And as I thought, she didn't show up in the middle of the square.
So I quickly went around it, but obviously no trace of her.
I then went in the direction of one of the small streets that were stuck to the square and went around it.
I did the same for almost 10 minutes with the rest of the streets, but no trace of my mother.
But since I had to find her and I had to be careful not to meet Alia in the meantime, I went straight back in the direction of the central square, until a woman called me.
"Is that you, Yùichi?"
"How can knowing my name help you?"
"A certain Kana SOREDA would like to know if you are Yùichi. She answered me with a smile.
I think I found one of the people who is with my mother.
Even if she seems quite arrogant, I think she could be a good asset for later.
"Why are you asking me this question if you already know the answer?"
"You sound more or less like the description she gave me.
Follow me."
Unfortunately, I didn't have the right to another explanation since she left immediately in the direction of one of the streets I had taken earlier.
We moved away from the central square and the crowds to the less inhabited parts of the city.
Most of the buildings were single-family homes in pretty good shape.
We continued to walk away from the city for another ten minutes.
So much so, that the only houses left were not inhabited or destroyed.
"How much longer are we going to keep walking?"
"You'll know when we get there.
"That's right, how much longer."
"Stop with your boring questions, only talk to me if you have interesting questions." She answered me all with a sigh of annoyance.
"Well, what's your name?"
"Interesting questions I said."
"You know my name so I can at least know yours, that's the least I can do."
"Tss. What a stubborn kid."
"If you had answered my question as soon as I asked you, I wouldn't have had to repeat myself, you forced me to do it."
"Shut up with your nice sentences, you're annoying me."
"Impatient and rude. I really don't understand why my mother is teaming up with you."
I think she answered a few things, but it was so unintelligible that I couldn't make out what she was saying.
After this short, but interesting discussion, we continued walking for another 5 or 6 minutes before we arrived in front of the only house still standing.
Just looking at its condition, it's a miracle that it's still standing, considering the head of the walls and roof, which could collapse at any moment.
"Is this it?" I asked her.
As expected, she did not answer me and walked towards the house.
And once inside, she finally started to speak.
"It's okay Kana, I brought it back to you."
"Great, thanks Lysis." she replied.
"Oh, so your name is Lysis, nice name, for a girl like you."
"What do you mean by that?" Lysis replied, while grabbing me by the collar.
"Nothing at all, I only said that this name suits you."
"Lysis, can you please let go of Yùichi?" My mother calmly interjected.
And as if by magic, Lysis let go of my collar, in the second that followed her request.
"Well, apparently you two got off on the wrong foot."
"Nah not really, she got off on the wrong foot by herself."
"Keep talking shit, and I promise I'll give you a hard time." Lysis grumbled.
"Let's calm down, no one's going to hit anyone. We're all on the same team so let's try to get along." My mother continued.
"By the way mom, why did you have to go there?"
"Don't call me that from now on. Considering the situation we're in, you can call me Kana, like everyone else."
"Uh okay, if you prefer, I can call you that."
I didn't tell her, but I think it will feel weird to call her Kana all the time, from now on, but she was right, it's much better and it also feels more serious to call her by her real name.
"And unfortunately, I can't tell you why it's this place and not another to meet us. If you want to know, you'll have to follow us. Lysis, will you lead the way?"
"Yeah, follow me."
"Wait a second, what do you mean you don't know why you chose this place?"
"I didn't choose it." She replied.
"Then who did?"
"You could say he's our "boss", you'll see he's nice.
"Aren't you the leader of your team?
"No, not at all, what makes you think so?"
"I don't know, it's just not your style to have to obey someone."
"You'll understand when you see it. Well, let's hurry, he's waiting for us."
I didn't really know what to say, so I just followed them in silence until we got to the front of this famous "boss".
We went down into a cellar and stopped in front of a closed door.
It's strange how every time I meet someone important I have to go down into a cellar.
So Lysis opened the door and in front of us stood four new and totally unknown people.
A man in his thirties with short dark blue hair, black eyes and about the same height as me. The detail that impressed me most about his physique was his incredibly developed muscle mass, even through a vest you could discern his biceps and triceps.
Then next to him was another man, much less muscular, but still above average, with red hair and dark brown eyes. From the way he stands, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the "leader".
To the right of this second man stands a woman in her fifties, rather tall and skinny, but giving off a rather unpleasant aura. It is perhaps due to her very short hair, shaved to white on the sides and her pink crest on the top of her head which gives me this effect.
And the last girl, to the right of this old lady, seems to be a girl of about 15 years old. She is wearing a high school uniform, it was a dark blue skirt with red stitching, even though it was torn at the bottom, it was still in pretty good shape. As for this girl, she was not at all out of the ordinary, on the contrary she looked rather plain, with her black hair and her black eyes.
During this little second that I spent looking at them, they obviously did the same with me.
And before I could look at them all fully, one addressed me.
"I didn't imagine it like this."
It was the man with the chief's appearance, and just from the sound of his voice, my assumption seemed to be validated.
"What do you mean?" Replied my mother.
"I imagined him, taller, more costly and much more charismatic. I didn't think that the one who was behind this plan would be a simple teenager with no real physical characteristics."
"Certainly on the physical level, he is not incredible, but on the brain level, he surpasses you in every way."
It's strange how in one sentence, my ego could be broken and at the same time be flattered.
But in a way my mother and this "boss" were not wrong.
Physically, I am not out of the average, I am neither muscular nor overweight, I am average.
But on the other hand, I don't know if I'm better than him in every way, but it's true that I'm quite knowledgeable on many different subjects.
"Really, he exceeds me in every way. In that case, I can't wait to see what you're worth Yùichi. " Answered again the "chief".