Eyes wide, mouth slightly parted, and tail wagging, Ren stands in complete silence, as with the group that just came out from the cart next to his.

  He scans their eyes one by one. One purely black eye staring with its emotionless baggage, belonging to a Doppelganger that are seemingly chopped in half. A pair of pink and gold, just as flabbergasted as his own blues. Then he sees a pair of bright green, a hint of relief glistening within, yet Ren still could see a little bit of bitterness mixed in.

  Then, his eyes meet a pair of purples, overloaded with joy as their owner run towards him.

  Azayaka tackles Ren to the ground with a big hug. In which he flails his arms about in panic.

  "Whoa- A-Aza! What are you-"

  "Just shut up and hug me back."

  He shuts his mouth, eyes widening for a brief moment. Then he sighs, accepting her hug with his own. As his tail wiggles below his body and his ears quiver with excitement, he deepens his embrace, whispering to her ear, "Miss you too, Aza."

  As the two continues their meet and greet, Kai pats the Chief's shoulder, catching her attention, "Does that mean we can go home now?"

  "What!?" Amura immediately retorts, "We've just arrived here! What do you mean 'go home'!?"

  "I suppose one of our objectives has been fulfilled. But that's just one. We have other things to do here," She hums before answering, "Besides, I've already paid for the five-star hotel. Such money shouldn't be allowed to go to waste, correct?"

  To that, Amura sighs in relief, "Thank god... This vacation ain't over..."

  "Mind you, if you don't contribute to any work, I'll just send you back immediately."

  Kai immediately turns back to her, giving her a smirk.

  "Haah... Fine! Fine! It's not like I'm that useless..."

  Meanwhile, Yuu is fixated to the sight of the two hugging on the station's concrete. A seething sight for him, yet still, he is... relieved, that he's here in one piece.

  Soon enough, the two finishes their hug and stand up. As the Fox approaches the group, Yuu averts his eyes away, crossing his arms as he shakes his wings.

  But that Fox manages to enters his sight, side-stepping himself to arrive in front of him, "So, you good?" He asks, his pursed lips giving him a smile.

  "I guess," Yuu simply answers as he refuses any eye contact with him.

  "How about the Knights? They treating you well?"

  Yuu raises a corner of his lips as he huffs, "For reference, that pink haired bitch tied me on a pole then tried to roast me," With a slight blaze of anger in his eyes, he furrows his brow at Ren.

  "So... Is that an expression or is that literal?"

  "Did I stutter?"

  Ren slouches forward, sighing to himself, "Right... But don't worry! That's just how she greets most people. In fact, she gave me a dragon pepper-filled bread when we first met. So... Yeah, can relate."

  "Hmph," Yuu turns his back, refuting his eye-contact.

  "Look, I'm trying to be friendly here, asshole. So can't you at least look at me when I talk to you?"

  Ren's attempt to lighten up the tension between him and the Archangel falls short, thus from beside him, Azayaka steps in and grabs both of their hands.

  "C'mon, you two. Just chill," She then directs both of their hands towards each other's, "Or atleast, start with a handshake."

  To that, both men refuses to look at the opposition's eyes as they shake each other's hand with a seething huff.

  "There you go. This is just the start, but I'm sure this'll lead..." Azayaka then glances back and forth between the two, seeing both still unable to process each other, "Somewhere."

-----

  The sky is now black, the dotting stars blinking in and out of the blue space. The wind let itself be known, brushing against the skin with its cold kiss. As the first branch moves their way through the concrete street of Nami Island's seaside city, the colorful, sparkling lights of the vacation-filled island lit the background, as if there's a giant disco ball up between the clouds.

  On their right is the island's vacation city, filled with hotels and malls, also towering neon buildings decorated with intricately oriental structures and glamorous outlets, though there's not a single residential lot to be seen. While on their right is the sea, free and open, bringing in their wind as the moon reflects its light onto the waves. A striking contrast to the reverberant glow of the vacation city.

  Keeping herself distracted by the ocean's blues as she moves forward with the group, Azayaka hasten her steps to approach Ren, before nudging his elbow lightly, "So, Ren. What exactly happened when you were with... him? Did... Did he do something to you?" She asks, her last words coming out wrapped in quite the concern.

  Noticing the off-ness of her tone, Ren chuckles, putting a hand behind his neck, "Well... I don't know exactly what happened. Or what he did to me for that matter... But..." His eyes widen at his realization, or the lack of it.

  I'm still trying to find out too.

  "I guess he just gave me a tattoo? I don't know..." Telling the partial truth in his quiet words, Ren takes a glance to her, seeing her lost in her thoughts, staring at the concrete as she walks. But what can he do about it?

  Sorry... Aza... Don't know how you would react to the full detail...

  "Wait, did you know where you were last kept?" She turns to him, her eyes bright again as if forgeting his last answer.

  "Um... I think it's somewhere on the center of the island? But, getting back there might be tough. There's literally no people living there. It's all just a bunch of forests."

  "So... how'd you escape in the first place?"

  "Oh, you know... Some..." I really don't know, "Luck. I guess."

  Azayaka then furrows her brow, she turns back towards the ocean, back to the waves of her thoughts.

  Meanwhile, walking in front of the pair is another walking side by side, one of striking opposites. With his arms hugged tightly by his Amura, Kai looks to his right, raising an eyebrow at the sight, "Why are there so many people on the beach? Is it some sort of a festival happening?" He mentions as he looks towards the vast and wide, pearly-sand beach. Its whole length is filled with tents, food-stands and carnival attractions. Each of them seem to have lots of flowery decorations with plenty of colorful flowers growing in each corners of their spaces. Petunias, dahlias, sunflowers, the kinds of flowers that bloom on summer.

  The people, men or women alike also wear some sort of white, puffy robes. Those robes are often decorated with real, living greeneries, often blooming ones that continuously spreads their petals everywhere the people go.

  "Look at those clothes... I wanna wear em'! Darling, let's go check it out after we get to the hotel!" Amura squeezes Kai's arms, in which he responds with a huff.

  The new sight distracts Azayaka of from the sea of her thoughts, causing her to reach a different memory, "Wait... This is... The Faeruditian Festival."

  "What's it about?" Ren asks, glancing to her.

  "It's to celebrate the birth of the first Summer Fae."

  Ren wiggles an ear, his curiousity asking her a trivia, "Oh, if there's one for the Summer Faes. Are there any festival for the Dark Faes, then?"

  Azayaka hums, her eyes fixated to observing the festival, "No... I don't think so. There's just so little of us now, and I don't think the other kinds of Faes care," Then she looks back at Ren, giving her own question, "Wait, actually, do you know any Dark Fae beside me?"

  "Um... There's that one gi-" Shit. I shouldn't tell her that there's another her running around on this island, "A-Actually, no I was thinking of someone else..."

  She raises an eyebrow, tilting her head as she moves herself closer to him.

  "Well... there's your dad. He's a Dark Fae."

   She gives him a dead-panned look with her cheeks puffed, "Doesn't count."

  "How bout your mom? She's a Dark Fae."

  "Well... She's..." Her hanging word leaves her in silence, her eyes fixating forward, "She's..." though she ends her thought with a click of her tongue before continuing, "Anyways, my point is, I think my family is the last remaining Dark Faes in this world. Kinda sad, don't you think?"

  Ren folds his ears back. That statement surely weights a lot. Ren can't imagine being the last of the Kitsunes, so he answers with unsureness, "Well, that sucks... Ya' gotta have to make some more then, am I right?"

  To that, she turns to him with widened eyes, in which he does the same.

  Make... More?

  Both look away with a faint blush, though Azayaka keeps her close distance with him, their hands almost touching.

  "S-Sorry... That was hella weird..." Ren tries to keep their distance, but Azayaka moves closer, till eventually her finger touches the tip of his.

  "Well, if I do have to make more..." She pauses for a second, before braving herself to look at him with a pursed smile, "I'll make them with you." 

  And just like that, they repeat their prior reaction.

  "That's even weirder. Sorry," Azayaka mentally punches her guts as she hides her tomato-face.

  "Enough! Have some goddamned space..." Lurking farthest from the group's back, Yuu reminds. His glare stinging Ren away from Azayaka.

  Even then, they're still walking side by side, their movement in rhythm alongside each other. Sure, they are not quite used to being this close again, but seeing them act like... This. It makes Yuu grits his teeth. It doesn't help that seconds after, Ren nudges her again with a slight chuckle, Azayaka then responding with her own, before they both falls deep into another conversation Yuu can't focus on.

  He immediately grabs the silver collar around his neck, his wings shaking and vibrating as he tries to loosen it. But it's no use, for his fingers would burn everytime he tries to bruteforce it away. Now, he could only watches from behind, helpless as the pain of being put aside bites his head off.

  Aza... If he's here now... Do you not need me anymore?

  "And... Here we are... Hotel Del'Amour. Quite the fancy name, as expected from a five-star hotel."

  To the Chief's announcement, Yuu actually looks to his front, instead of focusing at the pair. He realizes that there's already a skyscraping building standing erected in front of him, its windows and giant nameplate are outlined with neon-pink lights, contrasting its dark marbles that make up its walls. With that, Yuu facepalms himself. He then sighs as he pinches his temple, as his eyes narrow at the sight of the Fox.

  "Let us rest here until tomorrow. Then we should get back to our investigation," The Chief announces again before turning to face her group.

  "Can you put our stuff in our room, Chief? I wanna check out that festival with my darling~" Amura slides her briefcase towards the Chief, the latter staring at it momentarily before snapping back at Amura.

  "You do truly realize that we're not here for a vacation, right? A rest should be mandatory in order for the next day to come along smoothly."

  "Ugh, I know... It's just... I can't miss out on a chance to have a romantic beach date with my darling! So... Please? Pretty pwease?" Her words prompt Kai to rolls his eyes as he grunts.

  The Chief keeps herself silent for a second, before tilting her head as she answers, "Fine. But just for today. If any of you get distracted tomorrow or the day after, I will send you back immediately."

  "You hear that?" Azayaka glances to Ren with a smile, "Wanna check it out?"

  "Sure! Sounds fun!" He replies with his knuckles on his waists, his tail wagging in excitement.

  Azayaka then turns around to face Yuu, approaching him with her same smile, "Wanna come with?"

  Yuu purses his lips, balling up his fists before letting them go with a sigh, "No. It's fine... Just... Just go with him."

  At those words, Ren perks his ears as he puts his hands on hips, "C'mon, dude," Ren answers in her stead, "You don't want to be left alone, right?"

  Azayaka glances to Ren then back at Yuu, before she grabs hold of the Archangel's hand, "That's right," She smiles, prompting him to look at her, "It'll be fun too."

  Yuu widens his eyes for a slight second. Her smile being the only thing keeping him awake. So, he brushes the black hair covering his forehead, before answering with a slight blush as he averts his eyes elsewhere, "Fine. I'll come."

-----