Noel and Owari continued their small talk as they made their way around the city. People were already setting up for the festival the next day and it was interesting to see the various stalls and decorations people were using. In the big cities, instead of having the local farmers make food out of their best crops, the townspeople would make traditional dishes of their ancestors. Stuff like the noodles which came from the east, or the special stews of the north. There were also the southeastern people’s spicy foods which were always a favorite for their exoticness.

It was rare for people to celebrate their cultural heritage simply because nobody cared about that stuff anymore. Back when the northern savages conquered the continent they made sure to not discriminate between people. Everyone was their subjects and nobody was any less valuable then the other. One thing about the northern people was that they valued the individual more than anything. If you could prove yourself you were welcomed and celebrated regardless of anything else. Because of this unique view, as they mingled between people those people took on similar views and although there was resistance at first, over the years it has died down considerably. Then eventually racial culture became a novelty more than a necessity. Instead they made a new culture for everyone to share instead of racial cultures.

“I wonder what everyone will wear.” Noel wondered.

“Probably some interesting things. After all, modern clothing is very different from the stuff our people used to wear.” Owari noted from the side.

“Except for the western and easterners who were known for their sophisticated clothing.” Noel looked at Owari’s haori as she spoke.

“Too bad the westerners were almost wiped out a while back so their techniques were mostly lost. Luckily though modern methods can replicate the effects.” Owari’s mother being a seamstress rubbed off on him in regard to his appreciation for clothing, even if he preferred wearing simple things.

“Their dying techniques were wonderful. I’ve seen some of their work and it still looks beautiful even to this day after it has faded over generations.” Noel sighed as she recalled one of her times with her grandfather when they went through his collections.

“My mother learned a few of their techniques and replicated some of it. She could make some great stuff.” Owari’s mother was top notch, in fact her skills were wasted on such a small town but she was content to settle in her hometown.

“Impressive, I heard it’s hard to master their skills because of the precision needed.” If she could really replicate it even 80% Noel would be impressed.

“My mother is very good with her hands. Even better than me or my father in fact.” Owari easily admitted his mother’s superiority in this regard.

“I see. I’m quite curious about your mother. You seem to care about her a great deal.” Noel was curious since Owari only ever mentioned her skills as a seamstress. She could still feel the pride he had of said skills, but he rarely went into detail about her save a few memories here and there.

“I do. She raised me mostly on her own after my father died. I respect her a lot, and a lot of who I am I got from her. After my father died not once did she consider remarrying, she practices her skills all the time as she works never satisfied and always improving, and she knows how to do all kinds of things. She’s a great mother overall, and I’m glad she was the one who raised me.” Owari wouldn’t hold back his praise for his mother. She was the only one in the world who knew him better than he knew himself.

“I wish I had as good a relationship with my mother.” Noel sighed.

“Do you not get along with her?” Owari was curious.

“Not really. My mother isn’t really what anyone would call a good person. She tends to be stuck up and elitist. Unfortunately father still loves her so the family has to put up with her. The worst part is that she is an ordinary person. She doesn’t even practice ordinary martial arts let alone mystic arts. Yet she acts as though she is among the most important people in the family. It all comes from her business ventures, she is quite skilled at negotiating and securing business deals for the family.” Noel poured out her real feelings without a filter.

“Money is important for your family, it is a backbone of sorts. Though I won’t say that gives anyone a right to be stuck up or elitist.” Owari disliked people like that the most, though he held off from saying that.

“That is for sure. My father and I on the other hand get along swimmingly. As do I and grandfather. They care about me greatly and they always listen to me ramble on. In fact you remind me a lot of them, they tend to be quiet and contemplative. They can also be quite aloof at times, though not nearly as you.” Noel teased him at the end.

“I just like to think is all.” Owari shrugged. “You don’t remind me at all of my mother.”

Noel laughed when she heard that. “I don’t know how to feel about that considering all of the good things you have to say about her.”

“You should feel good. It means you’re unique.” Owari chuckled.

“I suppose I’ll accept it then.” Noel smiled.

Soon their talks devolved into reminiscing and talking about their memories of their time with their parents. Eventually lunch rolled around and they went to the restaurant they usually ate lunch at once again after so long. The girl was still the same and she seemed surprised to see them again. They were serving a special stew today as a pre-festival special. The two of them were feeling festive so they decided to eat. They even invited Morgana to join them which she reluctantly did. She was quite a neat eater.

After that they once again went around town looking at decorations which were all starting to come along nicely as the day was reaching a midpoint. It was mostly filled with stalls with different ascetic designs more than town-wide celebratory banners or the like. Some people had carts and stalls with hand-carved designs representing northern arts. People from the southeast had incredibly simplistic and easily constructed and deconstructed stalls to show their practicality. Then there were easterners with their complex and difficult but comfortable stalls which were still only half complete by this point to show off their traditionalism. Finally there were the people from the southwest who had moveable carts they would bring around the city to serve light meals to show their people’s history as nomads.

As they viewed such scenes they ran into a familiar face who called out to them. “Oh it’s you two. Hello again.” Behind a cart was a dark-skinned boy only a bit older than the two of them. Owari slightly recognized him, if he recalled this should be the swordsman who fought alongside them. Looking closer Owari noted that he was decently good-looking. He had a big frame and was taller than Owari, and he had shiny white teeth which he flashed in a big grin.

“Hello again Carter. It’s been a while.” Noel seemed more familiar with him than Owari who didn’t even know his name.

“You should be that swordsman right? How have things been?” Owari asked with a friendly tone. He was practicing some of the tips he read about.

“Pretty good. I’m getting things set up for the festival. My father is a cook so I’ve picked up a thing or two.” He chuckled. “I don’t believe we’ve had a chance to introduce ourselves to one another. As she said my name is Carter.” He held out his hand.

“I’m Owari, nice to meet you.” The two gave each other a firm handshake.

“Likewise.” He flashed a pure white smile which contrasted his dark skin. “It feels like it’s been forever since that train incident.” He sighed.

“I agree with that.” Owari nodded.

“I don’t. I have been cooped up since then, it feels like it was just yesterday. It makes me antsy for another hunt.” Noel disagreed.

“I can’t say that’s how I feel about it. It makes me a bit nervous actually.” Carter disagreed with her this time.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be going on a hunt soon.” Owari comforted Noel. “As for me I can’t wait to hunt again. Do you not find hunting exciting?” He asked Carter curiously.

“I see it as a job to do really. I do it because I have the talent for it and because someone has to do it.” Carter spoke seriously.

“Ah, so you are one of those who hunt to protect the people I take it?” Noel seemed sure of the answer even as she asked the question.

“You hit the nail on the head.” Carter smiled with embarrassment as he rubbed his shaved head.

“A good enough reason as any.” Owari said with genuine admiration. “It’s better than me who fights because of the thrill of it.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“You still help people with your work.” Noel said offhandedly.

“Fair point.” Owari still didn’t think it was the same but he could tell Noel knew that.

“You two seem to get along. Did you know each other before the train crash?” Carter was curious because of how close they were standing together and their outfits, specifically Noel who was clearly dressed up.

“No, why do you ask?” Noel wondered why he would bring this up.

“How would I have known her before? I was basically a random country boy before that.” Owari was also curious but didn’t ask.

“You two just seem quite close and it hasn’t been that long since everything happened.” Carter didn’t mean to pry, but he kind of already did so and there was no helping it at this point.

“We have a lot in common.” Owari answered for the both of them, and Noel nodded showing her agreement.

“I see.” Carter was glad they didn’t go into detail. He didn’t want to keep prying into their private life given that he didn’t know them well. “Well I should probably get to work. I have to haul this cart around to get an idea of my route for tomorrow.”

“We’ll leave you to it then.” Noel answered for them and the two waved goodbye as they left.

“See ya later.” Carter also waved as he started pulling the cart along the road.

“Nice guy.” Owari noted.

“I hear he is quite the kind person. Apparently he helps to teach the kids at the Sapphire agency often. Rebecca was quite vocal about how happy she was for his help.” Noel laughed as she recalled how enthusiastic Rebecca was when she would talk about it.

“I bet she’d be happy with that.” Owari also laughed.

Again the two walked around talking about various things until late at night. In the end they went back to the restaurant and decided to try dinner there, eating their usual of a steak and hamburger which they were looking forward to after going without for so long. They quite liked the taste of this place’s food, it had an oddly homey feel to it which was hard to find elsewhere in a city. It was probably because of how empty the place tended to be. Of course there were other people, but they were all spread out quite far so they each felt more isolated.

After finishing eating the two didn’t immediately separate. Instead they walked around a bit more in the night before finally they reluctantly departed as usual. Owari went straight home and went to bed, if he stayed up he would probably get caught up in his studies and go to sleep late. He already agreed to go to Noel’s in the morning and the last thing he wanted to do was show up tired, or even worse, late. When he woke up he put on some plain clothing and threw on his haori. Luckily he didn’t need to try to look traditional, because he always was.

He made his way over to Noel’s shortly after getting dressed and waited outside. He was quite curious as to what she would be wearing. He got his answer soon enough when she exited the building and came walking over to him. She was wearing a dark long-sleeved shirt and thick brown pants with boots, overtop of her shirt was a brown fur coat and she had an ushanka on her head. It was the typical outfit of the northern savages who lived in the biting cold and took pride in their kills. Of course she was wearing very thin lightly furred fur since it was still into too cold out.

“I suppose I should have expected you would wear the usual.” Noel spoke with some amusement.

“It technically is traditional. Though my father would disagree given that it’s been modified. As for you, you look quite snug.” Owari responded.

“It is quite comfortable.” She admitted.

“It looks it, though personally I prefer this type of clothing which is easier to put on and take off.” Owari didn’t like feeling constrained, it was why he disliked shoes and wore them as little as possible.

“That sounds about right.” Noel chuckled, Owari liked simple things so of course he would prefer simple clothes. “Shall we?” She gestured to the street.

“Sure.” Owari moved away from the wall and the two soon began walking around town.

“I wonder what kind of specialties will pop up in this city.” Noel looked around with interest as people were finishing setting up stalls. The tourist district had quite a lot of stalls and carts since it was an easy way to make some money off of visitors.

“I’m more interested in the outfits people will wear. I’ve never seen so many different styles at one time. I can see why my mother is so into fashion. It’s quite something to see how many different types of clothing there is.” Owari looked around at the various outfits. The southwestern people wore nomadic clothing that was protective but easy to move around in and lacking all decoration.

“There are quite a lot of southwestern and southeastern people here. Though considering we live in the south that does make sense. I come from the central part of the continent so I am more used to there being equal types of all people.” Noel looked at the people walking this way and that with interest. One unfortunate thing about there being a lot of southern peoples is that both types wore simplistic clothing because of their specific cultures valuing ease of use.

“There are also some eastern people. Back in the day they traveled all around the coastline in search of new fish to make recipes out of.” The eastern people were well known for their seafood dishes.

“I hope I can control my appetite enough to try many things.” Noel seemed to doubt she’d be able to as she looked this way and that at all the stalls.

“It seems some people are already celebrating.” Owari said with a chuckle as he watched a large man in thick fur clothing swigging a bottle of liquor.

“I just hope public order is maintained. One time back home there was a group of drunks who went around harassing a bunch of women. Because they were hunters they were skilled at dodging the police forces and it wasn’t until late in the day that they were caught.” Noel shook her head. She wasn’t the type to indulge in alcohol.

“Who knows? We just have to look out for ourselves.” Owari wasn’t that bothered by it, after all he was wearing a pair of swords on his hips. You’d have to be either brave or stupid to mess with him.

The two of them made small talk as they wandered around watching the festivities get started. People finally got things ready by about two hours after sunrise. Noel immediately started buying food left and right, she had taken out a bunch of credits from her account to be able to buy food from the stalls. Owari had taken out much less than her.

“You sure like food.” Owari watched as Noel bought something for the third time in the last ten minutes.

“I do. I was raised mostly on rations for my training, one of the few days I was allowed to indulge was during the culture festival. Of course I was able to eat well enough during the off periods of my training, but it still made me appreciate real food all the more.” Noel spoke between bites of a kebab she had just bought. She was eating carefully but quickly, doing her best to maintain a proper appearance.

“Real food? Isn’t a ration real food?” Owari laughed. “How about you try that?” Owari pointed over to a sushi stall.

“I’m not a fan of sushi. It has a weird aftertaste.” Noel shook her head.

“Makes sense, I also don’t like it. My mom made it once for me to try when I was curious. It made me feel sick. I know she made it right since my father apparently loved her sushi.” Owari had tried it on his father’s birthday once and it was awful.

“I do like noodles though. Maybe we should stop by that noodle stand and see if they are making anything special for today. I’m interested in eating with chopsticks again. Back in my home city the people would always have forks and it seems it’s the same here.” Noel had quite enjoyed eating the noodles with chopsticks. It felt more authentic that way.

“Why don’t we start heading over then? I could go for some noodles for lunch. Looking at you eat so much is making me hungry.” Owari turned and the two started to walk towards the noodle stand. Luckily there were plenty of stalls on the way for Noel to eat at.

As they walked to the noodle stand they ran into a pair of familiar yet surprising faces. Lance and Rebecca were walking together and the two pairs met at an intersection suddenly. “Well it’s a small world after all huh?” Lance chuckled as he and Rebecca approached Owari and Noel.

“Sure seems that way.” Owari smiled. He looked over their outfits and found that Lance was wearing a very casual but thick set of clothing with boots which is typical of southeasterners. Rebecca on the other hand was wearing a fur skirt and jacket combo made of some kind of white-furred animal. She also had a hat similar to Noel’s.

“So what are you two doing around here?” Rebecca asked curiously. The tourist district would have a lot of stalls to pick from. There was little reason for them to be over in the leisure part of the market district.

“There’s a noodle stand over here we wanted to check.” Owari answered back.

“Noodle stand? Sounds interesting, how about we make it a double date?” Rebecca smiled slyly.

“Date?” Noel asked with curiosity. Both Owari and her raised an eyebrow to this.

“She’s just joking, we only met by chance.” Lance hurried to explain, slightly caught off guard.

“How boring.” Rebecca pouted off to the side.

“What do you think Noel?” Owari handed the decision to her.

“Sure, I don’t mind.” She wasn’t too bothered having some extra people along. Festivities were more fun with more people.

“You guys can lead the way then.” Lance spoke after getting his composure back.

“We’ll leave it to you to guide us.” Rebecca also replied, however as she spoke she suddenly wrapped her arm around Lance’s causing his smile to freeze up.

“What are you doing?” He asked with uncertainty.

“Are you already taken perhaps?” She asked curiously.

“No but…” Lance didn’t know what else to say.

“Then it should be no problem to escort me around today. After all it’s boring spending such a day alone. Just looking at how close those two are together is making me envious.” Rebecca smiled as she squinted at Noel and Owari.

“I guess it’s not a problem then.” Lance did his best to seem confident, failing utterly. He was very inexperienced with girls after all.

“How nice, you make a good couple.” Noel smiled lightly as she watched Rebecca teasing Lance, obviously she was just messing with him, but she found his reaction quite funny.

“Let’s get going before Lance loses his cool even more than he already has.” Owari was clearly amused by what was going on.

“You’re all traitors.” Lance said with no small amount of embarrassment.

Soon the group of four, plus Morgana, made their way to the noodle stand. When they arrived they were relieved to see that it was open. They were also selling an old spicy noodle dish that Owari didn’t even recognize. In the end they all ordered the same thing. When it was done and all of them were served with chopsticks, the only one to show no attempt to pick them up was Rebecca.

“Don’t know how to use chopsticks?” Lance chuckled as he watched Rebecca stare blankly at them.

“Not a clue.” She admitted. “Do you have a fork?” She asked the cook. When Noel heard her ask she suddenly felt dumb from the time she just sat there unsure of what to do when she didn’t know how to use chopsticks.

“Sure thing.” The cook grabbed a fork from under the counter and handed it to Rebecca.

“Thank you.” She chuckled and soon the four began eating.

It didn’t take long to figure out who did and didn’t like spicy foods. The only one to give up on eating was Owari. He wasn’t a massive fan of spicy foods, but he felt like trying a new dish from his people. Noel on the other hand loved it so much that when Owari offered her his leftovers she immediately said yes. Lance and Rebecca were more neutral, though Rebecca seemed to not be a fan she still ate them.

“Well that tasted good.” Noel was one of the first to finish despite having the most shocking both Lance and Rebecca.

“It was good, but it was too much for me.” Owari said objectively. He could tell it was well made even if he disliked it.

“I agree, it was worth coming here. Maybe I should come back again in the future.” Lance quite enjoyed the dish, maybe not as much as Noel but he liked it nonetheless.

“Next time I come I’ll get something more subdued.” Rebecca declared, indicating she did intend to come back.

The four of them stood up and went back to walking around town. This time however they shared one another’s company. They all walked together and took in the various sights. At some point Rebecca stopped messing with Lance and they all just enjoyed the chance to get to know one another. Especially Owari who was the least interactive among the group. He was a lot more open these days which made it easier to get to know him. Overall the day was quite fun and everyone enjoyed the chance to spend the day as a group.