Shadow Slave: Kindness

The past few days at the Academy had been… surreal.

For Sunny, it felt like his entire life had turned on its head.

From bonding with Cassie, to secretly watching Jack and Jill scale the Academy walls and hand over what appeared to be a picture of Yuuki to a masked man with the Snowfall Clan insignia, every day brought something new—something strange.

And Yuuki herself?

Another complete mystery.

Strong. No, dangerous. Stronger than any other Sleeper in the Academy—at least, that was Sunny's gut feeling. And over the years, his instincts had rarely been wrong.

After listening to scattered whispers in the mess hall and the dorm corridors, he was even more certain. No one knew where she had come from. Not the instructors. Not the administrators. Not even the Sleepers who'd been at the Academy the longest.

She wasn't from the Outskirts. She wasn't from a great clan. She didn't even belong to one of the mid-level ones like Jack and Jill.

She had simply… appeared.

Hair as black as shadow, streaked with strands of snow-white hair down the middle.

Eyes like obsidian, so dark they didn't reflect light—they swallowed it.

And always, that calm, glacial expression.

Yuuki was an enigma.

And frankly, Sunny didn't care all that much about her. Or even Jack and Jill, for that matter.

But knowing enough to stay away from whatever trouble they were inviting? That was just basic survival.

Still, despite all that mystery, one thing stood out as the most annoying development of the week:

His morning walks with Cassie had been disrupted.

It was Julius's fault.

The man had marched into their dorms at sunrise with his usual manic enthusiasm and declared, "Time waits for no one! And neither does survival!"

And just like that, their "optional" morning routine had become mandatory.

Training had begun.

Hard.

Sunny had agreed—grudgingly.

Cassie hadn't said anything, but… she definitely looked disappointed. No. Not disappointed. Just… quieter.

It was probably the absence of their morning walks.

Those few minutes of peace had become part of their rhythm—silent conversations beneath the cool sky, shared jokes, small smiles. And now it was gone, replaced by exhausted grunts and Julius yelling about core strength and mental clarity.

And of course, handstand push-ups.

What kind of lunatic started a day with handstand push-ups?

As they finished their third set of uphill sprints—Cassie breathing steadily beside him despite the strain—Sunny cursed softly under his breath.

"Miss the walks?" he asked, panting.

Cassie tilted her head. "I miss not doing this."

He snorted.

Then she added quietly, "...And yes. I do."

He looked away quickly, pretending not to hear that last part.

The training hall had finally gone quiet.

Lights dimmed. The walls, once echoing with shouted commands and strained breathing, now lay in soft silence. Outside, the sky was already sliding toward dusk.

Sunny and Cassie sat against the cool stone wall, sipping water and catching their breath. Both were slick with sweat and bruised from Julius's merciless drills—but for once, it was the good kind of tired. The kind that settled into the bones like earned peace.

Sunny leaned his head back and looked at the high ceiling.

"You're not bad at this," he muttered.

Cassie smiled faintly. "I'm decent at falling down."

"Well, that too."

A pause.

Then she spoke again, her voice quieter, more thoughtful. "I used to practice fencing. Classical stuff. With masks and foils. And… I liked it. Not just the movement, but the rhythm. The focus."

Sunny turned his head slightly to listen.

"I also liked fashion," she added, with a faint, embarrassed chuckle. "Clothes, design… putting things together. It sounds shallow, but it wasn't. It made me happy."

"It doesn't sound shallow," he said.

Cassie nodded. "My parents always supported that. They work in the government, actually. Some kind of regional advisors in planning and law. Really smart. Really good people."

She exhaled slowly, smiling at the thought. "I haven't seen them since coming here. Our home is far away… farther than most. But we talk most nights. Through the Communicator. My mom always asks if I'm eating enough."

Sunny found himself smiling.

"That's good," he said softly. "You talk to them, I mean."

She tilted her head. "What about you?"

The silence stretched between them a little longer this time.

"I'm from the Outskirts," he said at last, voice flat. "The bad part. You know the kind."

Cassie didn't interrupt or shift away. She just waited.

"I didn't really have a home," he continued. "Or family. I mean, I… had a younger sister once. Rain. But I don't remember her much. It's complicated."

Cassie's face softened, her fingers curling gently in her lap.

"...I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Life was just surviving. Scavenging, hiding, stealing sometimes. Mostly hiding."

Then his voice lightened—just a touch.

"Until I met Avi."

Cassie looked toward him. "Avi?"

"Yeah. Around 5 years ago. Found her being trafficked outside the outer wall—some gang thugs were trying to sneak her out. It's stupid how fast it all happened. One moment I'm keeping my head down, the next I'm fighting idiots in a tunnel."

He paused. "And she changed everything."

Cassie looked at him curiously.

"She's small. Rose-pink hair. Doesn't talk like a child, though. Scares people with how sharp she is sometimes. She has an uncouth, rude tongue though, keeps insulting me every time she can, and tries to get violent with me every second...regardless most of my time in outskirts have been spent with her."

"She sounds… intense."

"She is," he said, smiling a little. "In a good way. Though she got a big sister now. The Ascended I told you about, Master Jet—she acts like her guardian—is even worse. In a better way."

Cassie's expression turned slyly amused. "You attract a lot of powerful women, Sunny."

Sunny choked mid-sip, coughing violently as a stream of water escaped from the side of his mouth.

"Don't say it like that," he wheezed, wiping his chin.

Cassie tilted her head with exaggerated innocence. "Say what exactly?"

He shot her a look, which she couldn't see, but she grinned anyway—because she knew.

Then, after a beat of silence, Sunny added, a little hesitantly:

"Well… I guess you're not wrong. I mean… you're here too. With me. Together."

The silence that followed was small but heavy. Not uncomfortable, just... charged.

Cassie didn't speak for a moment. She exhaled, slow and controlled, but Sunny noticed the faint tremble in her fingers, resting on her lap. Her face was slightly flushed—not from training, he was pretty sure.

Then she laughed, light and teasing, and gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder. "You consider me a strong woman, Sunny?"

He shrugged, not looking at her.

"Why not? You're still here, right?" he said quietly. "Even with your flaw, you fight. You train. You don't whine, you don't break. You're not letting the Spell define you. Or your flaw. Or your life."

He glanced sideways, a rare softness touching his voice.

"Whatever anyone says, for me... you are—and always will be—a strong woman. No doubt."

Then, as if suddenly embarrassed by his own honesty, he took another sip of water and leaned his head back against the wall, trying to play it off like he hadn't just dropped an emotional nuke in the middle of their conversation.

Cassie, on the other hand, was frozen.

Her face was burning.

She could hear her heart thumping in her ears, loud enough she wondered if he could hear it too. Her chest felt warm, too warm—and not from the strain of exercise. Her fingers gripped her bottle just a little too tightly.

She wasn't used to this.

Wasn't used to being seen.

And definitely wasn't used to being praised like that—so gently, so plainly. As though her struggle, invisible to the world, had been noticed and named.

By him.

And then he just... kept drinking water like he hadn't just made her heart do a full somersault.

"…Um, I—excuse me—I need to use the bathroom," she blurted out, standing up a little too fast.

Then promptly dashed away without waiting for a response.

Sunny blinked. "Did I say something wrong?"

He looked at his water bottle, baffled, and muttered, "...Was it the 'strong woman' part?"

Hmm, he did read something on the communicator, something about girls preferring- something along the lines of what is called:

"'badass lady' Maybe she prefers 'badass lady'? I should've said badass."

But Cassie doesn't have a badass, if anything she had a ni-

Sunny stopped that train of thinking before it could go anywhere it shouldn't.

Cassie came back a few minutes later, her blindfold slightly askew, cheeks freshly pink.

Probably from washing her face.

"Back," she said lightly, settling beside him.

"So," she continued after a moment, "what now?"

Sunny shifted, brushing a damp strand of hair from his brow. "Well… since it's been almost a week, I was thinking…"

He glanced over, hesitant. "Would you like to meet her? Avi?"

Cassie paused, surprise flickering across her face.

"I think she'd like you," he added, a little sheepishly. "You're both terrifying in your own ways."

That earned a short laugh. "I'd love to."

That Night

The dorm halls were quiet, cloaked in the hush of early night. Most students were asleep, or curled up under lamplight, neck-deep in theory.

Sunny stood near the stairwell, whispering into his Communicator.

"Juliet. It's Sunny. You busy?"

A beat. Then her voice came, low and amused.

"Avi's asleep. Why?"

"I wanted to introduce someone. Cassie. She's a friend. She's been training hard… I thought it'd be good."

"She sounds cute."

"Can you not—?"

Juliet chuckled. "Fine, fine. We'll come tomorrow evening. Same spot?"

"Yeah."

"Looking forward to meeting her. And tell her not to worry—I don't bite."

"…Avi might."

Juliet snorted. "Noted."

Sunny ended the call and leaned against the wall for a moment, staring up at the ceiling.

For once, he wasn't chasing shadows.

For once, he wasn't hiding.

Tomorrow, he'd introduce Cassie to the closest thing he had to family.

And for the first time in a long time… that didn't feel terrifying.

It felt right.

.

.

.

'Wait, wait… introducing a girl to something like family…family'

Sunny froze mid-step as the realization hit him like a brick to the forehead.

Wasn't that what guys did when they… liked a girl?

He stopped in the hallway, blinking.

His brain was trying to catch up with his mouth's earlier actions. Somewhere, deep in the folds of his memory, a late-night communicator thread came back to haunt him — one of those clickbait pop-psych articles with bright red headers:

"10 Things That Mean He's Into You (Even If He Doesn't Know It Yet)!"

No. No no no. That wasn't what this was!

He wasn't… doing that.

Was he?

Sunny flushed red, his hands twitching by his sides.

Cassie probably wouldn't think much of it. He was just… being considerate. A friend. A decent human being.

Right?

…

Right?

He ran a hand through his hair and groaned.

"…Too late now."

Meanwhile: Cassie's Dorm, Late Night

Cassie was still awake.

Which was strange, considering her usual strict bedtime.

She sat cross-legged on her neatly made bed, a small holo-screen floating in front of her as soft music played from a low-volume speaker orb. The dorm room was dim, lit only by soft amber panels at the ceiling's edge.

She was… browsing clothes.

Specifically, outfits she could wear tomorrow evening.

Not formal. But not lazy. Something… casual, but thoughtful.

Neutral but flattering.

Ofcourse since she couldn't see, she was taking help from her mother.

She chewed her lower lip slightly, then sighed and opened the communicator thread to her mother.

Cassie: Mom… are you awake?

[Mom]: Always. What is it, sweetheart?

Cassie: I… need help picking something to wear.

[Mom]: Oho? Is this for that boy you told me about?

[Mom]: I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Sort of. Send me what you're considering.

Cassie: Don't say anything weird.

[Mom]: You wound me.

Cassie rolled her eyes, smiling despite herself.

They went back and forth quietly for almost an hour, comparing colors, cuts, and combinations. Cassie's mother kept teasing her, and Cassie kept denying everything.

But her hands trembled a little more than usual when she picked the outfit.

And somewhere in her mind, a thought kept whispering:

It's just a meeting. It's not a big deal.

…Right?