Shadow Slave

'Train her…'

Wasn't that exactly what he wanted?

It was.

But wasn't it also exactly what he wanted to avoid?

Yes, it was that too.

Sunny was in a strange predicament. The solution to the problem that had tormented him for many months had suddenly fallen right into his lap out of nowhere, but to make use of it, he had to do something that went against all his previous reservations.

He didn't want Rain to be connected to him in any way. If Sunny was honest with himself, he had to admit that he was drawn to her… or rather, to the faint, half-forgotten memories of a different, happy time that she represented. His desire to reconnect with Rain was both selfish and misguided, since he knew that nothing was going to bring those memories back to life.

…And if Sunny was really honest, he had to admit that deep down, he harbored a lot of resentment toward her, too. For having a loving family while he had none, for being fine. For not needing him at all.

What a mess of emotions that was! And if there was one thing Sunny was really bad at dealing with, it was his feelings. For him, fighting hordes of Nightmare Creatures was much easier.

And then, as if his inner turmoil was not enough, there were external forces at play, too. There was his [Fated] Attribute, the strange connection he had to Weaver, and Nephis with her murderous feud against the Sovereigns and the inhuman will to see the Spell destroyed.

The more he and Rain were connected, the higher were the chances of her being implicated in all this. But…

Maybe, as long as they only had a shallow connection between a kid from an affluent family and her hired tutor, things weren't going to get out of hand.

that the threat posed by a potential First Nightmare was much greater than that of being superficially tied to him. After all, Sunny had not done anything to attract the really dangerous kind of attention… or rather, had not been caught doing anything like that

torn between these conflicting thoughts, Rain waited patiently, and then, misjudging

some money saved for a trip, and… well, I can also talk to my parents. It's just that you're

deep frown

suddenly want someone to train you? You said it yourself, you already have a combat instructor. I

quiet

while,

my school today. Many people almost died. I saw a real Nightmare Creature, even. It was… was this close to me. An Awakened like you won't probably understand how it feels, right? Oh! Sorry, what am I saying? Of course you'd understand. I mean… what I meant to say is that I was absolutely powerless, and that was… not a nice feeling. Not a nice feeling

him, and said

I want to become strong. Really strong.

Sunny almost laughed.

and in such different situations, but our desires are completely the

for a few moments, and then

them, real Awakened fighters. But it's just a question of status to them. They don't really learn… or if they do, I didn't see it make any difference when the Nightmare Creatures were trying

smiled from the corner of his

be as impactful as one real fight. My

for a second, and then

sort of swindled her into teaching me how to handle a sword. Felt a little guilty about it ever since. So I guess it won't hurt to pay it forward and

looked at Rain with a dark expression, realizing that he had

make things complicated when

He shook his head.