Well, it wasn't their fault since he deliberately made such an impression.

Since that incident, he didn't have the courage to get closer to the ones who was weaker than him.

He was scared. He was afraid lost control and kill senselessly like that time.

In the end he developed a habit to act aloof and indifferent toward others. As a result, the girls were scared of him and didn't dare to strike a conversation.

But that girl... the way Niken looked at him, he found no fear in the girl's eyes. And he noticed her cheeks slowly turning red.

Unfortunately, Niken did not remember the incident just because the time turned back. Even so, he won't depressed. If at that time Niken wasn't scared of him then there was a possibility she wouldn't be.

He wanted to say h.e.l.lo to the girl. He wanted to chat with her. But if he was too rushed, would Niken scared of him? Would she avoid him?

He was afraid of making sudden changes that made the girl hate him. Because of that sole reason, he just watched her quietly. People around him did not know, he let out several streams of his energy created a shadow in wolf form. It will follow Niken wherever she went.

No one could see the wolf's appearance except Niken. Therefore he had no idea that Richard could see his shadow form. He thought no one else aside Niken could see his shadow.

Fortunately, Niken never looked back, so she wouldn't know if there was a wolf shadow that followed her.

If Niken was with her brother or someone he trusted, the shadow would automatically disappear. But if Niken was alone, the shadow would reappear to protect her. Kazuto would not leave Niken alone.

Kazuto focused on his senses of the girl's movement. He wondered what kind of expression Niken was putting on now before he realized he had forgotten something.

What did he forget? What was important? It must be very important to make him feel bad.

But for now, the most important thing is the girl behind him. He would think about those forgotten things when he got home later.

***

"Miss, can I sit here?"

Niken looked up and saw a young girl greeting her. At first, she was a little bit surprised by the request, but then Niken smiled and invited her to sit.

There was something strange about the flow of the girl's energy, yet she felt familiar with that energy. No way! Is it...?

"You must be a time controller just like me." Said the girl before Niken could ask. And to answer her question, Niken just nodded her head.

"Then, it seems like we are from the same kingdom. I want to go back, but I'm also afraid. So I'm looking for fellow time-controller so we can get back together."

"Go back? To where?"

"To Nis.h.i.+an Island. All the time-controllers were born there. Including you and me. But unfortunately, around twelve years ago, a group of elementalists invaded our country and killed everyone there.

Only time controllers have escaped successfully. It was only because our queen, The Time Master, froze the world's time for twenty minutes, so we managed to escape with our water bending."

Niken was astonished by the way the girl talk. She talked endlessly as if they have known each other for a long time. Despite being with a stranger, Niken was more curious about something.

"Water bending?"

"Time-controllers does not have any elemental energy. But the queen implanted a most suitable elemental seed that could be juxtaposed with our own energy. That was water energy. Sad to say it takes ten years for the seed to be activated after being implanted in a time controller's body. Don't you know?"

"No."

She even didn't know that the origin of time-controllers was in Nis.h.i.+an Island, let alone about the implanted seeds.