"You guys really are going?" Shouto asked Katsuki, Eijirou, and Yuuki, he will miss them for sure; there's not much people who will treat him differently like these three; they've treated the prince like they would a normal person. They were the first people to tell him he did wrong when he did do wrong, they're not like the people who sucked up to him no matter what wrong he did. He wished they could stay for longer but he will not stop them from doing what they wanted. "Be careful on your journey. I will remain here and take care of things." He gently pulled Michiyo to him and he held her hand, "I will protect Michiyo here."
Yuuki smiled warmly at the way Shouto was treating Michiyo. "Michiyo, take care of yourself."
Michiyo looked very sad. She was so sad at the thoughts of them parting. She hugged Yuuki and she cried.
"Silly, we will be back. The next time I come back, you can greet me with a feast."
"Hm. I-I'm not going to go back to the way I was. When you return, I will be happy. I'm going to learn about Magic and hopefully...maybe...maybe you will train me."
Yuuki nodded and she decided to do a pinky promise with Michiyo. Michiyo was happy to do just that and the two made a promise in front many eyes.
"Make sure to come back, Yuuki-san."
"Once you find out more about the red jewel, come back and tell me about it. See this place as your home too." Shouto said to Yuuki.
"We will!"
It was time to go. Eijirou transformed himself into a humongous dragon and he let Yuuki and Katsuki get on his back. He flapped his wings twice, lifting off into the air.
"Make sure to come back! Goodbye for now!"
Michiyo waved them goodbye as the tears flowed. She met some good people, she's happy to be alive even though the love of her life disappeared. No, Touya hasn't disappeared...he's by her side in Magic and in her memories. "I have to live and carry on."
"Hm?" Shouto looked at her to see a will to live in her blue eyes. He loved the look in her eyes the most.
"I'm going to live and continue with my life. I need to stay alive in order to keep the best memories of Touya alive. Will you go forward with me, Shouto?"
"Of course."
Just like the three who took their steps onto their own path of life, Shouto and Michiyo will do the same for their own path of life. Their paths may cross again someday. Who knows?
They've decided to go to was Somewhole Village first and tell the people there of their adventures. Katsuki said he wanted to see if the people there were doing fine even without them there. He heard from Shouto that Momo and Tenya made sure new guards and new tax collectors were placed there to keep an eye on things from Suzu City.
"Wow~! From up here, the sheeps look like clouds~! Tell you something Master! I used to think sheeps are cloud!"
"Did you now? And why are they on the ground now?" He's not seriously asking, he's just asking because he wanted to see where her stupid mind will take this conversation.
"They're down here now because they're hungry! They need to eat! That's why we have cloudless sky sometimes! Because everyone came down to eat! And when we have a lot of clouds, they're not hungry anymore!"
"What about when the clouds are gray?"
"They're not washed."
"What about rain?"
"They're peeing."
"Hail?"
"They're shitting."
"Wow..." 'She really is stupid, she's not even pretending.' He thought to himself. What else? "What about thunder and storm?"
"They're angry."
"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"
"Hee~!" Yuuki happily pressed the side of her head against his shoulder. She's excited about their next adventure, she wondered what they will encounter and what people they will meet next.
Once they've landed near Somewhole Village, Eijirou reverted back to his human form. The three of them ran to make their way to the village.
Everyone was so happy to see them. The children were the first to announce the three of them were back. The adults, the elderly, everyone were happy to see they're back.
"Shut the fuck up, you're all too fucking loud!" His words may be foul, but he was happy to see the others were doing fine. He still remember how they being oppressed by bad people so it was good to see them doing well for themselves.
"There it is! Katsuki's foul mouth! I miss it!" The adults were glad to see they're back safely. Without them, Somewhole had been quiet, wholesome, and peaceful. They've been telling Katsuki that trade had been well, the merchants really like the milk from here and had been coming back and forth almost every day.
However, just like there's greetings and partings, some people had passed away while they're gone. Some of the elderly passed away peacefully...one of them was the elder of the village.
Katsuki went to put a flower onto his grave.
"He was a good guy." Yuuki said, also putting a flower down, "Master..."
"He was old and almost look like he will drop dead when I first saw him. We did what we did for him and he get to live with his family in the very end."
Yuuki smiled and she nodded, "You're right!"
And just like how there's death, there's life. Some of the women had given birth before their arrival and they wanted the three of them to see their babies.
Eijirou was holding a baby, he was a little nervous about it at first but the baby seemed comfortable with him.
"So cute~!" Yuuki poked at the baby's cheek and the baby babbled and grabbed her finger with their tiny little hand. "D'aww~!"
The mother of the baby chuckled, "If you like a baby so much, you and Eijirou-kun should make one together."
"Eh?!" Eijirou nearly dropped the baby! "I-I- uhh...! Um...Y-Yuuki and I are not...Yuuki say something!"
"Our children will be beautiful."
"Y-Yuuki?!"
"Hah! Do you even know how to make babies?!" Katsuki laughed at Yuuki.
"Bah! You don't look like you can satisfy women!"
"What did you say, you stupid-ass wolf?!"
Yuuki made a run for it, getting away from explosions after explosions. Eijirou watched the two of them run away and he sighed with a small smile; there were things that will change and things that will not change. Either way, they're ready to face the difficult things together...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was time to leave Somewhole Village. They decided to go to Suzu City and see if they could gather clues about the red jewel that could let a normal person use Magic.
"Wow~!" Yuuki had never been to Suzu City before so she was excited about every little thing she was seeing. So many people put out stalls to sell their goods! This was a city where one could buy anything if they look hard enough! Yuuki wanted to buy everything but she was dragged back by Katsuki!
"Stupid wolf! You are NOT to leave my side whatsoever!" Handling a pet like a bad owner, Katsuki was being rough with her yet again.
"Why not?!" She cried, wanting to buy a toy frog that stuck its tongue out like a real one if you squeeze its stomach.
"You're not using the gold given to us to buy shit!"
"I don't need to buy shit! We already make them for free!"
"Why you-!" He hates it when she answers back in such a clever way. Why does she do this? Does she think he will not beat her when she does that?
"Can you two calm down? Pretty please? Katsuki, everyone is looking..." The only voice of reason was Eijirou but his voice of reason was useless against Yuuki and Katsuki for very obvious reasons! "Guys! Come on, Katsuki, don't kill her!"
And speaking of attention, they DID get attention...but definitely not from good people!
"Hya! No fair! You took my fair of money! Noo! Master, please don't do this to me! Even though we do this and that together! And I even do that thing that you like so much at night!" The men in the crowd blushed at the last part! Some of them were whispering how Katsuki was so lucky!
"Stop saying things that will make people jump to conclusion, you stupid wolf!" That thing he liked Yuuki do for him at night was just a simple shoulder massage. "I've took your money, you can't buy stupid shit with it now. Come on, Eijirou, let's find a good inn."
"What about Yuuki?" When he pointed at Yuuki, she's lying on the floor throwing a tantrum.
"Leave her. She will catch up later."
"R-right." Eijirou followed Katsuki, "Yuuki, find us later!"
"Wahhh!!! You two are so mean! I hate you! I am the heroine of this story, how dare you treat me like I am just a side character! Wahhh!!!"
"Is it REALLY okay to leave her like that?" Eijirou asked to make sure the decision to leave her was final.
"Leave her. She WANTS you to pay attention to her and we should not fall for it. This city is full of people from all over the country because of its ease to trade. We should be able to hear about a lot of info here and there."
"I see!"
"But why can't we head to Meiun Island right away?"
"Because there is something I want to confirm."
"That is?"
"The relationship between normal people and Magic Users."
Back with Yuuki, she's no longer throwing a tantrum. She got up and she began to wander around the city to look for Katsuki and Eijirou. Where did they go? Where did they say they will be again?
"Geez, Master is so mean! I have no money on me! A beautiful girl with no money wandering in a city alone is just asking for trouble..." She was walking while looking left, right, and even turning around so many times that she didn't even notice she had bumped into someone. "Oof!" She would have fell down but the man she bumped into held her by her shoulders. I'm sorry..."
"No need." The man with messy indigo-colored hair said to her, "Did I hurt you?"
"You didn't hurt me at all-" Yuuki couldn't finish her sentence because she was brainwashed. Her eyes went wide and she couldn't control her body at all.
"Good. I wouldn't want to hurt you. You can accompany me for a while though." Hitoshi put his arm around Yuuki's shoulders before walking off with her. What will he do to Yuuki?! He took her to a back alley where he met up with his other ally.
"Hitoshi, who is that?"
"The next target. Why don't we go and give them a greeting, Phantom Thief?"