Oh yeah, the thing that'll leave a mark.

Your first objective was to not let Rei be hurt by what you could only call light raining from the sky, so without caring at all for your own safety, you caught her and hugged her tightly against you, feeling the excruciating pain coming with each beam of light hitting you relentlessly.

You cried out in pain with each and every single hit taken, but so did your three opponents. Time seemed to pass so slowly because of this, every pain-filled second feeling like an hour, a day to you, as you did everything for Rei to be safe. After all, you had to be the one taking the hits for the team, even though it was so painful...

Suddenly though, it stopped. And that's only when it stopped that you could feel your tears rolling down your cheeks, tears of pain obviously, since every single part of your body was burning with said pain, even the parts that weren't touched at all by Fuyu's spell. Speaking of Fuyu, you felt her hand on your back, a nice, comforting energy spreading from it through your entire being, as she whispered.

"Now, now, let me ease your pain."

This pain that accumulated so quickly within you disappeared just as quickly under her spell, resulting in your body relaxing, as you slowly got up, holding Rei in your arms. You then looked at the party that you fought, not really surprised to find them lying ****. You didn't really know if anyone would be strong enough to handle such pain coursing through them after all.

Both you and Fuyu then looked at Rei's mother, chained against a tree (which made you wonder why these three guys loved chaining people so much) but looking at you gratefully already, even though you only now came up to her, Fuyu switfly undoing her bindings, before they fell on the ground, freeing Rei's mother at last.

"Thank you, quester and Fuyu." She said, her voice strikingly similar to Rei's own voice. "I will thank my daughter when she'll wake up too. Now, should we go back ? And don't worry about me, these... Questers seemed to avoid hurting me, for an unknown reason."

"All the better !" Both you and Fuyu exclaimed, which made the three of you laugh, before Fuyu said, her tone strangely sad. "Yes, we should get back home now..."

The way back was completely silent, as the three of you walked side by side, with you pondering upon the implications of the party you just fought in all of this : it seemed clear that you were their objective, and since they mentionned the god of Balance... How involved was he in stopping you ? In the meantime, Fuyu seemed rather thoughtful, surprisingly, and Rei's mother, despite not showing it, seemed to still be quite shaken by her ****, something that you didn't really want to talk about, since it would create so much questions...

When you eventually got back to Nakemo, Fuyu said.

"Adam, come with me." She quickly added, speaking to Rei's mother. "Dear, get your daughter and go back to see your husband, he's been missing you. Don't worry about this quester, he'll come to you after I spoke with him."

Hearing Fuyu be so serious this time weirded you out, yet you said nothing about him, convinced that your face betrayed your thoughts anyway, and gave Rei to her mother, before Fuyu headed towards the shrine, followed closely by you. Mere minutes passed, and you where in front of it, the atmosphere thick with a strange feeling.

"I am sorry, Adam, but I didn't want to be alone in this." Fuyu softly said, turning to face you. "You see, that spell I used... I was meant to never use it. Now, it's only a matter of time before I'm punished for it. I know I can trust you, so would you please be by my side when said punishment eventually comes ?"

This was quite the declaration, and it was very weird. After all, you've met Fuyu only hours earlier. It's not even been a day, yet she already trusts you enough to want you by her side when something so important happens ? There's clearly something wrong here, but when you opened your mouth to voice your concerns, she cut you off by saying.

"It's strange, isn't it ? Someone that you've met not even a day ago... But I've seen how you acted with Rei, and you seem to be one of the better humans out there, so I wanted to try my luck with you. You just don't know how afraid I am right now..."

She was right, you had no idea how afraid she was, and when you looked closely at her, you noticed her body trembling, a proof that she was afraid indeed. So you didn't hesitate at all before answering.

"Okay then, I guess I'll be there... Even though I have no idea of what to do."

Fuyu would have replied, if the both of you didn't suddenly find yourself in the darkness.