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"Waka-sama?" Shiki sat to Makoto's right, a small sake cup set on the table. It sloshed ungracefully, but it didn't spill.
Tomoe and Mio were dancing along to the ogre's song in the next room over, Lime and Mondo right behind them, flustered red and stumbling along to the music. Makoto hadn't gotten that late into his drinking just yet. He wanted to enjoy the calm after the storm that was Fort Stella before joining them.
"Shiki?" he greeted. Emma was still passing around drinks, and she happily set one in front of him before moving on. "What is it? Is something wrong?"
"No, but…" Shiki took a second, looking over at the dancing crowd. When he lowered his voice, Makoto understood why. "Do you remember your promise to me and Mio-dono?"
"Ahh." He had told both of them during the final mutant extermination issues that whoever got the most kills would get to ask him for one favor. Mio might have briefly forgotten about that because of her success over the demon commander and her happy tears when he ate her delicious cooking, but she lost by one. "Well, what is it?"
He had a feeling Tomoe and Mio might ask for something weird, so, in a way, he was happy it was Shiki who won, even though Mio might kill him for it. Tomoe had almost done the same with Luto when he won their lots and walked around town holding his arm during the school festival.
"It's not so much a favor I want..." He seemed to parse through his words before settling on, "But a question I'd like answered."
Makoto hummed at the surprisingly simple ask. "If I can answer it, sure."
He remembered Tomoe breaking Shiki's heart with her knowledge about grants and how Shiki would never be one. Makoto was still reeling with the fact that his parents were grants, and that he probably would never see them again with Tomoe's harsh words it would be a less than 10% success rate. And if Shiki was about to ask more about grants, well, he wouldn't be able to help with that.
"When we met, when I fought you," Shiki started, his face scrunching up at the unpleasant memory and the even fouler night that followed it. "You spared me. You could have taken my life essence with your powerful dark magic. Or even had Tomoe-dono and Mio-dono kill me." Makoto remembered how willing they were to end his life, and probably would have taken his skull on the spot had he told them to. "But you instead gave me a new body, a new name, and a new purpose. You even trusted me to heal your friends after forming a contract. We've been through a lot together, but I was never able to figure out why you spared me."
Why had he? His excuse of feeling bad seeing the lich cowering on the ground didn't explain why he spared him enough to let him live to that point. He could have taken his life with his kai quite easily. It was an imitation of Mio's magic after all, and she was a greedy, powerful spider.
"I don't really have a good reason," he said, shrugging. "But I guess you could say I thought it would be a waste of good talent and knowledge to end you before I could see if you were willing to talk."
He felt the same way about Io, to be honest. That was why he spared him in the end, too. The merchant Kuzunoha didn't pick sides, and if he could avoid fighting and instead make allies, things would end better for everyone, right? If only Rona agreed…
"That's all?" Shiki didn't sound disappointed by his simple answer, but more so confused. "If you wanted my knowledge, surely you could have found where I studied and taken my spellbooks."
"Mmm, I guess." Makoto scratched the back of his head. He tried to think of another reason for his mercy, but no good answer came up. "But I also fought and spared Tomoe when we met, and I didn't really have a good reason then, too. So… maybe it's just something I do?"
A small laugh bubbled its way out of Shiki's throat. "My master has a naive heart, even down to the moment he first walked this world."
Makoto was getting sick of people calling him naive, but Shiki didn't say it like Rembrandt or Zara; Shiki sounded more happy to hear his simple reason, and said the word like a compliment to his character rather than an insult.
He picked up the sake Emma placed in front of him, taking a small sip. It stung on the way down, but the flavor was spot on to Japanese sake thanks to Tomoe's recreation of the alcohol from his memories.
"I guess that wasn't really a favor, though," Makoto mused after a few quiet moments. It felt wrong to call answering a simple question like that a favor. "You won the contest, so feel free to ask me for something else." Thinking of the two women, he amended, "Anything that I can do, anyway."
"S-Something else? Anything?" Shiki's face flushed red just like Mondo's, averting his eyes to the table while his hands started shaking. "I—" His eyes darted back up to Tomoe, who had stopped drinking for the moment to talk with Lime about fixing his katana, then back down at the table. "I fear I will receive punishment for simply speaking it."
What could be so embarrassing or obtrusive that he couldn't even say it in the vicinity of Tomoe, a woman who wasn't even listening in on their conversation? Shiki's forehead was starting to drip sweat at whatever thing he was imagining the two ladies would do to him for saying whatever was on his mind.
"So, I suppose I will instead ask that I may watch the next time you practice your archery."
"Is that it?" Well, it had been a while since he'd spent some time in his shooting range. It was always a very calming practice, standing there in that field with only him, his bow, and a target. "Feel free to join me, then."
At least Shiki wasn't like Tomoe, who had (probably not jokingly) suggested he leave his shirt off the next time he chose to spend an evening shooting arrows.
"I would appreciate the opportunity," Shiki said, smiling gently. He lifted his drink, and Makoto took the cue to do the same. "To our victory over Fort Stella, then?"
Makoto hit the end of his drink to Shiki's and smiled back easily. "To victory."
Maybe things could finally calm down a little bit.