We Will Meet Again

An hour later

Three people rummaging through boxes had yet to stop. In fact, Natasha found a layer of dust in her hair. She coughed a lot and sighed. What is this annoying situation?

"I can't believe a single person could have so many books," Natasha complained. How many boxes did they go through in the past hour or so? Natasha was confident in her good memory. So, she knew they were already at the fiftieth box. To make it easier, they numbered the boxes once they finished. To prevent them from searching through it twice. They even grouped the boxes.

"I found Finding Time Again, but not Swann's Way," Natasha muttered frustrated. "What's even more annoying is, I don't even know half of these books. I know The Picture of Dorian Gray and 1984. But what is The Woman in White?" Natasha shook her head. "And I thought I liked to read."

Besides, why aren't the books together? If he has all six books, they should all be together, no?

Back then, Natasha was so curious about other worlds. So she read up on nearly everything. However, even then, there were many things she couldn't uncover.

"The Woman in White is a mystery novel. It's a sensational novel."

"A what?" Natasha mumbled puzzled. But, either men didn't reply right away for the past few minutes.

Akito briefly nodded. From that look, Natasha could more or less guess what he was thinking.

"It was a genre, popular in Great Britain during the 1860s and 1870s. It drew on gothic and romantic genres, along with melodramatic and Newgate novels, and notably followed the Industrial Revolution. Sensation novels also were somewhat abstract, following scenarios that wrestled with social anxieties of the Victorian era."

Asuka, who also had turned back to her boxes, now twenty-eight, looked back up. "Huh?"

"You just asked me what they were, so I answered you."

"Oh... uh... thank you... "Natasha responded, quite surprised.

How surprising, she wasn't expecting that. Then again she supposed that maybe after the events that occurred yesterday he was starting to open up to her a little bit. Setsura will definitely be glad to hear that. Even if it looked like the whole thing between them was over now. Akito still cared for her. Still, 'he's hiding something.' Natasha thought he would ask more questions. But, after confirming some details. Akito stopped talking about the case with her.

That case regarding the notorious killer and the suspect being a member of the Long family. Naturally, it fell under her jurisdiction. One of the main reasons being something silly. It's her fiance's family. So, people immediately expect her to do something grand like covering up the matter. Even if this harms Chauncey's family, she will do whatever she can to investigate this case properly.

Natasha was the one who found the book at the scene of the crime. That's why she quickly hid the book away. If anybody else saw that book, they would connect the dots to Setsura. Why? The language in the book is modern Japanese. Setsura has nothing to do with the murderer. But, if they saw this book, then they'd think so. Thankfully, nobody else spotted it, and she took it away.

Still, isn't it strange? The book wasn't in a place where people couldn't see it. In fact, it was in quite a prominent location. Unless somebody planted the book there? Maybe this book didn't belong to the notorious killer after all. A possibility that she didn't consider it until now. Did Akito think of it too?

It's already mid-December, she had heard about the extension from Chauncey. But even then, this really is cutting it too close. Is looking for that person really proving to be a difficult task? The person they were looking for is another time traveler.

Natasha understood what Akito was doing. He made contact with a previous time traveler. No, his wife did - and they both left clues. So, that's why he asked all those strange questions earlier. His wife, it has something to do with her. If that's the case, the tragedy that fell on his wife. Is it not merely because his wife came in contact with...

Who is the person? If it's a subject, she should know about it too. What if they ran into their past lives who happened to undergo the test too?

When Natasha thinks of past lives, even she had one too.

__

"Hikari, I'm coming inside. The attackers will be showing up in a few hours, the location is. ." she pauses in mid-sentence. Her eyes went wide, her face color pale when she saw the purple hair girl hunched on the ground. As she took a step forward, the droplets of red became clearer. "Hikari!"

"Aha, you caught me. But I'm fine. I just took some medicine" Angela shakes her head and bends down to help the girl up. Hikari didn't protest much to her relief and managed to get the girl onto her bed, to which she immediately laid down.

She seems to be hot. But she can't call the maids to get some water, Hikari hasn't said any details yet. However, even Angela can tell that this isn't an ordinary illness. She thought of it strange that the usually perky and happy Hikari has been remaining at home and coughing a lot. Angela made her way to the bathroom and was thankful to see the tub out as she filled it with ice water and grabbed a towel from the side.

Upon entering the room, Angela saw the purple hair girl fidget uncomfortably. She --really must be sick.

"Angela. .. I feel really hot," Hikari murmured weakly.

"At must be a fever. I shall send a message to your usual doctor later, but if you can't take it any longer, I'll get the castle doctor here right away." Knowing that old geezer, he's probably slacking off.

"No, I'll wait... He's going to be mad at me, though, since I haven't seen him in so long."

Of course, he's going to be mad. Why haven't you been meeting with him, when you know you're in such a bad state? She really is careless. Angela places the towel on the girl's forehead. "Is it because he confessed his love for you?" she questioned.

Is Hikari simply too shy or something to meet with him?

"That's not it. He does that every time we meet."

"Is it because you don't want to have deeper relations with him?" Sensing her silence, Angela sighs deeply, "If it's that reason, why don't you just tell him about Kain? Or even more, get the man in question to help you resolve the matter."

"I don't want them to meet."

She's considerate at this stage? Well, she supposed it couldn't be helped; this person has always been foolishly kind like this. "Can you stand up? I'll help wipe you. Taking a bath now isn't a good idea. But you should at least keep your body cool."

At that comment, the brunette nodded and sat up, "Fufu. Angela, you're like a mother, you know?"

"How rude. I'll have you know that I'm a budding twenty-two-year-old woman."

"Aha. Oh but, your two years my senior?"

"That's right. ."

"So, you're older. Then, I wonder if it's okay for me not to use formal language. But then again, even if I know now, I don't want to stop speaking with you as I have been." At that comment, her eyes went wide. "Ssh, keep it a secret from my father. He definitely won't like it if I don't use manners around my elders."

What a bright and dazzling smile; even now, how is it that you're able to smile in such a situation? Hikari?

.

.

"Hikari!" a familiar male voice exclaimed. Angela whipped her head in the direction of the voice.

Angela could see it on his face, beads of sweat - although unscared despite having been fighting. What's notable is the amount of sweat falling from his face and that frantic expression. He must have rushed the fight to come all the way out here.

It seems like her role here is over. Angela steps aside, and Kain immediately pulled the violet hair girl into his arms. "Kain, your so warm."

"Geez, your silly," Kain gently kissed Hikaris eyelids. "Please don't do this again, you scared me so much. Let's get through the rest of this together."

---

Present (1895 Meiji)

Whenever she thought of that day when she discovered her friend's illness, the only thing she said to her about it was, 'If something happens to me because of this, could you take care of Kain?' Even though they were close friends, in the end, the one she was thinking about the most was the person she was in love with.

Natasha already understood it the moment she became acquainted with the two of them. That even if they were to care for another person, the one they will always hold on to deeply and care about is each other. It's the same in this lifetime too. As brave and beautiful as that woman was is when she is on the battlefield; whenever she's around her lived, she's an entirely different person.

Back then, as 'Momoi Angela', there was little she could do for the princess who saved her from exile. Those people wanted her dead. Even if she betrayed her family, they couldn't accept someone with darkness on their side. Of course, that's only normal.

But she didn't have any other place to go, even if she had gone back, they would have killed her or worst-kept alive and used cruelly. She wanted to hold on to hope that she could meet someone kind, someone who will save her from the darkness. Her very own Prince charming.

Natasha didn't think that she anybody would rescue her, let alone rescued by the cousin of the person who moments before she was lead to that place was trying to kill her. 'That girl, she saved my life. I won't let you guys make the final decision on the person who saved me. Yuri may be dead now yes but I do not think that this girl is the one who killed her. '

Those words certainly belonged to a fool because no matter how you looked at it, she was the only one in the area at the time, and yet that person wholeheartedly believe her. It's funny, but perhaps even now she's still chasing after her.

Still, this topic of past lives even though she is a guardian. At first, Natasha thought she was crazy. How is it possible? Guardians are not regular humans, while some humans become guardians. Those humans are at the end of their life, on the verge of death.