"Huh ?? March ?? What do you mean ?"
The scarlet girl's eyes were gazing even deeper than before into Asaki's, surprise and interrogation awkwardly mixing with fear and suspicion. This was exactly what kind of reaction Asaki expected the Aurora to have, since it would've lost all of its impact if she already knew.
"Well..."
The young man pressed his back against one of the green forest's tree, his longcoat rubbing against the brown and decomposing wooden surface, where small insects quietly lived their life.
"Firstly... Do you know what an Ataraxi is ?"
The girl's gaze got lost inside of her mind during some seconds, before she slowly nodded, and replied with the same expression as before.
"Y-yeah ! They're some blues birds living in Aldeus, but what's that got to do with anything ?"
He was about to explain, lucky her... Once again, a slight smile appeared on Asaki's face, his eyes lost in a storm of fear, thoughts, and wrath against the liar.
"Indeed, Ataraxi are some blue birds. They love eating small insects which aren't useful at all, also spiders, and lizards. Their blue feathers are also used into diverse cosmetics, like shampoo and medicines.... Yet, there's something else about them..."
Impatiently, the Aurora walked to Asaki before asking once again, their head only a few inches away from each other. She didn't like the idea of having Naelle, and Milas, getting insulted without any proof. From her point of view, confidence was key in those kinds of situation...
"Which is ?"
... And Asaki was actually trying to break the lock.
"As a lot of birds, Ataraxi are well known to leave Aldeus during November, and guess when they return ?"
A forgotten memory slowly resurged within the redhead's mind, after all, everybody knew this fact, the Ataraxi having a special symbolic between Aldeus and Archigrad.
"They... Return in the end of March..."
As the girl's answer reached Asaki's ears, his... Sad, angry, arrogant ? Whatever smile, widened even more. The revelation dressing before his eyes adding even more weight to the pressure surrounding the forest.
"Exactly... And even if they come back earlier, it'll still be at least in the middle of March."
But Celia couldn't believe the man's theory, or, didn't wanted to believe it. Why would... Why would Milas and Naelle lie to them after they literally saved them from death ?? They were all inside of the same boat, deceiving each other didn't make any sense !
"But... No, there must be any sort of problem in the nature ! Birds can't be the only proof of which month we're in !"
Sadly, and also desperately, the pristine haired man sighed. Of course, it was easy to guess that Celia would reach that way. Everybody would, after their saviors suddenly got called liar.
But Asaki wasn't dumb enough to advance something with only one argument, so, just a second after, his back left the brown tree while he came even closer to Celia. He knew that doing so couldn't destabilize an Aurora, and it wasn't really his attention, in fact it was more because she herself destabilized him enough with so much closeness.
"Then... Why are every car, every house, and every street, already so dusty ? Why would the burning prints of what would've been only four or five day ago already disappeared, then ?"
When they talked in the pristine house near the cellar, Asaki clearly recalled of a dusty and dirty house, which windows were even blurring the sight dressing in front of it. Only a week, couldn't create that much dirtiness.
He knew it, and Celia also knew it. Since they arrived, something felt strange with the twins. Only a few days after their lives would've suddenly taken such an unexpected turn, they shouldn't be able to already act the way they were acting.
Naelle, even with some sequels, seemed too calm, and Milas even more...
If, even Celia whom was an Aurora, still was visibly affected by this horrible "apocalypse", then, mundane citizens should be affected way more than her.
"No... Yeah but... It don't make any sense... Why would she, why would the twins...?"
And here came Asaki's last doubt about the twins, which will surely be enough to open the angel's eyes.
"You know as much as me that this isn't only about the twins, right ?"
°°°
Indeed, multiple events and sentences slowly created a small, and continually growing doubt about the blondies. Like, why Milas was leaving the cellar during hours every day, but only brought almost nothing in terms of food. After all, the shops couldn't already be that empty...
And, there was also Naelle. Before Celia and Asaki left, she talked about some "guys" and not only Milas, when she urged them to avoid drowning again. Plus... A girl shouldn't seem that afraid when she was suddenly alone again with her brother. Whom, Asaki was sure about it, loved his sister more than anything, and so was unable to make her any hurt.
"She... She indeed, told me something about..."
Hesitantly, the girl started to reply while looking with shame at the ground, and also backing away.
It was a victory for Asaki, who knew since the beginning that she may have some information to give to him, since she and Naelle almost never stopped talking. Even when, through the darkness, he saw the two bearing undescribable dark expressions.
"About... Three men, which accompanied them at the beginning... But... They left just after they found us inside of the river !"
But if, indeed, around a month already passed since the two got transpierced by Flesh.
For how much time did those lived together... Why leaving just after they found two bodies ?
And mainly....
Were still actually in contact with each other ?