The Demonears, as well as their mentor safely made their way back home. Turns out, the scorching sun's heat was pretty much enough to dry out their damp layers of clothes, which seemed to be a strange wake-up call for both Morio and Jyuzou, who, up until now, bore the same jackets, cloaks and overalls since the Star Sun Cave.

They were regularly winded during the night, or washed by Olala, who was also responsible for doing such after today's fiasco, but it didn't seem the two from Mistwick were even eager to put them on again in the first place. Morio complained about how humid the fortress was but found himself wrapped in his and Jyuzou's stolen sheets during the night.

Olala wandered into another room downstairs, dimly lit, but warm and cosy. She stretched her hands before sitting down on a stool and digging through the pile she carried. "Ugh," she muttered, finding a fish somehow stuck in one of the handpockets.

She sneaked her hands deeper, trying to locate endpoints and separate them. She slid a tool with her foot, resembling a big drying rack combined with a brush. She sunk the item inside and began scrubbing. "Is that matsa?"

Matsa was a cream used to coat bamboo, especially during lunch, giving it a tomato-like taste. It was thick and dense, and even water couldn't seem to wash it off, so it's good as either a snack for a long trip or bad for those who can't eat like normal people. Genni's that person.

Clothing by clothing, three soon passed, and her eyes landed on Morio's Talia cloak, which, strangely enough, seemed to have already fully dried out. Furthermore, it was spotless, putting down the tool she examined the material further, her fingers touching something she hadn't ever experienced before.

She flipped the cloak around, looking inside, spotting a warm beige pattern dancing around jagged brown lines, which stuck out much like sewing points.

"Are you done?" Koyote's voice sounded, as the other woman walked into the wooden room. Her hat, which she rarely took off almost hit the oval paper lamp that hung from above.

"It's going along pretty well," Olala answered, nodding, with a straight expression. Hesitantly, she put the cloak down and picked up Jyuzou's jacket.

"There's no need to hurry," Koyote shook her head. Both palms travelled and found themselves under the coils of black hair. Next, her fingers landed on the bandages wrapped around her face, untying them from behind.

Koyote blinked. "What?" she turned to Olala, who snuck a glance earlier.

"Your face is scarred again."

"Obviously. I don't need a mirror to notice pain." Koyote snickered.

"Did someone attack you?"

"I'd call it a fair trade of power. Although, it was I that won." she smiled, lightly. "So not fair."

Olala stood up, breathing out. She moved closer, as some blood managed to escape the dried-out wounds. "Do you want me to-"

"I know how to take care of my wounds, Olala." Koyote moved back, shaking her hand. "Besides, your treatment always takes time, and I still have things to tend to. Mentor duties, as well as things that I planned to do earlier." her plans involved eating superbread and looking at the various paintings in the fortress. After all, they were handpicked by her during the night auctions a few years ago. Five for five hundred Pies, ten for eight hundred.

Unfortunately, auctions never accepted returns. They seemed ugly at first but grew on her eventually.

"It's a busy life, after all."

Olala sighed, and nodded, as there was nothing else to do. Koyote strolled around the small room, searching for her usual stuff, applying a bit of the soapy water on her wounds and wrapping a new, white bandage around her face, which now fully covered her mouth, and one eye.

"I feel like you're giving yourself too much." Olala clenched one fist.

"That's why I'm asking for your help in lots of things."

"Is it enough, though? If he was here, maybe he'd-"

"I don't want you to talk about Bancho," Koyote said.

Olala ground her teeth. "He'd lend a great hand to the both of us," she whispered. "He knows them better than we do."

"Two days have barely passed," she informed. "Everyone will learn with a bit of..." she stopped. "Don't make me say it."

Olala wanted to chuckle, but something stopped her.

"Not my hero, Olala," Koyote added, stepping out of the room. "Why do people always talk about the dead as if they were still here?"

Olala breathed in, and then carefully, with a collected expression, continued her earlier task.

Koyote put both hands into her pockets, strolling through the wooden corridor and towards the stairs leading to the upper parts. She spotted Olala's stern expression through the foggy window.

"Warriors die. Poets die." Koyote stepped. "Who was Bancho to defy that rule, Olala? Kings and queens perish as well, but Bancho wasn't a king." she looked up at the clear skies.

As for the Morians, the rest of the day consisted of lying down and complaining about joint pains, covering small wounds, or acting like they were the most treacherous scars. Mind you, Morio had an open hole in his stomach and lived, although, you could argue on Jyuzou's side, who once made a big deal out of his bleeding finger. Lunch came and only three of the four Morians were there to eat it, as Ingo was nowhere to be found.

Genni wanted to step out and search for her friend, but Koyote's distant gaze constantly reminded her without a word to stand back. Eventually and fortunately for her, with an empty stomach, Ingo showed up right around dinnertime and before they were to head to bed.

Moving on from dinner, the four went back to their rooms.

Morio was, undoubtedly, exhausted, immediately rolling into bed with a snore, while Jyuzou wasn't as tired. With thoughts dancing around here and there, he tried remaining calm by picking up a story he once read when younger. Well, Victoria did, and he eagerly listened.

It was this long book about a faraway castle and a family of people who never knew they were royals in the first place. In this magical world, royalty meant power, which seemed a little on the nose, albeit, still fun.

Squinting his eyes, he couldn't help but notice how inconsistent the story was. Plot points didn't make sense, characters were severely underdeveloped, and he could easily pinpoint the obvious signs that some plot twists were to happen.

"Morio?" he whispered.

"M-m." Morio shook his head.

"Are you asleep?"

"Stupid," Morio muttered through his dreams.

"Back to you, idiot." Jyuzou took a few steps back before stepping out of his room and into the hall. Craving some release from these thoughts, he wandered into the main hall and spotted a figure in the distance, sitting atop a few rocky formations, overlooking Omer Narrows while sketching or scribbling on something sat on their lap. With a gulp, he moved forward.

He wandered downstairs, finding nothing, then back up again and through the bridge. He wasn't the greatest of navigators, but Morio was already elsewhere, so he did have to rely on himself.

Finally, after about thirty minutes of getting lost, he climbed up the few rocks, meeting the person atop.

"Genni?" Jyuzou asked, gasping.

The girl in question quickly turned, holding a stick with a piece of charcoal at its end. "J-Jyuzou." she quickly seemed to lighten up.

"I'm guessing then, t-that you can't sleep as well." Jyuzou scratched the back of his head, sitting next to the Haran-Morian.

"Not really. I am tired, but it's always been a ritual for me to write down everything that happened during the day." she chuckled a bit, passing the big brown book into Jyuzou's hands. "Take a look."

"I get that. Some parts of the day get drawn out because they might seem so exciting." he skipped through the text, and, surprisingly, it was only now that he concluded how clear and organized her writing was. Vocabulary? Something to be jealous of and the way certain things connected seemed strangely genius. Even if things seemed grim and deadly earlier, the way she put it into strangely optimistic words made him reconsider his stance for a bit, almost as if too kind to be true. "But why here, of all places?"

"It's hard to find that moment when Ingo is around. Even if he doesn't say anything, his pressure alone feels like a heavy burden, especially now." she scratched her palm "I want to ask him what's going on, but it always ends the same way. He gets angry at first, then it slowly fades away, until he's back to his usual grumpy self."

"I don't think I'm in any position to ask what pulls you and him together."

"Why not? It's not necessarily an interesting story." she giggled.

"Could say the same for me and Morio. We were always just bound to be together." Jyuzou shook his head. "But you two differ from each other so greatly... like, how would you ever get along?"

"Ingo wasn't always like that, although still pretty similar. Either way, friendships form themselves from either complete differences or small similarities. I could say that you and me, we're friends from the latter. You and Morio? The former."

Jyuzou gulped. "It is a lot of p-pressure then, trying to find points where you connect."

"I already work hard enough each day, and I seem to pile myself up with more and more." she skipped through the wrinkled pages, the first few spotting dates as long ago as five years. She sighed, finally closing the book and stuffing it near her side, brushing sweat off her forehead. She blinked twice, before meeting Jyuzou's curious expression. "Do you dislike Morio?"

"No!" Jyuzou denied. "I mean. He's a little... no." he breathed out. "He's my friend."

"You'd go a long way for him. Then it doesn't seem as much of a burden." she bumped his shoulder, grinning, and Jyuzou beamed as well. "Much like friends, though, hard work works both ways."

Jyuzou stopped, listening to the wind chimes far away in the fortress. He looked at Genni, who curiously peered at him. "Oh my Shin, are we thinking about the same thing?"

"Huh. Today's challenge?" she beamed.

"No need to guess if our notions were so similar." he straightened. "What part of humanity is magic, damn it?"

"Exactly!" Genni clenched her fist.

"I'm not trying to side with Ingo but he was right." Jyuzou nodded.

"Totally. This especially comes from someone that can never match his strength."

"Tell me about it. Running laps around Morio isn't easy either. Hey, hard work." Jyuzou tried smiling. "It doesn't give us anything!"

"Hard work doesn't have to be rewarded," Koyote thought, standing beside the rock and out of sight.

Genni nodded. "We almost died and she treats us like it's every day that we end up tied to chains underwater!"

Jyuzou spoke up, "What was this challenge even for? What did we learn?"

"That sometimes life kicks you right where it hurts and there's nothing that you can do about it. You have to figure it out, and go through every possible scenario to ensure that nothing surprises you anymore." Koyote tipped her hat. "Telling you won't be good enough. You have to see it for yourself."

"Even taking our weapons away!" Genni raised her voice. "I sleep next to my boomerang and she just snatches it without warning! Is there a place where you'd go without your Guardian Demon?"

"Not anymore!" Jyuzou nodded.

"Exactly! Not anymore!" Genni reassured him.

Koyote closed her eyes.

"I wish she taught us to fight." Jyuzou gulped, covering his mouth for a moment. "There are so many things that make up a Demonear, and we're barely scratching the damn surface. Mr Bancho once told me of fear attacks or ultimate powers. What's up with learning that?" he counted.

"Magic, too!" Genni mentioned. "I tried asking, and she said she was too busy to answer."

"Do you expect to make some tasty soup without any water?" Koyote thought. "You have to learn the very basics first, and it seems that you're barely close to achieving that goal." she opened her eyes. "Bancho, am I right? What a hero he was to teach you, Jyuzou and Morio, and whoever's hands you landed in, Genni." she slid her hands into her pocket, taking the shining silver watch.

She looked up, hearing more constructive criticism, which essentially bashed Koyote for not taking the route the Demonears expected.

"I'll see you atop Mount Yosei at eight," Koyote abruptly announced. "Good luck, Demonears."

Jyuzou and Genni looked at each other.