THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 311. LIRA’S REQUEST

After Sagiri filled Kiuga and the rest with the intel, the squad finally parted ways to go to their respective rooms. Well, all except one. Sagiri shed his cloak and hung it on a hook before he crossed the room to lie down. Even as Sagiri collapsed onto his bed, ready to pass out for a few minutes, Lira did not leave. Sagiri had thought she wanted to say something, but she remained silent, just standing in the middle of the room, fiddling with her fingers. Her misty grey eyes were facing the floor, and her heart was a mess.

"What is it? Thinking about strangling me to death?" Sagiri said, collapsing further onto the bed so that his head hit the pillow and his right hand lay across his eyes.

Sagiri could not feel any killing intent coming from her. Besides, Nokai could just kill her if he sensed any. What did she want?

"Go ahead and do it," Sagiri said. Not even he could understand the mind of a woman. Lira still did not move.

"Are you going to stand there all night and watch me sleep all night..." Sagiri said, starting to get sleepy. He was indeed tired after all the fighting, and emotionally, he was exhausted.

"He did not even get to finish the statement before something touched him, and a weight was added to the bed. Sagiri’s eyes snapped open, and his head turned swiftly.

He wished he were dreaming, but Lira had joined him in bed, and she was already lying down at the edge of the bed. Sagiri’s eyes widened in horror before he shot up. In the one year he had been in the south, he had grown into a full man, yet he was not the only one who had grown. Lira had grown even more into a beautiful maiden, and her body was now that of a woman. It was difficult to ignore that fact now that she was lying beside Sagiri, looking up at him with a feeling he couldn’t decipher.

Sagiri jolted awake and sprang into a sitting position before he scuttled all the way to the other edge of the bed until his back hit the wall. Sagiri’s heart beat out of his chest. Even Seya loved to play these pranks and lie on his bed most times just to wait for him or something. This, however, was different. The maiden in his bed was his age, and she was a fully woman. Sagiri’s heartbeat increased for some reason, and he froze. For a few moments that followed, only the sound of his panting could be heard as his chest rose and fell with laboured breaths.

Lira sat up but did not look at him, and when she did, she looked away immediately. A killing intent he could tell, but her intention right at the moment, he couldn’t tell.

"Lira... what are you doing?" Sagiri asked when he finally found his voice.

"Can I sleep here?" She asked after a moment of her fingers pinching the cover edges. How was she still so ridiculous?

"Do you understand what you are asking?" Sagiri breathed in deeply to calm himself before he looked at the naive maiden sitting on his bed. Just looking at her sitting on his bed made him feel some type of way. He rubbed his brows and breathed again.

"Yes," She said, and Sagiri’s eyes snapped away from his bed.

"Lira... we are a man and a woman who are not even betrothed. This is a taboo." Sagiri said. "You can’t crawl into a random man’s bed."

"You are not random." She said her heart was beating so loud that Sagiri could hear it clearly.

"Still.." Sagiri started to speak, but she cut him off.

"I won’t do anything inappropriate." She said, and Sagiri froze. Bold of her to think she was the danger after slithering into a man’s bed.

"Lira..." Sagiri sighed, holding onto the last shred of his sanity. She was so naive it was maddening. She and Azir could make a good match of stupidity. "Don’t ever go into a man’s bed." Sagiri chastised, getting ready to leave.

"I’ll go sleep in your room. You sleep here then." Sagiri could not understand the logic behind her agenda. He barely stepped out of the bed, trying to do it as far away from her as possible, before a hand wrapped around his upper garment, stopping him in place.

"I have nightmares sleeping in new places... My nightmares are scary... I feel trapped in that place..." She said, and Sagiri stopped.

So this was the reason.

"Still..."

"Please, Sagiri. Only tonight." Sagiri had suffered nightmares, too, before the archive fully manifested. The leaking memories of the archive had kept him awake. Sagiri breathed in deeply and stepped out of bed.

"Fine. But we will not share the bed. I will go get your bedding and sleep on the floor. But only for tonight. This can not become a habit." Sagiri said. He turned around to see if she understood, but she had already let go of his shirt as if whatever he had to say after agreeing did not concern her. She was busy making herself comfortable as if she belonged there.

Why did he even bother with her?

Sagiri walked to Lira’s room. He picked up the beddings and came back to his room. Lira was already snoring as if she did not have a single worry in the world, sprawled on his bed like it was her own. Sagiri sighed again before he started making his make-do bed.

Sagiri was too tired to care. He put out the candles before he lay down. He was out cold a few moments later. It was past midnight now.

Sagiri jolted awake right before dawn. Lira was still asleep when he woke up. For some reason, he was disturbed and restless. He was a bit rested, but something was calling to him. He could feel it in his bones. He stepped out of the room slowly, not to wake up Lira, who was still very much passed out.

Sagiri stepped out of the room. It was an hour before sunrise. He walked out of the section they had been afforded. He did not know what he was following, but he knew he had to go.

The moment he stepped out of the door to the section, however, someone was already waiting for him.