Kazuki slowly walked out of the thick fog, revealing his new clothing to be completely frog-themed, from the tiny frogs on his black t-shirt and beige shorts, to the smoking toad graphic at the back of his new hoody.
Tompah chuckled at Kazuki “what are you complaining about, you look cool”
“Stop reminding me of my curse!” Kazuki karate chopped Tompah on the head.
Tompah laughed in response, and waved his hand away “Fine, fine I only did it to annoy you, so you gave me exactly what I wanted.”
Kazuki started to ree loudly at Tompah which prompted the person in the next room to bang on the wall telling them to shut the hell up.
Tompah looked at Kazuki and pointed at him laughing like a child as Kazuki groaned in frustration.
“Hey Kazuki” Tompah chuckled.
“What, Tompah?”
“This is a non-smoking area” Tompah pointed to a sign on the wall with a cigarette crossed in red.
“for the love of” Kazuki put out his cigarette and pushed it back into one of his cigarette boxes.
“You should really make a habit of only smoking outside Kazuki, its gonna get us in trouble…. more trouble than it already has, especially if we are gonna be contractors” Tompah explained behind laughs.
Kazuki shook his head and sighed “Yeah, you’re probably right” Kazuki got up and started walking towards the door.
“Where ya headed Kazuki?” Tompah asked a bit confused
“I can’t smoke here, so ill do it somewhere else” Kazuki Answered as he put his hood over his head.
Tompah stood up from the bed and got ready to follow “Ok Ill join you”
“I thought this wasn’t your thing.” Kazuki stated a little worried.
Tompah shrugged “It isn’t but you have been asleep for four days without food, so I’m going to make sure my new best friend is going to be OK”
Kazuki paused thinking about Tompah’s wanted picture “Hey Tompah what kind of reaction have you been getting from people in public?” he asked.
“Most people were giving me free money for while I was working so I think pretty good” Tompah chuckled
“No wonder you’re in such a good mood today” Kazuki stated under his breath “Wait, Free what? Context?” Kazuki’s mind started racing making him croak nervously.
“The inn here has a Tavern, so I was picking up plates and people were giving me free money for it.” Tompah explained “Are you ok?” Tompah stated a little worried.
Kazuki nodded his head and croaked, “I’m fine, just curious, alright let’s go” He checked to make sure he had Everything he had before and left with Tompah.
The city was vibrant and full of people crowding the many dirt roads and sidewalks. Along those sidewalks were many different shops and buildings that people would walk in and out of constantly. All of the roads were plastered with numbers and letters that made him feel uneasy. Sure the roads were easy to navigate to a regular person who could remember that G7th and G8th street were perpendicular to one another and the F7th Ave was parallel to G7th street, Yes a regular person would totally understand this. But not Kazuki, no sir not him, his mind was too scattered at all times to remember street names and avenues, rather he remembered multiple landmarks that they would pass, such as the café that happened to be located on G6th Ave, which shouldn’t have been far from New Port University or The bank they passed located just up ahead and to the side on F9th. As they were walking, Kazuki noticed there were new wires and rails in the middle of the street. It wasn’t long that he questioned before his inquiry was answered by the sound of a rail car stopping on the opposite side of the road, unloading a large group of people. A tiny explosion went off in his head as he grabbed Tompah’s arm to stop him and point out the city train.
The both of them excitedly schemed over how they were going to steal it, however, it wasn’t long before they remembered that the last time they tried to steal a ride, it didn’t really go that well.
In the corner of his eye Kazuki noticed someone with long ears stare directly at his face, Kazuki made sure to keep his hood over his head and keep his head down looking at the ground as they walked together.
It didn’t take Kazuki and Tompah very long to find an exit to the city and to get into the woods where Kazuki would be able to smoke without anyone bothering them. Once they got into the forest, Kazuki immediately started turning over rocks and checking trees for any bugs he could catch with his tongue or stuff in his mouth. As Kazuki scavenged around Tompah took the time to sit by a tree and watch Kazuki hop around on the ground like a frog. Once he had his fill of cockroaches, flies, ants, maggots, butterflies, and a centipede; He sat by Tompah and relaxed for a little bit before remembering he was supposed to be teaching Tompah how to read.
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“Tompah, do you have your book on you?” Kazuki asked.
Tompah’s face turned red “Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh?”
“Was that a question?”
“No?”
“Tompah, did you lose your book?”
Tompah sighed “yeah”
“That’s fine, lets just use my own book”
Kazuki pulled out his small magic pocketbook and began to remind Tompah of what they learned before. As Kazuki looked through the book, he was a little surprised at the fact that inside of the book there was a small box, containing some pieces he could use for magic tricks, including a golf pencil, and a few rubber bands. He took them out of the box to use as hair bands to tie up his long hair, before continuing to teach Tompah the basics. Eventually, Kazuki found a morse code sheet in the book which Tompah looked to take some interest in, as they continued with their session. At some point halfway through Kazuki gave Tompah the magic book to practice on his own so he could finish the rest of his comic, before switching. They stayed there for an accidental number of hours, doing magic tricks on each other and until the sun began to set and Tompah’s stomach started to grumble.
“Food time!”
“Yes Tompah, it definitely seems like it is, do you think we can kill two birds with one stone and find the exam location too?”
“Actually, the place is a tavern, so we can get food there”
“Oh, then, please. lead the way my friend”
As Tompah led Kazuki back into Newport, Kazuki made sure to put his hood over his head, while it would do just fine to cover his identity at night, he wish he had some sort of mask to hide his face. As they walked through the tow, Kazuki was taking in the many different neon blue signs, and lanterns that started to light the area as the sun fell lower and the moon began to rise. It didn’t matter how dark it was at night, however. The city was still populated with people constantly going about their business. Kazuki did seem to notice that there were now a plethora of people with cat ears and glowing eyes. At one point in their walk, Kazuki spotted the Library on E4th Blvd on the opposite side where they were walking. He quickly hopped over to the open dropbox and put the book he finished inside before turning around and hopping right back to his friend’s side without him noticing.
It was not long before Tompah was able to lead Kazuki to the bar and complete his mission. “Here we are, Mission accomplished!”
Kazuki walked up next to Tompah “Huh this bar is named similarly to Vaush’s bar.”
“What’s this one called?”
“The Severed Seal Sea Food restaurant and tavern
“What’s Vaush’s Bar called?”
“The Broken Bond Bar and Grill” Kazuki answered. Maybe, Just Maybe”
“Maybe what Kazuki?”
“Mmm, I dunno honestly” Kazuki lied “Let’s go in, we’re finally at the place right?”
“Yes exactly, no more waiting, let’s go!”
Kazuki and Tompah walked into the bar and took a second to analyze the room before making any decisions. It was dingy and practically empty, save for a drunk at one of the corners of the bar who was laughing maniacally eating some kind of… Soup? The smell in the bar was that of rotting fish and cigarette smoke which made Kazuki uncomfortable. At the front of the bar a small girl with blue hair and pale skin. Her eyes were that of a snake and when she blinked, slits slid across her eyes horizontally. The freckles on her face and arms were scales that speckled her skin and reflected some of the dim light in the bar. Behind her stood a gigantic.... bear? Which had its back turned as it was working on something behind her. Maybe the product of the smell.
Tompah ran up to the bar counter, getting into the woman’s face “we’re here for the contractor’s exam”
“I’m sorry? The What?” she said, her heavy eastern European accent coming through as she spoke.
“The contractor’s exam you know the one, c’mon” Tompah stated in frustration.
The snake woman crossed her arms and gave the most terribly confused face “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you may be talking about” she said putting her hands on her hips. “Griz do you know anything of a Contractor’s exam?” She asked in a contemptuous voice.
The answer that came out of one was less of an actual answer and more of a heavy grunt.
“Well, you heard em didn’t you, we don’t know what you’re talking about” she crossed her arms as she spoke and gave an innocent look to the both of them.
Kazuki touched Tompah on the shoulder “Tompah are you sure this is actually the place we’re supposed to be?”
Tompah grunted “Yes Kazuki, I told you I know how to read the map!” Tompah gave a heavy annoyed sigh “Why do you guys always do this?!”
The snake woman was obviously having fun getting under Tompah’s skin “I have no idea what you could be talking about, I’m just trying to run a tavern silly man”
“Tompah” Kazuki squeezed his hand on his friend’s shoulder to try and calm him down.
“I know you’re messing with me!” Tompah’s voice got louder “Just let us take the test, I’m not going to fail again!” Tompah slammed his fist down on the table making a small crack to form under the wood.”
This horrible mistake caused Griz to turn around and face Tompah and Kazuki with a threatening growl. His face was utterly horrific. A horribly scarred monstrosity that told the story of a gruesome and truly terrifying battle.
Kazuki and Tompah sat at a random table in the bar, frustrated after getting nowhere. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
"Yes, this is the right place I swear” Tompah started tapping on the table in annoyance at the current situation.
“Alright, if you say this is the right place, then it's probably true. So, what do you think it is we’re missing?” As Kazuki asked this question, he noticed a fairly tall woman that had just walked into the bar. She had half black and half white hair and olive skin. On top of her head were two large bunny ears, one which covered half her face, which itself was covered in multiple piercings, two in her eyebrows, one in her nose, another on her lip. She had a hop in her step as she walked, up to the bar counter and leaned over whispering something to the snake woman that Kazuki and Tompah spoke with. However, the reaction that the snake woman gave was completely different from that which she gave Kazuki and Tompah. She smiled and allowed the bunny girl behind the bar and led her to a cased opening, which was blocked by a beaded curtain.
“Tompah” Kazuki said excitedly to his friend who's head was laying on the table.
“Tompah grunted not wanting to hear Kazuki doubt him again.
“Tompah someone just went into the back; I think this is the right place. We just need to say the right words, right?”
Tompah lifted his head to look at Kazuki with tears in his eyes. “You believe me?”
“Yeah, I do buddy I’m sorry, I doubted you.”
With new invigoration, Tompah sat up and nodded his head. “Ok so then what should we do?”
Kazuki tied his hair into a topknot again using the rubber bands from his magic Kit. “We should investigate and see if there are any codes or secrets that might lead us to get into the back. Let’s split up, I check the bathroom.”
“I'll go outside and find someone who might know the code” Tompah replied.
“Sounds like a plan let’s meet up soon”