“It's probably about time we stop, huh.”

“Mhm...”

I looked out the window and noticed the sun was inching closer to the horizon, which prompted me put an end to whatever you call what we've been doing these past hours. In that time, we'd managed to shift from sitting next to each other in a one-armed hug to the two of us fully embracing with Luci on my lap. Somehow, I never even noticed we did that until just now.

“Luci.”

“Mhm...”

It didn't look like she did either. Was she even fully awake at this point? To make sure, I lightly pinched her arm, causing her partially-closed eyes to shoot open in surprise.”

“Wha-? Mm…”

When the sudden awakening from whatever state she was in faded, she rubbed her eyes before looking back at me.

“Mira. What- um, how long…”

The previous shock quickly resurfaced when she realized the position we were in. She didn't move in any way to break it though. 

“By the look of things, I think we've been doing this for about 2 hours.”

“Oh. Just a little more…”

She started to drift off into that half-conscious state again, so I picked her up in a princess carry and stood up myself.

“Sorry, but you kinda promised me dinner.”

Her face was beet-red from the sudden show of force, but she quickly got herself under control and it faded as she responded.

“I don't remember anything of the sort… but dinner sounds nice. Could you set me down first though? This is kind of embarrassing…”

I did as she asked and set her on her feet, and she wasted no time grabbing my hand and leading me to the door. Hand-in-hand, she opened the door, and we stared at the equally shocked face of Rick - whose hand was raised as if he was about to knock on our door.

“Oh, uh… Well, I was about to knock for ya.”

There was a tinge of panic in his voice as he explained himself.

“What for?”

Luci responded in a reassuring manner, as if saying, ‘We trust you, you weren't suspicious.’ He deemed to understand the meaning, and when he spoke again there was no tension.

“I came to let you two know that I'll be heading back to Lithhelm to report the quest, and that I'll be bringing your stuff from the inn when I come back. I take it you'll be staying here for a while?”

“Yeah. We'll, thanks for doing all this. Actually, did I hear you correctly when you said you'll be bringing our stuff? It sounded like you meant you weren't coming back with your own.”

“Uh-huh. You heard me right. I'm gonna turn back around once I do that and stay in Lithhelm for a while. If I see you again we can have that party, but I don't really care much about that anyway.”

Wait, already? I expected him to stay a while longer. I guess not then. I looked down at the dwarf, who had a bittersweet smile plastered on his face.

“So this is goodbye, huh.”

“Yeah. At least for a while.”

Luci, of course, had to interrupt and ruin the moment. Or, I guess maybe save it? It doesn't really matter what you call it.

“You're going to be back tomorrow though, right? Wouldn't that be goodbye then?”

“Right. Guess I'll see ya both tomorrow.”

With that, Rick was leaving, his stubby legs carrying him out of the inn. Even now, Luci's fingers were still intertwined with mine, and her grip slightly tightened as we also began walking again.

Not long after, we found a place on the main street called Tail-Fluff Diner, and deciding it's as good a place as any, we entered. It was a nice little place: There weren't many people working, but the ones that were all had similar facial features and dirt-brown hair. Like the namesake of the diner, the staff all had abnormally thick fur on their tails, alluding to the fact that this was likely family owned.

There weren't too many tables, and maybe half of them at most were filled, but I saw some familiar faces taking up half of a table for six, and they saw us too, as they waved for us to join. Sitting at the table was Kino, and with her were the two girls we rescued with Setsuna. I believe one of them is named Ina - or at least that's her nickname - but I don't know which. Luci and I approached and sat next to Kino.

“Didn't expect to see you two here! What a coincidence!”

“Yup! Luci and I were trying to find a place to eat, and we ended up here. I take it the food's good?”

“It's my personal favorite place to eat if that says anything.”

I nodded my head, immediately wanting to give it a try as I waved down a waiter. While he was coming, I took a look at the food the other girls were eating. The foxkin both had round sandwiches with thick meat patties in the middle, as well as various other ingredients you can find on any common sandwich as well as sticks of skinless potatoes on the side. Kino had similar potatoes, but her main dish was made of what looked like the legs and wings of small birds coated in a thick, black sauce. Each of them also had a strange brown drink that seemed to have bubbles constantly forming and popping.

“Hey, Kino. What's that?”

“Oh, this? It's just standard barbecue chicken? Wait… don't tell me you don't even have chicken outside of the village?”

“The name seems familiar, but I can't place it.”

It likely had something to do with my past; Kino proved that right after.

“Well, it should be at least familiar. It was, after all, your favorite back in the day. I'd recommend you get it.”

The waiter chose that moment to arrive, so I took Kino's recommendation and ordered the ‘barbecue chicken’. Luci, on the other hand, ordered one of the sandwiches that the other two had, except she got one in which the pattie would also be made from ‘chicken’. Speaking of the other girls, I still don't know who they were, so I took the chance after the waiter left to introduce myself

“By the way, I still don't have your names. You already know who I am, but I don't know- Er, remember you two.”

Freiya's daughter, the white-haired of around the same build as me who nearly always wore a smile was the first to respond.

“Shimo. Last night makes what: The second time you've saved me from something like that? I'm Setsuna's bodyguard and daughter of the Frost Elder - formerly known as the Frost Chief.”

The other girl who had a bright yellow hair color and was between Setsuna and Shimo in size was obviously next.

“I'm Inazuma. I'm not the daughter of anyone important like Shimo or Setsuna, but I hail from the now-abandoned Lightning village. I'm Setsuna's acting assistant, and as the girl next to me forgot to mention, I'm Shimo's lover.” Inazuma turned to face Luci. “Who might you be, by the way? A friend of Mira's?” 

Luci bowed her head in greeting when she responded to the curious foxkin.

“Lucindell Aerostil Regali-Pristella is my name. I understand that could be a handful, so just call me Luci. You can probably tell by my name, but I'm the first princess of Pristella. Since you clarified for yourself, I should likely say my relationship with Mira is similar to that of you two.”

Luci said everything calmly and politely, but there was still visible shock forming on the women's faces. First, because there's a member of a country's royalty dining with them, and second…

“So that's why Setsuna was like that…”

“Sorry?”

“Mira, you know you had a relationship with our chief in the past, right? Shimo and I live with her, and so obviously, we saw her come in earlier, and she immediately shut herself in her room and started crying. I may be out of line saying this, but I take it she said something to you and you responded by telling her what Luci just told us?”

“Yeah… That basically sums it up.”

Despite learning that I had been the reason for whatever problems she knew Setsuna had, Inazuma still wore a friendly expression on her face. 

“Don't get me wrong, I really hate seeing her in pain like that, but I'm not gonna be mad at you. Just make sure to at least try to patch things up with her when you can, okay? I don't mean you should drop everything and jump back into a relationship with her, just try to cheer her up if you're able to.”

“Sure. I already planned on talking to her whenever I got the chance, so I'll do just that.”

“Thanks.”

Shortly after, the waiter arrived with our food, and he set it down along with the same drinks the others had. Digging in, I instantly knew why the past me liked this food. It had a unique sweetness to it, but there was somehow a little spice to it too. Adding the ‘fries’ and ‘cola’ to the meal, it instantly shot to the top of my favorites list. It definitely beats having soup for nearly every meal…

We took our time eating, and during that time Luci and I mostly ate in silence, but others spent their time in idle conversation and would occasionally drag one of us in. It was fun, and we all left satisfied. We split up outside, and Luci and I returned to our room holding hands under the light of the sunset.

“So, Mira. What do you want to do now?”

“Well, there's not much we really can do this late, is there? I feel like that's obvious.” I flopped down on the bed and motioned for her to join me. “What are you waiting for?”

A small blush spread across her face.

“Already? O- Okay…”

She climbed up next to me and awkwardly stayed there. Since she wasn't going to, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. She seemed a little surprised by the sudden action.

“O- Oh. You didn't mean…”

“Hm?”

“It's nothing.”

She thought I wanted to do something else? Wha- Oh. Nevermind, I can see why she thought that. Yeah, that's not what’s going on. Realizing she was 'safe’, she let the tension leave her body as she returned my embrace. She curled up against me, and almost by instinct, my hand moved up to her hair, and I slowly started stroking it like one would with a pet. Despite how it might sound, it was a very comfortable position, and we fell asleep in each other's arms. Although, unlike the times before, we were now officially lovers.