"Good morning, boys~! Did you guys have a good night's re—" (Y/N) cut herself off as she saw the sleep-deprived looks on her companions' faces, the bags under their eyes and the yawns coming out of their mouths making everything too obvious.
"A-Are you guys okay? Were the beds not comfortable enough? Or did you guys stay up all night to do something I didn't know about?" (Y/N) asked, tilting her head in confusion.
As soon as hearing the third question, the five boys immediately perked up, pretending that nothing was wrong.
"A-Ahahaha...! N-Nothing's wrong, princess! D-Don't worry...!" Haruto stammered, his smiling mouth twitching. The other boys only nodded vigorously, Kouta whistling a random tune which only raised the girl's suspicions.
(Y/N) placed her hands on her waist, raising an eyebrow in speculation. She stared at them for a few seconds before contorting her face into a wide smile.
"Is that so? Well, as long as you guys weren't doing something weird or dangerous last night, then I'm relieved! Now come, let's go get some breakfast, and we'll talk about our agenda for today~!" the (E/C)-eyed girl chirped, skipping towards the stairs of the inn, making her way down.
The five boys sighed in relief simultaneously. Boy, were they glad that (Y/N) was in a good mood this morning, because if not, they could only guess that she'd interrogate them until she would find out about their little 'competition' last night.
Soon after, the boys followed (Y/N) downstairs and after having a quick breakfast, the group gathered outside the inn to discuss the things that they would do for today.
"So I was thinking...we could go to the forest to get ourselves some magical items! We could even find things that might help us during our quests, right?" (Y/N) suggested.
Riku hummed in response. "We could also sell some items whenever we need the money."
"Yeah, that too!" (Y/N) beamed, making the red-haired male earn a small blush on his cheeks and look away.
"Shouldn't we stock up on potions first?" Shinobu suggested while playing with one of his shurikens.
"Oh, yeah!" (Y/N) agreed, then before she could take a step towards the city's streets, she made a glance towards the black-haired male. "Shinobu, please stop playing with that, you might get hurt."
Shinobu knew all too well that he won't get hurt since he's had years of experience handling the small weapon, but he obeyed her request anyway. He nodded and placed the shuriken back in one of his pockets.
(Y/N) smiled, and she set her sights forward again. "Onward~!!!"
Kouta seemed to have snapped out of his somewhat sleepy state once he heard the (H/C)-haired girl's announcement, then he perked up, regaining his usual energy again. "Ah, (Y/N)! Wait for me!!!" he exclaimed as he ran after (Y/N).
"You mean wait for us." Riku muttered under his breath, following behind in a passive pace. Katsumi only let out a small chuckle and Haruto pouted a bit, frustrated at the fact that his favorite member of the party went ahead of him. Shinobu stayed silent, and he stayed behind the other three boys, letting his mind wander off somewhere else for the time being.
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About an hour later, (Y/N) and the boys were finally done gathering some essential things that they may need in their little forest expedition.
The group stood in front of the forest's entrance, and there they were met with a man wearing some sort of park ranger's uniform.
"Excuse me, but are you travellers going to enter the forest?" the man asked.
"Yes, we are. Why do you ask?" (Y/N) answered.
"Ah, I see. Well, I'll have to see your Stampbooks and examine your belongings to make sure that you didn't bring anything that might be harmful to the forest's natural resources. We wouldn't want the precious items situated there to be damaged before they are claimed, after all." the man explained.
(Y/N) and the boys looked at each other, then they nodded at the man, giving him their Stampbooks and letting him check their bags and pockets. He then gave them multicolored bracelets.
"Um, what are these?" Haruto asked, examining the bracelet before putting in on his wrist.
"Ah, those bracelets are going to be helping you during your time inside the forest. They have special magic sensors and they can detect magical items nearby. These can also notify us staff whether you're in trouble or not. These can only be used within the forest's area though, and you'd have to return them to us after you're done." the man explained once again.
"I see, I see. Thank you, sir!" (Y/N) said as she then gestured for the boys to go inside the forest with her.
"Uwah~ this forest's pretty huge, isn't it?" Kouta remarked, looking around the lush greenery surrounding them. An idea then popped inside his head.
Kouta suddenly let out a loud yell, startling the others and causing some birds which were nestled in some of the trees to fly away because of the sudden noise. Riku then bashed his fist against Kouta's head, his eye twitching in irritation.
"Oi, you dumbass! Why did you do that!?" Riku asked the brown-haired Fighter who was crouching on the ground, clutching his head in pain.
"W-Well...I just wanted to test out if my voice will make an echo...haha..." Kouta sheepishly answered, which made Riku rub his temples.
"U-Um...Kouta-kun..." Katsumi called out. "E-Echos don't work in forests like this..." he said with a sweatdrop. Haruto and (Y/N) were behind them, trying their best not to laugh while Shinobu just stared at them with his usual emotionless expression, but he was doing a sweatdrop, too.
Kouta recovered from the hit and stood up, and looked up with a sheepish smile. "Ah, is that so? My bad, haha!!" he then stuck his tongue out playfully.
Before Riku could scold the green-eyed male even more, (Y/N) cleared her throat, and clasped her hands together. "Okay, everyone! Let's focus! I'm hoping we could at least get a lot of useful items before sundown!"
"Eh? What about lunchtime?" Kouta asked, looking a bit disappointed.
"Hm...I'm pretty sure there are some food in here, too! We just have to be innovative and resourceful!" (Y/N) said, smiling widely.
Haruto placed his hand on his chest and he let out a dramatic sigh. "Ah, that's my (Y/N)-chan~ Always so open-minded and thoughtful~"
The group then continued on, and after some time, their bracelets started blinking lights.
"Oh, there must be something good around here!" (Y/N) said, looking around. She then started walking around the area, waving her wrist around to check where the detected item, or items, were.
The others did the same, but then Katsumi's bracelet started to flicker quicklier, and he beamed.
"U-Um, everyone? I think I found something here..." he trailed off when he looked behind him, because everyone was gone.
"G-Guys?"
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"Nnn...it has to be somewhere here...aha!" (Y/N) exclaimed when her bracelet started flickering quickly when she hovered it over a certain spot on the ground.
"It seems to be located underground, though...ah! I think I saw a certain earth spell used for digging in one of Katsumi's books...what was it again...?" she placed a finger on her chin, trying to recall the said spell. She then snapped her fingers, indicating that she remembered.
"Alright, let's do this!" (Y/N) said, positioning herself to perform the digging spell. A few moments later, she finally saw the said item. It seems to be a clay doll of some sort.
"Eh? I wonder what this thing does?" she asked herself, picking the item up and examining it. "Hey guys! Look what I fou— oh?"
It was just then that she realized that she was alone.
"EH!?!?" she exclaimed, looking around in panic. "No wonder it's been so quiet..." she thought, chuckling inwardly. She also mentally slapped herself for being such an airhead and not realizing that she's alone sooner.
"I should go look for the others..." she muttered to herself, then she placed the clay doll item on her bag and made her way back where she and her companions were before, but there was still no sign of them there.
"Eh? That's weird...maybe they did the same thing I did and got lost, too..." she thought. "Should I go back to the entrance? Maybe that staff guy can help..."
However, she shook her head. "Maybe this a good thing! Because we're all split up, collecting items could be much quicker! Also, we agreed that we'd be done before sundown, so it'll be fine!" she reassured herself, trying to be as optimistic as possible.
(Y/N) then kept walking forward, her sights set on obtaining lots of useful items and at the same time, finding her friends.
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Time passed by quickly and right now, (Y/N) have found a variety of magical items and paraphernalia, but she is still unable to find her partymates.
"Mm...where could they be? Surely this forest isn't big enough for us to now find each other by now..." she mumbled to herself, and just as she kept going, a flash of fuschia pink light suddenly bolted in front of her, narrowly avoiding her face and making her scream and stumble backwards, falling to the ground. The sudden flash of magic hit some of the nearby trees, boring holes into them.
(Y/N) blinked, trying to process what had just happened moments ago. She then stood up and dusted her skirt, and carefully went to the source of the attack.
She then saw a girl with long pink hair tied in two, high pigtails and frilly clothing. She seems to be in the midst of a battle with a strange tiger-like creature. (Y/N) immediately hid behind some bushes, observing the fight for a while.
As the creature jumped forward, attempting to claw out the girl's face, she immediately set up a pink barrier, deflecting the creature's attack. The creature then bounced back form the impact, and as it was recovering, the girl leaped upwards and charged up a strong beam of magic in her pink and white staff, and before the creature could react, the magical beam hit it directly in the face, disintegrating its face, killing it.
The pigtailed girl then landing back gracefully onto the ground, and she flipped her hair and walked towards the deceased creature. She then grabbed some sort of pocket mirror from her purse and once she opened it, it absorbed the creature inside.
However, the girl seemed to notice that she was being watched. So she immediately waved her staff towards the direction where (Y/N) was hiding in, in which the (H/C)-haired girl immediately dodged and she waved her hands up in defense.
"Wait! I don't mean any harm!!" (Y/N) immediately said, her hands still hovering over the air.
"Hah? Then why are you here then?" the pink-haired girl sneered, glaring at (Y/N).
"Well, um...I got separated from my party, and as I was looking for them, I uh...I saw your battle." (Y/N) said. The girl only gave her a calculating look, but then she turned her back anyway.
"Is that so? Well, okay. Good luck, or, whatever." she said rather crudely, walking away from the (E/C)-eyed girl.
"W-Wait!" (Y/N) called out, then the pink-haired girl stopped backing and turned her head slightly to look at (Y/N).
"Um...will you please help me look for them?" (Y/N) asked. She could only hope that she could get some help form someone right now, and plus, this girl looked strong and intelligent.
"No." the girl bluntly said and walked away.
"W-Wait!" (Y/N) called out again but as soon as she did, the pink-haired girl ran, away from (Y/N) as fast as she can.
"Well that was rude." (Y/N) muttered, placing her hands on her hips. Although from afar, she could hear someone calling her name.
"...-/N)-chan!!! (Y/N)-chan!!!!!" she recognized this voice as Haruto's and she then looked behind her only to be tackled into a hug.
"Ahhhhh, my sweet, precious (Y/N)-chan! I've been looking for you everywhere!! I missed you so much!!!" Haruto cried out, squeezing the poor girl tighter with every sentence.
"Gah...! I-I missed you, too, Haruto...but...can you please...let me go...!?" (Y/N) stuttered out, struggling to get a word as the air was being purged out of her lungs.
The blonde-haired prince hesitated for a moment before finally letting go of (Y/N), but his hands were still holding hers. There were also some animated tears (like this T_T) flowing out of his eyes. "(Y/N)-chan, thank goodness you're safe..."
"Y-Yeah...where are the others?" as soon as (Y/N) asked this, the four other boys ran towards them, each having a hint of worry in their features.
"(Y/N)! You're okay!" Kouta exclaimed.
"That's a relief..." Katsumi breathed out, though it was barely audible.
Riku and Shinobu stayed silent, though anyone can tell that they were glad that the girl was fine, too.
"I'm glad you're all okay, too!" (Y/N) said, a bright smile etched on her face.
"(Y/N)-chan, (Y/N)-chan, look! We got a lot of these items can we can both use and sell!" Haruto said excitedly, showing the contents of his satchel to (Y/N)
"Wow, really!? I got lots of them, too!" (Y/N) said, showing her own share of items to the boys.
"Eh...? We've got a lot, and we can't use all of these at once...the best choice would be to sell half of them..." Riku speculated, earning a nod from (Y/N).
"You're right, you're right~" she then looked at the sky, and it was slowly starting to fade into a nice shade of orange and pink, indicating that the sun was slowly setting.
"Well then, should we go back now? I heard that the forest is quite dangerous at night, so it's best to get going!" (Y/N) said. The five boys nodded, and they made their way back, proud of what they've accomplished for the day.
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Word count: 2,435 words
A/N: This chapter's actually more of a filler if you'd ask me, but what can I say? I wanted to update ;-;
Hello everyone~!! How's your day~? I hope it's been going well!!! :D
I don't really have anything to say in the meantime...;w; but umm...if you guys would like to chat you may check me out on Twitter, with my username being @/chikacchuu I'm more active on Twitter, you see, but all I tweet are Tsukiuta stuff...hehe
Or!! You may talk to me on Discord, my tag is chikachuu#9707! LINE is good too, my ID is chikachuu! I have lots of social media platforms, please feel free to contact me there~!!
And~~ that's all I have to say for now. :) <3
**Stay tuned for the next chapter desu~ Also, please don't forget to stay at home, wash your hands, and stay safe~!! Sayuri loves you~ <3**