A harsh sneeze thundered through the air and cut through the peaceful atmosphere with all the grace and elegance of a stampede of blind elephants. To say the least, tactfulness was not one of Shinzu’s strong points. “Woah there. Nearly squished you.” Trapped in a world of his own, Shinzu’s lumbering foot froze mid-step and remained hovering an inch above the woman laying against the soft bed of flowers and plant life. Pulling away and standing his ground beside her right, he lowered himself into a squat stance while eyeing the woman’s fiery red hair and strange fox-like ears. “Not the best place to be taking a nap.” He stated matter-of-factly, with a strange hint of concern in his tone and expression, despite the fact that the entire situation could have simply been avoided if he had been watching where he had been walking.

Pausing, Shinzu waited for a response while every so often, his eyes darted between the woman’s ears. Were they real, or some sort of hair accessory? He almost wanted to reach out and touch them but resisted the urge to do so. He recalled how much he hated it when people reached out to touch the bone-white mask over the right portion of his face. On occasion, some had even tugged against it to rip it free, while not realising that it is a permanent part of his face and no more removable or temporary than a finger or nose. “You’re looking quite solemn.” He said, with wisdom beyond his years. “What you need, is a spar!” He said, with the maturity and tactfulness of a man-child. “I get pretty bummed out too when I have no one to fight with. Worry not though! Letting off some steam is just what the doctor order-” Shinzu suddenly cut himself off, while remembering that his guild had expressively forbidden him from challenging anyone to any spars for the month. Especially not people who weren’t Sabertooth. “N-Never mind.” He stuttered gloomily while visibly deflating in joy over the course of the next few seconds. Before long, he'd simply collapse onto his back to lay against the garden too while twitching every so often in visible agitation.

MP: 1500

“Huh? You’re definitely not Sabertooth…” Shinzu muttered while tilting his head to glance at the woman. She seemed easy enough to read. Whether it was done consciously or not, her ears flattening revealed quite a bit about her current emotional state. “No- No- No! All wrong!” Shinzu announced proudly, with no real malice to his tone. Pulling his upper body upright, while his legs remained sprawled lifelessly against the garden, the man clenched his fist in excitement. “When someone blames you for something, you always have to argue back by default. Then, you duke it out, and the loser apologises. That’s how it is has been since the dawn of time.” Despite revealing that he actually knew absolutely nothing about how the real world worked, he still nodded along to his words as if to say that they were nothing less than simple fact.

Turning his gaze back on the woman, he noticed how her cheeks had become flushed and almost as red as her flame-kissed hair. It appeared that even without the ears, she was simply too easy to read. Shinzu couldn’t strike up the thought that she was deceiving or trying to trick him into anything. At this moment, not even his inner demon had anything negative to say about the girl, which made letting his guard down around her a lot easier. “Not… Big on fighting?” The vast majority had rejected Shinzu’s plead for a spar. Some had even scalded him for it. However, none had ever outright admitted that they hated the idea of fighting. It was a concept rather alien to him. “But then, what do you do for fun or when you don’t want to think about anything?” He asked, with a rather puzzled and genuine expression etched onto his features.

Blinking, Shinzu smiled at the woman who had just revealed herself as Topaz while staring more intensely with cobalt-blue eyes. “There’s not a hint of Topaz in you. Wouldn’t Amber make more sense?” He said while laughing. “Then again, I guess there’s not much Shinzu left in me- Whatever that means… Oh! That’s my name by the way. Shin-Zu.” Pausing, he took a moment to contemplate Topaz’s words. Why had he come here? Definitely not for the same reasons as her. “I guess the opposite. To not think…” Scratching the back of his head, he felt lingering dark thoughts clawing at the back of his mind, which he pushed back by taking in a gentle deep breath, only for the action to abruptly end with a harsh sneeze as the pollen rich air agitated his sinuses. “Also- I was looking for someone to spar with! Everyone near the city walls said no, so I thought I’d wander further in and ended up stumbling across this garden... Anyway, I’ve given up on that...” He said, while noticing the dark thoughts in the back of his mind retreating and fading away all on their own. “So... What are you thinking about?”

“Rune Knight!? No way… You’re far too polite and respectful to be a Rune Knight…” Shinzu glared at Topaz while glancing at her entire body with deep focus. “You don’t look like you have a single bad bone in your body.” He said, while crossing his arms and giving Topaz a sceptical look. Clearly, Shinzu wasn’t on the best terms with the Rune Knights in Shirotsume. They were hardly enemies, and he wasn’t exactly public enemy number one to them. However, they certainly did make life a lot harder for him in the past until eventually being recruited under Sabertooth and gaining the guild’s protection. “You’re one of the good ones, then?” He said while observing the girl’s reaction.

Moments later, Shinzu found himself blinking as Topaz pointed out the mask fragment on his face. The question wasn’t a welcomed one. However, it was a million times better to simply be asked the question, than for people to randomly grab hold and attempt to yank it off his face. “Yep – it’s attached.” He demonstrated by tugging against a tooth lightly, which caused the entire mask fragment to stretch the skin around it. “It matches what I look like on the inside too.” Said a voice in Shinzu’s mind that didn’t belong to him. Startled by it, he shook his head rapidly as if to dismiss the foreign thought. Now was probably a good time to leave, he knew. Once the voices started, it was better to not be in public. However, something about the girl’s calm demeanour also helped make Shinzu feel calm.

“What about your ears? Did you always have them, or are they related to your magic?” The words would suggest that Shinzu’s mask fragment and other features were a consequence of his magic. However, he didn’t quite know if that was true. Would he have begun transforming and gained his demonic features even if he hadn’t learned Slayer magic? There was no way to know for sure. “Woah! Really!?” Leaping onto his feet and taking a step forward, Shinzu smiled with a glimmer in his eyes that seemed to reveal that in that moment, his mind was completely clear and focused. “I'm absolutely terrible with my magic – but this is a good way to learn, right?” Smiling from ear to ear, even his static mask fragment looked as if it was part of Shinzu’s smile at that moment. “Let’s do it! Oh, and don’t hold back. As long as you don’t break any bones, I heal pretty well.” He said, while taking another enthusiastic step closer to invade Topaz’s personal space. “Where though? I don’t want to end up wrecking this garden. Is there somewhere we can use magic without causing a public disturbance?” Shinzu put extra emphasis on those last two words, as if to suggest that he had heard them a lot.

“A Rune Knight’s idea of keeping Fiore safe tends to be different from what the common mage may think or want. At least, in my experience anyway.” Shinzu wasn’t wrong, so he held back the planned apology in his head. However, Topaz’s tone did reveal that she didn’t take too kindly to the blunt words. Deciding to at the very least back track or change the topic, he continued. “Just a personality clash, I suppose. Maybe good and bad are too harsh of a label to use.” What was he, after all? Anyone with even a smidgen of demon blood running through their veins tended to be labelled as bad, regardless of their motives or character. Such was the unfortunate truth of this world. One that he could not deny. When it came to demons, it tended to be better to attack before figuring out if the creature was malicious or not. Similarly, with Rune Knights, life went simpler if they were avoided, rather than sticking around long enough to figure out if one was in a grumpy mood or not.

“Huh? I didn’t attach this mask!” Shinzu retorted while also pointing at the markings underneath his eyes. In a rather exaggerated manner, he rubbed along them to show that they too were permanent features and not just coloured eyeliner. “All this just sorta grew on. I don’t have any control over it.” He said while crossing his arms stiffly. “I don’t have any control over anything.” Said the foreign voice within the inner confines of his mind once again. He noted that his mind certainly was lively today. Far more lively than usual. Perhaps this was the price to pay for those few minutes of peace earlier. “Beastman? Woah!” Caught off guard by the revelation, Shinzu began circling the woman to take in the sight before him. He couldn’t recall if Sabertooth had any Beastmen within the ranks. If it did, then they were likely the same variety as Topaz, with subtle features and no obvious signs of fur.

“I see. Makes sense.” Shinzu was clearly even more interested in sparing with Topaz after figuring out what she was. However, conversely, he was hesitant to reveal what he was in case it caused more harm than good. “Can’t wait to see Beastman magic! Although, isn’t it technically Beastwoman magic?” Visibly relaxing, Shinzu unfolded his arms the moment it became clear that the spar was going ahead. The thought of that alone was enough to make even the darkest of the voices in Shinzu’s head silent. “Well, if a Rune Knight is telling me it’s okay to spar there, then I’ll take your word for it.” He said, while stepping forwards the moment Topaz stepped back. “Let’s do it! Lead the way. I’ll even let you have the first strike. Go for a cheap shot if you want, but nothing below the belt.” He said nonchalantly while crossing his hands over each other in an exaggerated ‘X’ shape to show that there was honour even amongst brawlers that resorted to sucker punches.