The Shop on the 3rd Quadrant

Bradley and Stanley walked down the street to the third quadrant, crossing over small bridges from time to time.

The people around them would quickly make way for the two of them as it was mandatory to give the Defender a path ahead if they were walking on it.

Not doing so could lead to the Defenders being late wherever they were going, so everyone was made to move aside if they saw a Defender walking toward them.

There was only a single wide street in any of the quadrants and it was the one that led from the top of the slope all the way to the bottom. It was made so that Defenders and anyone else that needed to could easily rush down the town to get to where they needed to.

Otherwise, the town was rather cramped with the roads narrow enough for no more than four people to walk side by side.

After about 15 minutes of walking, the two brothers finally arrived at the lower half of the 3rd Quadrant where the restaurant was.

"Did we really have to come all this way for some food?" Stanley asked. "Aren't there better food out there in the 1st and 2nd Quadrant?"

"I've been hearing a lot of rumors about this place and just how crazy good the food here is," Bradley said. "Now it could all be false, and the other places may have infinitely better food, but we won't know about that until we eat here first, will we?"

"I… suppose," Stanley said and followed his brother to the shop.

The shop was quite small. It was a house with an open front made up of rock and mud. Wooden houses were prone to fire, so they weren't allowed in such a congested area.

Instead, the people worked around the cliff walls to break them down to use the flat rocks to build what was needed in the town.

Stanley smelled something nice and savory in the air, coming from the small room in front of him. He looked at the place and was surprised to see that it was indeed quite packed.

"It seems we will have to wait," Bradley said looking around the place.

"It's just like you said," Stanley said. "It's quite popular."

Thankfully, there weren't many people around waiting for the others to leave, so the two brothers got to enter about after another 15 minutes of standing around.

Stanley looked around the room and was surprised at how everything was set up. There weren't regular tables and chairs in the middle of the room at all. Rather, there was a long and thin table going around the walls with chairs in front of them.

Instead of facing each other, people would have to face the wall while they ate. It wasn't the best way to eat if you were with someone else, but it was most definitely the best way to save on space.

The cooking happened in the middle and was done by a girl in her late teens and early 20s. She wore a gray apron and a white cloth that covered her hair while she worked on the food that she would hand over to all of her customers.

There was a single dish on the menu, so there was no need for an order. The girl quickly brought over two large bowls to the two brothers and handed them over.

"Thank you," Bradley said with a small smile, which usually was enough to charm any lady, but this one didn't give him the attention he was expecting.

"Thank you," Stanley said softly, looking into the girl's face once and staring as she walked away.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Bradley nudged him. "Did you fall for her or what?"

"What?" Stanley looked back. "Oh no, it was her eyes. I have never seen eyes so blue."

"Wow, my brother. You actually looked into her eyes?" Bradley asked. "Are you sure you didn't fall for her?"

"Stop teasing me," Stanley said. "It's just surprising because I haven't seen anyone with both blue eyes and yellow hair."

"Hmm, the yellow hair is unique, I must say," Bradley said. "If you had blue eyes too, people would think she's your sister."

"Maybe," Stanley said and turned around to his food. He looked at what it was that they had been served and was quite surprised.

"Wait, isn't this just noodles?" he asked.

"It is," Bradley said with a confused look. "But everyone praises it, so it must be good."

The noodle was inside some sort of fatty soup with a few pieces of pork meat on the side. There was also half of a boiled egg on top, the yolk of which wasn't fully cooked.

'She didn't even bother to cook the egg properly. Just how good can this be?' Stanley thought and used his fork to pull out some noodles from the soup and bit into them.

As soon as he ate, an explosion of flavor bombarded the inside of his mouth, forcing him to eat more and more. He ate some more noodles, bit on a piece of meat, and cut off a piece of the egg before eating it.

Bradley was the same as well, eating as quickly as he could since what he ate was very tasty. "Slow down or you'll choke," he quickly said to his brother while he also slowed down himself.

Stanley slowed down a bit and drank a bit of the liquid inside his bowl.

"How is it? It's good right?" Bradley asked.

"It's beyond good," Stanley said.

"See?" Bradley said while smiling when he saw his brother happy. "Now, let's talk about what's going on with you."

Stanley paused for a bit and looked toward his brother.

"I know the memory still haunts you, but you need to learn to move on," Bradley said. "Those feelings that you get might have something to do with your powers. You need to follow them."

"I… I don't think so," Stanley said.

"It has to be," Bradley said. "It must be the activation condition for your powers. If you follow it through, you will be able to use your power. I'm sure of it."

Stanley looked down. "But… I can't," he said. "I can't do it at all. Every time I get the feeling, I… Do you want me to forget about mother?"

Bradley stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

"It's been 3 months since mother died, and you still haven't visited her grave, have you?"