Super, Duper, Brave

Following the familiar path to Lily's room, Ava almost habitually pulled open the door and stepped in but then recalled that today she was here to find her own room. Turning back to look at Lily, Ava couldn't help but send over a questioning look.

Placing her palms in front of her mouth, Lily had a devious idea, "How about you guess… If you guess wrong, you can just live with me, hehe."

Looking at Lily with a derisive gaze, Ava turned and decisively pulled open the right door.

From behind, Lily couldn't help but look at Ava with a surprised gaze, "How did you know? My perfect plan, ah!"

Looking at Lily with a sly smile, Ava ignored her and stepped into the room.

The answer was quite simple really, although the doors were all unadorned, the brass on the handle of the room to the left was slightly discolored, obviously well worn, while the door handle on this room, while a bit ragged from time, was colored the same throughout, revealing little wear and tear.

Looking around, Ava didn't know how to feel. The room itself was quite simple, honestly. It was rather bare-boned at the moment, but it was essentially the same as Lily's, considering that Lily didn't have much in her room either. There was a large bed, a dresser, and a small desk.

Of course, at the moment, the bed didn't have any clean sheets, and all of the drawers and compartments were empty. From behind, Lily walked in and looked around before sneezing, "Oh, it's so dusty in here. Ava, how about we go back to my room for now."

Taking a moment to respond, Ava let out a small nod. The room was indeed rather dull. But as she turned around, she couldn't help but reveal a large smile.

Seeing this, Lily couldn't help but laugh, "Do you want to go shopping tomorrow then? We can buy some sheets and decorations. Um, some more sets of clothes, too, now that you have a place to keep them yourself."

Nodding, Ava followed Lily and entered her room just next door before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Showing much less decorum, Lily directly jumped into the bed and rolled around a little before sitting up and wrapping her arms around Ava. After a moment of hesitation, Lily quietly said, "Ava… Um, you know I'm really happy that you're staying, but I don't want you to feel any obligation if it's for me."

Startled, Ava couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. But from behind, Lily couldn't see this. Lost in her own thoughts, she continued, "I don't know what you are looking for, but when I saw you that day, you just looked like a lost wolf pup, injured and baring your fangs at everyone who dared to get close. When I saw you, I couldn't help but want to take you in, especially after getting to know you. Now that you've recovered, I don't want to hold you back, either. If… if you're staying just for me, I'd be happier if you choose what made you happy."

From in front, Ava couldn't help but squirm around in Lily's arms to turn at look at the girl, who, at some point, had quietly shed tears. Hugging her back, Ava couldn't help but marvel at Lily's warmth for a second. Indeed, she had come to Yarnold town to look for something, and even she herself didn't know what she was looking for.

But at this moment, Ava had a feeling that she had found it. "Lily."

At the call of her name, Lily couldn't help but tense up.

Smiling, Ava lowered her head and nudged at Lily's chin, forcing Lily to look at her, "I think you were just what I came looking for."

Startled, Lily blinked twice to get rid of the tears in her eyes before giving up and pulling Ava into a deep embrace and crying. "Ava….!"

Patting Lily on the back, Ava couldn't help but let out a helpless smile.

Sniffling, Lily said, "I thought, I thought you were gonna leave me. *Sniffle.* Do you know how brave I was being."

Letting out a soft sigh, Ava said, "I do. You were super brave."

"So you're not going to leave now, right? *Sniffle.* You're going to stay here? We can be sisters?"

Pausing for a moment, Ava looked at Lily before continuing to pat her back, "I don't know if I can stay here forever, but I'll be here a long, long time to stay with you, Lily. So from now on, let me be the brave one, okay?"

Nodding, Lily rubbed her head against Ava.

After a couple of minutes of trying to get rid of her tears, Lily finally managed to calm down and grabbed a handkerchief from her desk before drying off the splotches on her face.

Embarrassed, she looked at Ava shyly for a moment before overcoming it and hugging her quickly before releasing her. "Alright, um, should we go get your stuff and put it in your new room?

As Ava was about to agree, a soft knocking noise echoed through the room. Turning to look at the door, Ava couldn't help but be confused for a moment before looking at Lily. Seeing that Lily was also confused, Ava simply turned around and said, "Come in."

After a short pause, the door was pushed open, revealing Ahri, who was currently in a soft white garb that stuck tight to her body with no frills or trills attached. In her right hand, she was carrying a small box.

Looking at Ava and Lily behind her, who's eyes were still puffy and red, Ahri couldn't help but let out a surprised look before letting out a soft chuckle, "I just finished checking in with Haley. She's just got a couple of bruises and should be fine in a day or two. She mentioned that you might be here, so I came to look."

Nodding in realization, Ava recalled that the Madam had mentioned that Ahri was a doctor of sorts.

Getting off the bed, Ava walked over to Ahri and asked, "Do I need to do anything?"

Shaking her head, Ahri smiled. "No, I can tell at a glance that you're perfectly fine. To be safe, though, we can do a routine checkup?"

Thinking for a moment, Ava nodded.