Onami and I left the police station and followed after Kohri and his big brother.

"So, where is your mom?" Onami asked.

"She's at a meeting right now. We're to wait for her at a café," Hyosetsu said with his head in a book. How he managed to walk without crashing into anything was a mystery. Maybe he was using seismic sense. It was an ability that allowed one to be able to sense one's surroundings, so long as one was on the ground. Though it didn't detect objects in the air. Not to mention, it worked best with bare feet.

"Hey, is that the new book you bought earlier?" Kohri asked.

"No, this is one I got from home. It's the first book in the series. The one I got is the second book."

"So, that's why they look similar." Kohri chuckled. "Say, can I borrow them once you're done?"

Hyosetsu shook his head. "No. You'll ruin them."

"What? No, I won't! I promise that I'll take good care of them, and you know that I always keep my promises as a knight."

Hyosetsu glanced up from his book and directed his narrowed eyes at his brother. "What are you talking about? You broke a promise today. You said that you wouldn't get lost."

"Well, technically, I didn't. I lost you two."

Hyosetsu sighed and turned back to his book. "I'll consider it."

"Yay!"

"That doesn't mean that I accepted."

The younger brother chuckled. "Still, a possibility is better than none."

Kohri certainly was weird, but he didn't appear harmful at all. Perhaps it was a mistake to have doubted him at first.

"Is that the café you mentioned?" Kohri asked.

Hyosetsu glanced up at the small white adobe cafe. Half of its tables were actually outside. Though, whoever was willing to drink in the hot sun was either crazy or had insane endurance. Or they were gifted with fire mana like the Kasai no Ki were.

The four of us entered the café and picked a seat near the back of the café. It also happened to be the place closest to the air conditioner.

I put down the nearly empty can of cherry cola in my hand on the table. "It's nice and cool in here," I said, smiling as I took a seat.

"Yeah," Hyosetsu said. "This place is unbearable."

"Want me to order some drinks?" Kohri asked as he remained standing. He pointed at the menu by the front counter. "They got ice drinks too if you aren't up for anything hot."

"Sounds tasty," Onami said, staring at the menu.

Kohri grinned. "Which one?"

"All of them."

Kohri laughed. "Unfortunately, I don't think I got enough change to buy you all of them."

Onami's face reddened. "I wouldn't be able to drink them all anyway. It's hard to choose based on description alone. If only I could smell them."

"Smell, huh? It would be nice if they had scratch-and-sniff stickers on menus."

Onami tilted her head at him. "There are stickers that smell like food?"

"Yup! My favorite is the one that smells like cinnamon rolls. It was Dad's favorite too."

"Was?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kohri averted his eyes and remained silent.

Hyosetsu looked up from his book. His eyes were slightly watery. "He's no more."

I gulped. So, their dad's died? I can't imagine how it would feel to lose a dad. I hope Dad's fine. It must be hard for him to return home, only to find out that I'm missing.

"Uh, anyway, about the drinks," Kohri said, still avoiding making eye contact.

"Do they have smoothies?" I asked before glancing at the menu. How did Onami manage to see it so clearly from here? Do Tanuki have fantastic eyesight? Or maybe I was starting to go blind due to playing too many video games.

"Yeah, they do," Kohri said, pointing to the lower-right-hand corner of the menu.

I squinted my eyes. "I see."

"Are you okay? Did you get sand in your eyes?" Onami asked.

My cheeks reddened. I shook my head. "No. I didn't. I... I think that my vision has gotten worse over time." I lowered my head. "I guess that's another thing I should've listened to Mom about."

"How did you get kidnapped?" Kohri asked, tilting his head at us.

"I went outside to play. Well, actually, I was on the way to my friend Riley's house. But, before I made it there, I was ambushed from behind. My kidnapper swung a black bag over my head. I never got a chance to see who they were."

"So that's why you didn't mention how your kidnapper looked like to the cop," Onami said.

I nodded. "Yeah. Though I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the goons we saw when we escaped."

"The one who died?" Kohri asked. He cupped his mouth.

"Died?" Hyosetsu asked, looking up from his book again. "You killed your kidnappers?"

I gulped. "I..."

"He didn't mean to," Onami whispered, lowering her eyes toward the white stone table.

Hyosetsu glanced around at the café. Thankfully, there weren't that many people around. "It's best that we save that for later. We don't want people misinterpreting stuff."

"Yeah," his younger brother said. He smiled. "Anyway, we should really pick our drinks out."

"You know me, I like tea better than coffee." He glanced up at the menu. "Though, it appears that they lack valerian tea."

"Valerian tea? Isn't that usually taken when one needs sleep or is in pain?" Onami asked.

"Brother takes it so that he can sleep better. Though he's a night owl," Kohri said, laughing.

"I'm not a night owl," Hyosetsu said.

"You are too! You don't think that I know that you stay up to read until the first rays?"

The older brother scoffed. "That's only when the book I'm reading is too good to put down."

"Then you must have a lot of good books," Kohri said, grinning.

"So, you're a book worm," I said.

Hyosetsu narrowed his eyes at me. "What about it?"

I laughed nervously. "N-nothing is wrong with it." He's scary.

"There you are!" a lady called out. I froze at the sound of the woman's words. I had heard that voice back when I was still in the cell.

I glanced at Onami and saw that she was also shaking.

The two of us looked over our shoulders, expecting her behind us. Thankfully, she wasn't. Instead, the blue-haired woman in a tight qipao took a seat at a table near the entrance.

"It's The Dragoness! We had to get out of here," I whispered. Though we would need to find another exit first.

"The Dragoness?" Kohri asked.

"I think she's the leader of the kidnappers. Either way, it's dangerous here."

Kohri took out the hammer that was strapped to his belt and strode forward.

Hyosetsu held out a hand, stopping him from advancing further toward the woman. "Don't do anything rash, Kohri." The older brother narrowed his eyes at the woman as she took a seat at a table.

Across from the woman sat a man with long crimson hair. Underneath his eyes were red markings, which reminded me of a fox mask that Dad brought back from one of his tours.

"Why did you wish to meet here, Margaret?" the man asked.

The Dragoness snickered. "What? Is this place not to your liking, Akinari? Anyway, brought with me a special somebody."

Akinari looked around. "Who?"

Suddenly, a gray haired boy jumped up and covered the man's eyes. "Guess who!"

"Sato, I know it's you," Akinari said, snickering.

The boy uncovered the man's eyes and jumped off the chair. "Hmm, probably shouldn't have spoken," the boy said as he pulled up a seat at their table.

"You need to not give yourself away," Akinari said, patting the boy's head.

The boy poured. "Can you not do that, Dad?"

I gasped. Was that boy their son? It felt odd to see a woman who would imprison and sell kids spend time with her own.

"Alright," Akinari said, letting go of Sato's head. He turned his eyes toward Margaret. "Was this the reason you had me come here? You could've brought Sato to my place."

"Oh, a change of scenery wouldn't hurt. Plus, I wanted to have Sato train his ice powers in this heat."

The boy crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't see why when I'm already super strong. You said that my attacks were super chilly."

"Well, it won't hurt to make them stronger. You're already above those your age, but compared to us adults, you're nothing," Margaret said.

Sato huffed. "I bet that one day I will be able to defeat you two."

"Maybe your dad, but it'll take millions of years for you to surpass me."

"I did say one day!"

"Someone sure is getting worked up today," a blond young man said as he made his way toward the three.

"Why are you here?" Sato asked, narrowing his eyes at the new arrival.

"Hey, I was invited to this family reunion too."

"Are Audrey and the others here too?"

"Audrey is, but not the others."

"So, where is he?" Sato asked, glancing around the café. He gasped as he noticed a raven-haired waiter making his way over to them.

"Hey there," the waiter said, waving.

"Audrey? What's with the get-up?" the blond guy asked.

"I'm working here," he said, swinging a towel over his shoulder. "Now, what would you like to order?"

"Why?" Akinari asked.

He sighed. "Just thought that it'll be an interesting experience is all. Plus, it allows me to be close to..." He suddenly turned and glanced at us. "Oh, seems that some kids would like to order something. I'll be right back."

I gulped. I had thought about waiting them out instead of getting up and running but seemed that the latter was the better strategy.

Onami and I jumped out of our seats and rushed off.

"Huh? You aren't ordering anything?" the waiter asked, confused.

"Maybe next time!" Kohri yelled as he ran after us.

"Oh, okay. Just let me know. Sorry that I took so long to get to you."

"It's fine!" Kohri said as we neared the entrance.

"Shut up Kohri and keep walking. We need to hurry up and find Mom," Hyosetsu said, pushing him.

Margaret smirked as she swung her head back just as Onami and I were passing her. "Good job escaping, kids. However, you never truly will be free. I marked you. So I know where you are and what you're doing."

***

[ 'Present'}

I gasped as I opened my eyes. Why did I dream about that?

"A-are you okay?" a voice called out.

I blinked and noticed that Camila stood at the side.

I glanced around and noticed that I was on a white mattress with a canopy as red as Kohri's hair.

"Why am I here?" I asked.

She lowered her head. "You fell asleep at the stairs. I-I couldn't just leave sleeping on the steps. What if you fell over?"

I narrowed my eyes. "I wouldn't have. I'm used to it by now." I gasped. "Wait, did you carry me all the way here by yourself?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I-I thought that it would be harder, but you were surprisingly light. Uh, no offense."

I scoffed. "None taken. My fighting style requires me to be lightweight."

"Oh, I see."

I pushed myself up. "That said, next time, leave me in the steps. I don't like the idea of people moving me around while I'm unconscious."

"O-okay." She turned around. "I'll be going now. I left you some fresh clothes in the bathroom."

I tilted my head at her. "Why are you doing this? What's your plan?"

"I-I got no plan!" she said, turning back around. "I-it's just, you're one of my brother's allies."

I tried not to laugh as I recalled my biggest interaction with the Gun Knight. "I am not worthy of your assistance if that's why you're helping me. I treated your two oldest brothers and older sister badly."

"Ki told me about that."

"Did she now?"

She nodded. "S-she said to be careful around you, as you hate us Makkuroyama due to our ties to the Kasai no Ki."

"Indeed I do."

"W-we aren't all the same as my cousins and grandparents. Hide loves this country and so do I."

"What about the others?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think that they hate it either. Apart from Amun, my younger siblings don't have much of an idea."

I smiled. "Your stutter is gone. Dante's stutter also vanished whenever he got worked up."

Her face reddened slightly. "I-is that so?"

"Yeah." I took a deep breath. "You don't seem like a bad girl, but I can't bring myself to trust your people. Not after what Riley's dad did, and most recently what your cousin Reno did. He helped the enemy kill my teammates."

"Reno killed your teammates?"

I looked down. "Yes. You see, I used to be a member of Team Setsuko. A few days ago went on an expedition with Serrano to Abyssia. Only a few came out alive. Most of them were killed by the fox, Satoru, but there were also a couple who were killed by Roa and Reno according to Serrano."

I curled my hands into fists. If only I had gone with them, then I could've prevented it.

"One of them had a son who looked up greatly to his father. Since Setsuko had gone off to Abyssia to recover Serrano, it fell on me to report on his death."

Camila gasped. "Naoru, you're crying."

I allowed the tears to continue flowing. "Seeing the boy's smile break reminded me of when I got the news about my father."

I gasped as I felt a pair of arms wrapped around my head. Camila didn't say a word as she continued to hug me.

My face turned red as I was pulled toward her giant chest. I pulled away. "Please don't do that," I said, turning away.

"Sorry."

Suddenly, an explosion shook the house.

"What was that?" I asked, standing up.

"I don't know, but I'm going to go see!" she said, rushing toward the door. I grabbed her arm. "Wait, it might be dangerous! Stay behind me."

"O-okay!"

I slowly opened the door and peered outside. Light smoke had reached the floor we were on.

"Naoru!" voice shouted out. It was Eita.

I ran down faster and saw that he was engaged in battle with a gray-haired man in a fox mask. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn't quite place what it was.

"W-who is that?" Camila asked, hugging my left arm.

"I'm not sure, but I'll soon find out. Transform your angel tool and be on guard. You might have to fight."

Camila grabbed her white rosary and gulped. "I-I'm not much of a fighter, but I'll try my best."

The man turned his head toward us and fired off a beam of ice from his right hand.

**Solar Note: Thoughts on Naoru's (and Onami's) backstory thus far?**