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“Ugh…” He groaned.

“…I’m out,” Reno gave up.

There was roughly one-fifth of the pie consumed, as it was far too much of a tall task for the two youths.

“Ba-ha-ha! Got a long way to go, don’t ya?” Urming laughed.

“…Yeah, yeah,” he quietly mumbled.

Retrieving three thrones from his pouch of coins, he paid up for failing the seemingly impossible task, to which the bear continued laughing boisterously as he took the leftovers away and cleaned the dishes off.

“–“

He sat at the table for a solid few minutes, noticing the sun beginning to set outside of the narrow windows.

“…We should head out,” Reno told him.

Though he didn’t know why at first, he quickly figured out why she wanted to leave: it was the meeting with Oswell, and the fact she probably didn’t want that dangerous man having to come here to cause trouble for Urming.

“Alright,” he said.

As they left the establishment, with Urming trying to send them off with leftovers, though he declined, the sky was now a warm hue of orange as the sun retreated further.

“What’s the plan?” He asked.

They stood under the yellow-leaved tree just to the side of the restaurant; Reno was leaning against the trunk of the cedar, looking as if she was plagued with a few thoughts of her own._.

“…I don’t know,” Reno replied quietly.

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t, okay?…I wasn’t planning on fighting this guy! I told ya before, didn’t I? Oswell is dangerous…” Reno told him.

“What’s your plan, then? Tuck your tail between your legs and run?” He asked.

“–” Reno was quiet.

“We both know that isn’t going to work. You wouldn’t leave Urming, either. What was the plan, Reno?” He asked again.

The girl seemed devoid of answers as she shook her head, clenching her fists, “…The plan was to use that money of yours! Ya know that!…Ya should stay out of this. Forget playing the hero.”

Amidst the setting sun, it was clear that doubt was swirling in the head of the sapphire-haired, slum-dwelling girl, though he didn’t blame her.

It’s scary. I know that myself, he thought.

“I’m not playing the hero. This is an equivalent exchange,” he told her.

“Yer still going on about that?”

“I am. Besides, this is for my own benefit, too,” he said.

It was clear that beating around the bush wasn’t going to convince the girl that was hardened by her own experiences, so he came forward with it:

“I was kidnapped before–I got knocked out and taken away; they beat me, berated me, tormented me…”

As he came forward with his own experience, Reno’s expression shifted as she clearly felt some sort of inner guilt for judging him beforehand–there was a soft glint in her eyes as she looked at the young boy now.

“They were planning on selling me. But, through some luck and recklessness, I made it out–somehow. I just don’t want anybody else to go through that. And…I don’t want to go through it again, either. If I can put a stop to it, even just a small part of it in this city, I’m more than willing to do so,” he told her.

“Emilio…” Reno said quietly in surprise.

With the truth spelled out completely from him, he extended his hand to the girl, who looked at it for a moment before accepting it–shaking it as they sealed their partnership for this goal.

“Let’s take Oswell down,” he told her.

“Yeah,” Reno nodded.

–

Cementing their mission, the two set out now with him on his utmost guard, ready for anything as night inched closer.

“Where were you going to meet him?” He asked.

Reno was silent for a moment before answering, “…Where we’re heading right now: my home.”

“Oh…” He nodded.

For some reason, he had come to believe that Urming’s half-restaurant half-shop was the girl’s home, but that didn’t seem to be the case as he now followed her curiously through the dull slums.

“No offense, but it’s kind of hard to believe this is still ‘Elsia’–feels like a whole different world,” he noted, looking around.

There were crooked trees around, unmaintained and left to wither away without proper nutrients or care.

“No offense taken,” Reno replied, “–It is different. “They’ve” just left us in the slums to rot away.”

“‘They’?” He asked.

“The council,” Reno told him, “Each city has one, but Elsia drew the short end of the stick…Those greedy low-lifes keep taking away more and more from the slums, all to line their own pockets.”

“I can see why you’re planning to leave, then,” he said.

“Yeah,” Reno nodded, “I’ll save up enough and rebuild Gramps’ restaurant in a better place.”

A goal like that, sitting between childlike and genuinely earnest, made him smile as he followed the girl down the dirt-paved road.

After enough time, his unease and fear of the slums had shifted into something different, once venturing into its depths alongside the inhabitant of the area that he befriended. Seeing the people there, they weren’t violent or rude, but just simply there–like objects blending in with the scenery; devoid of life or ambition.

Though they watched him, nobody said a word. There was a “let sleeping dogs lie” mindset around the sector, it seemed.

It’s sad, he thought.

There was a depressing atmosphere that clung needily to the slums; a thin air that suffocated dreams. Yet somehow, there was still so much life held in those sapphire eyes of the girl; she walked as if she always had somewhere to be, with greater things on her mind and even vaster dreams than the day before.

He couldn’t help but just focus on Reno herself; amidst the slums, she stood out like a beacon of light, not engulfed by the tide of stagnation that had swallowed up the rest of the inhabitants.

“It’s just around here,” she said, gesturing for him to follow.

With a nod, he followed her around the corner. Though Reno had stopped as if they reached their destination, he was left confused as there wasn’t any sort of house to be seen in the small clearing of lifeless road.

“…Why’re we stopping?” He asked, looking around.

Reno looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Huh? We’re here. This is where I live.”

It fell from his sight at first, but he realized what the abode was that Reno was alluding to: it was a small shack, if it could be called that.

A bundle of propped-together wood, kept held together by mix-colored rags that tied together the wood for some sort of unstable foundation. It was no larger than a single room, fitting nothing more than a bed with little leg space.

“I see,” he said quietly.

Reno put her hands on her sides, “Well, not everybody lives in a high-and-mighty castle like you, Mr. Noble.”

“I’m not–”

Though he wanted to reject her words, he truly had no place to counter as Reno’s words were true enough, even if only slightly false.

“Doesn’t matter,” Reno huffed, “I’m not staying here for long, anyway! I’ll be out of this place soon enough!”

“I know,” he smiled.

Reno seemed taken aback by his support of her words as her cheeks had just the slightest pinkness to them for a moment before she looked the other way, sitting down on her frameless mattress, “…Whatever.”

“You’re meeting Oswell here tonight, right?” He asked, sitting beside her.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Reno nodded, “I already told ya that, didn’t I?”

“Well…I was just thinking–a fight with him might not be a great idea around here,” he noted.

As he said so, he looked around at the quiet houses that neighbored the clearing that the girl’s shack inhabited.

“I told ya! Fighting this guy is a bad idea,” Reno said, “Having doubts now?”

“That’s not what I said,” he corrected her, “I said fighting him here isn’t a great idea.”

“I don’t getcha,” Reno looked at him blankly.

It was clear she wasn’t catching on to what he meant, so he tried to explain it in the most efficient way possible.

He scratched his head, “Well, I fight with magic…and my magic can be pretty destructive to the things around me–especially if I’m fighting somebody as skilled as this Oswell guy–I won’t have the chance to try and leave this area unscathed.”

“What’re ya saying?” Reno asked.

“I’m saying your home is going to get destroyed in a fight,” he told her.

“Oh, that? I don’t care! This hunk of junk means nothing to me!” Reno told him with a laugh.

Though the girl didn’t mind, he was annoyed since this was actually just an excuse he was trying to forge for another plan of his, but he decided to just be forward with it.

“Reno,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“I have an idea. One that you’re probably going to hit me for suggesting,” he told her while looking her straight in the eyes.

The sapphire-eyed girl gulped, “What is it?”