BLACK CLOVER: The Whisperer - Yuno Grinberryall

CHAPTER XVI. Behind Closed Eyes

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Whistles and the gleeful chirps of birds resonated through the air, filling the blushful sky that began to darken. The magic knights' entrance exam was coming to an end when the last number of participants was mentioned.

"Examinee number 512, no offers."

The referee looked back at the captains, waiting to see if they had anything to say. Seeing how they kept quiet and unmoving, he took a deep breath and continued, "This concludes the magic knights' entrance exam."

After the exam was announced over, the nine captains went back to the way they came from. The examinees released the breaths they didn't know they held in.

It was over. The magic knights' entrance exam was finally done.

Xierra exhaled in relief. She looked around, watching several participants cry their hearts out. A dream so out of reach, yet presented so brightly before them. She wondered if they felt like their dreams were crushed, ripped away from their grasp. She saw them hug their families, cornering themselves in utter sorrow, casting their gazes to the ground in remorse. It was an undesirable sight.

Would that be how I'd react if I didn't make it?

Some celebrated their success, jumping with joy and bright eyes. They spread out, filling the place and fusing with miserable souls. They grouped or stood on their own, leaving some to withdraw from the building.

Soon, night came when the sky slowly revealed a sea of heavenly bodies, watching over them from afar. Only the light of lamps lit their paths, accompanying the moon and stars. They twinkled so brightly and decorated the hollow void. Blinking as though they were eyes, Xierra marveled at the night sky she always saw back in Hage.

I wonder if they are seeing the same stars as we do...

"Xierra, Asta," Yuno called out to them, walking with a smile. Xierra responded with a small hum, indicating that she was listening. Following behind her small croons, Asta came running behind them and shouted Yuno's name.

"Yuno! You're golden!" Asta directed his words at Yuno before turning to Xierra, "You're a lioness, and I'm a bull. This is where our true battle begins!"

Xierra laughed lightly at the declaration she had heard so many times before. "Right, right."

"Yeah," Yuno said, "let's see who'll—"

The grumbles of Asta's stomach cut Yuno's words short, causing him to stop. Xierra, who stood beside him, raised an eyebrow and curiously asked, "Are you, perhaps, hungry?"

"Nope! Nature's calling!!" Asta yelled and ran towards the stadium bathrooms, shrieking in panic as he did so. "Nature is calling pretty loud!!"

"It's those suspicious purple-skewered things he ate before we came here, isn't it...?"

"... Yeah." Yuno sighed and shook his head. He looked around only to catch the setting sun illuminating the colosseum with its golden glow. Above them, were the cloudless welkin.

"Hmm? Yuno." Xierra tugged on Yuno's sleeves, frowning.

"What is it?"

He merely received a point from Xierra, directing him towards the bathroom to which Asta went into. They saw Sekke, Asta's earlier opponent, sneaking into the restroom with his grimoire ready, chuckling ominously to himself.

Yuno's eyes twitched, though not visibly, and he sighed.

"... I'll check on him. Xierra, you wait here and don't wander off."