--Setsuna POV--

A spar.

That's what Kino requested and that's what nearly the whole village is now gathered in the square to watch. I was confused myself when we formed a wide ring in the square to wait for someone to grab wooden training swords, but Ina filled me in quickly as the two lined up. 

Kino wanted her own confirmation that Mira was her brother, so the first step would obviously be to examine the fighting style that she apparently only knows from muscle memory. If it's the same self-taught style developed over many years of effort by the two, then Mira had to be right at that point. 

They shortly received their weapons and took their stances, already a good sign. A part of me really hoped she wasn't lying, and the Goddess herself really did bring my Ren back to me,but another part of me is scared of what would happen if that was the case. Ina interrupted my train of thought before it can go anywhere harmful again.

“You should apologize to her.”

“Hm?” That's… certainly not what I expected to hear right now. “What for?”

“You…” She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, as if horribly annoyed by my question. “For what you said back on the wagon. She didn't show it, but I bet that comment must've been hurtful.”

“I see… I- I wasn't really in the right mind then, so I don't know exactly what I said, but I can apologize after this.”

“Good. Anyway, it's starting.”

Indeed, it was. They had explained to me at one point that their style takes the approach of both an aggressive offense and a strong - but nowhere near impenetrable - defense. However, they've also told me that when dueling, they try to take a bait-and-punish type of style, deflecting the opposition's attacks and delivering a strong counter.

Put two of these styles against each other, and they tend to almost always just state at each other until someone makes the first move. That was what happened just now, Mira starting off with an downward swing to break the standstill. Kino blocked, intercepting by stepping to the side and hitting the incoming sword with the same kind of attack.

Using her momentum, she smoothly followed into a well-practiced underhanded swing aimed right under Mira's arm. It was blocked, and then Mira capitalized by kicking: Something that most duelists would frown upon, but many adventurers would praise. As it was built into the style though, the style also had a counter for it.

Kino grabbed Mira's outstretched leg, stopping ot from doing any damage. She pulled forward, causing Mira to stumble. Unfortunately for her, Mira had a suprise counter to the counter, using the forward momentum Kino gave her to roll under the following slash with what could only be described as the opposite of grace.

It looked like the counter-counter wasn't a standard for the self-taught style, as Kino didn't have a counter to the counter of her counter, putting Mira in a position where she lightly tapped the back of Kino's neck, signaling that the fight was over.

Tears of joy filled Kino's eyes, as she dropped her practice sword as she spun around and hugged Mira. That's it then. There is zero doubt now. He's back. Though, in the body of a woman - I still don't know how to feel about that.

I moved to approach once they broke their hug, but I was beaten to it. An elf and a dwarf reached her first and I could assume they're her party members by the cheerful grins they gave her and the slap on the back by the suddenly laughing dwarf.

After a minute, she motioned for the dwarf to go away, which left Mira with the elvish woman. I saw Mira's hand move up to subconsciously scratch her neck, which was Ren's - and now her’s - tell-tale sign of nervousness. Then she spoke, and whatever she said caused the elf to start crying and hug Mira in a way very similar to Kino, who at this point had made her way over to me.

“Setsuna.”

“Kino.”

“So, I'm sure you gathered as much already, but I just wanted to let you know that I've confirmed it.”

“Yeah.”

I looked up to the sky for a minute, taking in the sight of the clear blue sky that I've lately come to appreciate. What am I going to do now? I've always considered myself to be bisexual ever since I first learned the term, so rekindling our romance isn't entirely off the table, but... As it is now I can feel something when I look at her, but it's nothing like before. Right now it's probably more just gratitude and admiration because she just saved my life not even a full twenty-four hours ago.

So just what do I say to her? Obviously I need to apologize but, what else? I looked back down to see Mira standing with both of her party members again, just idly chatting. Most of the crowd had cleared away at this point, including Kino and the others who were just with me. 

I started approaching, but slowly - that way I can still figure out what to say. Maybe I- Ah. Realization hit me midway through. Maybe I don't need to figure out what to say. Yeah, that must be it. Surely, if I fell for this person before, I can do it again, so… I made up my mind, and picked up my pace.

--Mira POV--

Our group disembarked the wagon in the village square, and I followed Kino to the center of it. From what I gathered, our fighting style - or at the very least mine; I'm not quite sure if Kino has one unique to her - is self-taught, and therefore nearly impossible to copy. Thus we're here, surrounded by nearly the whole village, waiting for Adrian to bring us our weapons. The reason we aren't using our own weapons is simply because the only one I have is the one at my hip, which I supposedly used to use while adventuring. From what I did in the fight, it has some crazy powers to it, so we're just sticking to plain wooden swords. There's also a rule against magic. 

While I waited, I took a look around at the forming crowd. I doubt anyone's been informed of what's going on other than the return of their chief, so they're probably all confused as to why Kino is readying to duel the adventurer who just saved their chief.

After a moment, I finally spotted Luci and Rick, and both were looking at me with concerned expressions. They probably were thinking that I offended the chief or something and I had to duel Kino to the death or something. Okay, probably a little exaggerated, but they were worried, so after I waved I sent then a smile and a thumbs-up.

I also noted Setsuna and the rest of her group over to another side. I should probably find time after this to talk to her, because she really looks like she could use some mental help. As Adrian returned with the swords, I noted to try to help her in whatever way I could. After all, I'm probably the reason why she was so upset in the first place.

When Adrian got out of the way, we took up our stances, and they were basically the same, confirming that we both use the same dueling style. Of course, that meant we were both trying to play this defensively, and we stood there for about a whole minute before anyone moved. My adrenaline built quickly from the anticipation, and before I knew it I was the first to attack. I charged with an overhead swing that was promptly deflected by a similar one from Kino.

Blocking her return swing, I kicked at her, only for my leg to be grabbed. She pulled me towards her, trying to knock me off my feet, but when she let go to perform a horizontal sweep, I rolled under it. Regaining my footing almost immediately, she didn't have time yet to properly react to the maneuver, and I tapped her neck with my sword, quickly and gently, to let her know that I won.

It would seem she got what she wanted from that spare, and she turned around with tears in her eyes and a wide grin on her face before she wrapped me in a massive bear hug.

“It really is you! I can't believe it… Ren… No, sorry. It's Mira now, I gotta remember that.”

“It's fine. Call me whatever until you get used to it.”

“I won't do that. You're name's Mira now, and there aren't many nicknames I can make with that, so I'll just call you Mira. Unless you want me to call you something else.”

“Just Mira then.” I gently pulled myself out of the hug. “Anyway, my party-mates probably want to talk to me, so I'll talk to you later?”

“Kay. Later then.”

She waved as she turned and walked over to where Setsuna was at, probably to tell her what she confirmed about me. She was replaced almost immediately by Luci and Rick, both with big grins of their own.

“Haha! Good show there Mira!”

Rick slapped me on the back as he started laughing in his usual dwarven ways. Luci was also in a good mood upon seeing me return safe, but the look on her face almost seemed to be almost begging me to explain what was going on, so I obliged.

“Where to begin… Well, as you can see, we rescued Setsuna as well as the other two girls with her. Not to mention we had no problems in doing so. It was a little too easy if you ask me. After I saved her though, I tried to help her off the ground, and - while I do not have my memories back yet - I… met with the Goddess, and she gave me the confirmation that I was previously Kenshi Ryuto: Kino's brother and Setsuna's lover who died and was revived to complete some sort of mission for the Goddess, with the current task being simply continuing the fight against Shadows.”

“The Goddess, huh… Though, it kind of makes since how you were revived then. You previously died right before the twin-sun period, and according to legend, those three days are when the Goddess’ power is at its peak.”

“Huh. I guess that makes since.”

“Yup! You know how. Sometimes the twin-sun I sometimes known as the progenitor sun, right?”

I shook my head.

“No. I think I might've heard the name once or twice, but I don't know anything about it.”

“Ah well, I didn't think you would, honestly. The reason it has the name is because in some folklore, the second sun is actually the Goddess herself checking in on her creation in person. On an unrelated note, the Mother Tree is also sometimes called the Tree of Arduin or the Progenitor Tree. It all just depends on who you ask.”

“Well, thanks for the history lesson, I guess?”

“Anytime. I'm always willing to tell you anything you need to know. Speaking of which… You said you don't remember your past yet, but you do know that you used to be her lover. So…”

“I was actually going to talk to you about that. Um, Rick. You think you could…”

I waved my hand in a bit of a shooing motion, but not quite one that would come across as rude.

“Yeah, yeah. Let me know when y'all are done.”

He walked away, mixing with the dwindling crowd that was just out of earshot.

“You wanted to talk to me about this. I take that means you-”

“Yeah. I've made up my mind.” 

Luci met my eyes with a nervous stare of anticipation. Ever since the moment Setsuna basically said that whatever relationship we used to have no longer mattered, I knew what I wanted to do, and putting it off any longer won't make things any better.

“Back when you first asked me, I told you I wasn't necessarily against it. In fact, I kind of wanted it even then, but now? Now I'm sure. To the question you asked me that night, my answer is yes. I, um, I want to be lovers or, girlfriends, or whatever. Er, I just want to be with you, is what I mean by all that.”

I could kind of guess how she would react to it, but I definitely wasn't expecting her to pounce on me with a tear-filled smile and wrap me in the most emotional hug of my entire (second) life.

“Thank you! You know that this- no, you mean the world to me, Mira. I love you.”

I hugged her just a little tighter, my heart pounding faster and turning my cheeks red when I heard those last words. I could also see Luci's blush as she said them.

“I love you too, Luci. Though…” I pointedly looked around the surroundings. “We do have a bit of an audience. Should we save this for later.”

“You're right. I forgot for a minute there.”

Reluctantly, we broke our hug and waved Rick back over to us.

“Seems like things went well with you two. Looks like that's just one more point to add to the party when we get back!”

“Hell yeah! It's gonna be fun.”

The three of us stood there in the middle of the square for a while, just chatting and enjoying each other's company. That is, until I saw Setsuna approach us.

Alpy376

I had some spare time on my hands today, so here's a little bit of an extra chapter. Think of it as compensation for my inability to post on Wednesday's scheduled time. I really enjoyed this one, and I hope you all did too. Thanks for reading, everybody!