Under The Veil of Night

"You get a day off?" Laura was surprised when she saw her sister asked her to go home together.

Kanae nodded her head. "I have a day off today. Let’s go home together."

"Then you should accompany me to the market first, Sis. I want to restock the refrigerator. You’re eating too much that there’s nearly no food left for us."

"Ah...." Kanae scratched her head in embarrassment. Since she didn’t have to pay too much attention to their budget anymore, she spent more money on foods. Besides, it was one of the joys to eat good foods every day.

"Come on, Sis. You’ll protect me as usual, right?"

"Of course, there’s no need to ask."

Laura beamed with a smile as she walked out of the classroom. The two of them spent the entire noon in the market as Laura picked a lot of foods. After that, she went to other stores and looked around.

Kanae sighed internally. She should know better than anyone that her sister would take a long time just to pick a single item. In addition, since Laura has the perfect items carrier, she didn’t mind buying more items.

As for the items’ carrier, of course it referred to Kanae.

"Laura, how long do you want to stay here?" Kanae rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Laura laughed. "I want to see the cakes here too. It’ll be my birthday in a month, so I want to be the one to pick my own cake."

It was then Kanae recalled that it has been some time since the last time she celebrated their birthday together. Last year, Laura didn’t return back because she was overseas. Two years ago, Laura couldn’t return because she used up all the money on a failed business attempt. Three years ago, they celebrated Laura’s birthday, but Kanae’s birthday was the day they lost their parents.

"Let’s just pick strawberry. It’s your favorite, right?"

"But you don’t like strawberry cake, Sis," Laura rolled her eyes.

"I can still eat them. The most important one is you," Kanae smiled lightly. She would want to pat Laura’s head if only her hands were not too busy carrying the items Laura bought.

Laura nodded her head curtly. "Okay, I’ll search for one that has both chocolate and strawberry."

Kanae smiled wryly. "You don’t have to do that."

"I want to."

"I don’t think you’ll find it here."

"If I can’t find it, I’ll ask them to make one," Laura answered cheekily. For the past few weeks, her company has been growing. It was still rather small as it would take some time. However, her branding has started to be known.

For the time being, she focused more on making candies. As a sweet lover, Laura has vast knowledge about them. With the addition of her hobby to cook and experimenting by herself, there were a lot of varieties that she could try.

"Alright, I understand little girl."

"I’m not little anymore!"

The two of them spent the day together and Kanae slipped out again when it was time for her to practice again. This time, she came while trying to erase her presence. She wanted to give a surprise to her teacher about her new advancement in this practice. This should give a nice surprise to Master Rudy.

Running covertly under the darkness, Kanae was unhindered. No one seemed to realize her presence as she got nearer to Master Rudy’s place. Her eyes saw the young man not far from there.

TAP!

In but a moment, she arrived behind him and tapped his shoulder. Her movement caused the young man to tense immediately and quickly sprang from his position. He turned his body to face Kanae. Surprise filled his entire face when he saw the black clothed girl behind him.

"Rei?"

"Can’t you recognize me after not meeting me for one day?" Kanae asked with ease.

"But how...?" the young man could see Kanae stood in front of him, but he couldn’t sense her presence at all. It seemed as if she was not there at all. This feeling terrified him as he knew that facing people like Kanae, he would stand no chance when he lost his sight from her.

"You’re still wearing your usual cloth covering your mouth, so I’m not sure."

"I always wear this," Kanae retorted. She still didn’t show them her real face as she didn’t want to make things difficult for her real life identity. Besides, there were still many things that she didn’t know about these two.

"You’re right," the young man smiled. Seeing his warm expression cause Kanae to feel rather surprised. She never knew that he had a rather handsome face. Since they were basically staying in the darkness, she barely paid any attention, but today she felt that she could see him clearer.

"Where’s Master Rudy?"

"I think he’s behind you."

Kanae turned around and saw Master Rudy looked at her up and down with a satisfied smile. "Little girl, from now on, you have to keep hiding your presence like that and battled me until you can sense my presence."

Hearing that, Kanae’s mind turned black. Are you serious? If Master Rudy didn’t hold back, she wouldn’t be able to fight back well. She sighed internally.

There goes her peaceful day after one attempt of trying to surprise her master.

Making up her resolve, she charged towards Master Rudy with her sword on her hand.

...

Time passed swiftly and soon the end term has ended. This year end term happened rather quickly because the snows rained quite hard. In return, it caused many places to speed up their time. As for school, their vacation will start earlier this year.

"The snows are very beautiful this year," Misae peered on the window. This city rarely has a lot of snows, so she liked to see them piling up like that. If this continued, they would be able to make a snowman.

Alice nodded her head. "I want to play outside more too."

Kanae didn’t answer. Her eyes were looking towards the snow outside the classroom. They have just finished their last exams and currently waiting for the teacher to finish collecting the sheets.

If she had to be honest, she didn’t like the snow to be too heavy. She preferred the light one that this town usually has.

"Do you like heavy snow?" Alice asked.

Misae shook her head. "Not really."

"Why? You can play a lot in heavy snow," Alice tilted her head.

Misae didn’t reply as she gazed out. On the other hand, Kanae also shrugged. "I’m not really a snow person, I think."

"I see," Alice could see that the two of them didn’t seem to have good opinion regarding heavy snow. She herself loved them because it meant that she could play.

"Do you have any plan tomorrow, Kanae?" Misae changed the topic as she warmed her hand.

"Not really," Kanae recalled her practice as her face soured. Master Rudy didn’t give her any leniency and lately, her body has been aching because of the strain. Thankfully, she had started to grasp the method to sense even when someone was hiding very deeply, so she started to keep up with him.

"Shall we play to Misae’s house again?" Alice asked expectantly.

Kanae shook her head. "I don’t think it’s a good idea."

"Why?"

"Tomorrow is Mike’s birthday."

"Ah..." Alice formed a knowing smile. She giggled slightly as she knew that Misae would want to spend the day with Mike. "Then see you on Monday."

"See you later, Alice."

Kanae saw Misae walked over to Mike with a reddened face. Her lips curled up into a smile. She hoped the two of them would have fun together the next day.