40 Cyrilla

"Is there anything else I should do?"

"It's alright for now. You helped with the majority of the issues going on today so you should just take a break." 

"But I can–"

"Miss Bronya, taking a break is also crucial when working. It may not meet up to the standards compared to the Overworld but we also have a hotel you can stay at."

Oleg faintly smiled as he brushed the traces of charcoal from his palms and looked towards the lady awkwardly standing in front of him.

After separating from the others from the central mines, Bronya had been giving her best effort to support the people of the Underworld. 

Although she wasn't used to certain laboring tasks that Wildfire set out to do, she had been giving in her whole focus to play a part in the growing connection that was happening with the Underworld.

Bronya opened her mouth a few times to try and say something but she noticed just how stubborn Oleg was that he wasn't going to give in.

"I…I will help again tomorrow…"

"Rest well Miss."

Oleg gently patted her on the shoulder before walking over to a few people standing off in the distance while Bronya stood in place.

Looking at her gloves that were stained with dirt and other materials, Bronya clenched her fist and gave out a heavy sigh. "Hopefully I did my part today but I wanted to do more…"

Leaving behind the area she spent the past few hours in, she slowly made her way back into Boulder Town while taking a look at her surroundings.

From the dusty buildings to the grim smoke floating around in the air, the atmosphere was one she would have never thought of occurring just right under her. Despite the atmosphere, a few smiling children could be seen which brought a small smile to her face.

Which was the first ever since she had arrived here.

"Ah... it's the people who were with that man…"

Almost reaching the hotel Oleg talked about, Bronya noticed three people who were walking in the same direction she was and was able to hear snippets of what they were saying.

"So that Svarog guy lives near the Furnace Core…"

"Can't we just bust down the door? I've had tons of practice ever since we got here so I should be able to break it after a few swings."

"I would rather you not do that."

Stelle summoned her bat and twirled it around her fingers while she practiced swinging it as if she was going to hit a home run.

Dan Heng shook his head while ignoring her previous words. "Based on the info we got so far, mindlessly entering would bring more negatives so we need an insider to recommend us to talk with him."

"But who are we supposed to get? I doubt those robots we fought before would bring us." March said while tapping her arm.

"Seele said that there was one person who's incredibly close…"

"Yes, so that person is probably our best bet."

"But the problem is finding out where she is–"

Stelle grunted while rubbing her hair but suddenly stopped when she noticed another person slowly making her way towards them.

"Ah, it's the pretty lady Yuuto talked to before."

"..Hello."

Bronya didn't know how to respond after hearing Stelle's words but she managed to give them a small greeting back.

"You three are going to rest up now?"

"Yeah, we ran around the mines for hours trying to figure out a few things and we thankfully got a solid tail. But all we need is a plan to carry it out."

"I guess it pertains to the reason you're here in the first place…"

Bronya nodded as she understood and couldn't help but have her eyes wander trying to find a certain person.

"Did Yuuto go to sleep first?"

"Ah him… well he's.. roaming around right now…"

Dan Heng had a strange expression on his face as he told Bronya what Yuuto was up to and the two beside him had a similar expression. Bronya was confused to see them like this and began to wonder what he meant.

"Do you think he's going to come back with ripped clothes again?"

"R-Ripped clothes?"

Bronya was startled when she heard what Stelle said and her curiosity grew after thinking to herself what this meant. Her face heated up but she shook these ideas away.

"Stop making him out to be a weirdo."

"Is he not?"

"Wait until I tell him about this."

"I-I don't think you need to do that."

Dan Heng left March and Stelle to talk with themselves and tried to clear the misunderstanding with Bronya.

"Every time Yuuto leaves on his own, he usually comes back with… something unique each time…" 

"Last time he met us, his clothes were a mess and had a bunch of cuts and holes in them. He said he fell down some stairs but we all knew he was lying."

"Hopefully that doesn't happen again."

March said while she thought back to the scolding he got from Himeko and the way Pom-Pom took a few days to sew his clothes back up.

Bronya nodded her head and began to wonder if this was something frequent that occurred for them to act like this.

"Ah! What are you guys doing out here?"

"Speak of the devil."

The four heard a voice from the stone stairs near them and saw Yuuto with Luka walking down. However, all their eyes wandered to the little girl resting on his chest.

"Why are you guys all quiet?"

"W-Who is this…?"

March pointed to the girl Yuuto was holding and he just glanced at her before patting her head after seeing her gray eyes quietly look at him.

"Uhh.. a person I found when I was roaming around?"

"Like hell, we would believe that!?"

"He finally dipped his toes into being a kidnapper…" Stelle looked at Yuuto suspiciously while he quickly shot that idea down before they got any strange thoughts.

"Wait, let me tell you what happened."

Yuuto proceeded to explain what he experienced. From the hidden room to the first time he met this girl who only spoke a few words.

Listening to his story, all of them were speechless considering it was only a few hours they had split apart and he managed to do all that in that short timeframe.

"There's no logical way a person can survive that long in the box you mentioned. Maybe an echo formed by fragmentum?"

"That's what I thought but as you can see." Yuuto gestured to Dan Heng that he was able to touch her. "I heard we can't normally feel echoes."

Dan Heng fell into deep thought while Yuuto looked at the girl he was holding. She was blankly looking at March who wanted to hold her but she refused to budge.

'She has no recollection of who she is.'

During his brief time with her, Yuuto was able to see that she had no memories of why she was in that box and even forgot her name. He tried to see if he could see the [Nexus] of this girl but all he saw was an empty void with no fragments.

'I'll see what I can do but ultimately it's something that I need to dive deep into since she was covered by a dense mist that even fought back, which was a first.'

That moment was the most prominent to Yuuto out of all the things he encountered today as to why that mist heavily hid this girl. What kind of things are tied to this person that need to be hidden?

Thinking about that room, he looked at Bronya who was a few steps back from him and was currently occupied with looking at the little girl he had with him.

'I should probably ask her about Alexandra later.' He thought.

"Are you going to rest up now?"

"Probably not."

Yuuto replied to Stelle who was covering her mouth to yawn and noticed the fatigue appearing on some of the people around him.

"I still have plans I need to do. I only came back here to see if I can drop her off to rest but…" Yuuto saw how she wouldn't let go and a wry smile grew on his face.

"I'll walk around with her and see if the surroundings can help her remember some things."

Instances where familiar locations may invoke buried memories to pop up, Yuuto wanted to see if he could use this to gather more information from her.

The four looked at him silently before slowly nodding their heads.

They were a bit tired from the things that they did today such as fighting a huge horde of robots so the thought of resting on a soft bed seemed more appealing than ever.

March and Stelle tried their best to convince the girl to come with them one last time but ultimately failed while Dan Heng said a few things to Yuuto before finally going ahead.

"Should I come with you?"

"It's not going to be exciting but if you want to then sure."

Luka asked since the surrounding area can't be considered super dangerous but a few monsters can be seen roaming around so an extra pair of hands wouldn't hurt.

"Ah! Excuse me.."

"Hmm?"

As he was about to leave, he heard Bronya call out to him and he turned around to see what she wanted. He watched as she played with her gloves before asking him a request.

"That area where you found documents from the 3rd Supreme Guardian, could you bring me to see it?"

Yuuto saw Bronya's earnest eyes as she said her request which made him chuckle to himself.

"Sure I can show you tomorrow since it's far from here. Try to rest up while you can."

"Thank you."

Bronya lowered her head slightly to give her thanks and Yuuto waved his open arm to tell her that she didn't need to do all that.

Figuring that was all she wanted to say, Yuuto said goodbye to her.

"Have a good rest."

Yuuto waved at Bronya who was the last one still standing outside the hotel and showed the little girl he was with the different buildings in his surroundings.

Bronya watched as Yuuto and Luka walked down the alleyway before she eventually left after seeing them disappear.

A few thoughts brewed in her mind but she decided that she should listen to his advice and rest her body before doing anything else.

"His clothes didn't seem ripped this time…"

***

"Did anything happen so far?"

Luka asked as he punched a Shadewalker and threw the carcass to the side of the broken-down road.

Yuuto waved his hand and trapped a Frostspawn in his mist before creating a few spikes to penetrate its smooth outer shell.

"Do you remember anything now?"

"No…"

The little girl looked around before shaking her head and looking at the frozen structures Yuuto created.

The two had walked around the outside part of Boulder Town and after seeing nothing happening, they decided to head towards Rivet Town and see if this area would work.

As this area was now abandoned by the people of the Underworld due to an invasion that forced them to leave, it might have been the best bet to take so far.

'It's also the nearest settlement closest to the mines so there should be some sort of trigger around here.' 

Noticing that the area they were in was dead silent, Yuuto felt like he should try for a few more minutes before he called it a day.

"Want to see if the orphanage works? I heard from master that the orphanage used to house children so she might remember something from that."

"That's actually a good shout."

Luka's suggestion was something Yuuto felt was something better than just wandering around and followed him to the hill off in the distance where the building was located. 

Just at the end of the street was a broken-down staircase that led up to an open park. A basic swing and slide were right in the middle of the field followed by a tall building that overshadowed the whole area.

Chips of stone and vines grew in number near the closed windows of the orphanage that no longer carried the echoes of life within it.

"Do you…"

As Yuuto was about to ask the girl in his arms, he saw that her eyes locked onto the large building in front of him and glossed over to the slide. 

Realizing he found a trigger, Yuuto gently lowered the girl and had her follow her instincts while he watched from behind. Using [Clarity] he saw tendrils of white light escape the slide and slowly gather around her.

Fragments started to appear on the slide but for some reason, it just shook and failed to reach the girl.

"Did she start remembering something?"

"That's probably the case."

Yuuto left Luka who watched the girl and he made his way over to the slide. As he walked closer he felt the fragments rattle more.

He brushed his fingertips onto the slide and applied [Clarity] with more force and felt a cool sensation tap his fingers.

The fragments flew out of the slide before finally entering the silent girl.

Scenes began to flash before Yuuto's eyes of two girls who had the same appearance pushing the other one down the slide. The girl on the top had a radiant smile while the one that rode down couldn't help but break into the same look herself.

"Cyrilla…"

The short scene that Yuuto saw eventually vanished before he heard the girl's voice. It carried a bit more emotion compared to before and she faintly said the name of a person.

"My name is Cyrilla…"

"Cyrilla."

Yuuto's eyes narrowed as he churned his brain to see if he remembered a name like that in the game. 'I don't seem to have one.'

"Where is my sister…?"

As he was in deep thought, Cyrilla looked around and her anxious eyes filled with sadness before finally looking at Yuuto.

Sensing her emotions fluctuating, he patted her head and tried to see if he could calm her down.

"Don't worry we'll find your sister."

"We have to do it quickly or else she might get tricked…"

Cyrilla gave out an ominous sentence which made Yuuto frown.

"Why is that?"

"I–" Cyrilla clenched her head as if she had gotten an intense headache and stopped mid-sentence. "I… I don't know but I feel like she'll be in trouble."

"Do you know her name?"

"It's.. Cyrille.."

***

{,,,,,,,}

"I know... but I need to find my daughter first…"

{....}

"No! She is not gone!! I will keep looking."

{...}

"The new world will eventually happen but I need to find her…"