The pathway he followed to The Bridge of Strata led him straight to the front gates. It was a familiar sight that Jin couldn't forget as he walked along side his mother with a small bag wrapped over his shoulder. His mother's necklace swayed with every movement around his neck.
The clothes he wore were neater than what he was used to. They're the ones picked out by Kyle and the maids before. So of course they would be.
A clean red collared button up with long dark pants and a black tie. He was told that we wouldn't stand out now being in Halcendre, but in the dirty streets of Osvain, naturally attention was now on him.
"Jin, don't slouch. You'll ruin your back."
"Ugh... fine... but it's not my fault I'm like this. This bag is heavy," Jin complained. "I don't think I put in that much stuff in there."
"Of course its heavy. I packed that bag with all you essentials. Your favourite books, your toothbrush, some spare clothes—"
"Woah, I just needed the bare minimum. Why do I need spare clothes. I already have some provided and selected."
"You should always prepare for the unexpected. What if you end up alone and lost alone in a stranded island?"
"Halcendre is a floating city, mum! Where would you even find an island?"
"Like I said, better safe than sorry, young man!"
When he arrived at the heavy metal gates, enforcers who stood watch didn't budge. Normally, for someone so close to The Bridge of Strata, they'd be asked to leave or be escorted out or by force. But, today was an exception to that, of course.
"Is uh... Officer Kyle not here?" Jin asked one of the enforcers.
"Officer Kyle will be here shortly," the enforcer answered briefly.
"Oh."
"Heeeyyyy, Jin! Mrs. Amakusa!"
The echoes of Tora and Isis running stunned Jin. The Namil siblings arrived, panting. Some enforcers tried approaching but seeing Jin walk to them, they decided to let it go.
This didn't go unnoticed by the boy as he thought, looks like they're not going to stop me for once. Strange.
"What are you guys doing here?" Jin asked.
"Gees, ouch Jin! You mean to tell me you don't want us to see you off?" Tora snapped back. "And I should be asking you that. Why are you two here early? We were panicking thinking you had already left without even saying one last goodbye!"
"Uh... sorry?"
"That's it? Oh, you're the worst!" Isis snarled, wiping away beads of sweat from her forehead.
In truth, Jin actually didn't mind their company. He just didn't want to bother them.
"Say, Tora, what do you mean early?" Nozomi wondered. "I believe Officer Kyle mentioned we should arrive here just before 9 AM?"
"He said 9:30. So there's still some time before he comes by."
"Ahhhh, that explains it. I thought Jin was being heartless for a second," Tora sighed.
"I wouldn't put it past him, Brother Tora," Isis added.
"Sorry, Jin. Looks like I woke you up a little early."
"It's fine, mum. I probably would've slept in had it been any earlier."
Being reminded about how early it was made Jin drowzy. However, one quick thought blinked him back awake.
"Wait, how did you guys know what time we were supposed to head off? I thought that was meant to be a secret to keep this whole ordeal annonymous," Jin inquired.
"Oh, that Officer Kyle dude told us. Looks like he didn't seem to mind with us knowing. Good thing we're best friends, right?"
Jin ruffled Isis's hair at that.
"Why are you guys so nosy?"
"Hey, watch the hair! Took me a while to fix it! And, for the record, it was him who told us when!"
Kyle did what? Since when did Kyle of all people care about such sentimental stuff. For Jin, that's the same old man who shot a ball of fire at him, threatened to break his arms, and listened to every damn command Arael would give him.
He thought that he was just a mindless soldier. Did he actually care?
"Oh well, regardless, I'm glad you two are also here to send me off," Jin softly stated. "It means a lot. Oh and, I forgot to mention before but, Tora."
"Hmm?"
"Thanks for the MP3 player. They're great. I have it packed in my bag right now."
"Your 'thank you's' are much appriciated. But I know you liked them. Isis here told me. But hey, if you can keep giving these rare compliments, I'll gracefully accept them."
"Define 'gracefully'," Isis remarked.
Tora rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Anyways, there's more to that MP3 player than meets the eye. There's actually a tracker in there."
A beat of silence. Jin didn't expect that. Jin wanted him to clarify. "There's what?"
Isis's ears perked. Nozomi listened intently. Everyones attentions had piqued.
"Since you and Mrs. Amakusa are here, I'll just go out and say it. I made use of the tracker I pulled out of the Vassari tech which you and Isis had stolen a couple of weeks before and implemented it into that gift of yours. There should be a red button right underneath it which if you were to press it, would return give us a signal to let us know you're doing alright."
"And where would this signal be going to?"
Tora rummaged through a bag he had brought and held out what appeared to be a small rectangular device with a small screen at the upper half. A series of buttons with letters decorated its lower half.
It looked more damaged than a normal device, but Jin recognised the shape. He saw an old picture of it in a history book he read before. Its another one of those ancient lost devices made from a hundred years ago.
"What is that thing?" Isis asked her step-brother. "Looks weird."
"Is that a flip phone?" Jin said in a raised voice. "Cause if it is, how old is that thing and how did you get it?"
"A flip phone?"
"It is," Tora confirmed. "And I have my ways of getting it. Continuing on, when you send that signal, a notification would be sent through this flip phone. You can't send any messages, but you can at least ensure we know you're still active up there. Just make sure you actually send the signal or all this would be pointless."
"Wait, could you show me how this works?"
"Yeah, sure. Just get the MP3 player out."
"Hold on, Tora. You're not joking about this, right? You mean to say we'll be able to communicate with Jin?" Nozomi asked, her eyes a little moist.
"That's exactly right, Mrs. Amakusa," Tora answered. "Though, it's a more one-sided given he can't literally write messages."
"No, no. That's fine. As long as I can know he's safe."
This knew way of messaging was brilliant on Tora's part. Jin would've never considered it. However, it could act as a double-edged sword in a way.
If, by some unfortunate event, he isn't able to send a signal back to them within a couple days time, then that might spark much worry.
He'll have to be careful with the days in which he does this.
After Tora showed Jin the ways in which the messaging settings worked, 30 minutes had already passed. Right on schedule, Kyle had made his appearance from the side.