The door gave its usual tired click, and Obi slipped through first, with his usual mocking spirit gone now.
Hikari followed, holding the compact black case. Raizen came last and shut the door with more care than it needed.
Takeshi was at the bench, adjusting he knows what. A small plate lay near his left hand, resting on a cloth pouch, hiding whatever was inside.
As they stepped in, his flesh hand hid the small cloth pouch inside a pocket.
"Ahm! Welcome back" he said, stuttering. "Any trouble?"
"Define trouble" Obi said, trying to grin.
Raizen placed the sidearm on his workbench without a word, then sat on the floor close to Hikari, with a lost look on his face.
The case sat on the table, but Obi got impatient. "Permission to ruin the suspense?"
Hikari nodded , while peeking at Raizen, still lost in his thoughts
Obi dragged the case toward him. He didn't want to wait any longer, so he lifted the lid.
Sitting in dark foam were two gems. One was shiny and yellow, shaped like a perfect sphere. Something that looked like golden lightning was moving on the inside.
The other was a pale blue color, thin as a shard and curved, taking the shape of a beautiful crescent moon.
Both of them held light, breathing in slow, patient pulses.
Obi didn't say anything, jaw dropping.
Raizen leaned in. The yellow one caught his attention. Hikari's fingers hovered over the blue crescent. Unexpectedly, the gems reacted to them, and seemed to brighten.
"Luminite…" Takeshi said softly, and the word sounded like something he knew too well.
Obi's smile snapped back, wider than anything he'd worn since the Maw. He clapped twice excitedly.
"Okay. Okay. I know I said I don't get this worked up, but-" He pointed, reverent.
"That sphere definitely wants to sit in a socket. Blade core for sure. The blue crescent… Hilt spine? Or a channel. Or - no, listen - A spear. Or a staff."
He realized he was talking too fast and apologized quickly.
"Calm down" Hikari giggled. Her eyes were on the crescent. "We'll get to that part too... Eventually…"
Obi bounded to the door. "I'm running to get Louissa! Nobody breathes on these until Granny says so."
"Obi-" Takeshi began.
But the young smith was already halfway down the hall, the door banging behind him, his laughter echoing like a promise he meant to keep.
Takeshi stood up, gently, and poured some juice. This one had a more exotic aroma. He set a cup by Raizen's hand and pushed it a bit closer. "Don't even tell me what happened. You did what you had to."
Raizen didn't look up. "What if that becomes who I am?"
Takeshi took his own cup, but left it untouched. "Then you learn when to put it down. Or destroy it."
"The Rust Room built it" Raizen whispered. "It made a… A weapon."
Takeshi's mouth curved into a petty smile. "Weapons do what hands tell them! You're not lost, Raizen. You're just sharpened. It's not the same."
"Mhm, however you say..." Raizen answered.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Hikari's shoulder touched Raizen's for a brief second, almost leaning on him. "You saved me" she whispered, so quiet only he could hear. "That means that this "weapon" you're talking about is good..."
Before Raizen could answer, the door swung in and Obi came through it like a storm, Louissa slightly behind.
"Before you say anything" Obi looked back, "I didn't lick the gems."
"No one was going to accuse you" Louissa said, already stepping to the table and observing everything there was to see.
"Ah" she said, carefully looking at the gems."You were lucky."
"Skilled" Obi corrected. "Unbelievably skilled."
"Lucky" Louissa repeated, eyes still on the gems. She reached into her basket and brought out a strip of clean woven cloth. "May I?"
Everyone nodded at the same time.
Louissa lifted the yellow sphere with the cloth, and held it up to a lamp. It shone slightly brighter, as if it was reacting to the light.
"Purity's wonderful" she said. "Pretty high. It'll amplify a strong mind without burning it away."
She set it down, picked up the blue crescent in the same careful way. The light inside it rippled - like a lakes when you throw a pebble.
"And this?" she said with a pleased tone, "Is rarer in this shape. Good for control. Blade, staff, spear… This beauty can handle multiple fronts at a time."
Obi nodded, trying to look wise. "I said staff! I literally said staff!"
"You said staff..." Louissa sighed gravely. "The world is improved by the record."
Then her voice turned a lower tone. "Now listen."
She took a deep breath before talking again.
"With Luminite, you don't just make a weapon" Louissa said. "You let it help you. Where you cut with it, Nyxes bleed."
"Hmm..."
"Luminite will amplify whatever you already are. So decide who you are before you use it." She went on, closing the case back over the stones.
"Take them. Use them. But choose very carefully how you're going to use them. Rage obeys quickly, yes. So does fear. Courage, patience and hope are slower, but they cut a thousands times more."
"Well, let's not talk about weapons until we have any!" Obi said, already moving again, hands sketching lines in the air. "So if I-"
"Not now, Obi. We'll decide later" Hikari interrupted his thinking
Takeshi had stayed silent all the conversation. Under his desk now, the cloth pouch kept hiding whatever was inside. It was fine. Hidden.
Hikari's palm hovered over the crescent again. The light inside it answered like the first time.
Raizen put one finger near the sphere and felt warmth climb his arm - not heat, more like a really small shock.
He was still afraid of what he had been in the Maw. But this? This felt like choosing.
Obi clapped his hands once. "I'll start at dawn. And when I say dawn, I mean as soon as I wake up. I'll clear the forge, bribe the fan, kick the anvil and hope everything goes well."
"Kick it twice" Takeshi tried to joke.
"Oh, I always do! You know me!"
Then Obi pointed at Raizen and Hikari."And you two. Bring yourselves rested. I can hammer out metal, but can't hammer out sleep. Or maybe I can... Dunno! Never tried hammering my sleep out of my customers!"
Behind all these jokes, somewhere beneath the workbench, hidden inside the pouch, an old, red gem pulsed - the shape of a secret Takeshi wasn't finished telling.