Chapter Text
It had been a while since the wings of an ancient legend had spread into the modern day and had touched the face of the earth. Days in which monsters banishing the light had been fought with no end in sight, days in which her life had changed forever. Even though “forever” surely was an overstatement. It had changed a lot and drastically, yes, but forever? Hopefully, the fight would not have taken until forever!
Other things, on the other hand, might as well have taken forever and ever on.
Being caught up in the fight of light against darkness did not come with only downsides.
At least not for her.
From one moment to the other, she overcame her weak and fragile self and managed to transform into a savior of light and time, possessing powers that reached beyond her wildest dreams. To think anyone could control time – even if only a small part of it–– unbelievable! Of course, it needed her bond with Hueila, the Bijousha of time, but it was something! Only she could bond with Hueila!
It must have been her destiny! Or so, one could say.
In truth, it might have just been a lucky chance, and she was at the right place at the right time.
Being caught up in the fight of light vs. darkness was not fun, but Hiyori couldn’t help but see this as a big opportunity for herself.
Ever since she became a Guardian Angel, her life had been more colorful and more exciting.
To think of all the people she met, which she otherwise would have never even had eye contact with or even ever assumed they existed! She had made friends from different towns in the prefecture! Although… these friends were only acquaintances she had made through Ema-senpai, who had met them in person and then added every Angel to a group chat; to organize and share information about the shared enemy… they were friends, nevertheless.
Hiyori had never had online friends before! And she certainly never had… him. She never had had Lho before, who… hm… well. Having him around her gave her joy and peace. Nothing felt forced around him, it all came naturally, and she never felt like she could say anything wrong or anything that would hurt him. Somehow– he just always understood, even though he clearly couldn’t understand. No, but really, she liked having him around. She liked him a lot. Very much, yes! That was a granted, though! Even though…
…even though, Saphie was not yet very… let’s just say, happy that they spent so much time together. Even after they shared a kiss, even after they started to date, even after all of that, Saphie couldn’t help herself but be wary of him.
The other day, they had talked about it…
They had been in the kitchen of Hiyori’s family’s home, where Hiyori was preparing food for the three of them, as Saphie voiced her dislike of his presence. “Where’s the prince of twilight?” she called him sarcastically – pronouncing it quite derogatory. Hiyori looked up and watched her look around the place as if she was scanning for his presence.
“Lho’s probably still sleeping,” she had replied.
Saphie let out a hum. She was clearly concentrated and surly with the situation. She quickly turned around and bent over the table, “Hey, Hiyochi, I seriously think this is a bad idea!” she warned strictly, though her tone carried worry, “You don’t know him, he could be a spy for the other side! You shouldn’t let him stay here!”
Hiyori put her hands together and her outer ends of the eyebrows drooped. She wanted to shake her head but feared it would hurt her friend. “He has never done anything to us. I don’t think he’ll be a danger…” she seriously, really believed she was right!
She understood Saphie after all the Elites had done, but she was more than certain that Lho was different. He had never attacked them. In fact! He even helped Hiyori to unlock her inner potential to become a Guardian Angel. He… might have done that by accident but he did it nevertheless! If he had wanted to cause harm, he could have attacked her, a possible Guardian Angel candidate right there instead of being of support. …maybe she was naïve, but she really wanted to believe that he was no danger to them at all but rather… help!
“There’s no saying he won’t, though!” Saphie argued back.
“I…” Hiyori stuttered, “I understand why you say that but… look, he helped us against Kakomoir before! Would he do that if he was against us?”
Saphie let out a sigh and turned around, “He would, if he was manipulative, yeah!” …she claimed and had a point. Then, she let out another sigh, “Emachin-senpai and I trust you on this, but you know; unless I know for sure that nothing is burning in here, I’ll keep an eye out for you.”
“Yes, I know, Saphie.” Hiyori nodded, “I’m certain that your suspicion is wrong. But I know you’re only looking out for me.” She voiced and walked closer to her childhood friend, calmly looking over her shoulder. “Just like you’ve always done and I’m really grateful for that.”
“Tsk,” Saphie clicked her tongue and then grinned, “You better,” she joked, “‘Cuz you won’t get rid of me ever again.”
Hiyori giggled. “I would never–”
And at last,… a very somnolent Lho shuffled into the room, greeting everyone with “……amasn.”
“Huh?” Saphie breathed in irritation – confused by what he had just uttered.
…even though Saphie did not trust him yet, she was only looking out for her and Hiyori did know and value that. Many days have passed since then and nothing had happened that would have spiked Saphie’s suspicion. Luckily, it seemed Hiyori was right. Lho was not a danger to them. He was on their side and liked her enough to kiss her~
Just around noon, Hiyori and Lho were sitting over homework Hiyori had collected for Lho. Even though he was blessed by a language spell, he had shown interest in properly learning the language that was spoken around here.
Funny. Because, if Hiyori had a magic spell that would allow her to understand and speak any language she heard, she would not study languages but rely on that. One might only imagine the many people she could have met and gotten along with in no time!! Truly a blessing. One could only think of questions to ask and things to talk about.
But apparently, Lho was built differently. He didn’t seem like the studious type, but speaking the language of a country he lived in has likely spiked his interest. Either that or he just wanted to speak the same language Hiyori spoke. Hmm~ would have been fitting! Lho was the romantic kind of person~ And, of course, Hiyori could not decline him when he asked for help. Especially since there was one thing… one tiny little pronunciation problem that had bothered him since he learned her name.
The h.
Sitting at the table in the living room, with sheets of paper spread all across the surface, Hiyori sat cross-legged as she calmly and for the who-knew-how-much-th time pronounced her name, while remaining calm, patient and intelligibly: “Hi-yo-ri.” She articulated. He repeated after her – for the who-knew-how-much-th time. Hiyori. But somehow, when he uttered it, it sounded more like “Chiyori.”
She tilted her head and said her name again, “Hiyori.” He repeated again as well. Same result.
She moved her lips, ready to pronounce it once more, only to be interrupted by him throwing the towel. “Damn this,” he called and whirled a couple of sheets of paper up with his complaint.
Hiyori tilted her head, “Don’t mind it. You’ll get it in a bit.”
“You said that fifteen bits ago!” he complained further with a tiny groan accompanying his comment.
“But that’s just,” Hiyori coughed, “Because learning a language is hard.” Then, she looked around and concluded… “Hm,” she hummed, “Maybe we should take a little break.” She suggested and began to clean up the table a little. “You don’t have to master Japanese in a night either but…”
“It’s been multiple nights,” he complained further, and she let out a hum.
“Why does it bother you this much anyway? I don’t mind if you say it as ‘Hiyori’ or tshioyori… shiyori, tsiyori,” she coughed and muttered to herself, hoping he wouldn’t hear her, “I can’t even say it the way you did, that’s interesting.”
“Hm…” he let out a grumbling hum. Ah~ he must have heard her. Slightly folding her hands, while bowing, she signalized him an apology.
“I do wonder, though– why do you have so many issues with the H? There’s one just like that in your name and you don’t have any problem with that,” since he had already heard her, she allowed herself to pronounce her thoughts out loud. This was the perfect time to get some answers from the questions she had been curious about since she had started to teach him proper Japanese.
“Well, that’s different!” he claimed strictly and sat up a little, “It’s half-silent.” He tilted his head and crossed his arms, “My name is not L-cho, you know. It’s just Lho.”
“Hm?” Hiyori let out a hum after she listened to his explanation. “Half-silent, huh? But I didn’t hear you pronounce it at all…” she admitted, “I mean– it sounds fully silent to me. Like Lho. Just R-o-o.”
“Lho,” he pronounced his name again – Hiyori copied him. They repeated it a couple of times before letting out a sigh at the same time. “The sounds are just completely different…” Hiyori then admitted in defeat. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t replicate the way he said his name. This must have been how he felt pronouncing Hiyori, huh…
“It doesn’t add up at all, damn it.” Lho grumbled – continuing to complain.
“Ah~ but I’m sure that if we practice it, we’ll get a hang of it.” Hiyori shook her head, speaking confidently. She had learned a language before and… “It’s just like when Saphie and I practice English~” she added.
“I guess so,” Lho muttered, “But let’s not forget that Japanese and Khaemean are not from the same globe, right?” he played with a pen in front of him without looking at it, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we had sounds that are completely non-existent in our respective worlds.”
“That’s… true,” Hiyori admitted, even though – if she had to be honest – to her, Lho speaking Khaemean always sounded… logical to her? Like just another language. Thus, she shook her head. Even if they were from different worlds, that hadn’t stopped her before, and it surely wouldn’t stop her now! “But in that case, I just have to try harder to copy your way of speaking.”
“Ah~ you’re such a dedicated one, you know that…” he let out a sigh and shook his head a little, “I won’t stop you if you want to go this far and…” he lowered his voice a little, but Hiyori could still hear him clearly, “It’s not like I’d give up this easily. I want to pronounce your name properly too…”
Hiyori smiled at the response. Knowing that he was serious about her name made her strangely happy.
“For the time being, though,” he coughed, “I don’t want to mispronounce your name each time I call out to you, so…” he huffed, “Let’s find a way around it.”
“Like how?” Hiyori wondered.
“Dunno…” he admitted. He let out a hum and eventually wondered: “Does your name have got a meaning?” Hiyori looked up in surprise. “Like, mine,” he proudly pointed at himself with his thumb, “means ‘proud warrior’.” He announced, “Guess my name already set my path in stone.”
Hiyori let out a giggle. “I totally see you as a proud warrior,” she laughed, then caught a breath, “Mhm,” she nodded, “My name means ‘clear sky’ or ‘nice weather’.” She explained and tilted her head, “Together with my sister’s name, harubiyori it means ‘sky pattern on a calm and clear day of spring’, so I guess I have a puzzle name!”
“Hmm?” now, it was Lho, who let out a hum and touched his lips with his fingers. He raised an eyebrow “Puzzle name sounds interesting, but somehow, I feel like you just made that word up.” Hiyori tilted her head and giggled. She had made it up, yes, but she hadn’t known how to describe how her and her sister’s name worked together otherwise. “But that means,” Lho let out another hum, “Your name is like daiya…”
“Daiya?” Hiyori repeated, thinking… that sounded just like Dia, short for Diamond… unless she misheard again.
“Yeah,” Lho breathed. “Daiya, or days with a breeze so benevolent, single feathers may twirl athwart the lea.”
“Ohh!” Hiyori marveled, “That sounds like a very beautiful saying!”
“I guess,” Lho stuttered – just a tad bit flustered – and then shook it off as good as he could, “It’s an old proverb but either way, Daiya just means clear weather or something. Same as with your name.”
“It does!” Hiyori agreed, “It has a very nice ring to it, too. It kind of sounds like a gemstone’s name to me.”
Suddenly, Lho’s expressions brightened – but only a tiiiiiny little bit –, “Do you like it, then?” he wondered, and Hiyori nodded, “I think it sounds very lovely.”
“I-in that case,” Lho coughed, his face turning only a tiny bit red, “Would you mind if I called you that instead? I- I mean– until I get your name right… to… to make it less awkward… or so.”
Hiyori nodded again, “Of course!” she beamed up at the thought of getting a pretty nickname like this, “I would love it if you’d use such a pretty name for me.” But she tilted her head, “Even though I don’t mind you pronouncing my name the way you do either.”
“No, no, that’s a lot better,” Lho shook his head and insisted. “Daiya––– does also fit you. I think. I will… then, call you Daiya from now on.”
She nodded and surely enough, he didn’t lie because from that moment on, he would always call her ‘Daiya’ and nothing else but Daiya.