And just like that, they had departed, boarding the train to leave for the city border. Yohiro had woken up, and acted frustrated, choosing not to speak to any of them on the way there. He kept pouting under his breath along the way.

‘’Did you memorize it up to H?’’ Despite Yohiro’s attitude, Bernie continued to force a conversation with the boy, ignoring it completely. ‘’Yeah...I made it to I,’’ Yohiro muttered, happily surprising Bernie. ‘’That’s great, then! Let’s continue learning! Maybe you’ll be able to learn Japanese, too, at this rate!’’ Yohiro squirmed a little.

‘’How much time until he faces reality?’’ Rosa turned to Clous, sitting a few seats away from Yohiro and Bernie. ‘’At his core, he’s still just a brat, so...maybe a day or two? Three at most,’’ Clous said back at her. ‘’Nah, you two, Yohiro’ll be fine by the time we leave the city. I guarantee it,’’ Hiona butted in from across. They had a weird seat pattern, to say the least. ‘’And how can you be so sure, Master…?’’ Rosa asked, a faint, mocking smile appearing on her face. ‘’I understand a child’s thought process, that’s why! It’s not hard at all!’’ Hiona proudly announced, tapping her clenched fist against her chest. ‘’You know, that’s a little obvious, master~!’’ Clous said, completely mocking her declaration. ‘’You wanna die, fox…?!’’ She raised her voice. ‘’Go ahead, kill me. I’m not gonna piss my pants over it anymore,’’ Clous looked her in the eyes. Yes, he was definitely afraid, but not to the point of extreme cowardice like before. ‘’Ah, and why’d you suddenly make that decision so suddenly?’’ Hiona put down the angry mask and put her right leg over the left, resting her elbow on it and placing her chin in her palm.

‘’You can’t deny it at this point - it wouldn’t matter if you did, anyway - Yohiro’s changed you, hasn’t he?’’ The fox leaned back, resting himself on the train’s seat, giving off a neutral nonchalant aura to the two of them, which surprised Rosa. ‘’You do know I could still kill you ruthlessly, right?’’ She slowed down her words, giving off the feeling of a murderer holding a knife up to someone’s throat with her malica alone. ‘’You can, but you won’t, am I right? I’m gonna tell you one thing: That brat’s social idiocy changes people, you and me being no exception,’’ Clous smirked, surpassing even Hiona’s expectations. ‘’You’re not fun to toy around with anymore. And of course I can’t kill my precious companio-’’ ‘’Comrade. I’m your comrade, not your companion,’’ Clous corrected with pleasure, prompting Hiona to smile morbidly. ‘’This train isn’t gonna last long, is it…?’’ Rosa thought.

As Yohiro continuously attempted to get Bernie to move away subtly, Ivet sat next to the two of them, maybe a sit away so she could concentrate, and read a book Bernie had given her. He wanted Ivet to kill time without having to feel nervous when around them. She enjoyed the big fellow’s company. She wasn’t having much trouble with the book itself, but rather with the noise the others were making and the thoughts about Yohiro having been born by The Tree. She almost felt nervous, because she had guessed Yohiro would accept the whole situation without hesitation, just to satisfy her tradition. To her, it felt like she was subconsciously forcing him, or somewhat exploiting his nature, but in the end, she was guessing.

A few hours had passed, quickly, or so it felt like at least. The train stopped, followed by the announcement Yohiro was already used to, the same one Ivet had never heard due to her lifestyle back at the castle with her father.

All of them, besides Ivet, seeing as she wasn’t really that attached to the old base, reluctantly walked out of the train, stepping out and watching the speeding vehicle depart less than half a minute later. For most of them it felt like watching their pet run far away from them at a rate they couldn’t catch it, or even imagine catching it. Shortly after, what took their attention was the the fact that they were at the border; the exit out of the city.

Except for Yohiro and Ivet, the group were dressed in their invisible robes. ‘’Princess, touch Bernie’s robe and let him carry you,’’ Clous ordered her without explanation, ‘’Y-yes, but where are you…?’’ she said unenthusiastically, quickly becoming anxious. Yohiro took her by the arm, ‘’He’s right here,’’ the boy smiled, fakely, pulling her recklessly and placing her palm on Bernie’s shoulder. ‘’Ah, y-you’re right, he is…!’’ She looked around, realising the others had appeared before her as well. ‘’Touching one of these babies lets you see others who wear them,’’ Rosa giggled as she patted Ivet’s shoulder. ‘’Ah, I see!’’ She clapped in a moment of intrigue.

Not long after, the girl climbed inside Bernie’s robe, grabbing onto his back awkwardly. ‘’Be careful not to fall, okay~?’’ Bernie said, trying to give her more time to adjust herself, since he was feeling uncomfortable. ‘’And for Yohiro… Clous can take him,’’ Hiona pointed rudely at Clous, who was spacing out. ‘’And why should I carry him?!’’ Clous yelled as soon he grasped reality. ‘’He hates me, Rosa wouldn’t be able to carry him, and beastmen have stronger physical abilities than humans, that’s why,’’ Hiona quickly explained to him apathetically, making it clear she wasn’t in the mood for arguments. They still weren’t really used to that side of her, as usual. ‘’Fine,’’ Clous agreed, faster than usual. None of them were in the mood for fighting or talking with each other.

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‘’Are we- Oi, be more careful!!’’ Clous shouted at Yohiro, ‘’And why are you climbing on top of my head, you dipshit?!’’ Yohiro seated himself nicely on top of Clous’ head, making it look like they had become a large figure, at least if you were looking from the sides or back. ‘’It’s the best way, and your legs aren’t even shaking, it’s fine!’’ Yohiro cheered himself up after hearing Clous’ loud and annoyed voice again.

‘’Enough of that,’’ Hiona got their attention, ‘’we’ll be sneaking out. You won’t be showing your ID’s - that you don’t own anymore due to certain circumstances - or any of that shit, got it?’’ Hiona asked, finding herself scratching her head under her hood all of a sudden. They all nodded in relative agreement, out of sync, beginning to walk in a straight line, lining up.

‘’How do you plan to get us out of the city, if we’re not using the front gate?’’ Yohiro spoke up as they walked past a small crowd. ‘’We’re breaking the wall down, I guess. Didn’t really think about it,’’ Hiona laughed slightly under her breath. As they all processed the situation, each and every one of them let out a high-pitched internal scream, which if it was let out loud could probably turn deafen someone. ‘’No fucking way...! No fucking way we’re blowing a hole through the walls, you dumbass...!!’’ Clous did his best to keep his voice down, sounding like he was yelling in a pillow, at least in terms of volume.

‘’Damn straight we are. I’m not about to climb it, am I~?’’ Hiona broke from the group, beginning to run towards the wall, just so they couldn’t stop her. ‘’She called out the logical solution herself, though!!’’ Rosa though as they all began running after her, Clous lagging behind a decent amount.

Hiona stopped abruptly in front of the wall, placing her palm on it. She blurted out, ‘’It’s not that hard, to be honest…’’ The others quickly made it to her, except for Clous who arrived a few seconds later, with Yohiro complaining about the slow travel. ‘’Come on, master, breaking the wall would cause a commotion and we wou-’’ ‘’So? We’re not coming back, right? Might as well leave them a goodbye gift, right?’’ Hiona clenched a fist, pulling it back, prompting the others to jump back. ‘’Wait a minute,’’ Yohiro said, stopping her as he got off Clous, leaving everyone to stare in a ‘’we’re finished’’ manner.

‘’You can’t do that,’’ he told her. ‘’Why? Did the gem tell you something again? Is something gonna kill me if I break it down, as dumb as that sounds?!’’ Yohiro looked at the ground before raising his head, showing Hiona a wide smile. ‘’It’s unnecessary. It accomplishes nothing. It’s the thieves’ guild, right, not these people? The pieces you break it into might land on someone and hurt them, or even kill them,’’ he pushed himself up with his toes, giving her a different expression, a more menacing one, ‘’Don’t you dare do it...Hiona.’’ He narrowed his eyes and turned his smile into an angry frown, staring at her.

‘’See, that’s why you’re so interesting; you try to give me advice for living better,’’ she smiled at him, ‘’Too bad I don’t want it, right~?’’ Yohiro’s eyes widened as Hiona punched through the wall with incredible impact, blowing him and the other back with the wind. The few people around them noticed Yohiro standing next to the newly created, human-sized hole.

‘’Wh- A child broke a hole in the wall?!’’

‘’Was he using magic?!’’

‘’A terrorist?!’’

‘’We better move, you guys~, or we might regret it!’’ Hiona winked, jumping through the hole, finding herself onto a seemingly never ending green field, breaking into a merciless sprint, as if not caring about anything she just did, because she wasn’t. ‘’So what, we just run for it now?!’’ Rosa shouted. ‘’It’s the kid’s fault for stepping off my head, you know!’’ Clous added, ignoring the concerning situation. ‘’You two, just run!’’ Bernie grabbed both Rosa, Clous and Yohiro with his large arms and ran out through the hole, running unbelievably fast for someone who was carrying four people at once. ‘’Are you going to be okay, Mr. Bernie?!’’ Ivet shouted as she struggled to hold on. ‘’Yes, it’s not a problem, but I’m gonna lose sight of master if I don’t drop you guys…!’’ He exclaimed, dropping the three of them and continuing to run with Ivet. ‘’You guys catch up, I know it’s not a big deal!’’ And just like that, Bernie was off, leaving the three of them behind.

‘’Is he for fucking real?!’’ Clous looked back, watching people begin to gather at the opening, jumping onto his feet again. ‘’I’ll tell Bernie to shoot some spell in the sky later, catch up to me as fast as you guys can,’’ and Clous was off too. It was just a weird difference in speed. He thought it best to catch up with Hiona and Bernie first. They wouldn’t get far. Also, Rosa and Yohiro were roughly equal in terms of speed. ‘’Okay, Yohiro, let’s go t-- Yohiro?!’’ Rosa noticed that Yohiro refused to move, the gem glinting rapidly from under his shirt. ‘’Now’s not the damn time, for God’s sake!’’ Rosa grew more and more nervous, since she couldn’t leave Yohiro and run in this weird, out-of-nowhere state. She couldn’t be seen, but Yohiro was a different deal entirely. Pulling out her tome, she spread her lips, ‘’’Marioeteruna: article 2. Connect!’’ She chanted, causing a barrier to quickly appear, covering the hole they had come out of a few seconds earlier. Still, she didn’t know what to do with Yohiro, who had begun to continuously stare at the green grass.