The road from the small village to Seiren seemed like a grand journey to most. To what most would think to be a tireless trek was not. Their ride had a calm sense. The fields around them spoke of peace and simplicity, much different from the gruesome threat Nomi’s village was under. The hamlets sprinkled alongside the road were seemingly untouched by the harsh reality of beasts. To say they were ignorant would be suffice, or perhaps their placement within the land cuddled them with a sense of safety.

–

A slight breeze blew through Mia’s hair, dancing with her bangs and swaying with her silk-like long locks.

She looked around and enjoyed the calming view. Small communities strewn about. She watched the occasional cluster of brush that passed by.

“Hikaru.” Mia tapped his back repeatedly.

The Lieutenant looked over his shoulder, “What?”

“Can you move ahead a bit? I want to ask Yuai some… Personal questions.”

He remained silent for a moment, then rolled his eyes. “Fine, but only for a bit. I’ll get in trouble if I break formation for too long.”

He looked forward and stared at the Captain, who was paying attention to the road ahead.

“Hm, should be fine.” He whispered.

“Hyah!” Hikaru shook the reins, and the Seshi picked up speed and caught up to Yuai.

Hikaru turned his head, “Yuai! Can you take Mia with you?”

Mia looked puzzled.

Take me with her? We’re gonna stop?

Yuai's expression remained unchanged since they first met her. Her gal-ish smile and her relaxed body language were just as before.

“Mia, I’m gonna need you to jump over to her Seshi.”

“What? But we’re moving, and at a high speed, no less. The hell are you talking about?”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, if you’re wanting to talk to her, then it’ll be a lot easier if you’re with her, won’t it? Now get going!”

Yuai struggled to tie her hair down as Mia looked over at her.

Okay. Oh shit.

Her gaze fixated on the ground, watching as small rocks whizzed by.

OOOOOOH, we’re going really fast. Reeeeeeeaaaaalllly fast. But- I can do this… Right? This ain’t nothing… I just have to jump from a galloping horse to another galloping horse… Easy.

Mia lifted her head and glanced at the others in the group. First at Hetomo, who was casually going with the flow and daydreaming. In the front, the Captain had a nervous expression, but yet showed a sense of seriousness as well.

She returned her gaze to Yuai, who was now waving her over.

“I’m gonna die, aren’t I.”

She slowly rose, trembling and praying that she wouldn’t fall.

Ah, screw it.

Hyuup!

For the few moments she was in the air, she was terrified. Her facial expression could be only described as one who met the face of death.

But yet, she landed. Not on the ground, but near the ass-end of Yuai’s Seshi.

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Yuai looked back, “Are you like okay? You look as pale as a ghost, yep.”

“Oh, I’m fine… I think.”

Mia got herself upright and grabbed Yuai’s waist.

“So, like, what do you need? Yep.” She smiled and turned her head forward.

“Oh, I just wanted to ask you some things… Some personal things. If that’s alright.”

“Hmm, that’s like so okay. Yep”

Mia had a confused look, but shook it away.

“Well, first, how did you get your hair like that? Is it natural… Or?”

“Ohhhhhh. People ask this a lot and like, it’s such an easy question. It’s not natural, I dyed it. Yep.”

“Dyed it? I don’t understand.”

“Ya know, like hair dye. Changing your hair color to many different colors and stuff. Yep.”

Mia’s confused expression returned.

“Hm, if you’re like from that small Ako village, then I guess you wouldn’t know what a lot of things are. So like, technology is super crazy and like, we have all this fun stuff. Like, that totes includes beauty stuff. Yep.”

“Is there black hair dye?”

Yuai became silent for a moment, “Wait, so like, you wanna change from that hella cute hairstyle? I like totally wanted to ask you about it, but so much was going on. Yep.”

My hair? Hella cute? No one except for Aira said things like that about it… When the Captain and Hikaru were talking about it, they didn’t really care. When Nomi saw it, she seemed unfazed as well… But Yuai… She’s like Aira.

“Yeah well… I’ve always had my hair like this and everyone always ostracized me for being different. And so when I saw you, I thought you could help. Could make me more normal- I guess.”

“Normal? Who like wants to be normal, ya know? Being normal is totes a buzzkill. I get it if you wanna be ‘in’ but like being unique is hella lit. Yep.”

Mia drifted to her thoughts, wondering if her decision was wrong or rushed.

“Though like, I can totally get some cute colors for you. Like I know a place where we can get blue or pink hair dyes. Yep.”

Mia cracked a smile. “Maybe.”

Perhaps being unique isn’t too bad. Maybe I’ll think more about it later.

“Also, I noticed you say ‘Yep’ after everything you say, and was kinda curious about it.”

“Yep? Yep.”

Wait, is she not aware of it? Hm…

“Actually, ignore that. I think I’m just hearing things.”

–

The two girls talked for some time after that. In fact, they gabbed for ninety percent of their ride to Seiren.

“-And that was when she totally wore the wildest colors haha, it was totes wild.”

Hahaha, “Who would’ve thought about wearing a pink dress to hunt a pack of beasts?” Mia smiled, her face was filled with warmth. Since the start of her adventure, she has truly made a brand new girl-friend.

…

“Everyone!” The Captain waved to the rest of the group.

“Finally, we’re here. It took long enough.” Hikaru stretched his arms. “I didn’t think it’d take four hours to ride here at full speed.”

All of their Seshi’s came to a halt, and each of them dismounted their rides.

“What in the-” Mia couldn’t formulate a proper sentence.

“There it is, Seiren, our grand home… Or so it used to be.” Hetomo knocked his head back and forth, “at least we arrived without any trouble, I hate unnecessary fights, being tired is so not cool.”

…

Mia looked at everyone. “This is Seiren? This building?”

She looked up at the large structure. It seemed to be completely cubic, with three enormous towers coming from the top.

“This? Really? Captain, you said that Seiren was a fortress-like city. What the hell is going on?”

The Captain looked away, “Yeah… About that. I lied. I figured telling you that would be more believable than what Seiren actually is.” The man looked off and twiddled his fingers.

“What in the what? I-I don’t even know what to say. Is this some magic portal to another dimension or something?”

They all stood in silence… “No…”

Hikaru perked up, “Well then let’s go in shall w-”

“Stop where you stand criminals.” A mysterious voice appeared around them.

“Damn, noticed right off the bat. How unlucky.” The Captain turned his head to a small entrance in the building.

Standing in a shadow was a man, a huntsman. Wearing the traditional huntsman garb and carrying a large pack, this man stood in front of them.

With his face concealed by a wooden mask, he made his intentions clear.

“You all will be arrested and prosecuted for treason. All refusals will be punished with force.”

The Captain looked at the insignia band on his arm. He squinted at its symbol.

“You’re a member of the stealth squad. I guess the top brass really wants us, don’t they?”

The Captain smirked.

“You will hand yourselves over this instant, or you will force my hand.” The stealth squad huntsman reached to his side and held his hand above a blutklinge attached to his hip.

“Oh, so you wanna fight, do you?” The Captain took a single step forward.

The ground shook, a pulse of quelle shot out around the Captain.

“I have an idea… How about I’ll come quietly and you leave my division members alone?” He took another step, blasting out another huge amount of quelle.

“I-I must ap-prehend all crim-inals.”

“Finding it hard to catch your breath? I think you should reconsider.”

For a few more seconds, the Captain continued exerting quelle towards the stealth squad huntsman.

“F-fine.” The stealth squad huntsman was panting heavily, practically running a marathon to catch his breath.

“Good.”

The Captain looked back at the group and smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll handle things on my end. Hikaru, you’re in charge.”