"Walking feels so slow..." Ace voiced her complaint. She missed riding Atanase a lot. 

 

"I know, I know. But you can't get too spoiled. You know we can't ride him while with the others. And, he'll also wait together with the rest when we get too close to the shed."

 

"...Wait together?"

 

"Kyunnn" As Ace asked, not understanding what she meant, Atanase made a whimpering sound. He wanted to stay with them.

 

"Yeah. What did you think? There's no way Mary would stay quiet about this. She still believes in the church." Necro's point was sound. Regardless of anything else, Mary only met her for a couple of days, she wouldn't think twice before denouncing her.

 

"Ah... Yeah. Makes sense. Where do you plan to leave them though?"

 

"Somewhere in the forest close enough. So long as it's not in the path from the road to here it should be fine."

 

"Hmm."

 

"We are late... She must be worried." She didn't really mind that, but it seemed like a good topic to tease Ace a little.

 

"Sorry..."

 

"Think about your actions then."

 

"..." Ace pouted a little, making Necro smile.

 

'She looks so cute.' She stared at her slightly bushed pouting face for a while, before turning back towards the path.

 

All and all, it took them a little over half an hour before Necro began seeing the shed in the distance. As soon as that happened, she turned to the side, and began circling around it.

 

"Oi! Necro! This is the wrong way! The shed is that way!" Ace called her attention.

 

"Yeah, I know, I'm going to drop the boys off." 

 

"Drop the...? Ah..."

 

"Yep."

 

After reaching the other side of the shed, opposite of where they came from, Necro walked a handful of minutes away from it, rather, multiple handfuls, before telling the undead to remain around there.

 

"So. I'll come back tomorrow morning to pick you up. You won't be able to come with us though, so I plan to have you protect that shed until I come back. For now, just wait here. If you realize there's people around, hide from them. But if you think you were seen, make sure none of them make their way out of this forest. We clear?" After her explanation, a couple of the undead nodded. That is, the Dark Skeleton and Abo. Atanese just laid down on the ground like usual, but Necro somehow knew he would do exactly as she said. 

"Now, let's go back." She complemented, grabbing Ace's hand and turning towards the direction of the shed. Ace awkwardly turned back and bid farewell to the undead. Before turning back and hugging Necro's arm.

 

Behind her, Abo studied how to wave one of his arms next time. 'Would it be better to move these two at once? or one?' Such thoughts crossed through his mind while one of his heads looked down and stared at a pair of his hands, waving them at himself as it stared at the girls disappearing among the trees in the horizon with his remaining pairs of eye sockets.

Ace walked sheepishly while holding onto Necro's arm.

 

"Necro..."

 

"Yeah?" She answered, looking sideways. She was biting her lip while slightly furrowing her brows.

 

"What's wrong? You looked so happy before."

 

"I... didn't really want to leave them behind you know... Waa-" Necro was suddenly pulled down from her arm. 

 

*kissu*

Ace kissed her cheek, before letting go of her arm slightly. It was so quick Necro managed to recover her footing.

 

"What was that!?"

 

"My way to cheer you up." Necro's ill mood suddenly vanished while looking at Ace's heartwarming poker face. Huh? Of course there was a tiny smile and she was blushing... But for any normal person that'd still be a poker face.

Ace slowly let go of her arm, holding her by the hand instead as they walked back to meet Mary. The whole walk turned out to take only twenty-odd minutes. It was surprisingly fast considering how long they had walked away from it. Both times, it was Necro who set the pace, so the culprit was clear. In fact, she had been matching the pace of the Skeletons all the way back, so it was a given.

 

"We a-"

 

"Oh God, you're finally here! Are the two of you okay? I was starting to get worried... Did anything happen?"

 

"Relax. We're not running away. Catch your breath." Necro seated Mary in the closest bed to the door, since they barely got in when they were assaulted by her barrage.

 

*Phew* 

 

Mary exhaled.

"I really got worried about you when it got dark... Don't do this to me..." Mary's pleading face reflected the light from the small fireplace inside. Her blonde hair falling in bangs over her face as she stared down towards the floor. 

 

"Don't worry, I promise you; It won't happen again." Necro, who just sat her on the bed, leaned forwards slightly.

 

"Eh." Mary's eyes shone in a different light as her face was slowly brought up by Necro's hand under her chin. Her gaze was slowly brought upon Necro. As soon as her eyesight reached her lips, Mary felt something strange. Her mind lost all focus but on what was ahead of her.

 

*Thump*

 

As soon as her eyes encountered the deep crimson of Necro's, her heart began pounding on her chest.

 

'What is this... What is happening to me? Why am I...'

 

"AHEM!" Ace's interjection unceremoniously cut the mood that hovered over them. In less than a second. Necro stood back straight while Mary turned her head to the side, blushing.

 

"Thank you..." Is all Mary could mutter in the awkward aftermath.