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Tsukasa's found himself quite fascinated, to be honest.
He knows now that the magi he notices at the corner of his eye, with frills along their outfit (blue, to contrast orange) isn't an illusion of some sorts from a witch's labyrinth. He knows now where the throwing knives that he's found after knights' last battle are from.
The eye contact between them lasts for a bit longer, before the other waves goodbye to him— nowhere to be seen now, and it wouldn't be a lie to say he grits his teeth at that. How they manage to come and go with the wind is a mystery, one he finds himself determined to solve!
He means to talk to this person, after all.
His senpai remain completely unaware of this plan, thankfully— what would have been of him if they'd witnessed how he'd tried to take on this witch so pathetically?
A situation like this is precisely why he needs this person to become his mentor.
So he stops them, before they can disappear again, to thank him and to introduce himself, among other things that lead to him explaining himself to someone he's never met.
"...You could get a degree for that, you know...?"
Ah?
They were supposed to understand, no? The link between how highly he speaks of his senpai, and his lack of skill in comparison... At his look of complete shock, however, they only stifle a laugh— kuaahh, how vexing...
"Though, it wouldn't be right for me to say no, would it~?"
(Of course not!)
With that, Yuuta introduces himself properly.
He's just as admirable as Tsukasa had previously expected— efficient, agile, and absolutely merciless with his training. He gets used to how harsh he is then, the growth he goes through under that pressure (and the praise he gets from knights) making it all worth it.
(It seems he was a fool to let that last conversation affect him.)
On the flipside, though, there's a certain delicacy to him that shines regardless; be it when he checks on him after, or when he's discussing nail care for about the 6th day in a row or telling a joke he came up with while he walks Tsukasa home, or...
This one comes to him on an especially taxing day, and it's when he interacts with witches.
To be frank, he doesn't quite understand why he would treat them as such, if all they seem to do is consume others and leave destruction in their wake— is this the entire basis of his strategy? While the concept of defeating it with as little hits as possible does sound a bit professional, the reasoning behind it...
That he has to ask about on the way home. Innocently, with a twinkle in his eyes, as though he hadn't thought and thought over something that seemed so trivial yesterday.
However—
"It's the least I can do to ease their suffering, you know?"
—the answer he gets is nothing short of cryptic, a reminder that there's still more to his mentor than meets the eye.
He soon finds good reason to wonder what a witch may be thinking.
The barrier is familiar in a way Tsukasa is unable to pinpoint, as much as the compositions going astray almost scream to him to remember; Cat Waltz, No. 53, The One Where It Goes Gwing! In The Last Bit, he's supposed to know all of these.
And it does comes to him, when he finds the rest of knights, that these are Tsukinaga Leo's compositions.
He looks from the witch, to Leader (limp on Sena-senpai's back), then back to the witch.
("Witches never chose to become witches," he remembers Yuuta say, staring at the pavement with an expression best described as solemn.)
"...Leader?"
The days after are no better, the knights that had been so earnestly trying to protect falling apart without their king. Their numbers dwindle down fast, a week being all it takes to leave just him to carry on their legacy, to save people as they have before.
(Perhaps from themselves.)
"Do you know why they're called soul gems, Tsukasa-kun?"
Yuuta hasn't turned to face him yet; he'd known from the second he stepped foot on the roof who was looking for him. It may appear to anyone else that he's gone mad, soul gem having clouded over like a rainy day, but Tsukasa finally understands— he's only repeating what's been said to him before, eyes still focusing on the grief seed with the sunflower motif.
Like how soul gems are soul gems, grief seeds are grief seeds for a reason; if only he'd realized that sooner.
"...If they're broken before they're tainted completely, what do you think would happen?" Yuuta wears a most unbefitting smile as he asks this, despite being on the verge of tears for the first time since they've met.
Tsukasa, however, does not let himself cry.
"The soul—" He does not let himself cry. "The person's soul, is it released?"
(He must look silly, mouth agape like that.)
"Right," he says, making it clear that nothing good will come out of this, "they don't need to worry about what will happen next."
"What'll happen to them, or what they might do to their loved ones," he starts to tremble then, prompting Tsukasa to finally reach forward – to be someone who can catch him as he falls, it's the least he can do to ease Yuuta's suffering – "maybe ignorance isn't as blissful as..."
About a month ago, he wouldn't have expected to watch the admirable puer magi he'd only gotten mere glimpses at to shatter like porcelain hitting the ground, true colours spilling in front of him.
"I'm so sorry— I should have told you sooner—" He chokes out something about being no better than Incubator, and that's when Tsukasa hears his own voice crack.
"...Stupid."
What could have happened next is a blur to him.
After having called his own friend a fool, all that comes to him is the headache he'd found himself with when the two had finally let eachother go for a moment—only for a moment, they don't wish to be alone. So they find themselves shoulder to shoulder, with a mutual understanding that this battle will surely be their last.
(The grief seed is more of a companion than anything else, since Yuuta refuses to let it shoulder any more burdens.)
Walpurgisnacht is what Tsukasa's decided to call the witch that destroys his city right now. He's assured his parents – abroad, unknowing – that he would be fine, an absolute lie, deciding not to question why Yuuta doesn't reassure his own parent.
The vibrant carnival in front of them adds colour to the otherwise bleak ruins, one look at Yuuta giving him the impression that he would fit in well there; surely enough, he takes initiative, strategy abandoned with his comprehension that going all out is the only way the two of them could hope to lay it to rest.
Tsukasa catches up to him with ease.