Chapter 6

Chapter 6; Warming up.

Maia was holding a map, struggling to read it, "...Where are we again?"

"Mai-chan, are you forgetting Milky Town already?", Daiki sweatdropped as he leaned towards Maia's shoulder to take a look at the map, "We're right here--", he pointed to where they are now, "--Unfortunately, most of the nearby places that Xenon-kun guessed was correct. They're in the protection of Estoark..."

"Then where should we go then?"

"Hmm...we should go to Lorem Natus. They weren't too fond about the Knights hanging around on their peaceful town after all."

"Lorem Natus? I never heard of that name before..."

"Lorem Natus means 'Independent Town'. As the name says, it's a very independent town and no knights was allowed to go there unless they really need it."

"...Should we go there for now? Since it's nearer."

"Good idea...", Daiki trailed off. He realized he was rather too close to Maia's face for comfort and immediately stepped back, blushing, "S-sorry! I-I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable!"

"It's fine but I'm the one who should ask you.", she tilted her head, "You look...red."

"A-ah!? A-am I?! T-t-t-today is rather hot right!?", he started to fan himself with his hand while laughing nervously, "W-we should get going since we have to get there before the night comes!"

He continued to laugh nervously as he walked, leaving a confused Maia but she still followed him. Xenon and Kazuhiko were following them, confused as well before Kazuhiko caught on and smirked, "...Oho."

"What are you laughing about?", Xenon asked as he saw Kazuhiko acted like he just witnessed a funny scene. The gunner simply shrugged, his smirk never leave his face. Xenon decided to ignore it and continued to look forward.

He put his hands on the pocket as he look up at the clear blue sky, 'Lorem Natus...huh...'

"Nii-san."

The prankster jumped in surprise and look at Kazuhiko, "Wh-what?"

"What are you thinking about? You look deep in thought."

"I was just thinking about Lorem Natus place. I know they aren't under protection but that's all I know."

"Oh...", Kazuhiko shrugged, "I would never thought a town would reject the protection offer from the king and queen since they're so nice to people. I wonder why..."

"Maybe they want to try to protect the town on their own.", Xenon pondered, "You know, pride thing."

"That would make sense...but still..."

"That reminds me, is Fallmont part of the 'Protection of Estoark' thing? Since you said the Knights would often come there every now and then."

"Yeah. The Fallmont leader decided to help them with guns and inventions."

"Oh..."

Suddenly Maia gasped, "Daiki look up!!". Just as she said that a monster came charging at them from the mountain side.

Daiki barely had time to take out his white feather before the monster's claws met his Defence Field. The impact was so strong that it knocked him to the ground.

"Daiki!", Xenon exclaimed as he took out his katana. The monster turned its attention towards him but Xenon already had his attack ready.

"Fire Ball!", Xenon yelled. Three fire balls appeared beside him and headed to the monster. The monster roar in pain as the fire balls hit it all over its body.

He used this moment to run in and finished the monster by impaling its heart. It gave one last dying roar before it fell limp onto the ground.

Maia ran to help Daiki up, "Daiki, are you okay?"

"I-I'm okay...", Daiki stared at Xenon, "I didn't know you can cast spells Xenon-kun..."

"Huh? Well...I...was self taught.", Xenon responded before looking down. His bangs covered his eyes, "...Though I rather not used any."

"O-oh...sorry.", Daiki look down as well.

"Don't worry about it. It can't be helped.", Xenon put his katana back, "At any rate, we should keep our guard up. We can't afford ourselves to get injured."

Daiki slowly stood up and nodded, "Y-yeah...I'll be careful from now on..."

Maia stared at Xenon before nodding, "...I'll try..."

They were walking in silence, not knowing what to say to each other. Kazuhiko never seen Xenon used a spell before. He completely thought the prankster couldn't used magic, especially when he didn't have the special magic stones to help him. Did he have a fire element stone? He probably will ask him later.

"Daiki, why are you calling Fukumoto by first name?", Maia suddenly asked, interrupting Kazuhiko's thought. Daiki look at her, "He asked me to call him that that in exchange for letting him call me by first name."

"...Oh."

Awkward silence occured between them. Xenon

sweatdropped, 'She's so awkward...'

Kazuhiko sighed, starting to get bored, "Are we...there yet? I'm sick of looking the same scenery."

"No.", Maia replied, "We're still a bit far from it."

Kazuhiko sighed again, urging Xenon to shake his head, "Estoark is far from here. Even worse when we had to take a detour."

The gunner sighed again and again, "But...it's so boring...", he whined.

"...Sawatari, please stop sighing.", Maia said, her tone was filled with a bit of annoyance, "You should welcome the boredom. If your life is that exciting then there is something wrong with you."

"Ouch...that's harsh.", Kazuhiko winced as he tried to stop sighing and whining. Daiki only laughed nervously as she continued, "I hate to break it out to you but reaching to Lorem Natus will take a day. Can you live with that?"

"...I can live with that."

"Good."

She walked ahead of them. When Xenon was sure that she was out of earshot, he spoke up, "...She's quite harsh than I expected."

Daiki smiled nervously, "Y-yes...but you should keep trying to talk to her, Kazu. She will warm up to you sooner or later."

"I hope so...", Kazuhiko sulked, "She doesn't seem to be like me..."

"N-no! She's just don't know on how to approach you.", the timid boy assured, "Knowing her, she might be feel bad for treating you harshly."

*Maia...*

"...I was harsh to Sawatari...", Maia sighed as soon as she knew the boys were out of their earshot, "He look hurt just now..."

She rubbed her chin in thought, '...For some reason, I can't think of a conservation with Sawatari, even though he's a lot nicer than Fukumoto...maybe he remind me of something until I'm...speechless? Hm...maybe I should give him something?'

She nodded, 'That sounds about right...'

She went back to them and look at Kazuhiko, "Sawatari."

"Y-yes?", Kazuhiko was surprised that she called him.

'...I'm speechless again? Think of something! Oh I give up. You need to deal with the speechless me Sawatari.', Maia just stood there, staring at the gunner before turn her back to him, "....Nevermind. Let's go."

She walked faster than necessary, leaving a confused Kazuhiko, "...I didn't make her mad right?"

"No...", Daiki chuckled, "She's probably trying to start a conservation with you Kazu."

"Really?"

"Yeah but now she's embarrassed."

Daiki ran towards Maia, possibly trying to tease her for being embarrassed. Xenon scratched his cheek, "...So is that mean she's too shy to talk properly to you?"

"It seems so..."

"But she seems fine when she's talking with me...I wonder why..."

"...Maybe she talked to you because you keep yelling at her that time and unknowingly used to it."

"Hey!!"

They walked through the countryside, enjoying the nature when Daiki suddenly stopped and look up, "...The sun is almost setting, we should start looking for a place to rest tonight."

"I agree.", Maia replied shortly.

Xenon and Kazuhiko only stayed quiet, leaving the camping area to the childhood duo. Maia look around, "...I'll look for some fruits. You guys go and look for a place to rest."

"I-I'll come with you!", Kazuhiko suddenly blurted out, "I-I mean, I'll come with you. I know you're quite strong but uh..."

"....", Maia stared at him before nodding, "...Alright."

Daiki smiled, knowing that Kazuhiko tried to befriend Maia, "Okay then! But bring Max with you. He can tell you the location later."

Just in cue, Max appeared and landed on Maia's shoulder, squawking. She nodded and gestured Kazuhiko to follow her. He complied and followed her. When they were out of their sight, Daiki spoke up, "Kazu really want to befriend Mai-chan huh?"

"Well...", Xenon shrugged, "Since we're gonna be teammates from now on, he wanted to know her better, I guess."

"Hehe. Teamwork is crucial in this competition after all."

"Yep."

*Maia & Kazuhiko...*

Maia was standing on top of the tree, gathering some apples. Kazuhiko only look up, worrying for her safety with Max resting on his shoulder, "Um Kinoshita-san? The way you stand on the branch look dangerous...can you come down now?"

Maia look down, "I'll be fine. I have done this many times."

Max started to chirp, as if he was trying to say something. Though, only Maia understand him because she said, "Be quiet Max."

Kazuhiko curiously look at Max before asking, "Kinoshita-san, do you and Daiki understand what Max is saying?"

"...Yeah.", she replied, "Daiki and I been around him for ages that we actually come to understand him."

Kazuhiko look pretty excited, "Cool!"

"...By the way, you called Daiki by first name too. Did you tell him to call him that?"

"Yeah! Nii----...Xenon told him to call him by first name so I asked him to call me by my nickname too."

"I...see.", "she replied awkwardly and continued to gather some apples. He started to feel awkward as he rubbed his neck, 'Kinoshita-san is rather hard to talk with...I wonder how Daiki managed to befriend her...same with Nii-san.'

He tried to think a topic that might made her interested and found one, "Um Kinoshita-san, by any chance, are you interested in guns?"

She jumped down with her basket full of apples and pondered, "...I suppose I am. Why?"

He smiled, "Since you're interested, I can show you some of my guns."

"...You mean it?"

"Yeah!"

He could swear that he saw Maia was smiling for a moment but he blinked, her smile disappeared. He just shrugged it off, thinking it was just his imagination and smiled happily, "Let's go back to camp so you can take a good look!"

She nodded and gestured Max to show them the way to where Daiki and Xenon is. The pigeon then flew to the north direction. They followed him. Comfortable silence occurred between them. Kazuhiko was smiling in triumph, 'Yes! I managed to make her interested!'

After a minute of walking, they spotted Daiki and Xenon talking to each other. Xenon was the first one to notice their presence, "They're back."

Daiki look at them and smiled, "You guys come at perfect timing! I already cook some omelettes!"

"I only found apples in these parts.", Maia sighed, "Oh well."

"That's fine. Now let's eat!"

Maia sat down beside Daiki and was about to remove her cloak but stopped when she spotted Xenon and Kazuhiko curiously look at her direction, "...Stop staring at me, you creeps."

"Oh sorry.", Kazuhiko apologized, "We were curious about why you decide to hide your face..."

"...I have my reason.", she replied before sighing, "...Well, it's no use if I just keep hiding my face. Besides, my cloak were mostly damaged anyway..."

She hesitantly pull down her hoodie, made them widen their eyes. Her long black hair worn loose with segments pulled up into cat-like buns were swaying with the wind, her bangs are framed by longer forelocks held by white clips. Her ocean blue eyes were shining because of the bright light from the moon. Kazuhiko was the first one to snap out of his stupor and smiled, "Ooh! Cool! You have cat ears!"

"Uh no Sawatari. This is my hair.", Maia said awkwardly as she touched her cat-like buns.

"What!? But they look like real cat ears..."

"Nope."

"Oh...", Kazuhiko look at Xenon, who haven't recovered from his shock so he nudged his side, "Nii-san, you're acting like a creep."

Xenon jumped in surprise and growled at Kazuhiko, "I-I'm not! I'm just surprised!!"

"Oh really~?"

"Kazu!!!!"

The prankster pulled Kazuhiko into a hug and started to rub his head hard, "You're starting to annoy me you little gun freak!"

"Kyah~! Stop it!", Kazuhiko exclaims while laughing, trying to stop Xenon.

'Kazu called Xenon 'Nii-san' again...I could tell they aren't blood related...', Daiki thought before yawning, "... I'm sleepy...I want to go to sleep now..."

"Well... A lot of things happened today so let's call it a day.", Maia stated after looking around for a minute, "But just in case, one of us need to do the night watch."

"Great idea...then I'll do it.", Xenon volunteered, "You guys should sleep for now."

"...Alright."

Daiki leaned against the tree while Kazuhiko laid down on the ground to sleep. After a few minutes, they were completely fall asleep, leaving Maia and Xenon awake. He raised an eyebrow, "...Aren't you going to sleep?"

She shook her head, "...I'm not that tired yet."

"I see..."

Xenon stared at the fire while Maia look up at the sky. Though after a few minutes, he started to feel uneasy and start looking around. She noticed this and asked, "...What's wrong?"

"N-nothing.", he said rather quickly.

"Really? You look scared."

"I-I'm not!"

She sighed, "...Whatever."

He look around and tensed once he heard the sound of insect chirping. He volunteered because he knew he couldn't sleep. He was a bit too scared to sleep in the forest. Maia raised an eyebrow at his movement before realizing something, 'I see...he volunteered because he was scared that insects will come near him while he's asleep.'

She rubbed her chin in thought, 'I know he volunteered but still, he look uncomfortable. I probably shouldn't mention this side of him.', she sighed, "Fukumoto."

"Wh-what?"

She gave the blanket to him and said, "You look tired. Go to sleep."

"H-huh? But I volunteered--"

"Don't care.", she cut him off, "Now sleep."

"...B...but..."

"Don't worry. I will handle it."

He raised an eyebrow, 'Did she...nah. If she did then she would said it right away.', he nodded, "Fine..."

He laid down, draping the blanket to his body as he closed his eyes. But the thought of insects made him restless. She then pulled out a flower bag and let him smell it before putting it back to her bag. She heard Xenon snored softly, so she pumped her fist in silent victory, 'Yosh. I managed to put him to sleep.'

She then look up, enjoying look at the starry sky.

To be continue...

Bonus!

Maia was feeling bored after a while so she look at Daiki, who sleep peacefully.

Daiki: Zzz....

Maia: ...... *Poke his cheek*

Daiki: *Didn't react* .....

Maia: *Pinch his cheek*

Daiki: *Didn't react* ......

Maia: ...He didn't react as always... he's such a heavy sleeper.