They jumped across the rooftops of buildings until they reached the city center, a busy place where cars flowed back and forth through a large five-way intersection that led to the city's most iconic districts.
Landing near the area, they found themselves in front of a small building on the corner of the sidewalk made of red bricks. Vines stretched between the bricks, and flowering shrubs brightened the corners. It was as if nature itself had reclaimed its place on the bricks, painting them with the color that once saved humanity from extinction..
In fact, almost all the buildings visible in the city had similar appearances. It was like seeing a city conquered by nature. The huge trees reached up to the sky, green and healthy. There were many bushes here and there. Birds of all kinds sang among the branches, and small rodents inhabited the tree trunks.
In this era, humans had taken care not to make the same mistake as humanity in the past. They gave nature free rein to make its way into the city.
Anyone would think it a bad idea to let vines and plants consume entire buildings, but in this era, the materials used to construct buildings are much more resistant to the erosion of time than on ancient Earth.
They walked up to the double black wooden doors of the small two-story establishment, and it opened by itself.
No one was surprised except Miyu, who almost choked on the fish-shaped bread Nova had bought her earlier. Although the door opening by itself was something everyone expected, she always jumped every time it happened.
Suddenly, a small, plump, flying, reptilian-looking animal flew out of the building and landed on Nova's head.
Its scales were red like a burning flame, with a pale hazelnut-colored belly and a chubby little tail that seemed too heavy for such a small body. The little reptile smiled with its sharp teeth. Its ears, shaped like articulated fins, moved happily.
It was an extremely adorable creature, so much so that even Miyu muttered its name with her mouth full.
"Poki!"
The animal seemed to pay no attention to the girl, so it just kept its gaze on its closest friend, Nova.
"Heya, Poki. Where's the Doc?" asked the team leader, completely ignoring the fact that this adorable creature had taken possession of his head.
Understanding what Nova was saying, Poki let out a sharp roar and took flight again with its little wings resembling red fans. It flew into the building with difficulty, as if its whole body weighed heavily on it, and waited at the entrance for them to follow.
Clearing her throat so as not to look ridiculous for being scared earlier, and that the little reptile had completely ignored her, Miyu swallowed all the bread and said:
"We have to hurry. We have to celebrate!"
Before anyone could say anything, she followed Poki.
'She's too excited today. Did the bread have too much sugar?'
There was no way to know. Nova looked at Elara, and she shrugged. They both looked at the door and moved forward.
The interior of the building was filled with boxes containing many papers and various documents. There was a desk at the back and two sofas on either side. The entire place, with its dark wooden walls, smelled of old paper and writing ink. It also had a strangely cold atmosphere that made Nova's skin crawl.
On the far right was the old creaky staircase leading to the second floor. Sitting on that staircase was a thin young boy with messy brown hair. His eyes were black, and judging by his clothes, he was a student from a nearby school.
The boy had a communicator in his hand. He looked very distracted by whatever he was watching.
"Miyu?" Elara asked.
The boy pointed upward without taking his eyes off the communicator. Nova followed his finger with her gaze to the top of the stairs.
'This girl is so fast. Someone should slow her down or something.'
Anyway. That meant Miyu went up to the second floor, following Poki.
"Thanks, Loki. See you later."
Elara said goodbye with a slight bow as she climbed the stairs. Nova nodded to Loki to let him know she was saying goodbye, and Loki raised his hand without saying anything, saying goodbye too.
He followed Elara upstairs. Her armor creaked softly as she moved with her usual elegance. After a few seconds, they reached a more open area. Since the building was small, there was only room for two rooms on the second floor.
In the first room, with pure white walls and long, flat lights on the ceiling, there was a stretcher with white sheets and other basic nursing tools, cabinets with medicines, boxes with other miscellaneous items, and that sort of thing.
There was a metallic smell permeating the place. You could also detect a slight scent of medicine. Well... This place is a doctor's office, after all.
Passing by the office door, Elara looked at Nova and raised her eyebrows, pointing with her gaze down the hallway to the next room. Without saying a word, the boy understood and nodded. The girl in armor then followed the path to the next room.
Nova watched Elara pass by and disappear through the door. His expression softened for a moment as he followed her. Following that, he entered the office and left Rober on the stretcher. He stared at him for a few seconds and sighed.
'How reckless you are, my friend. My empowerment doesn't increase your physical endurance that much. You should be more careful,' he let out a short laugh, thinking about what, ironically, he was thinking. 'As if you could hear me...'
Thoughts aside, exploding next to an Aberration wasn't the best idea, but Rober seemed to like exploding things, and exploding next to those things. The canine boy was already famous for exploding on different occasions. Whenever it happened, it was quite a spectacle.
He took the sheets and covered Rober. Since this boy is very short, he doesn't fill the whole bed. He even looked like a child with ears and a tail. Well, you could say he is a child. He is the youngest on the team.
'Seeing you so helpless reminds me of the time we drank until we passed out,' he thought. A brief image from the past, looking at himself in the mirror with his face scribbled on with black marker, flashed through his mind. 'The marker wouldn't come off with water...'
He smiled slightly, sarcastically.
'You know what? I think that deserves revenge.'
Approving his own idea as he nodded his head, like a geek in the dark, he walked over to Doc's desk. He took a black marker out of one of the metal drawers and removed the cap.
'I was never good at drawing, but let's see how well I can paint on that almost clean canvas.'
He ran the marker's tip back and forth across Rober's face. Scribbles began to appear on the canine boy's dark skin as Nova moved his hand. He even doodled a tiny Poki on one cheek.
'Perfect. I would laugh out loud if I could, but I won't. Besides, they're waiting for me on the other side. I can feel it in the air.'
After humiliating his friend in this way, Nova put the marker back in its place and went to the next room.
As he walked through the room, he noticed that Elara had left the door open for him. He appreciated the small gesture in silence and stepped inside, finding the two girls waiting, seated on an old black leather sofa in front of a desk and a chair facing the window.
Miyu was hugging Poki with all her might, and Poki was having a bit of a hard time because of her. Elara, on the other hand, had left her shield and sword by the doorframe. Now she had her eyes closed as she rested next to Miyu.
Relaxed, he sat down between Miyu and Elara. The girl in armor opened her eyes when she felt the boy sit down next to her, and she looked at him for a moment before turning her attention to the chair. Miyu nodded happily when she saw it, then went back to suffocating poor Poki.
'Let's see, what do you have for us today, uncle?'
The chair turned around, revealing a handsome, tall man with brown hair and white skin, very similar to the boy below, but this one wore a white shirt with a tie and elegant black pants. His brown shoes were very shiny, and his silver eyes even more so.
The man was about forty years old, but he looked a little younger than his age.
'Hey... There was no need to do the old chair-turning entrance...'
It was one of those eccentricities that no one could stop.
In a deep, eloquent, and smug voice, the man said:
"Welcome back, morning stars. You did an excellent job on the other side of town, and that will be rewarded accordingly. Now I guess you've checked your communicators and are as eager to leave here as I am."
His gaze was sharp, yet faintly amused. He was so relaxed that no one would take him seriously. Besides, the gestures of his elbows on the table and his hands in front of his face, moving expressively, made him seem like a rather expressive person.
"And as luck would have it. As the Master of the Blood Crystal Faction, other renowned Factions called me for an emergency in Lightflower and need me there. So you guys, although you won't have any free time, will be exempt from side missions for the rest of the week. I don't think I need to say it, but if a Dimensional Portal appears, you know what to do."
The team nodded silently. The three young adults looked like students in front of a teacher.
"Great! You're the best, Viktor!" Miyu said, giving her a thumbs up.
"Exactly. I am the best."
'And there go those two with their funny theater. I'm sure if they put on a show, many people around the world will see them.'
There was a lot of sarcasm in those thoughts.
"But now is not the time to praise my greatness, for I have more news to report."
Viktor looked at the girl in armor.
"Elara, your little sister came by a few minutes before school. She told me not to let you come home too late. And if you are going to be late, to let your father know."
Elara raised her eyebrows, curious. In a soft, elegant tone, she replied:
"I see. I'll let him know later. But what I don't understand is why he keeps sending her to deliver these messages. I have a communicator..."
"Please. You are a Seventh Level Empath. It's obvious that your father will be worried about you. He cares so much that he sends your little sister to find out if you're still here. As for Miyu..."
The man looked at Miyu, who was eagerly awaiting the Master's words, with Poki being crushed in her arms.
"Do whatever you want. I don't even know why I bother telling you."
"Oh... Okay..." she looked at the floor, loosening her grip on her arms a little. "For some reason, I felt like that was kind of an insult," she whispered, her little ears drooping in disappointment.
Taking advantage of that weakness, Poki managed to free itself from Miyu's grasp. When she tried to hug it again, the little flying reptile dodged her and laughed at her.
"Nova."
'Now it's my turn, right? Of course it's my turn! There's no one else here...'
He folded his arms and waited for whatever this man was going to say.
"Take care of my sister while I'm gone."
Yes. That was it, after all. Nova's face became a little thoughtful, with an expression quite different from his usual calmness. It was as if a heavy shadow crept into his ear and whispered incomprehensible words.
He resigned himself to silencing this feeling that suddenly attacked him and replied:
"She's fine and she'll always be fine, with or without you. You can be sure of that."
Although that sounded a little harsh, there was no hostility in his words. Nor was there any reason to be hostile. However, his bored voice at that moment and his dull expressions made his words sound somewhat cruel.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. Viktor's smile slowly disappeared, turning into a soft, bitter look.
"Yes. I know."
Both men had become very serious in an instant. Miyu and Elara looked at each other, not understanding what was going on and not knowing what to do to calm the waters. The girl in armor shrugged her shoulders, confirming the feline girl's doubts.
Before everything turned into an awkward silence, Viktor clapped once and got up from his chair.
"All right. It's time to say goodbye. I have to leave quickly so I can get Maia ready for the trip. In the meantime, stay as strong and united as ever!"
A curious choice of words.
'United, huh.'
That single word sounded mysterious and distant, but also warm and welcoming. Nova took those words to heart and saved them for later.
Viktor, then, instead of walking out the door like a normal person, disappeared enveloped in a strange cloud of black smoke that vanished very quickly. There was no noise or anything like that. He simply disappeared into thin air.
Now that his uncle was gone, Nova felt less tense. His usual calm returned, settling over his face and heart alike. However, there was something deeper that showed itself for a fraction of a second.
'That's it, isn't it?'
He looked at the ground, his eyes turning dull, but suddenly he felt a light tap on his shoulder. His eyes regained their usual sparkle when he looked to his right. There was Elara wearing her usual cool-girl expression.
"I'm going to drop my stuff off at home. See you at Lux Valley as usual? If we want to celebrate, we should go for the most delicious drinks, right?"
Nova relaxed his muscles. For a moment, he had disconnected from the world, but he managed to come back thanks to this girl.
He nodded in approval of Elara's idea.
Miyu suddenly put her hands on his shoulders and leaned on him to get a closer look at Elara.
"See you there, Ellie. Make sure to bring some cute clothes!"
"You know perfectly well that my closet is full of cute clothes."
"That's true. I had forgotten."
The team leader felt like a piece of furniture...
'Maybe they forgot that I'm here too...'
Knowing Miyu used him as an armrest wasn't surprising anymore, he was no longer surprised that these girls had forgotten about him. It was normal.
"Okay. See you then. I'll send you a message on chat if anything comes up."
Elara took the shield and sword and carried them on her back. She walked through the door, leaving a slight metallic sound of her armor creaking with each step, until she finally disappeared.
Nova stared at the door. Thanks to the silence that filled the room, Miyu realized she was crushing this boy. She took her hands off Nova's shoulders and sat down again.
"So..."
Trying to break the silence, Miyu played with the tip of her tail while looking out the window.
'Yeah, right. You're never going to shut up, are you?'
It wasn't something that bothered him, really. If everything was silent, it would be extremely boring. Besides, Miyu is an expert at breaking the ice.
"Do you have anything to do right now?"
This time she wasn't so loud. When everyone left, Miyu's tone of voice decreased considerably. Even so, she still looked cheerful.
"Not much. I have to drop Poki off at home. After that, I guess I'll take a bath and change my clothes. Will you do the same?"
"Now that you mention it, yes. I have to do that," she nodded as if those words had enlightened her.
With that in mind, Miyu got up from the sofa.
"Now it seems I have to go too."
"Oh. Sure. Eh...?"
With a quick movement, Miyu put her hand on Nova's head, who was still sitting, and shook his hair roughly. Nova didn't know what to do. His body stiffened as he felt the warm fingers of the feline girl stroking his head.
"That was for earlier. See you, Nova!"
And as strange as her own actions, she left through the door like an unpredictable tornado.