Chasing Dreams (Dropped)

Chapter 13: Untouched Feelings

"You said you wanted to talk about something important right?"

Suzume's curious blue eyes glanced over to see Ren's nonchalant smile. The boy placed his hands behind his head and stared up at a sign on top of a hut "I do but we can worry about that later"

"For the time being let's just enjoy ourselves."

Suzume's smile dwindled slightly as she puffed her cheeks and began to pout, similar to that of a child.

"What's with that face?" Ren questioned, beginning to let out a light laugh.

"Nothing"

Ren began to laugh awkwardly as the two made their way through the festival.

People across Vermillion City have gathered to take part in the culture festival. Due to Vermillion City having the second largest population of heroes in the US we have different people born from different places across the world that come here.

This is also the one time during the entire year where people can be themselves.

There were several stands throughout the several streets that the festival occupied. Each one demonstrating a game, or even a cultural food that the individual felt proud of.

Ren peered over to Suzume to see stream of drool making its way out from her mouth.

Ren's nose quivered reacting to the variety of scents emitted from each dish that the shops had to offer. His eyes seemed distant and gave her an empty stare as thoughts ran rampant throughout his mind.

"I guess she wasn't joking about her mom being strict on how much she was allowed to eat..."

"Big brother!"

Ren quickly snapped out of his trance reacting to the young voice he heard in the distance. He turned to see Nyssa running towards him with tears in her eyes.

He slid back as the young child crashed into him denying a bit of pain through his already sore body. His wrist trembled a bit from the pain, and Suzume looked over noticing the large bruises that were hidden beneath his long sleeves.

"Renji.."

The boy noticed her stare and pulled them down and helped Nyssa up "Nyssa what are you doing here? I thought you went home with Erica?"

The child shook her head and continued to cry and mutter things that the two couldn't even understand.

"Nyssa we aren't going to be able to help you unless if you calm down" Suzume explained. Her tone was soft and had a mellow feel to it, enough to soothe anyone.

The young girl's wails began to subdue being replaced with light sniffles. "There there you are such a strong girl for doing this Nyssa. I'll make sure to buy you a toy later for how brave you are."

Ren continued to watch Suzume interact Nyssa, and her kind nature come to the surface. The way how she pet her head and even spoke reminded him of his sister.

"You want to become a hero one day right? You can't do that if you continue to cry all the time. Wipe those tears away and show the world how strong you've become, and one day I'm sure you'll be able to save everyone."

As his sisters words echoed in his head, his lips grew and formed a massive smile.

"I'll show you Natsumi that everything you've worked for wasn't wasted on me"

"Nyssa, where is Erica?" Ren asked once more, this time he tried to mimic the tone that Suzume had done.

The moss haired girl looked from left to right and spoke in a baby like voice "I-I'm not sure...mama and I were playing a game, but mama lost so the shop owner said I couldn't have the dragon toy."