Alia looked at me with a disappointed expression:
"What? That's it? I buy you a luxury room and the only thing you have to say to me is 'Now we sleep'?"
"I thought I'd made it clear though. I'm not looking to be friends with you, all I want is the money I'm going to make from my house."
"I thought you were a cool guy, but you're selfish, rude and greedy.
"Selfish, I want to, but don't ever say I'm rude and stingy again."
"Then I have to say how: rude and stingy. Does that work for you as an adjective?"
It took me less than 2 seconds to walk 50 feet to face Alia:
"I'm not going to repeat myself a third time, so stop it right now."
Not answering, I went back to the sofa and said:
"I'm going to do..."
Alia cut me off before I could finish my sentence:
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
"I repeat myself. I'm sorry."
"Stop it, there's no point in apologizing."
"Why?"
"I just told you. I don't want to be friends with you, so I don't care about your apology."
"You'll see, at some point you'll come to like me."
"Then you're dreaming with your eyes wide open." I said with a sneer.
"Go to sleep well Yù. She said, also smiling.
"Yù? What's that?"
"Ba is your nickname. Yùichi, it turns into Yù, it's faster. From now on, I'll call you that.
"If it makes you happy."
I lay down on the bed and I couldn't even hear if she had answered me or not because this long day had made me so tired that I lost consciousness and ended up falling asleep.
[The next day, 04/07/499]
As I continued to sleep I was awakened by the sound of breaking glass.
So it was as soon as I woke up that I began to say:
"Alia, what are you doing?"
But she did not answer me.
"Alia, I know it's you, so answer."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."
"Yes well, it's too late now. What were you doing?"
"I was preparing food, but the dish was hot, so I dropped it."
"But you're worse than a child. You don't take a hot dish with your hands. Anyway, it doesn't matter, I don't need to eat. And anyway, we have to leave soon."
"Ohlala, hardly up, already in a bad mood."
"Stop complaining and get ready, in 10 minutes we're leaving."
"Yes sir." She replied ironically.
"By the way, what time is it?
" 8 h 45. "
"It's OK, we're still on time.
[ 04/07/499 08 h 55 ]
"Come on, let's go, are you ready? I asked Alia.
"Yes, we can go.
"By the way, where is the place where we have to take the coach?
"Don't worry and trust me.
With that, she went ahead of me and left the hotel room towards the stairs.
She didn't say a word, so I decided to do the same and follow her.
We both arrived in the hotel lobby, but it was completely empty.
"Say Alia, don't you think it's strange that there's no one there?" I asked her.
"Yes, you're right, it's strange."
We all kept going, but nothing strange had happened.
She continued to walk in silence until she reached a square, where there were two huge stagecoaches.
I tried not to show it on my face, but I was completely amazed at these gigantic stagecoaches.
"So it's impressive?" Alia asked me with a big smile.
"Yes, it's true that it's beautiful. I said with little enthusiasm.
"Which one do you want to choose?
"Why do I have to choose?
"Since it's your first time in a coach, you have to choose it.
"Well, then, I choose the one on the right."
"Oh, and why did you choose that one?"
"Uh, because I think it's nicer, bigger and cleaner than the other one.
"Well, that's good because I wanted to take that one too. Shall we steal it?
"If you want to see what it's like to die, you can try to take it.
"Oh yes, we do have that thing in our wrist, I forgot. Thank God you're here."
She went straight away to find the carriage salesman and came back thirty seconds later with the key that opened the coach.
She handed it to me and said:
"Open it and go inside, I'll go in front and lead the horses.
"Okay, no problem."
I opened the door, but I didn't even have time to get all the way inside before I heard Alia say:
"Watch out, it's going to be bumpy."
And the next thing I knew I could feel the coach moving.
It was shaking so badly that I had to grab the door handle with both hands to keep from falling off the coach:
"You could wait until I'm seated before you start!"
"Ah, sorry I didn't see." She said with a laugh.
"Wait, do you know where we are going?" I asked her.
"Nah, I have no idea."
Then she burst out laughing.
"Well, hold on, I'm coming."
I got out of the door and climbed into the seat outside with her.
"Where are we going? she asked.
"My place.
"Yeah, okay, but what city is that?"
"Yo."
"Yo? But it's a lost village."
"Yes, but that's where I live."
"Well then, off to Yo." She said with a big smile.
[ 04/07/499 13 h 15 ]
We covered the 28 kilometres from Meh to Yo in just over 4 hours.
"So this is what your village looks like." She said, looking at me.
"Yes, this is the village of Yo."
"It's picturesque."
"Compared to the town of Meh, it sure is different."
"And your house, where is it?"
"It's a little further away, 300 metres from the village.
When we arrived in front of my house, the first thing Alia said to me was:
"Oh yes, you really do live in a cave.
"There you go again."
"It's a miracle it hasn't collapsed yet.
"Stop it or I'll start to get angry."
"It's okay, relax, I'm kidding."
So we kept going and went back inside the house.
"Wow, this is much nicer than I thought it would be." She said happily.
When I heard these words, a slight smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of my lips.
When she saw this, Alia smiled more.
"Why are you smiling so much? I asked her.
"This is the first time in two days that I have seen a real smile appear on your face. I almost thought you were just a robot.
"You can stop making fun of every single thing I do."
She didn't answer me, instead she went on to visit the house with a big smile.
It took us about 15 minutes to get all the way around the house and back into the living room.
"So, what do you think?" I asked.
"I like it."
She reached into her purse and pulled out the bundle and handed it to me.
Seeing that I didn't move she said:
"Here, take it, it's yours."
"Is that all? You give me the money and that's it?
"Yes, that's how a sale goes. But hurry up and get the money before I change my mind.
She had hardly finished her sentence when I rushed to take the money.
Unfortunately, just before I could take the money from her, she closed her hand over mine.
"I give you this money on one condition. she said.
"Why?"
"Well, you accept or I'll take the money back."
"Well, at least tell me what that condition is."
"I will continue to travel with you until we meet your family."
" What? No way! Why do you want to meet them?"
"Just for that."
"For what?"
"I want to understand what's so special about them, why you're so protective of them."
"Okay, since you seem to be a nice guy, and since you're buying my house and paying for my hotel, you can keep travelling with me until I get back. You can keep travelling with me until we meet my parents. But then we go our separate ways. And if you ever do anything to them, know that I will show no mercy and kill you on the spot."
"Don't worry. Just by looking at your eyes, I'm sure you're serious and wouldn't have any qualms about killing someone who messes with them, even if you have to die in return." She said with a serious look.
After this sentence, she gave me the money and said:
"Well, what do we do now?"
"Before I go and find my family. I still have to go to the forest, find a hunter's lodge and buy weapons from them.
"A hunter's lodge? You think hunters are going to let two kids take guns from them. You might as well go to a shop, it'll be a lot faster."
"I've thought about it, but I'm sure that in a shop, they'd be almost out of guns and if there are any left, they'd be very expensive.
"And in the hunters' shop it will be cheaper?"
"I hope so, because I have no other ideas.
"Well, let's go, shall we?" She said as she left the house.
"Okay, let's go. But by the way, do you know where they are?" I replied, following her.
"Nah, I don't know. She replied, smiling at me.
Without realizing it, it was the first time I looked at Alia and found her really beautiful. This was undoubtedly due to her smile and the sunlight that was reflected in her hair.
But unfortunately for me, this thought didn't stay for long as I repressed it almost at the same time.