Enigma of Sin

Charlotte ended up staying the entire night. She made Kayn perform different spells using different elements, circulate his Void Star technique, and even had him do his martial forms. He did this all while she was using her own examination spells.

She wanted to understand his mana's movements and flow, how it split into the various elements from being pure, what it did to his tissues, and how it reacted to certain activities. She really left nothing out.

Kayn could only bear with it since he had obtained something worth far more in his eyes. He felt like a lab rat, but that was fine, it wouldn't continue forever, at least he hoped it wouldn't.

However, to his dismay, Charlotte stated that she was going to stay at his place for the time being, so she had easier access to him. This would definitely disrupt his plans, but if he took a little longer before starting the mission, he could blame it on her.

What really occupied his mind was how he was going to explain that another woman was living in his house to Kinzie. Sure, he could keep it a secret, but that wouldn't work and when she inevitably found out, a rift would be created in their just now budding relationship. Kayn ended up pondering on this as he went through the motions for the day before calling Kinzie around lunch time.

She picked up, but still didn't seem enthused with him. He asked if they could meet for a quick lunch and that he would even eat at the student cafeteria since that would be the easiest way for both of them. Fortunately, she agreed.

They met and ate while Kayn explained about how Charlotte was helping him with a technique he was working on and wanted to remain close to him so that they could collaborate easier. He did his best to emphasize that she was nothing more than a work partner and also much, much older than he was. Honestly though, Kayn was bad at easing her heart since she still showed some reluctance.

While he didn't want Charlotte to know everything about his personal life, he told Kinzie that he would introduce her if she so desired, which she turned down as even she could tell that Kayn was becoming flustered at being so bad at explaining things.

She was honestly already over it and trusted Kayn enough to not worry about the situation. The one she would actually worry about would be Maria if she was worried in the first place. However, she thought the blundering and tripping over his own words Kayn was cute, so she didn't bother to let him know her thoughts.

After their short lunch break, they separated with Kayn feeling relieved as Kinzie finally gave in and told him that she would trust him on this. They set up their next meeting time for about half a week from now as Kinzie needed to study for both practical and written exams that were coming up.

…

Like this, the weeks passed and there was only one and a half weeks left in the semester before the month break. Charlotte had been staying with him this entire time and didn't bother rushing to push Kayn in starting his Black Hand Society activities as that would interrupt her own time with him.

Kayn could only ruefully shake his head at her for taking advantage of his part of the deal and even completely taking over the guest room in his house.

Even with her interrupting his own preparations and training time, Kayn was still able to make significant progress towards a few of his goals, including his stealth abilities.

As it turned out, examining the Garments of the Shadow Phoenix with his mana was immensely helpful in this aspect.

He was even able to bounce a few ideas off of Charlotte and improved his Void Star technique once again, although it was only a very minor increase in effectiveness. This once again came as a gift from the heavens to Charlotte as it gave her more data to examine, while Kayn just had to deal with her enthusiastic personality when it came to his body and core.

His relationship with Kinzie had also steadily built over these last few weeks. While they weren't able to see each other much with the end of the semester quickly approaching, they still managed at least once or twice a week with daily calls, even if they only lasted a few minutes.

Kayn knew that he was going to be extremely busy when the break started between preparing lesson plans for the second semester and his Black Hand Society work, but he promised Kinzie that he would spend a few days if not a week with her during the break in order to explore Palatine some and even visit Rowen.

This promise from Kayn gave Kinzie even more motivation to end the semester on a strong note, not only to impress Kayn so he would be proud of her, but also because she was genuinely finding things coming to her easier these days.

She was able to talk with Kayn about subjects she was struggling to understand, and they worked out solutions together since he was also able to use the wind element.

She excelled in practical exercises, but it was the theoretical and written materials that she spent most of her time working on and that she asked for Kayn's help with on occasion.

Kayn himself was quite tired these days. He slept maybe once a week, every other hour of the day was spent on something. He rarely even had time to relax and play the piano to decompress. His stress was growing by the day, but he persevered.

His class was doing remarkably well though. He retained 85% of the students who applied to his class at the beginning of the semester and of those 85%, only 1% had low exam scores, but they were still passing.

When he was visited by Director Vix one day and asked how he was doing it, Maria answered in his stead. As a student herself and someone who attended his class, she stated that Kayn's lessons were well laid out and the concepts simplified enough that only those with truly zero talent in healing spells would fail his class.

Kayn could only shrug his shoulders at Maria's view of his teaching. He did try to explain things in detail while keeping it on the easier to understand side. Her assertion wasn't exactly wrong, just the incorrect way to put it to the director of the department.

The night before the final day of classes and exams, Kayn invited Kinzie to listen to him play the piano. He reasoned with her that cramming the day before an exam wouldn't benefit her that much, but relaxing and emptying her mind for a bit would help her to refocus for her finals the next day.

That night, before arriving at the music department, Kayn received a small package containing a small plain black clip that would attach onto his ear with a note stating: "From you know who, there is even a gift included when you connect your mana to the ear clip. Talk soon."

It took Kayn a minute to remember that the second person he made a deal with said he was going to send him an item so that they could talk more easily.

Upon attaching the clip to his ear and connecting to it with his mana, he discovered a database containing music from Earth, including music that he hadn't heard as it had come out after his death!

There was so much that to listen to that he couldn't help but become excited at the thought of listening to music again! But first, new piano songs! While he walked to the music department's building to meet Kinzie, he listened to a few songs from a newer pianist and decide to start with some of these as he began imagining himself playing along.

While Kayn wasn't a big fan of introducing foreign technologies into a world that didn't need them, he wasn't about to complain about an item that gave him access to music freely. Music was one of the things he missed the most from Earth. Now that he had this, he knew he would be able to relax, even when he didn't have the chance to be with Kinzie or play the piano.

Kinzie was mesmerized by the songs he played, and even leaned onto his shoulder while he continued playing. When he finished playing for the night, Kinzie gave him a long and passionate kiss, thanking him for easing her mind and relaxing her body before her exams the next day.

And just as quickly as the semester started, it ended. The night that Kayn would become a member of the Black Hand Society had finally arrived.