Night rolled around, I had been looking at the ground for god knows how long. Did they forget about me? Did Aizen forget she was supposed to come for me? I couldn’t help but feel lost, I felt abandoned, well… It was a common feeling, but a part of me ached, it dreaded it.

I was in the office with Dan, he didn’t seem that worried about the situation as he read a book. His sister hadn’t returned yet, and Lynn was still sleeping for whatever reason. I guess old people had a hard time dealing with alcohol or something. Dan didn’t really seem to care about anything, I was stuck sitting on a chair as I fidgeted. The ground became more entertaining to watch than to draw on a piece of paper that Dan gave me.

It was better to absentmindedly look at the ground as unease took over me than drawing as I got anxious. It was already night time and yet, I was still here. Part of me just wanted to run out and go looking for Aizen or Yami, part of me wanted to stay in case they came just as I left. Part of me just wanted to blame myself for letting this happen…

“Just where are th⁠—” My hollow mutter was interrupted by the office door slamming.

“Brother, I am here!” It was Dan’s sister, she cheerfully sprinted across the room and lunged herself at Dan for a hug. Dan didn’t even bother to dodge and just allowed her to rub her cheek on him.

“So, how did it go⁠?” Dan calmly asked as his sister still rubbed herself on him. “Wait… Why are you all dusty?!” Dan suddenly asked as he realized he was full of dust.

“Ehehe, you see… The new mage mistook me for you!” Dan didn’t seem to be amused. “Anyway, she was amazing! It suddenly went Boom! And a lot of people fainted!” She was oddly excited, Dan seemed oddly worried and also slightly mad.

“And, you are okay right?” He asked with slight nervousness.

“Yep! Lin saved me!” Who was Lin? I am not following… Dan sighed in relief.

“I see…” he paused and then smiled as he lovingly patted his sister. “Good job.” She gave a bright smile.

They continued chatting, but I stopped paying attention, the door was more important. Although there was no one else coming in, for the time being, it shouldn’t take that long right?

I waited a few seconds, a few minutes…My excitement dwindled and I started to feel slight nervousness, maybe something happened, or maybe… I shouldn’t think about that, maybe they are just late.

I kept waiting, an hour went by. I still had slight hopes, however, I felt a sinking feeling in my heart, I felt extreme nausea and just felt unwell in general, I had been feeling nervous and just waited for the worst. However, nothing was happening, maybe the worst had happened.

I waited with overwhelming anxiety for a few more hours, but in the end, none of them came.

The worst thought came to my mind, I started breathing harshly and rapidly, I felt my heart-rate quickened and my nose started feeling sensitive and slightly pained, my eyes started getting warm and my cheeks felt slightly cold from the tears streaming down my face. It was obvious, I didn’t realize it, but it was more than obvious, I was more of an obstacle than anything for both of them.

“They left me..” I hesitantly said as I sniffled. Dan finally picked up on what was happening to me.

“They didn’t…” Dan said with zero amusement, but I just shook my head in denial. It was more than obvious. Who would want me around? Even though I thought I was accepted, I still didn’t tell them anything about me, what a joke…

A dry laugh escaped my lips. Dan suddenly showed up in front of me and firmly grabbed my shoulders, looking directly into my eyes. He had a really serious and scary expression.

“They did not leave.” He firmly stated.

I averted my gaze to break eye contact. I didn’t really believe him, but I did not want to voice out my thoughts. What will he know? Has he ever been abandoned? I don’t think so…

“Umm… If they left, how about you look for them…” Dan’s sister sheepishly stated as she joined into the conversation, my eyes widened and I got a bit calm hearing her.

“Like that makes any se⁠—”

“Let’s look for them!” I hurriedly interrupted Dan before he could even finish his sentence.

“I told you they didn’t leave you…”

“How do you know?” I asked with a bit of frustration.

‘While I don’t want to think they left me, Dan’s sister is back, she has been back for hours, just what happened?’ I wiped my tears with new-found hope and stood up from the chair. I grabbed Dan’s hand and started bringing him out of the room, his sister also hurriedly followed not wanting to be left alone. We ended up leaving Lynn in the room with the doodles I made on his face.

* * *

Upon leaving the building I felt my hand get yanked in pain, almost as if I was pulling stone forcefully. I looked back and it was Dan firmly standing, he sighed and held his head as if he had a headache, followed by another sigh.

“I don’t know where to begin…” He paused. “Why would you believe they left you.”

“I-I was…” I became silent with hesitation, should Dan even know? He sighed again seeing my silence.

“Well, whatever. I am telling you now, they didn’t. So, let us wait.” Even though what he said carried a sense of security and reassurance, even though he was probably right, there was still a thorn. My lips started quivering and I started shaking, Dan took a step back.

I felt warmth on my hand and tugging. “Come on, let’s just go.” It was Dan’s sister. I hurriedly nodded in happiness. Even though what I was doing was wrong, there was still something that bothered me.

Dan sighed in defeat and allowed himself to get pulled by his sister. “I still think I am right…” Dan commented in annoyance. His sister just sighed and ignored him, I personally just ignored him.

We walked and walked, continuously held by Dan’s sister hand, hers was delicate and smooth, Dan’s was soft yet firm, it was kind of crazy to think they almost look the same and could be mistaken. Still… I wonder where is Aizen or Yami, and why none of them came… Did they forget about me? Are they busy? Just… What happened. I sighed in a bit of sadness and loneliness.

“Stop.” I realized we were standing right in front of the gate guard after I had finally recovered my reasoning. The guard was still carrying the same feeling of strong and firm as always, he had some extreme dedication.

“Well, if it isn’t Dan?” He looked at Dan’s sister. “And Mia…” He said with a bit of annoyance as he looked at Dan. I could tell Dan was in a terrible mood, mostly because we had dragged him across town.

Dan laughed.

“What’s so funny Mia?”

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Dan pulled out the guild master card. “Mia was it? Yeah… I am Mia…” His voice was cold and gave the guard cold feet and his face instantly became dead-pale.

“...” After a slight second of panic the guard hurriedly prostrated on the ground. “Please forgive me!”

“That’s better. Hey...” He whispered to his ear. "So, I don't like when people mock me." The guard was shivering.

"P-Please, spare me!" How did it turn out like this?!

"Umm... Brother can you not?" He sighed.

"Fine..." He stood up, the guard sighed. "Buuut, I might just come around later~" The guard shivered

Dan sighed with satisfaction as if his frustration had been washed away.

Without any hesitation Dan started walking forward, he paused as he saw us standing still looking at the poor guard. “Not coming?” He said with slight confusion.

I nodded with slight hesitation and started walking, Mia did the same. We walked and got caught up with Dan, he started walking alongside us, with a lot less frustration. We walked through the amazing bridge and arrived at an open-feeling area, the first thing that got my attention was a garden.

A myriad of flowers, beautifully trimmed bushes, it was a garden just fitting for a monstrous white castle that looked like one of those in kids' books. I kind of gulped seeing one of the things I had been wanting to see for quite some time, maybe not exactly the thing, but it was quite picturesque.

I forgot what I came here for and got entranced by the beauty of the garden, slowly approaching it with slight curiosity and in pursuit of discovery. I did not get stopped by Dan or his sister for whatever reason, but it didn’t matter. As soon as I got close to a blue triangle-shaped flower I felt a slight tingle in my ears. It made me lift my head, and I saw a beautiful tree right at the center of the garden.

It was really thick, I would say the trunk was around the same thickness as Fenri’s length… Making that comparison made me slightly upset but that did not last as soon as I looked at it again, it looked firm and insurmountable, it was… Amazing… Almost as if it was the world tree referenced in all those books I read and saw pictures of. Well, it was described to be as tall as a mountain, but that’s just impossible.

I felt a slightly weird sensation for a moment but I did not pay much attention as I was distracted looking at the tree.

I heard a slight and familiar high pitched shout that made me snap out of admiring the tree, I noticed Dan and his sister were looking at me with confusion, seeing I was paying so much attention to a tree I wouldn’t blame them. Coming back to my senses I started going in the direction I heard the shout.

My ears picked up cheerful and warm chatting from two girls, I recognized their voice, it was them. I got closer to the door and heard some more chatting, although it was still muffled, I could still recognize them. I felt a lot of emotions suddenly surge inside me.

“Well, now w⁠—”

“I-I can’t believe you left me!” I exclaimed without a plan or absolutely anything for that matter. I felt abandoned, it felt like they went to do their things without taking me along. I felt mad…

“I told you that they are not leaving you…” Dan reinstated his thoughts.

“Dan is bad with kids.” Mia told Aizen and Yami. “How silly of you brother.” Yami instantly became confused and Aizen tilted her head.

“What do you mean by left?” Aizen asked

“You left me there… Waiting the entire day! J-Just how could you?!” I didn’t even know what to say. “Just why?” I started crying in frustration.

As I cried Aizen seemed awfully confused, and Yami did not look any better. I felt warmth and firm pressure on my shoulder.

“I didn’t intend to leave you, at least not for the entire day…” Aizen said with slight regret, “Although I don’t quite understand why are you like this…” She added.

“I-I thought you had left me, gone without me… Elsewhere…” At least, that’s what I believed.

Aizen nodded. “And?"

“... And…” I muttered her words, I think she wanted me to continue, or rather, explain to her why I was behaving like this. “And… I-I arrived here…”

“And?” She continued persuading.

“Well, when I saw you both I felt relieved…” I sheepishly explained. “But at the same time, I felt excluded, because I wasn’t here with both of you…” I stopped sobbing, after realizing the nonsensical reasoning I truly had.

“I see....” Aizen nodded and placed her hand on her chin as if she was an old sage. “Well, you are here now aren’t you?” She patted me with a smile.

“... Yeah…” I felt slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry I didn't come earlier, things happened." She gave me a bitter smile.

“Wait!” Yami randomly shouted. We all looked at her with confusion, even Fenri did. “Why are there two Dans?” Eh…

“Yami are you okay?” I asked out of concern, sure, they looked similar but they both clearly had different haircuts, besides, Mia had a different type of charm than Dan, Dan was just… Dan.

“You think so too?” Aizen asked as she tilted her head. “Yeah, I mean… I cannot tell them apart aside from clothing.”

Yami observed both of them as they stood on the doorway. Dan had a face of annoyance and sighed in defeat. Meanwhile, his sister was just smiling. Dan patiently waited for Yami to say something, yet… All she did was observe both of them with a discerning eye. She finally cheerfully nodded.

“I can’t tell the difference!”

“Right?!” Aizen excitedly agreed.

“Eh…” Was that the entire reason for her silence?

“Is that all you could think of?!” Dan questioned with annoyance and slight disappointment. “To think I got dragged here just for this…” He sighed. “Let’s go, Mia, I am quite tired.” He grabbed his sister’s hand.

“But I want to see the white-haired girl!”

“You will be seeing her…” Dan added with slight tiredness.

“Eh… If you say so… But it better be true! Is she old?!” After a childish argument, they both left.

Yami, Aizen and I were left wordlessly staring at the doorway. After a few seconds of silence, Yami opened her mouth.

“Um… So, who can explain to me why was there Dan and then a childish Dan?” She asked with confusion.

“Apparently Dan has a sister, although they both look the same to me,” Aizen answered, I nodded in response.

“I see…” Yami paused. “Well, I am glad we got this over with…” She sounded oddly relieved but…

“What you got over with?” I asked with confusion.

Hearing me Yami paused and thought to herself, thinking about what to say, I guess. Aizen approached me with a slight smile and showed me a bracelet. It had shiny white scales that emanated a blue-hue. Although I realized it wasn't a bracelet, it was a gauntlet.

“Beautiful…” I couldn’t help but mutter at the reflection of the light. Aizen knelt down in front of me and started talking.

“You see Ari, this gauntlet was made by K-Yami, it was quite the…” She paused. “The struggle… Seeing she fainted while making it and such…”

“Eh… Is she okay?!” I asked in a panic, Aizen slowly nodded.

“Anyway, this gauntlet was probably one of her best creations, and I am happy she delivered.” Best creations? How many things has she made? Delivered? “You see, I asked her to make me a scale armor, unfortunately, she couldn’t quite deliver, so she ended up making a gauntlet…” Aizen looked at it for some reason and warmly smiled.

“I see…” I didn’t really know what to say, what kind of gauntlet was that anyway? I have never seen anything like that before. It seemed to be yet another item, Yami always carried items around. Wait, did she make most of the items? Eh… I saw her smithing back in Mirl, but… Was she really that amazing? No, wait… I knew she was amazing, but just how amazing…

“Ari,” Yami called for me.

“Y-Yes?”

“Do you like the gauntlet?” Eh? I nodded in confusion. “That’s good, Aizen cried over it, so it better had been worth it...” How does that even work?

“How couldn’t I?!” She paused. “Besides, it almost killed you so...” She muttered with slight resentment.

Eh… I am not following, what kind of cursed object could kill someone?

Yami sighed in defeat. “It was pretty amazing seeing it wiggle before I fainted…” Eh?

“The fact that you fainted saved you, dummy…” Aizen said with slight tiredness. She sounded oddly sympathetic to Yami for some reason. “Well, at least you are okay now. So stop bringing it up!” Aizen hit Yami on top of the head.

“Ouch! You didn’t need to do that...” She rubbed her temple slightly teary-eyed, meanwhile, all I could do was stand there not really following the flow of the conversation or understanding anything at all.

I kind of felt excluded. I looked around for something as they kept chatting to themselves. Suddenly I felt a bump behind me and a gentle forward push, it was Fenri. He seemed to understand what I was feeling, I couldn’t help but tightly hug him instead of joining into the conversation as he initially intended.

“Well, that is done. Besides, I don’t think we should keep talking about this Ku-Yami since we have Ari here now.” Eh? Aizen suddenly closed in distance to me and tightly squished me to her side.

“Eh… But I wanted to keep talking about the item…” What item?

“Tsk, that doesn’t matter, it just happened. Besides, what can a title or two do?” Did she just say title?! Why do I keep getting included into these conversations I barely understand!

“You are right…” Yami sighed in defeat. “Let’s just worry about it tomorrow…” After another sigh, she looked at me and her eyes widened. “Wait… Ari…”

“Yes?” What? Did something happen?

“Sorry!” She exclaimed as she hugged me. “I forgot you were there and just kept talking with Aizen… You see, something really weird happened today…” Eh…

“The um… Bright light and shaking from the castle?” I asked trying to guess.

“Eh, no… That’s what Aizen did…” Yami pushed it into Aizen with a dismissive wave.

“Wait, what? Aizen did that?!” But... how?

“Long story…” Aizen evaded the question entirely.

Yami seemed to want to keep talking but she thought to herself and after a slight quick nod, she opened her mouth. “Well, let’s go back.” With a sheepish nod, I followed behind them. Aizen occasionally apologized for leaving me there, which made me explain that it wasn’t so bad. It also made me feel bad and slight guilt. Almost as if I was seeking attention.

I made myself a mental note to never do that again.