While Hiroku was having a flowery, verbal interaction with other Kayamas, Loter and Tori struggled to get a single word exchanged between them.

The vibe immediately went awkward when Ramiron left the room. Loter could only blush with Tori and scratch his hair as he waited for her to proceed with what she was trying to say.

Nothing was spoken in this conversational stalemate. They just kept scrutinizing each other with their peripheral vision. Not even a single direct eye contact was made.

Eventually, the two decided to break the silence.

"Maybe—"

"I—"

They both paused their sentences as their eyes met in the air. Just before the ember of conversation could die in mutual embarrassment, Loter spoke up. He said, "What do you want to tell me? Uh, I'm, uh—"

"I, I need to ask you a question." Tori glanced at and eyed away from Loter repeatedly.

Loter asked too fast, causing words to stick together clumsily, "Wha'que'tion?"

"Do you want me to… to go to Murkia Union with you?"

"You? Go to MU?" Loter gaped. His shock then became pure happiness, curling his lips upward. "Really?"

"Do you want me to?" Tori slowly moved her sight back to the front, looking at the boy before her.

"Are there any consequences?"

"I don't… don't know the word." She averted her eyes again.

"Consequence means, uh, the consequence of your action, no. Uh, what I want to ask is are you allowed to come to MU with me?"

Tori gazed at Loter. Her eyes were opened wider than usual, and her brows rose in anticipation. "They will let me go with you if you want me to go with you."

"Of course I want to."

"Then, I will—" A cheerful chuckle broke out of Tori's throat before she could finish the sentence. "I will go tell them you said yes." She swiftly exited the patient's room after finishing the sentence.

Wow, Tori is coming to MU with me. That is unexpected. I did not even have time to worry about her situation, and the problem was solved behind my back. Did Hiroku do this? He must know something about it. I will have to ask him some questions. By the way, what will Tori be doing in MU? Will she enroll in HueCam Academy? Will she even stay in HueCam State? Wait… How is she supposed to learn magic in MU? That's the most important thing about this problem. How did I overlook it?

"Lot, Lot? Are you there?" Ramiron's playful voice dragged Loter back into the real world. It seemed like she had come back in when Loter was out of his mind. She tittered lightly at Loter's daydreaming behavior.

"Where is Tori?" Loter asked frantically.

"I just saw her running by. What did you do?"

"You know—"

"Aye, you two are getting engaged."

"No, you get it wrong. I need to find her now," Loter exclaimed, bouncing his heels nervously on the floor.

Ramiron's surprise turned into confusion. She sighed, "I'll help you, but you have to explain what just happened in this room later, aye?"

"Yeah," Loter answered without hesitation.

Ramiron held a hand toward him and turned her head to face the sliding doors. Loter gripped her hand. Immediately, they began teleporting out of the patient's room and all the way through the hallway, startling and scaring several innocent servants.

Eventually, they saw the staircase and caught Tori about to go down.

"Wait!" Loter yelled. He let go of Ramiron's hand and dashed toward Tori.

Tori turned around and started as Loter approached. "What? Why?"

Loter halted by pushing his palms against the handrail, and Tori stepped aside from the stairs so they would not block anybody's way.

"I forgot to ask you this back there. I have to ask you now."

"Yes?" Tori nervously swallowed and said.

"How are you going to learn magic in MU?"

"I can learn from books."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Ohh, yeah. You can learn from books." Loter suddenly felt stupid. He tittered awkwardly and quickly began explaining himself. "I didn't know that and was worried that you wouldn't be able to do what you want anymore if you left Cho-san Island. You didn't mention it at all, so I thought you overlooked this aspect of the, the, the decision-making?"

Is "decision-making" the right word? Anyway.

Tori giggled with a hand before her mouth. "Thank you for worrying about it for me. You are… I am very happy."

"Yeah, uh, uh, I should go back to my room, the patient's room." Loter pointed a finger behind him, although the patient's room was not in that direction.

"And I will go see my father." Tori pointed at the stairs.

"See you soon."

"Yes."

They parted ways and clumsily walked in the opposite direction. Ramiron tapped Loter on the shoulder and led the way. Since they were not in a hurry, Ramiron chose not to scare the poor servants again with her teleportation.

As they strolled through the hallway, she said, "I think it is nice of you to worry about her, Lot."

Loter, zoning out with his mind roaming around, came back to his senses. "Thank you. I didn't think that much. I just don't want her to feel trapped. If she doesn't get to do this thing she loves, then isn't leaving Cho-san just sending her into another cage? I don't know… At that point, wouldn't it be better if she at least gets to do what she likes in secret than not being able to do it at all?"

"That's what you been thinking?"

"Yeah."

"I never knew you would think about things like this, but it makes sense."

"If I'm Hiroku, I would have an answer."

"You won't want to be him."

"Why? He's so mature, so much more hero-like than me."

Ramiron looked away as the topic became somewhat heavy. Her eyes shifted back to the center, and she said, "Hiroku is not happy, but you are, Lot. It is important to be happy."

"Yeah, he is not a happy person." Loter sighed as he thought about Hiroku and the months that he spent depressed. Then, he lightened up his tone. "But we talked it out, right? And he must be happy that Tori is going to MU. He can spend more time with her. That must make him happier."

Hearing Loter's response, Ramiron knitted her brows a bit and asked, "By the way, what exactly did Tori tell you when I was away?"

"She asked me if I wanted her to go to MU."

Ramiron waited for another second before asking, "That's it?"

"What's wrong?"

"No, nothing. You two spent quite some time there, so I thought more things were discussed."

"Oh, yeah. I think we just like to talk slowly."

"That must be the case." Ramiron opened the door back into the patient's room and ended the conversation with a faint sarcasm Imperceptible to Loter.

Loter lay back on the bed, and Ramiron sat on a stool beside him. He had his eyes pointing blankly at the ceiling and his hands calmly on his belly. Although there was not an expression on his face, his mind was unsettled. There were too many feelings, opinions, and questions.

He suddenly asked, "I don't feel like sleeping. When are we leaving?"

"In two days. I think you'll need to meet with Tori's parents tomorrow, and I'll finish the meditation thing. Then, we are done here."

Loter quietly nodded, and Ramiron continued, "Oh, I swear, after this, I will never meditate ever again." She tittered a bit. Then, there was a moment of silence.

Out of nowhere, Loter changed the topic. "Do you think you'll miss this place, Cho-san Island?"

"I'll remember this place for sure."

"Me too."

"It's a complicated place, just like every other place."

"There are a lot of estates."

"Aye, but no. I'm not talking about the locations of the buildings. There are a lot of bad things about this place. I saw a lot with my own eyes and heard more from Hiroku. However, the place also has positive things."

"Um-hum."

"No one has updated you on that, but Hiroku told me that Mi-something master of this tribe is actually helping us out."

"Seriously? He sent me into a deathmatch." Loter whipped his head, looking at Ramiron incredulously.

"Hiroku said he has to balance between different factions in the tribe, so he didn't have many options. I don't know, but Hiroku said so."

"Yeah, sure, I can understand that." Loter sighed and added, "I decide to believe he is a good person."

"Yotan is also a nice guy."

"Really?"

"Aye, we talked a few times. I can tell he doesn't see me any less than him. Also, I think he helped Hiroku with the planning."

"That is nice. I don't know him much, but he seems to be very friendly."

"Avuncular and genial."

"Yeah," Loter replied. Ramiron did not continue to say anything, and Loter just stayed quiet, digesting the conversation.

After a few more minutes, Hiroku arrived, telling them that Loter was allowed to leave the hospital. The first thing they did after getting back to their cottages was to have lunch first. Loter's preference of "something he had not eaten" had Hiroku ruminating for some time.

Eventually, he decided to order donburi, specifically, unadon for Loter, oyakodon for himself, and gyudon for Ramiron.

When the food finally arrived, Loter took off the lid and looked into his bowl. He asked, "Isn't this just fish on rice, but a lot of fish and a lot of rice?" He then peeked at others' bowls, seeing chicken and egg in Hiroku's and beef in Ramiron's.

Hiroku rolled his eyes and explained, "No, it's not. The eels in unadons are made in a specific way that gives them a unique taste. Just take a bite, and you'll understand."

Loter scooped up a clump of rice with a piece of reddish-brown eel meat sitting atop. The black bottom skin of the meat was adhered to the oily rice. As he put the spoonful in his mouth, the smooth rice clump slid onto his tongue and disassembled. Savor, oleogustus, and kokumi burst as he bit down on the eel meat.

"Oh, this tastes so good!"