Book 5: Volume 5 Chapter 3, The Dragon Leader

Translator: Kazumi

Editor: Silavin

 

They were almost at the gate when Miya appeared.

 

“Are you going to Haku’s place?”

 

“We are, but—”

 

“Take me too.”

 

The request came quickly, but it wasn’t unreasonable. The Northwest Tower was considered a restricted area by most of the Management Team, not because Haku’s Dragons were hostile by nature, but because not all of the Tower’s dependents had been taught to recognize Kousuke’s companions as allies. Without Kousuke present, there was no guarantee of safety.

 

For Miya, who managed her own Tower and had long wanted to observe Haku’s work firsthand, the restriction had always been a source of quiet frustration. This was the chance she’d been waiting for.

 

And so the group moved through the teleportation gate together: Kousuke, Luca, Miya, Mikage, and a few others.

 

The gate on the Management Floor connected directly to the twentieth floor of the Northwest Tower. It was an arrangement only possible because both Towers fell under the same administrator; under normal circumstances, teleportation gates couldn’t be installed on the floors of separate Towers.

 

They emerged into a space already occupied by a Dragon.

 

The creature hadn’t been expecting them.

 

It was simply stationed there, guarding the gate. For a brief moment, it moved as though to assert itself against the newcomers. Then it recognized Kousuke, and the shift in its bearing immediately.

 

“Kousuke-sama.” The words arrived not as sound but as something closer to presence, a pressure that carried meaning without voice. “Is there something I can help you with?”

 

“Nothing urgent,” Kousuke said. “We came to see Haku. And I thought I’d look around the Tower while we were at it.”

 

“I understand. Shall I contact Haku?”

 

“If you would.”

 

The Dragon bowed its head and withdrew to do so, and while they waited, Kousuke led the group toward the Dragon Village on that floor.

 

It didn’t resemble a village in any conventional sense. There were no buildings, no structures to speak of. A large barrier enclosed the area to protect the younger Dragons and keep out creatures that didn’t belong there. Beyond that, the Dragons lived in the open, or in some cases in earthen burrows that descended into the rock.

 

As Kousuke and the others moved through the space, the Dragons around them gradually stopped moving. It was not alarm. It was deference, something closer to recognition.

 

Miya and the others, experiencing it for the first time, looked a little nervous. Then their expressions shifted to something else.

 

From across the open ground, a White Dragon descended.

 

It was enormous. Even against the backdrop of the Dragons already present, this one was something different. The sense of presence it carried wasn’t merely physical; it filled the space in a way that made everything else recede slightly.

 

The other Dragons, without any visible signal, moved into a kind of quiet attendance around it.

 

The White Dragon landed directly before the group and folded itself low to the ground.

 

“Sorry to make you come all this way, Haku,” Kousuke said.

 

Haku had noticed Luca. Even in that enormous form she truly could not miss him..

 

Then, without ceremony, the White Dragon transformed.

 

The human figure that emerged was composed and unhurried, dressed without any of the awkwardness that usually accompanied such transformations among the fox dependants. Haku brushed the thought aside before anyone could remark on it.

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

“Nothing’s wrong. Luca wanted to see you, and Miya wanted to look at the Tower. That’s all.”

 

“…Luca.”

 

The name was said very simply, almost flatly, but the faint color that appeared across Haku’s pale skin was not simple at all.

 

Kousuke noticed. Mitsuki noticed. No one else did.

 

Haku, perhaps sensing their attention, turned to look at Miya as though preparing to redirect the conversation—

 

“Wow!” Luca’s voice cut through. “That’s amazing. So that was Haku’s Dragon Form!”

 

Haku turned back. “…Yes, it was, but—”

 

“Can I see it again? Properly?” A brief pause, and then, with slightly less certainty: “…Is that okay?”

 

“I—yes, it’s fine.”

 

She hadn’t quite intended to agree so readily. She glanced at Kousuke and the others, found them watching with expressions that suggested they’d all noticed the same things, and decided that a change of location was in order.

 

She moved a short distance away and transformed again.

 

Luca circled the white Dragon slowly, and the expression on his face was one of uncomplicated wonder.

 

From a few steps back, Miya watched them both.

 

“It’s so heartwarming,” she said softly, more to herself than anyone.

 

“Miya.” Kousuke’s tone was mild, but there was something underneath it. “You say that like it isn’t your concern, but aren’t you about the right age to be interested in that kind of thing?”

 

Miya’s gaze snapped away. “I— that’s your imagination. Besides, I have Mikage.”

 

“That’s not really an answer. And I heard Mikage is already seeing someone?”

 

“What!?”

 

She looked at Mikage. Mikage tilted her head with silence.

 

“…Didn’t I mention it?”

 

“You did not!”

 

The protest was loud, but most of those present understood that Miya’s deflection had more to do with avoiding the original question than with any real sense of betrayal. She knew they knew, which made the effort kind of pointless. But she still said it anyway.

 

Luca returned from his circuit around Haku’s Dragon Form with the same satisfied expression he had going in.

 

“Satisfied?” Kousuke asked.

 

“Yes. She is incredibly beautiful.”

 

“I thought you’d think so.”

 

He said it with certainty. Most people, encountering something that vast and powerful for the first time, would have their fear arrive before anything else. Luca had looked at it and seen beauty. But Kousuke didn’t remark on the difference aloud even though he knew.

 

When Haku returned to her Human Form, Kousuke said.

 

“Luca said you were very beautiful in your Dragon Form.”

 

“…Thank you.”

 

The color in Haku’s expression came and quickly went, but Kousuke had naturally caught it.

 

They spent the rest of the visit moving through the Tower floor by floor, Haku leading them from one floor to the next. Miya, for her part, was more animated than Kousuke had seen her in some time, asking questions. She was looking carefully at the structures, almost unable to contain herself at certain points.

 

As a Father, he did find watching her like this rather endearing