Chapter 1
My life did go back to normal in a sense. This was two days after the incident with Luck. My wounds felt a whole lot better than they did before, save for my shoulder. There were times when it stung but all in all it wasn't unbearable. I moved back in with my mom and sister after we made up and by "made up" I mean that I apologized and somehow, Mary talked me into moving back in with them.
Honestly I wanted to live by myself, not out of spite but because I really did want to be my own man. Sounds weird coming from an eleven year old, I know but it's how I truly felt. I tried presenting these thoughts to Mary but she dismissed them without batting an eye. I supposed that the whole thing with Luck really shook her up.
By the time I realized that, I knew that putting up a fight was pointless. The harder I fought the harder she'd fight back so in the end I agreed to moving back in with them. I wanted to get my stuff, namely my bag of coins that had the letter from Eren stashed inside of it, but Reiya refused to let me out of the house with my injuries being as they were.
Apparently my feet got scorched. They suffered second degree burns. On top of that, my wrist had a hairline fracture and my shoulder blade was cracked. A second opinion from one of the church's healers confirmed Reiya's diagnosis, they added on how my mana was slightly unstable because of how much it was overused.
With my body being the way it was I decided to take their advice and sleep in. In fact I've been sleeping in for the past two days. Today was the third day, I felt better than I did before and I could walk just fine too. I got out of the house and headed for the inn where I left my stuff only to find a surprise visitor waiting for me outside the door.
It was Reiya. It struck me as odd how Lucy and Mary let me walk out of the door on my own. Considering how much they worried about everything, but it all made sense when Reiya appeared at our door step. It made so much sense that I didn't even question why she showed up cause while I was recuperating at home she was right there watching over me.
If it weren't for the lack of space I swear she'd have slept in our house. I offered her a wave in greeting as I walked out the gate. She nodded along while following close behind me. At a glance, one would assume that she was my body guard. I say that because she was walking a few paces behind me, looking at everything but me.
We defaulted to me walking in front and her following behind without really discussing it. Heck we didn't even discuss why she was following me. I decided to broach the topic instead of us just walking in utter silence.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked turning my head to face her.
Reiya turned her face away from mine when I looked back. I knew then that she was staring at me. "I'm fine thanks for asking. What about you?"
"I'm feeling a lot better actually. I can walk now so that's a good thing."
"Glad to hear it but I still think that you're pushing yourself a bit too hard."
"Am not." I protested.
"Denying it is only going to hurt you in the future." She said with her finger pointing to the sky.
We arrived at the inn I was renting sooner than I expected. When I looked at the multiple storey building I felt a slight sense of Déjà vu. The set up felt familiar.
Right. The set up was exactly like this when I asked her out on a date.
I asked her out without thinking it through. To my surprise however, she said yes. I was ecstatic at the time, I didn't even sleep that night. When I woke up the next day I got dressed in the best outfit I had. Unfortunately for us things didn't go the way we hoped they would. I let myself get dragged to Plaas where I fought whatever aberration I was fighting, letting myself forget that there was a beautiful woman waiting for me to show up back home. My heart sank at the very thought of it all.
We entered the inn. The receptionist recognised me immediately when I entered. Nothing leaves an impression like an eleven-year-old renting a room by themselves huh? He eyed me and Reiya dubiously before nodding to himself. I shuddered at thinking whatever he was thinking.
We trudged up the stairs. My room was still locked, just like how I left it. I unlocked gingerly and flung the door open. Yeah it was still the same as I left it. My bed was a mess, the bag of coins I left behind was still sealed and beneath it there was a tattered old letter. Everything was just the way I left it.
"So small." Commented Reiya from behind me.
True the room was small but what would I possibly do with a room bigger than the one I rented? I didn't have any furniture to speak of and it's not like I'd spend the whole day in my room. I'd wake up, go to work, come back and sleep.
Except there isn't gonna be anymore work.
Without a doubt I was gonna miss my old job. Luck was pretty much ready to close shop before he turned traitor so I was already out of a job anyway. Now I had to find some other way to keep myself busy.
I got inside the room, grabbed my coins and the letter that was beneath them. I shoved the coins in my pocket but my hands refused to let me put the letter away just yet. When I looked at the letter, I could tell from it's tattered state that it was either really old or it travelled a really long distance. Or both.
The parchment used for the paper smelled like wood, fresh wood. When I flipped it over I found that the single lined sentence was still there. Still as confusing as I remembered.
"Is that a love letter?"
Reiya's sudden question brought me out of my daze.
"No it's…. It's a really old letter is all."
"Is it now?" she said, her eyes narrowed.
While I wanted to tell her about the letter my instincts argued against telling anyone about it. Ok maybe not anyone but I still wanted to keep the matter about the letter as quiet as possible. If Luck was any indication, this Eren person is someone who wants something from me. I didn't know what it was yet but something told me that I'd find out if I just went to the country of Weiss.
"Trust me it's nothing to worry about." I said finally. "That's everything, we should go now."
In a panic I walked past Reiya. I shut then locked the door behind us. We walked down the stairs into the lobby where I handed the keys over to the receptionist, who was still giving me this intense look. Not just him, everyone at the lobby gave me these strange glances.
When we walked out the inn I took a few seconds to turn my head and let the nostalgia sink in. It finally hit me that I moved out of my one night room. I thanked the inn internally for all the memories it provided, though they were mostly about me staring at a piece of paper. Déjà vu hit me again, I finally got my wits about me.
As we walked back home I decided to suggest a stroll around the commercial district. We got there rather quickly, finding the place in a completely disorganised mess. I mean the district was never really organised but it was never dominated by the sound of heavy hammering or lumber being sawed at. The merchants and store owners were rebuilding.
Since they were pretty much in the centre of the fight, their stores got hit first during the battle. We strolled around the district, our ears rung at the sound of the construction work taking place. I struggled to find an open store in the midst of it all, luckily fortune favoured me and we found a street peddler selling wares. Said wares were jewellery. We stopped at the seller, Reiya's eyes darted around as we did.
I stared at her with an intense focus. Unable to withstand my gaze, she looked at me expectantly. I could tell by the look in her face that she wanted an explanation, but I wouldn't give her one until she asked.
"Are you just gonna stare or are you gonna tell me why we're here?" she asked finally.
Victory is mine.
I gestured to the countless jewels that were lined up on the sellers table. "Pick your poison."
"What?"
While Reiya was utterly confused at my statement, the peddler understood immediately. I mean it wouldn't take a genius to figure it out. One boy, one girl, one vendor with a bunch of jewels waiting to be sold, guy says to girl "pick your poison" while pointing at the jewels. It was an obvious set up.
With a vicious grin, the peddler stood up from his seat and started a marketing spiel I was all to familiar with.
I raised my hand to stop him. "I got this."
Dejectedly, the peddler sunk back into his seat.
"You know how we had plans to go out on a date and I didn't show up?"
Her face turned serious. "Yeah?"
"It finally hit me just how wrong I was to do that and I realized that I never properly apologized for it. So as an apology I decided to buy you any piece of jewellery you want."
Reiya raised her eyebrow in suspicion. "You sure have a lot of money. Weren't you saving that for Lucy's birthday? It's only one week away you know?"
Seven days. In seven days my sister would become a full fledged adult. No, you sis-con! This isn't about Lucy, it's about Reiya.
"Believe me I'm well aware. But I've got enough to buy her whatever she might want so you don't have to worry about that."
"Okay then." She murmured.
Reiya's hands fidgeted slightly. Her cheeks coloured in a shade of pink as she twirled her hair around her finger.
"Let's talk somewhere else."
Myself, as well as the peddler that was promised a profit from my attempt at an apology, went wide eyed. Reiya pulled me away from the store to a place that was much less populated. She brushed her hair with an intense ferocity as she stuttered.
"S-since we're on the topic, I wanted to apologize for something too."
"Hmm? For what?"
Her face turned into tomato. "Actually, the thing is, that cracked shoulder blade might have been my fault."
"Huh?"
"I kinda sorta...ate a tiny bit of your shoulder."
"Huh?"