"In that case, I'll go back, I don't want anyone to know that I was away for too long."
"Yes go, it would be a shame if anyone found out that you came looking for me."
So I got up and went straight to the door.
But just before I opened it, she interrupted me.
"For tomorrow, make sure you meet me in the central square at 2 p.m. sharp."
"That shouldn't be too much trouble. See you tomorrow."
"And make sure you're alone and no one sees you coming in that direction."
"Yes, that should be possible too. See you tomorrow." I replied as I walked out of the room.
I then closed the door behind me and left towards the exit of the hotel.
When I arrived at the entrance, something caught my attention.
For some reason, I felt like a presence was watching me, but I couldn't make out where it was coming from, and even when I quickly checked around me I didn't see anyone watching me.
I told myself that it was just my imagination, and without further ado I headed back to our hotel, and this time it only took me 10 minutes to get there.
Fortunately no one seemed to be looking for me, as I saw no one in the lobby and in the main room of the hotel.
I also managed to get to my room without running into anyone.
With a relaxed air I was able to open the door, but a female voice surprised me at the same time.
"Well, it took you long enough."
"Ah, it's you, Alia. What are you doing here?"
"Nothing special, I just wanted to come and see you for a while.
"Do you remember that no one should know about what's going on between us?"
"Yes, but the problem is that at the moment, there's really nothing."
"I explained to you that nothing will happen until I find my mother.
"I know, but that means that now there might be something.
"What do you mean? What do you mean by that?"
"The reason you weren't there earlier. You went looking for your mother, admit it."
"What? How can you say that?"
I don't know if she is able to read my mind or not, but every time I try to hide something from her she immediately, without me saying anything, finds out.
"When your father said he was sure to find her tomorrow, your look suddenly changed and even on the way back you spent your time thinking without saying a word."
"Hey, how can you tell that I went to see her?"
"You're not the type to go for a late afternoon stroll when it's rush hour outside."
"Usually, that's true, but this time I needed to be by myself for a bit, get some fresh air."
"Ahh... You can be so stubborn. Since you say so, I'll believe you and accept the fact that you only went for a little walk to change your mind.
"I don't understand, why you're looking for such complex stuff when I'm just out for some fresh air."
"I don't know, I guess I'm just a little too stressed out."
"Yeah, I think that's why."
She seemed to have resigned herself to getting any kind of response from me, because she went in the direction of the door.
But just as she reached me, she looked me straight in the eye.
"On the other hand, if tomorrow it's you who finds her, I want you to answer all the questions I want to ask you, promising to tell me the strict truth each time. Okay?"
"I have no idea what truth you are talking about."
"You promise?" She asked me again, staring me straight in the eye.
"Yes, I promise." I answered without lying this time.
I expected her to leave with a grumble or a simple "Goodbye".
But she didn't say a single word back to me, but instead she gave me a hug before silently walking away.
I was a little surprised, because I didn't expect her to do that at all on her own.
After this happy moment, I decided to go straight to bed without taking the time to eat something.
I think it is my impatience that prevents me from being hungry. It's not disturbing at all, since I just missed a meal, but I think that later it could become a problem, especially if we were to run out of food.
Anyway, for now food is far from being our main problem and won't be for a while.
[ 08/07/499 12 h 30 ]
I'm not sure how long I've been awake, but I know that I've been staring at my ceiling for the last ten minutes thinking about everything and nothing.
Everything is passing in my head.
Nath's death, the speech of the 8 Great Patriarchs, my meeting with Alia, with Shanlen, the reunion with my father, Shiro, Nomiko and my mother, the future training that I will do.
A lot of things related to the war.
And I came to the conclusion that my life before was really slow and that if this war had not happened, I would have been in the middle of a lot of things that I discovered in just a few days.
Unfortunately, for me, during my long thought about my short life, I was cut off by the sound of my bedroom door opening.
So I turn around towards its direction and see Shiro, who walks in front of me and looks at me with his bright red eyes.
"Dad, he wants to know when you wake up to help us."
"Can you tell him I'll be there in five minutes, okay?"
"Okay, but hurry anyway."
And she left just as quickly as she came.
Without wasting any more time, I started to get ready and went to join them for the umpteenth time in this big main room.
And for once, I arrived last, so of course all eyes were on me.
As usual now, my father announced the research places of each, which did not change from the first time.
He and Sonia in the shopping street, Shiro and Selstine in the market place and Alia and me in the central square.
So we went directly to this square that we knew by heart now.
And we stopped briefly in a small store to buy some food, because I felt that the hunger was starting to be felt.
We searched until 1:30 before we started to stray slightly from the square to poke around in the small side streets.
I suggested to Alia that we do this separately and since we had done it the day before, I don't think she found anything suspicious about us doing it again today, since she agreed on the first try without asking me anything.
Strangely, the 15 minutes that remained before reaching 2pm passed very slowly, I spent more time looking at my watch than around me.
And at 2pm I went back, alone, in the direction of the central square.