Arcadia

Treasure Hunt!

"What's with this sudden change of pace?" asked Yura.

She slowly stepped forward until she was inches away from her classmate.

"Why are you doing this? I don't understand." Amaya looked down, gripping the chain barricade with her delicate fingers.

Yura simply chuckled at Amaya's question. Seeing this, the petite girl quickly snapped back. "Perhaps you have some ulterior motive behind this, like putting me in your debt."

"What makes you think that?" Yura's tone shifted to a more worried one. "Maybe that's why you can't sleep, am I right?"

Amaya did not reply, but her sylph's expression seem to be affirming Yura's question.

"Don't sweat it. Amaya, you'll be safe with us, if that's what you're worrying about."

Amaya kept quiet, then she spoke. "Is that so? I thought people only get close to each other for benefits. Everyone has their own selfish desires, and everyone else is just there to help them accomplish a goal."

Yura put her hands on top of both of Amaya's shoulders upon hearing that. While she was certainly not too pleased with the reply, somehow, she understood.

"Amaya, tell me something."

Amaya looked up at Yura. 

"You're a transfer student, right? What kind of place did you grow up in?"

Yura's question was dead serious, but Amaya can't get herself to answer. "That is something I cannot tell you. I'm sure you know how to respect my privacy, right?"

"Okay then..." Yura shrugged before continuing. "Anyway, as someone entrusted with protecting so many people in the city, I think I don't need any big motive to help you."

"Such an idealistic and naive worldview..." Amaya stopped. "Is that something you learned from your childhood? What was it like back then?"

"My childhood..." Yura pursed her lips in deep thought. "I've never thought about doing some reminiscing until now. Now that you mention it..."

Wait, something's wrong... Why can't I remember anything, now that I think about it?

Yura started acting restless, now putting her fingers over her mouth. She started tapping her feet on the ground and continued digging deeper, to no avail.

"I-I... don't know..." Yura's eyes widened in disbelief as she shook her head. "I can't remember anything beyond my life when I was ten. I only remember things within six years ago."

"Maybe someone directly interfered with your memory with magic."

Amaya's face had her standard emotionless look. Judging by her voice, she really meant what she said.

"W-what?"

"I am not sure, but that might have been the case. It is a high-level spell  came across in my studies called memory wipe. However, completely erasing ten years would require an extremely powerful caster."

"Let's just forget it. I don't think it would do us any good to dwell on it!" 

"I see... I think I now understand you and Leanne Sanchez better. You seem to be one who does not enjoy a lot of deep thinking, despite being normally introverted. Compared to Leanne Sanchez, you are more dutiful and detached to schoolwork. From her stories, I also found out that you are also easily embarrassed and flustered at times. Still, you find difficulty to say no in otherwise uncomfortable situations." 

"So... I guess you really like to play the analytic observer after all, huh?"

"Moving to Leanne Sanchez, she seems to be more enthusiastic and less self-conscious. She also prefers more boyish things like action comics, fantasy novels, and martial arts."