golden table and two chairs in sight. She then waved her hand over the table and an 18-inch blue laptop appeared. Beside it was a notepad and a pen.

"This is what I'm talking about," Yuki smiled at Jaita who gaped at her with wide eyes. She picked up the parchment from the couch, placed it on the table in front and waved at Jaita. "Quick, come over here! We have a lot to do," she drew one of the chairs out and sat on it.

Jaita strolled over to the table and sat down on the empty chair.

"Now," Yuki rolled open the parchment, "this is what I have to show you," she pushed it a little towards Jaita.

It was a map, but the contents of the map were strange to Jaita. Instead of seeing the familiar names of states and cities she was used to in the country, she saw different cities that were not in the country.

Jaita furrowed her brows and carefully studied the map. Was it a map of another country instead? She wasn't so sure of that. She couldn't see the country's name on it.

Yuki suddenly tapped on the map with her fingers, causing Jaita to flinch slightly. "This," she paused and tapped on the top of the map; "is the map of Mystika."

"And this," Jaita tapped on the same spot Yuki had just tapped on; "wasn't here before," she remarked, as her eyes loomed over the boldly written 'MAP OF MYSTIKA' at the top of the map.

"Well, yes. It wasn't there before. I just added it now," Yuki nodded.

"And where is this Mystika? I've never heard of this country before," Jaita asked curiously.

"It's not a country. It's my world. This is where I'm from," Yuki clarified.

"Wow!" Jaita took her attention back to the map with a newly found admiration. "So your world has a name," she smiled. This was something Jaita would never have expected. Yuki talking about herself? Let alone where she comes from.

"So this is the thing," Yuki began. "I'm from the royal family of Mystika, and my father is the lord of Mystika, where I'm from. Mystika has two clans; the major and the minor. My father is in charge of the major clan which consists of the North, South and East clan, while his elder brother is in charge of the minor clan, which is the West clan."

"Sorry, wait let me get this straight," Jaita interrupted. "So Mystika has four clans, the West, South, North and East clan, but is divided into just two clans, the major and minor?"

"Exactly!" Yuki nodded.

"But why does your uncle govern just one clan?"

"Each clan has a lord who governs them. My father is specifically the lord of the East clan, my uncle is the lord of the West clan, the other two clans have their specific lords, but as I've told you before, three clans are collectively referred to as the major clan, which my father governs generally. He has no full power over the everyday activities of the West clan but he still governs them as the lord of Mystika." Yuki tried to explain.

Jaita clicked her tongue. "That's complicated."

"That's how we want it to be. It's the same thing with your people. You have presidents in countries and each state in the countries have governors and each state also have Local Government Areas with Chairpersons or Mayors ruling them, that's exactly what we're doing. My father is like the president, the lords of the clans are like the governors, the clans are the provinces, cities and towns are also in each clan and Mystika is like the country."

"If you put it like that, then yes, that's understandable. I get you now," Jaita nodded.

"So..."

"Sorry, I know I've broken a rule, but just this once, let me ask another question before you continue," Jaita pleaded.

"What is it?" Yuki sighed heavily.

"Your father, why is he the lord, instead of your uncle who is older?"

"That's what the elders wanted. They choose the lord after much meditation. Whatever instruction they receive, they go by it."

"Ok. You can continue now."

"Good. Now eyes on the map," Yuki ordered, and they both redirected their attention to the map.

"This here," Yuki pointed at a mountain on the map, "is the largest and longest mountain in Mystika. It's located in the South clan, just behind my father's castle. The other three mountains," she pointed at the other three in different sections of the map; "are located in each of the clans."

Jaita nodded attentively, her eyes following Yuki's hand carefully and quickly, as she pointed at various landmarks on the map.

"Our mountains have specific functions, of which you don't necessarily need to know about. It's not like you will ever go there," Yuki continued.

'She won't ever get the chance to see what Mystika looked like in person? Why then was she showing her all of this?' Jaita thought to herself.

"Here," Yuki pointed at another section on the map, "is our castle. This is where we live. My father, siblings, guardians and I. The rest of this place," she pointed at different places simultaneously; "are the provinces and cities of the South clan."

"How about these other places?" Jaita pointed at three fourth of the map of which Yuki had rarely paid attention to, except when she showed her the mountains there.

"This is the Northern clan, and the Western clan, and the Eastern clan," Yuki indicated respectively.

"The Western clan occupies almost half of the map," Jaita observed. "Why is that?"

"The Western clan is bigger and more populated than each clan respectively. But when compared to the Major clan, it is a little outnumbered."

"Ok, go on."

Yuki lifted her eyes from the map and turned to Jaita. "Now I've spent my whole life studying this map carefully, and I've..."

"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Jaita suddenly screamed and held tightly onto Yuki.

"What is it?" Yuki asked calmly despite the fact that Yuki's grasp on her skin was becoming increasingly tight.

"The map," Jaita tapped her repeatedly as she struggled for words to say.

"Jaita you're actually slapping me. Are you aware?" Yuki blinked her eyes severally and forced a smile.

"Sorry, but the map..."

"What happened to the map?" Yuki asked.

"As you were talking just now, this border shifted and a new landmark appeared!"

Yuki's eyeballs lit up immediately. "Where is it?" She turned to the map.

"Here," Jaita pointed at it.

"Oh," Yuki sighed, "another city has been created in the South clan. I thought it would be what I'm looking for," she hissed.

"So this happens normally?" Jaita asked as she let go of Yuki.

"Yes, the map is updated regularly. We don't have the strength and time to create new maps at intervals. Any changes made are immediately reflected on the map," Yuki explained.

"Wow," Jaita shook her head in awe.

"So, like I was saying before, growing up, there's this story we're usually told. It's about a wiseman named Fuafo, the problem here is that it is regarded as a myth. But my brother and I in particular actually believe this story. Now the thing is, this map is the only thing I can use to find him. But on this map, his residence is not here."

"Well," Jaita stifled her laughter, "I mean, it's a mythical belief, so there's no way he should be on the map right?"

"I'm telling you he really exists," Yuki replied defiantly.

"Then you should have located him on the map a long time ago."

"You know," Yuki paused and shook her head. What she intended to say to her at first would not have helped matters. "Jaita, I need to avenge my brother as soon as possible. He was killed unjustly and Fuafo is my only hope."

So Feturi was right after all, there was actually a reason Yuki kept her.

"Who killed him and why?" Jaita asked.

"A human," Yuki was about to reveal but she stopped immediately. It's not like Jaita didn't know who she was, but if she told her, then it might affect her mission, as Jaita would definitely not want to readily join her in killing a human.

"His newly wedded wife. See, that doesn't really matter. My brother was the crowned prince, he was supposed to be the next lord of Mystika so I must avenge his death."

"And who's this newly wedded wife?" Jaita prompted.

"I just told you it doesn't matter," Yuki maintained fiercely.

"Well I must know if I'm going to help," Jaita argued.

"All you need to help me with is to find Fuafo."

"Someone that doesn't exist?" Jaita crossed her arms and threw her head backwards.

"I just told you he exists!" Yuki slammed the table and leaped out of her seat. "Just do what I want you to do first and..."

"You'll then dump me?" Jaita finished, slowly standing up.

"What?!" Yuki scrunched her face at Jaita's sudden confession. Her blood ran cold and she remained frozen in place.

"You know, Yuki, when you decided to make another deal with me, I was surprised at first. I mean, you had given me eight years to live, I had completed my task and you were supposed to take my life but you suddenly made a change of plans. You have no idea how happy I was that I wasn't going to die anytime soon. I thought you were going to keep your word and just make me your friend not knowing you had an ulterior motive," she paused as she fought to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. Feturi's words from earlier began to flood her brain once more.

"You didn't let me know of your late brother, you were going to use me to get your revenge and still take my life on top all of that! Do you know that I was aware of your late brother for a while now?"

Yuki's expression changed instantly from that of solicitude to that of anger. "How did you know? Was it when you entered my room?" She rushed over to Jaita. "Tell me? What else did you see? What else did you take?" She scoffed as she remembered what Feturi had told her before she came back to earth.

"You know I actually didn't take it seriously, but you really do have the mind of outdoing me, don't you? What else did you find in my room?!" Yuki charged at her, but Jaita was quick enough to dodge her. She aimed at her head and tugged at her hair immediately.

Yuki who was not willing to relent also took Jaita's hair in her hands and pulled at it with great effort. They both screamed and tried to wriggle free from each other's grip, but none of them were willing to let go first.

"Let go of me, you devil!" Jaita barked.

"You leave my hair, you little wimp!" Yuki yelled.

"Wimp?! Did you just call me a wimp?!" Jaita tugged at her hair hadder.

"Didn't you just call me a devil?!" Yuki also pulled Jaita's hair mercilessly.

"Are you not a devil?!" Jaita retorted.

"You!!!" Yuki dragged Jaita's hair with more force as she was immediately short of words at Jaita's harsh but honest question.

"What? You have no right to be mad. I am the one that should be angry here, because you are just using me for your personal gain!" Jaita shouted her words one after the other as she continued tugging at Jaita's hair.

"You're just being delusional! I have no intent of killing you! You are the one that wants to find out the secrets to my powers and overtake me!" Yuki also replied, yelling her words one after the other and pulling at Jaita's hair at the same time.

"Why would I want to know your secrets?!" Jaita retorted.

"And why would I want to kill you?!" Yuki asked back.

"Because you are a demon!!!" Jaita screamed.

"And because you are a human!!!" Yuki yelled back. "You know, you should stop dragging my hair right now!"

"And you should also stop dragging my hair!" Jaita yelped in pain as Yuki pulled on her hair with a sudden tighter force.

"Look, I'm a demon. You know that already. Pulling our hairs will make us lose so much hair, but guess what, I'll immediately regain the hair I've lost, the moment you let go of me. The same thing cannot be said for a mere human like you," Yuki laughed amidst the pain she was feeling.

Jaita eyes widened at the sudden realisation of that. "Okay let me go, then I'll let you go," she offered.

"Tsk!" Yuki scoffed. "How can I trust you? You let me go first, then I'll let you go. I'm a being of my word."

"Okay, let's do it like this. Since we don't trust each other, at the count of three, we'll stop at the same time," Jaita replied.

"Okay. Let's do that," Yuki agreed.

"Alright, we'll count together, are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's go!" They looked at each other and counted together.

"One! Two! Three!"

But one person didn't let go.