Chapter 135: Five Red Strings

Kimura Kazuki was on the tram with two swords in his arms.

The Sun and Moon Sword and the Sword of Clear Water.

The Sun and Moon Sword trembled throughout the journey. Kimura Kazuki could sense the sword's resentful emotions.

It was not until they arrived at home that Kimura Kazuki finally spoke up, "Alright... the Sword of Clear Water was intended for you to feast on."

He had already made up his mind to refine the Sword of Clear Water and fuse it into the Sun and Moon Sword. By doing so, the effects of the Feather-Light Stone could be activated by the Sun and Moon Sword.

The Sun and Moon Sword was not a heavy sword. In fact, it was rather light for Kimura Kazuki. But when it comes to Sword Summoning, the sword would be maneuvered by the spirit, and so any additional weight would burden the spirit heavily. Moreover, a hefty amount of spirit strength would be consumed during the process of the Sword Summoning.

This is why in the era of reiki recuperation, Feather-Light Stones have become a much-needed material, essential in the refinement of flying swords. The inclusion of Feather-Light Stones would not only increase the speed of the flying swords but would also increase the endurance of Sword Summoners without any side effects.

As they arrived home, Kimura Kazuki woke Furuhashi Sakurakyu up as she was sleeping within the Sun and Moon Sword.

Though she was claustrophobic, taking a nap within the sword seemed not to cause any unwanted mental troubles.

Furuhashi Sakurakyu rubbed her eyes and took a glance out the window. Discovering that it was still broad daylight, she started mumbling, "It's not night time yet." She had asked Kimura Kazuki to wake her up only after the sun had set - turns out it was barely what she expected.

"I have things to do," said Kimura Kazuki in a curious manner. "In fact, why are you sleeping..."

He was puzzled.

Trying to avoid eye contact, Furuhashi Sakurakyu chose not to answer Kimura Kazuki. Acknowledging the situation, Kimura Kazuki decided just to let her be. The truth was, she would not be able to leave him, and sleeping could only regenerate her spirit energy.

Kimura Kazuki chose to send a text message over to Furuhashi Fuyuno instead of acting on the situation at once.

"I'm on friendly terms with Mr. Muraoka, manager of the Seikisha, because of my cosplay of the Thunder Master. He still has some audition opportunities for The Sword Saga on his end. However the characters come with low screen time and you would have to pass the audition to land the roles. Do you want to give it a try?"

Meanwhile, in the Suiryu Duplex Apartment, Furuhashi Fuyuno was enjoying a cup of honey drink. With only a hint of sweetness, the luscious honey drink was so delightful that Furuhashi Fuyuno squinted her eyes out of enjoyment. According to Furuhashi Fuyuno, food was given to human beings by Heaven and must be savored carefully.

As the phone on the table started vibrating, she brought it up and noticed that it was a message from Kimura-senpai.

There was a flash of perplexity in her eyes, Kimura-senpai had texted her before, but the conversation had ended after one or two messages. Furuhashi Fuyuno was guessing that senpai must have encountered some sort of financial difficulties. She wanted to help, but there was a lack of pretext to do so. Ever since the home tutoring situation started and their slight estrangement dissipated, their relationship had halted somewhere between acquaintances and friends...

In fact, she knew that Kimura-senpai would not accept her help if she actively tried to offer it. She had no choice but to stay put, according to her understanding of senpai's personality.

Furuhashi Fuyuno picked up the phone and read the message, breathing heavily as she was caught up in her thoughts.

There was a casting audition for 'The Sword Saga.' Though it was an audition for a small character, it was an enormous opportunity for Furuhashi Fuyuno.

Furuhashi Fuyuno saw the video of Kimura-senpai's cosplay on NICONICO earlier. While she could guess that senpai would know some of Seikisha's people, she never thought of asking Kimura-senpai for help because they were not that close yet.

She would never expect Kimura-senpai to contact her. Out of nowhere, she thought of something and typed silently.

"Senpai, is this the reason why you texted me last time?" As Kimura Kazuki took a glance, he instinctively understood that the incident Furuhashi Fuyuno was talking about was when Furuhashi Sakurakyu used his phone to text her daughter. It was never an occurrence that could be explained easily. So when she literally gave him an excuse, he took it without a second thought.

"Yeah... But it was yet to be confirmed, so it was not a good time. Now it has been decided that you would get a shot at it, would you want to give it a go?"

"Thank you for the opportunity, senpai. I would like to give it a try."

Furuhashi Fuyuno did not reject the opportunity presented to her, especially when senpai had purposely got it for her. She could not let him down. Nonetheless, she never would have thought that senpai actually cared so deeply about her passion in voice acting, this act of kindness truly touched her heart.

It was indeed a heartwarming moment, yet Furuhashi Fuyuno could not help but feel a little uneasy. Could senpai be... pursuing me?

The thought of it never came to her until now. For a guy, this had to be an attempt to pursue her, right? No, no... Maybe it was just a handy favor? Maybe he just happened to think of her?

Well... no matter what, she knew she had to show her gratitude.

"You're welcome."

Furuhashi Fuyuno promptly composed her reply once she saw the message.

"Senpai, do let me know if you need help with anything."

There was not one thing that Furuhashi Fuyuno could help Kimura Kazuki with at the moment, but one day there will be.

"Alright." Kimura Kazuki put his phone down right after the message was sent. Disregarding further replies, he made preparations to refine the sword of Sun and Moon and the Sword of Clear Water. In his past life, he was a professor in the Enchanted Talisman Division who would help out the instructors of the Alchemy Division and the Weapons Refinery Division. As time passed, he picked up on a fair amount of skills.

Even though he had learned the skills, opportunities to practice refining never came by. But even without practical experience, he was first class in theoretical knowledge. Though, the weapon refinery process would have definitely failed if he made his attempt right now, even if he had an abundance of materials. However, extracting the materials was nothing more than a piece of cake for him. The Sword of Clear Water was no artifact or sacred weapon. It was merely a conventional weapon.

One glimpse at Furuhashi Sakurakyu and Kimura Kazuki could see that she was on the computer. It did not bother him one bit.

Though it was the resmelting of the Sun and Moon Sword, it was far from an intimidating task. All Kimura Kazuki had to do was fuse the two swords. It should be known that the essence of the Sun and Moon Sword was only a wooden sword, the core element was the sword's spirit within.

"Hang in there later."

The Sun and Moon Sword trembled as it heard the remark.

Noting the situation, Kimura Kazuki channeled his inner focus, and the sea of reiki within him begin to surge. A ball of flame gradually materialized itself from the void.

The flame is a byproduct of the condensation of reiki. However, weapon refiners of the reiki recuperation era tend to call it Heart Fire. The term Heart Fire signified that the heart and soul of the refiners were poured into every single piece of the artifact or sacred weapon.

The Sword of Clear Water was promptly engulfed in flames. Kimura Kazuki chose not to refine the sword of Sun and Moon in the first instance as the two of them were already interlinked, which means that the refining process would be quick and easy... Consequently, he made the deduction to refine the Sword of Clear Water while his focus was at its peak.

Differing from the situation with the Sun and Moon Sword, the Feather-Light Stone within the Sword of Clear Water had to be extracted at the start.

Kimura Kazuki took extra caution as it was his first practical refinery. He took his time with the refinement and put success as his top priority instead of speed.

Furuhashi Sakurakyu observed the scene in awe. She chose not to disturb him and merely witnessed the scene as it astonished her. What extraordinary power, it was impressively enviable. She knew that there was not much time left for her. What she needed to do was to strengthen her daughter's development as quickly as possible.

Barely half of the refinement process was complete at one past midnight.

Alchemy and Weapon Refinery had always been a tedious process. It was fortunate that Kimura Kazuki had the aid of the Sun and Moon Sword, which enabled a steady and non-exhausting flow of reiki to be running within him.

Furuhashi Sakurakyu glanced at the clock. Furuhashi Harunaka and the others should be asleep by now. She noticed that Kimura Kazuki was channeling all his focus on the refining of the Sword of Clear Water, so he could not have noticed her.

As she was caught up in her thoughts, Furuhashi Sakurakyu made use of her consciousness and merged into one of the five red strings that she saw coming through from a distance.