Solus, with Nebula sleeping on top of his head, marched down the busy streets of Aioniotita as Camellia followed closely behind him. Metsu let out a low purr as she popped her head out from under Camellia's coat's hood and stared down a stall full of meat-based foods.

"I know we just had breakfast but why does Kalikosian food have to smell so good?" Camellia complained as she lightly bit down on her finger.

"You say that, but you'd say that for any food, Cami" Lumina remarked as she hung down Solus' back while having her legs wrapped around his neck. Camellia cheerfully chuckled as she itched the bottom of her chin.

"Heh-heh... I guess you're right," Camellia said before she hurried in front of Solus, as Lumina sat up.

"Say Solus, when Luminous said we should hurry I thought that would make you fly us there, but you don't seem to be in any particular hurry," Camellia remarked as the group arrived at a large flowing river that separated the districts.

"The area the yokai seems to reside in a no-fly zone so, even if we could fly, we wouldn't be able to land anyway near the place we need to get to," Solus mentioned as he pulled Camellia away from the edge of the street using telekinesis when her foot almost slipped off the street.

“Th-thanks,” Camellia embarrassedly said before some snow hit her face, making Camellia cover her face. Camellia commented on how cold it was as the group arrived at what appeared to be a bus stop stationed next to the river.

“Odd place to put a bus stop,” Camellia commented as she sat down at the bus stop.

“Not really, given it’s for the river bus,” Lumina commented while hopping from Solus’ back to the bus stop bench. Camellia tilted her head

“River bus?” Camellia asked confusedly, as Metsu glanced down at the glowing red crystals embedded at the bottom of the artificial river.

"Yeah...? Didn't you come in on one to get close to the shrine?" Lumina asked. Camellia shook her head.

"Nah, my mom air-dropped me," Camellia explained. Lumina rolled her eyes as she led back on the bench.

"Of course she did," Lumina commented. The group waited by the bus stop for around twenty minutes until a double-decker boat, which was slightly smaller than half the width of the river, slowly floated in front of the bus stop before coming to a complete stop. As the others were getting onto the boat, Solus glanced around the area before getting on the boat himself.

Luminous stood at the foot of the large crystally silver tree with glowing cyan leaves, in contrast to the other snow-covered sakura trees, situated in the middle of the shrine grounds.

"Despite my years of research I'm still no closer to uncovering the origins of the mayjorka trees...," Luminous muttered to himself as he looked up and down at the tree. Luminous placed his hand on his chin as a thought entered his mind.

"Perhaps..., given the majority of the trees have shrines dedicated to the god of creation and life around them maybe they're connected in some way," Luminous added before he turned around when the sound of Rose's bell rapidly chimed as Rose frantically flew over to Luminous.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Master Luminous! Master Luminous!" Rose cried out as she came to an abrupt drop and almost dropped her bell.

"Is something the matter?" Luminous asked calmly. Rose attempted to tell Luminous what seemed to be troubling her but only managed to make incoherent sounds.

"I see; I almost forgot this place was a tourist destination. Don't worry I'll stand in for Lumina for today..." Luminous said. Rose let out a relieved sigh as she flew onto Luminous' head and sat on top of it.

"Please hurry..." Rose pleaded as Luminous made his way around the mayjorka tree and walked off, whilst asking Rose if she knew where the uniforms were.

Minutes later on the outskirts of the city, Solus and the others hopped off the double-decker boat as others were getting off and on the boat. Metsu, sitting on Camellia's shoulders, watched the boat as it slowly floated away.

"Man, free public transport sure is convenient," Camellia remarked as the crowd that came off the boat scattered.

"It sure is," Lumina said as she glanced over at Solus as he placed Nebula, who was still asleep, on his back.

"So where are we going now, bro?" Lumina asked as she walked in front of Solus.

"The magic tracking card seems to be pointing us towards Lake Elmian so let's get a move on," Solus stated before walking off when an annoyed Lumina and cheerful Camellia walked closely behind him.

After a few minutes of walking, Solus walked down a paved brick road inbetween a dense sakura forest while Lumina and Camellia, with Metsu in her lap, were sitting on floating lime and blonde platform made of mana that followed Solus' movements.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a break from walking, Solus?" Camellia asked.

"Don't waste your time Cami; there isn't any way you'll convince him to not walk when it's available for him," Lumina mentioned.

"Does he have an anti-lazy agenda?" Camellia asked; Lumina considered if what Camellia said was accurate but shook her head.

"No... he's just in the mindset of always being prepared for a fight, when he isn't sleeping," Lumina explained while a fluffy pink spider crawled over her face. Solus rolled his eyes while commenting Lumina should be a little more active otherwise Luminous might think she's ill.

"That's the idea, idiot..." Lumina angrily thought to herself as the image of Luminous examining her body entered her mind and made Lumina smugly giggle as she layed on her back.

The group eventually arrived at the bank of Lake Elmian and Metsu looked at the none frozen lake with a perplexed glare, with Camellia noticing Metsu glaring at the lake.

"Say Lumi, why is the lake, you know, not frozen?" Camellia asked, making Metsu dart her head around and intently stared Lumina in the eyes. Lumina yawned as she sat up and wiped the drool off her face.

"Well, I think Lu-Chan mentioned it has something to do with the radiant heat from the magma-filled cavern underneath," Lumina commented before laying back down.

Solus inspected the magic tracking card before glancing off into the distance and spotting the cave entrance on the other side of the lake. Solus let out an annoyed sigh before continuing to walk, around the bank of the lake.

Whilst Solus and co were travelling across the lake bank a short, shadow-covered, pointy-eared figure watched the group from within the leaves of a sakura tree.

"Today... will be the day," the quiet girly but putting on an obviously forced gruffly voice of the shadow-covered figure murmured, with her purple eyes lighting up as she intently watched Solus.

After a few more minutes of walking, Solus and co arrived at the entrance to the cave, with the shadow-covered figure making the leaves of trees rustle as she darted from tree to tree from a far distance.

Solus glanced behind himself and glared at the treeline when he heard a twig snap as Lumina and Camellia floated past him. Solus stared at the tree line for a few more seconds before turning around and waking into the cave.

"That was close... he almost spotted me," the shadow-covered figure muttered, as they waited for a few seconds before jumping into a shadow and slivering into the cave.