Only with Your Heart

The way Ruklov and Bal twitched and narrowed their distance as they stared at each other was filled with tension as tigers and leopards swept out their fangs and were well into each other.

The loud and noisy audience also began to be pushed by its force, becoming quieter and quieter as time went on.

Chizuru stood next to the loan, sipping solidly and watching the game go.

"I wonder where the odds of winning or losing are half. Some of them are betting that it will last until they both fall."

With a smile on his garlic, Lone clung to Chizuru's shoulder with the twist of his combined arm.

"Lone, you have a few things to be angry about."

Without taking his eyes off Lucrov and the others, Chizuru advised him so.

Let Lone pretend to tremble, "Oh, I'm scared," he says. Chizuru sighed giving up and glanced up at the red-haired knight.

"Oh, is that a stamp? That's such a brilliant gesture of intent. Still saying hard things, so he's a real idiot."

The loan I noticed the kiss mark Ruklov put on frowns like I'm really angry.

Chizuru touched with his fingers one scale of Lucrov's thoughts, which was blooming red on his neck, and remembered his expression when he put this mark on. Obvious thirst. And......

And if that's not love, Chizuru couldn't care less about the definition of the word anymore.

"I think Luklov is fighting... memories, now and in the future."

"That would be so. At least he got something worth fighting for. That's a lot of progress."

"Please, don't bully Luklov any more. He can give one good answer. Maybe tomorrow, maybe a year from now, but be sure."

Lone shrugged her big shoulder and looked at Ruklov, who was sharply blinded in the center of the circle.

With eyes that have become less loving and frustrating, like a brother watching over his handy brother.

"... his answer has been out for fourteen years, Chizuru"

Chizuru put his gaze back on the Luklovs, just like Lone did.

The two knights are slowly, but surely, starting to shrink and clog. There was another vivid overflow of force from the flesh of the two, different from the sword-based competition.

For some reason, Chizuru had the certainty that Luklov would win.

It is also because he himself proclaimed so, and because he knows his strength. I'm never underestimating the power of Bal's sagging and youthfulness, but Ruklov got serious and it wasn't a battle I couldn't win.

Stuffing them to positions that were likely to reach each other, it was Bal who hit them first. It was a quick move like a snake, but Ruklov easily turns it around. The quiet audience raised their voices and began to make noise again.

"If I find out what I said, they'll kill me, but I'll tell you one good thing in retaliation for last night. Chizuru"

"A good thing?

"Yes, I'm the only one who knows the secret of Lucrov."

Bal tried to grab it by Lucroff again, but Lucroff deflected it on the brink, holding Bal's one arm in that gap and knocking him to the ground.

There's a dull noise called Dossa, and the dust rises.

If they weren't working out, this would have been the only battle they would have had. But Bal just got up right away and rebuilt his system. Cheers rise, voices of support and curses echo in the darkness of the night at the same time.

Bal's eyes became tough to burn with the two, staring hard at his opponent, Ruklov. Ruklov's eyes seem, at first glance, cooler and calmer, but there's definitely got to be more heat behind them than Bal.

Well, it seemed like Bal told Luklov something.

From where Thousand Cranes stands, you can't hear it to its content. But Ruklov's expression instantly becomes sinister, staring at Bal with a stabbing gaze.

The next blow looked like they both stepped out at the same time.

"Lucrov and I are, and always have been, like good enemies. I'm a friend, but I don't show my weakness to them. But back in the day... fourteen years and a little while ago, Luklov had only once asked me to bow his head and do every favor."

Though his gaze still remained fixed on the Ruklovs' game, Chizuru still cleared his ear to Lone's monologue.

There is also the possibility that it is a first-rate loan, just a tease.

But his tone was strangely warm, so Chizuru didn't pinch his mouth.

Soon in the middle of the circle surrounded by the audience, Luklov and Bal grab each other's shoulders and devour their teeth. The blood and flesh of the two forged knights were illuminated by the burning of the dark night as they were competing for their A and B from the head-on (Maruko), even giving the illusion that they were peering into the world of ancient mythology.

"This world of ours has a tradition of sending a ring to a woman when a man finds someone he can swear to love for life... But making rings is expensive. Especially if you try to make something good. At the time, Luklov didn't have that money, unlike me, who had my father's title and territory. So he asked me to do it."

"Huh..."

Chizuru opened his eyes wide and looked up at the next loan.

On the side of the loan there was more serenity than watching the game, as if peeking softly at memories of the past. Lifting the edge of his mouth more, he ears to Chizuru as if to show off the secret he kept.

"I'd like to show you Lucrov's face then. Anything like that in the Chizuru world? He was desperate."

"That's... sure, there is, but..."

Do you mean wedding or engagement rings?

Indeed, at the time, I might have taught Luklov that. I think it was one of those conversations between the infamous lovers, but it seems like they gave such an answer when asked how to courtship in the world of Chizuru...

……

Maybe that meant more than just an extension of rapprochement?

Even without a ring or something, Lucrov had sworn true love to Chizuru back then. Although the two letters of marriage and engagement were never talked about, they still talked about their future dreams together.

Even Thousand Cranes was thinking about his future with Ruklov.

The only shackles in my heart (let me) were only about one family/grandmother, Kazuyo, who had already weakened my heart since that time, until I accidentally stumbled upon the 'voice' I had heard on that fateful day.

The audience's voice rose again enthusiastically, and Chizuru concentrated again on the game, freed from his thoughts.

Bal is working hard. I guess it's no exaggeration that he's, like Lone said, the best knight in the territory. But the war situation was clearly taking advantage of Ruklov. Dare I say, Bal may have more power, but Ruklov is overwhelmingly faster.

"You can bet my entire fortune and the rest of my life. He still has that ring. Take care of yourself for the rest of your life, secluded. That's why I said I was stupid."

Chizuru shook his hands in front of his chest in a game that became even more intense.

Ruklov's elusive arm hunts down the young knight as he winds up the dirt and dust. When I think that that majestic flesh sometimes gently holds a thousand cranes, the sweet pain that squeezes the core of my body all the way through...

The wind blew slightly at night, scattering dirt and dust around the area.

─ ─ I don't know if it's because of that. But all of a sudden, his eyes were stinging, and Chizuru wept.

Luklov.

Luklov.

When he shouted in his heart the name of his loved one as he prayed, Chizuru took a lot of breath. Luklov, with the kind of Bal's offense that pushed him forward, showed graceful moves as he grabbed onto Bal's arm and slipped into it, as he exploited the momentum. Thousands of cranes didn't know what happened. Even the loan raises his eyebrows as surprised.

The next moment, Bal's body floated half a spin in the universe.

Then he made a loud noise, falling from his torso to the ground.

Bal, who was falling face to face on the ground,

"Gu......"

After leaking his painful voice, he seemed to try to get up just a little bit, but his arm was trembling in small pieces and he fell right into the ground to be pulled.

A few seconds of silence wraps around.

Ruklov fixed his posture loosely, took some rough breath on his shoulders, and then looked around at the audience surrounding him like a circular cage from his perspective. The move may at first glance have looked like that of a warrior who is proclaiming his victory.

But Chizuru knew.

He's just looking for something... someone. I thought maybe I could fall in love with that 'someone' being me... Chizuru's leg didn't stay on the spot for me.

Rushing out like he had been bounced, Ruklov welcomed him with a smile and spread his hands. Chizuru jumps into that arm without any hesitation, stretching his back and hugging him around his neck.

When the two held each other tightly, a warmer cheer gushed out of there, unlike the wild next to the game, to make the evening feast even more exciting.

The stars were shining brightly in the night sky, glittering, and the light was about to come down like rain.

The moon rises high, and the burning fire burns hot.

It's a lovely evening for such a feast.

Chizuru, who threw herself into Ruklov's chest, closed her softly wet eyes, feeling as gentle as she had returned to her hometown, which she had not seen for a long time.