“Little Fish!” 

 

Finding her huddling up in the closet, I hugged her while a feeling of guilt assaulted me. 

 

“It’s not Xi’s fault…” hearing her mutter, that feeling swelled up.

 

“It is! I- “ forgot.

 

“Xi, you blockhead! Even though it was my fault!” she suddenly turned around before wrapping her arms around my waist.

 

“Waa!” feeling my shirt grow wet with her tears, I felt my mind go blank.

 

Little Fish is crying?

 

I began to panic, what to do?!

 

Thinking back to how Mom would soothe me, I began to stroke her back, “it’s not your fault…how can it be your fault?” 

 

She silently shook her head while continuing to cry.

 

“Sorry Little Fish, I forgot to find you,” I decided to just admit it, although I hoped she wouldn’t hate me for it, I felt that if I didn’t admit it, that feeling of guilt would’ve continued to stay.

 

“Waa!” she continued to cry harder, “but I’m the one who tricked you.”

 

I laughed, “all is fair in war~ so what if you tricked me by running out the door.” 

 

“That wasn’t what I meant!” she stopped crying before looking up at me. Her eyes still puffy from crying were filled with worry.

 

“I didn’t lose my memories, it was all so I could approach you!” 

 

“...” at a loss of how to react, we continued to stare at each other.

 

“Xi...do you remember our promise?” 

 

“...I don’t…” this time, I became nervous.

 

However instead of being mad, she blushed, “then… my name is…”

 

Hearing her drag the sentence out, I waited with bated breaths.

 

Letting go of me, she left the closet. “I’ll wait until Xi remembers by herself. At that moment, I’ll leave the choice to you.” 

 

Afterwards without looking back, she walked out of the room, I instinctively wanted to grab her hand, however she was too quick causing me to miss.

 

Looking at my empty palms, I shook my head before heading towards the bathroom to change into a new shirt, when I remembered I had to mop the floor.

 

Going downstairs, I stored a few buckets into my necklace before heading upstairs to fill everything up with water and detergent.

 

After mixing them, I placed everything into my necklace again before returning. 

 

Will I see Little Fish again?

 

While having such a thought, I placed everything in front of the counter before mopping the floor. It was stained with mysterious liquid from retching as well as a few bloodstains here and there.

 

Mopping, mopping eventually after an hour, I had mopped the entire floor clean, even behind the counter where grandpa was while making sure not to wake him up.

 

Looking at the pales of dirty water, I carried them outside the store before spilling them into the street drainage. Making sure everything was gone, I placed the buckets back where they belonged before heading to take a bath.

 

Going inside, I stripped down before filling the water up while trying to remember. However it was like grabbing a needle in a haystack. 

 

In the end, while feeling a little irritated, I entered my spirit space to calm myself down when I started to feel a little tired.

 

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep in the tub.

 

“Xi, what do you dream of being in the future?” While sitting next to me on the bed, the girl looked towards me before asking. Since she had popped up naked in the middle of the night in my room, I had given her a set of my clothing. Luckily her size was around the same as mine.

 

“Hehe~ I want to become a dimension fighter, just like my parents! What does Goddess want to do?” Seeing her ask about me, I happily told her my response. 

 

“Find a good partner?” She placed a finger on her chin as if lost in thought.

 

“Me?” I pointed at myself, “my parents are strong fighters, I naturally have the talent!”

 

The girl seemed to think about it, as if making an important choice in her life. Eventually, she turned around before throwing out a condition.

 

“Then let’s promise. If you can remember my name… then I’ll become your spirit weapon.”

 

“Promise~ whoever fails will swallow a thousand needles~” Feeling over the clouds that she accepted, I wanted to make it more tighter so she wouldn’t be able to escape. As for remembering her name, she didn’t set a time limit.

 

“...what is that?”

 

“Something I read in a book. But pinky promise?” Swallowing a thousand needles seemed a little too extreme, so I went for the next best option,

 

“Nn,” 

 

Hooking our pinky together, we made a vow. 

 

“If you don’t remember my name, you’ll have to marry me in the future.” 

 

“...” Isn’t it too late to throw it? I felt like I had just been blindsided. Also isn’t that condition a little too good? Now I became a little hesitant on which one I want.

 

“We gambled, so naturally we have to do an equal bet~” she showed me a mischievous look, however I felt as if I was winning either way.

 

“But...how will we tell the winner?”

 

“If I tell you my name, then I win. And if you call me, then I’ll become your spirit weapon.”

 

“So a wife versus a spirit weapon? But what if I want both?”

 

“Ehh…” the girl in front of me became troubled for a moment, “then… let’s…”

 

“Xi! How long are you going to take?!” Mom’s voice woke me up. The water had already turned cold.

 

Quickly getting up to dry myself, I placed on a change of clothes before opening the door.

 

“What happened to you?” Mom had an amused look as she looked at me, “was the water too hot?”

 

“...” I silently shook my head before running off towards my room.

 

Jumping onto the bed, I rolled around.

 

“Ahhh!” letting out a scream into my pillow, I tried to calm myself down. Too embarrassing!!

 

After rolling on my bed until I was tired, I fell asleep again.

 

“Xi,” 

 

“Xi!” feeling a nudge, I groggily woke up to find Little Fish looking at me.

 

“You didn’t leave?”

 

She blushed, “who said I left! kya!”

 

Pulling her so that she fell down on top of me, I hugged her tightly, “I thought you were going away.”

 

Feeling her arms slip under me, I stroked her back when she looked up at me. 

 

“Little Fish, I remember.”

 

She blushed before lowering her head, I closed my eyes as well to enjoy her comfort. As for calling her name… I couldn’t do it.

 

Part because I felt like doing so would treat her like a tool, and another part because I didn’t want to see her look disappointed. 

 

“Xi, it’s time for dinner.” afterwards she took a deep breath before separating from me, without looking back she left the room.

 

“Wait, Little Fish,” getting up, I ran after her, “did you tell Mom?”

 

I still remembered Little Fish’s expression after Mom told her to help with Lunch….

 

“...” seeing her turn red, I had a bad premonition. She didn’t really tell Mom my black history right!?

 

However, reality was merciless. 

 

“...Nn…” 

 

I turned around to walk back to my room when Little Fish caught my shirt. 

 

“Little Fish… let me go…” I’m going to lock myself up and never come back out!

 

“I won’t,” I felt her arms wrap around my waist before hugging me from behind, “since you’ve remembered, then why don’t you call my name?”

 

“...” Little Fish, I’m going to die of embarrassment at this rate! 

 

In fact, I was already feeling a little light headed, luckily she didn’t continue her advances while we remained in this position.

 

Slowly calming down, I realized it may not be a bad thing? At least Mom didn’t do anything to her.

 

“Little Fish, if you want a wife, you’ll have the pass the hurdle known as mom~” 

 

“...” feeling her stiffen, I laughed, “let me return to my room?”

 

“No,” she denied my chance to run away again. 

 

She really wants to pull me down the abyss ahh!

 

“Lets go…” I could only give up.

 

Taking my hand, she led me towards the kitchen this time, Mom and Grandpa were already sitting down.

 

“You two are late.”

 

“...” lowering my head, I sat down before eating, not daring to look up. 

 

“Did something happen?” Hearing Mom’s question, I shook my head.

 

“N-nothing!” afterwards, I seriously considered the issue of whether or not to tell Mom about Big Brother’s secret collection. Perhaps the feeling was similar to what I was feeling right now?

 

Deciding to drag him down with me, I opened my mouth. “Mom, do you-”

 

“Just like a dream~ once you wake up I’ll be forgotten.

 

Your memories faded all but none.

 

Will I still remain in your heart?” 

 

Grandpa’s bracelet suddenly rang, saving Big Brother while dealing me a final blow.

 

“So are you coming or not?”

 

Placing my bowl down, I ran back towards my room. Stupid Y’s! How come her lyrics match my situation so much?!

 

This time, Little Fish couldn’t follow me, hmph, if she messes her impression of Mom, it’ll be over for her.

 

Crawling back into the bed, I buried myself in my blankets before entering into my spirit space to calm myself down.

 

Eventually, the feeling of embarrassment slowly faded away. Instead, I became entranced to watching my symbol again.

 

Time flowed, and it soon became night. Little Fish had come back to my room before hugging me, causing me to heat up again.

 

The symbol trick didn’t work, what to do?!

 

That night, I couldn’t sleep at all, as I was weirdly conscious of her. 

 

I’m definitely not playing hide and seek ever again. Pushing the blame onto that evil game, I turned towards Little Fish to find that she was still awake.

 

“...” unable to face her, I turned the other way.

 

She giggled moving closer, causing my heartbeat to speed up.

 

I felt like I should’ve named her Little Wolf instead. I had a feeling she’ll eat me up one day without leaving a piece of meat remaining….

 

***

 

The next day.

 

“Xi,” Mom pursed her lips as she looked at me, or rather the bags under my eyes.

 

“Mom… let’s train.” I readied my sword while facing her. She was my last line of defense against the wolf so I shouldn’t neglect her expectations.

 

“You should probably go sleep instead.”

 

Nodding, I went back to my room to sleep. This time Little Fish didn’t follow along.

 

Going back into the bed, I slipped back into dreamland.

 

“Xi,” Mom’s voice woke me up, rubbing my eyes, I got up before heading towards the Living Room.

 

This time, she started for real.

 

Raising her sword like usual, I moved to block it while that familiar feeling entered me, causing me to feel stunned. I’ve been feeling it more acutely everytime she swings the sword down.

 

“Mom, what’s that something entering me?”

 

“...”

 

“It’s force Xi,” Mom gave me a simple term before raising her sword again.

 

I continued to block while she continued to strike. I didn’t bother to go against it this time, as the feeling of being stuck for so long was pretty scary.

 

Afterwards, time flowed on. Little Fish had stopped her advances, probably both because of Mom and the fact that I had training in the morning. 

 

As for the rest of my schedule, my days had pretty much become full of learning and training. Aside from dimension monsters, she also gave me an introduction on spirit weapons after seeing me take out Grandpa’s sword.

 

“Besides containing symbol lines after being blessed by the Spirit Pavilion, tier 1-3 spirit weapons won’t be any different than normal weapons. Tier 4 spirit weapons will have a simple ability, like counter, speed up, defense up, and so on. 

 

Tier 5 will include a method where the user’s dimensional energy will gain an element. This is also the most important step, while we can have more than one spirit weapon, we can only practice one method.”

 

 Afterwards she opened her palm causing a flame flower to appear briefly before disappearing.

 

“Tier 6 and higher spirit weapons, they gain a simple consciousness, so they can train and tier up on their own. As for tier 8…” she glanced at Little Fish.

 

“Mom, Little Fish isn’t a tier 8 spirit weapon,” 

 

She rolled her eyes at me before nodding, “she indeed isn’t a tier 8 spirit weapon.”

 

“Hehe, she’s a half spirit weapon,” feeling like I knew more than Mom for once, I became a little smug. 

 

“Ow,” however all I received was a flick in the forehead.