Mairu was completely marveled by the sights he was seeing. The city was quite big, full of diversity, full of many different types of buildings. This city looked nothing like the villages from years ago. The group of friends couldn't help but notice the admiration Mairu was feeling. Kade came over and placed an arm around Mairu's shoulders.
"Wow, is this your first time seeing a big city?" Kade asked with a smirk. The demon nodded rapidly. Truly amazed by the surface's development in their society.
'If you think this is big, wait till you go to the Capital. It's huge!" Ivory exclaimed while catching up and walking next to Mairu. While the three we're having a blast. Celine and Sebastian looked around to see others were staring and whispering to themselves. They looked at each other, knowing exactly what was going on.
"I say we lookout for Mairu while we're here, and absolutely do not let him out of our sight." Sebastian whispered to Celine concerned. "I have a bad feeling something is going to happen."
"I agree, but let's try not to act suspicious like we already are." Celine replied. The elf nodded and both caught up to the trio. Mairu was having a blast, the most fun he's ever had in years. Being shown around the town, with people who do not judge him for who he is. More of the fairy residents began to talk amongst themselves regarding the interesting looking armored boy. Sebastian hated the tension he felt from the other residents.
"So since we are students of Majica, we do have a curfew we need to abide by. I say we go to the arcades and call it a day." Sebastian spoke.
"Aww ok" Ivory frowned. The group walked over to the arcade, Mairu looked around confused by what the arcade machines were. He inspected them closer while Celine went to get tokens.
'What is this thingy?' Mairu signed confused. He pushed the buttons real quick and got startled by the loud noises that came out of said machine.
"That's an arcade machine, you're going to love it man, it's super fun!" Kade informed the armored boy. "As you can see, it says it needs tokens to be played. All of the games need them." Celine walked by and gave Mairu the required amount of tokens. The demon stared at it quite confused.
"Put them in the coin slot under here." Ivory pointed down. Mairu tilted his head and put the coins in as instructed to do. This was so confusing to him. When he finished, he began to play as the game guided him through the controls. He was really getting into it.
"There you go buddy! You're doing great!" Kade said, staying close to him while cheering him on. Behind them, Celine and Sebastian noticed outside the arcade, that some guards of the Capital had arrived in the city. Some civilians we're being interrogated about something. The two gave themselves a glare and nodded at each other.
"Hey guys, I think we should go now, It's getting to the point we should head back." Celine started, sounding in a hurry.
"What? Already? Oh well, time flies by fast" Kade said, "Just leave the game Mairu, come on." He held his armored arm to drag him off the machine. He frowned under his helmet.
'Can we come back tomorrow?' Mairu asked, he was really liking it here. Seeing new things for the first time was the most amazing feeling in the world.
"Maybe, but for now, we have to leave." Celine said looking back as they walked through the streets. Ivory was quite confused by what was going on, but upon examining the situation, she immediately caught on. Kade was too busy holding Mairu's arm like he's the man of the place, clearly trying to impress a certain someone.
"Where do you 5 think you're going?" A deep voice was heard. They looked around to see a guard of the capital walk in front of them, halting them in their feet. This wasn't any regular guard, but the captain of a squad. He had grey hair and wings of light. He was a light fairy. "Hope you kids don't mind a few questions." he stared dead in their eyes, but mostly eyed the armored boy. "We've received word that a suspicious entity has been detected inside the city, and we wish to investigate further. To be more precise, you." He pointed at Mairu.
"This is all a big misunderstanding." Sebastian stepped up. Placing his hands behind his back like the prince he was. "You see our friend here has a bit of a confidence issue. So we suggested he wears armor to make him feel better." He said looking straight into the Captain's eyes.
"Prince Sebastian of the Northern elves, Quite the nice gesture you and your friends made for your armored friend here. But sadly, his armor seems to be bothering our residents." He said. "I shall escort you 5 out of the city, but please do not come back wearing such an attire. This is your first warning." Mairu frowned under his helmet. He knew such an event would happen far in advance. Kade held his hand with his two hands and tried to cheer him up.
"It's okay Mairu, don't worry about it. We can hang out somewhere else. Some place way more fun than this dump." As Kade mentioned Mairu's name. The captain stopped for a moment.
"Um, you okay captain dude?" Celine asked as he shook his head. It was awfully strange, such a weird reaction.
"Y-yes, pardon me. I just thought of something." He spoke, thinking hard about the name he just heard. Everyone looked at each other confused by his sudden halt. After a few minutes, they were escorted out of the city. "I apologize for escorting you all out of the city, but until your friend gains enough courage to show himself, he shall not be allowed to enter the city." He eyed Mairu for a bit, something about him was quite familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Thank you Captain. Farewell." Sebastian said as he and the gang started to walk back to the school. Mairu stood still, looking at the captain. The two stared at each other for a moment. The demon bowed thankfully and began to walk back to his friends. The Captain watched them leave safely, but the name of the armored boy was really getting to him. He's heard that name before, but he refused to believe it.
"Captain Ryu! Captain Ryu! We have alerted the town that the suspicious entity has left the city. What are your next orders?" A guard ran to the Captain and halted in attention.
"For now, report back to the Capital. I have an investigation to continue. I have a feeling I know exactly who that armored boy is. I can confirm that we'll meet again." He said watching them leave. People do cross paths someday...