Page 183 of A Soul to Touch

Klaus grabbed his leather shirt in return, his eyes turning hostile. “The hell you taking its side for?! They’re nothing but monsters that deserve to die!”

“I would be dead if it wasn’t for that Duskwalker. I had a sword through my chest, and he healed me!” Then he nearly pressed his nose to Klaus’ with his teeth gritted. “Talk shit like that about him, and I’ll break your nose again.”

Henry placed his hand on her shoulder, ignoring the men at each other’s throats behind him. Emotions were high, and no one was thinking calmly – except for Henry, it seemed. He was always so damn calm and thoughtful, which could be irritating at times, but for once, she was thankful. She just needed someone to not be weirded out by all this right now, and Henry was being a wonderful rock.

“Get up, Yumi. We all need to clean up, eat, and drink some water.”

“There must be something I can do,” she mumbled in answer.

This isn’t it. It can’t be.She dug her fingertips into the hard bone.But his whole body just... disappeared.

“Is there?” Henry asked, causing her eyes to lift back to his gentle brown ones. “I know they’re hard to kill, so they must heal, right?”

“Yeah, usually in a day, but that’s only if their skull isn’t broken. I don’t think he can come back from this.”

“Can you just put his face back together somehow?”

“I tried...”

If only it was that easy.She knew it was too late.

Or was it? Cordon’s golden medallion glinting in the sun caught her attention.A day...

What if I put his skull back together before a day passes?Her heart, which had been drowning, began to beat faster to match her rapid thoughts.What if that’s all I need to do?

Her eyes widened, and she frantically started looking around as she stood while cradling Faunus’ skull.

“Help me find it,” she demanded, walking towards her home. “Help me find the rest of his face.”

An idea had lit within her mind, and she firmly clutched onto the sliver of hope.

Henry was the one to find the other side of Faunus’ skull since Yoshida and Klaus were rolling on the ground throwing punches. They’d likely tire themselves out since it wasn’t the first time they’d gone at each other.

Mayumi inspected the bone and horn fragment to find it was mostly intact. She took it inside and placed the two pieces of him on the dining table so she could open the hidden latch that was in the storage room. The coin sack within it was heavy, and she heaved it up and carelessly emptied it against the ground.

The specific gold coins she retrieved were few, but bigger than the others available. They were also purer of quality, and she took every piece she found and his skull outside to the back of her house.

After settling down, her friends had gone to the stream so they could fill the spring bath and wash themselves of the blood upon them.

She stole from the heating furnace to light her smithing furnace and then placed all her gold coins into a smelting cup. While it was heating, she wiped down Faunus’ skull to make sure it was clean before using a file to roughen the edges of his crack so it would be easier to bond with.

After a long while, she stood there to mentally prepare herself for the excruciating wait that would be the next twenty-four hours.

Her friends eventually coaxed her to enter the bath with them by reminding her of the human blood she was covered in. That was the only reason she stripped and quickly bathed – she had no issue being naked in front of men.

It was common for the guild, and if these men had any desires for her, that was their problem, not hers.

“You should all leave,” she said while hopping out, water sluicing down her naked body and dripping into the spring bath. “Night will fall soon, and this place will become a Demon hunting ground before long. You need to get away.”

“We can’t leave you here by yourself,” Henry said, gripping her arm when she was standing out of the tub. “Come back with us to Colt’s Outpost. Let the Demons come and feed, then return when you know it’s safer.”

Her gaze flittered to the furnace and Faunus’ skull lying on her smithing table.

“I can’t. I need to stay here with him, just in case. I won’t be able to bring him into the town if this works.”

“Yumi...”

“No!” she shouted, ripping her arm from him and taking two steps back, so she was out of reach. The words that were about to fall from her mouth were rude, but she was in too much emotional anguish to care right then. “Thank you so much for coming here. I’m not so high-handed to admit that without you three... I probably would have died today. In saying that, I want to be alone, and you’re all getting on my nerves. So, if you don’t mind, kindly fuck off back to your walled prison and leave me to the forest.”

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