A feeling blossoms/Tales of Liberio Part 3

2 days later the group once again meets up in the square.

"So what are we gonna do today?! Are we gonna look for another teammate?! Or possibly fight a soldier?! Ooooh are you going to fight a bully!!!" shouted Isao

"Be quiet. Why are you so loud all the time? For someone so short you have the vocal cords of a howler monkey" snarked Akira

*Hmmph* "Says the one who can't even keep his eyes open half the time. I bet you even run into walls from time to time." snapped Isao

"How do you know?!" said Akira with a shocked face which quickly turns into an irritated one "I bet you can't even see where you're going half the time, being such a shorty!"

"At least I can stay awake for more than five minutes straight!"

"...Shorty"

"Mop-head!"

"Dwarf"

"Sir sleeps-too-much"

"Half pi—wait what? How is sir sleeps-too-much an insult, more sleep is good"

"Sleep makes you dumb!"

"Does not!"

"It does!"

Both of them put their foreheads as they growled. They were then interrupted by Touma, who was chuckling at their antics "Alright guys wrap it up, we've got one more teammate to go before we can begin planning how to strike our first target."

"Who's the target," asked Akira.

"He's a soldier I've named the Greedy Soldier, he constantly mugs any Eldian he sees and beats them while he's at it. We're going to take his money and humiliate them."

"Oooh ooh and how are we gonna do that?" questioned Isao.

"Uuuuuhhh, we'll figure it out." said Touma "Anyways let's get a move on, I want to start planning this tomorrow"

Touma then started walking away from the plaza as Akira and Isao followed him. They wandered around the city, their next location was a major street for traffic.

'Let's hope we find someone here I really don't want to walk all around Liberio again.' thought Touma as he and the rest leaned against a wall of an alley leading towards the main street. They walked out only to see a large crowd of neverending commuters, people carrying baskets and bags of all sizes, each carrying an assortment of different items. The bright sun and nearly cloudless sky made everything feel vibrant and peaceful. The three stood there searching the crowd for anyone who might be of help to their plans.

"How about that kid," said Akira as he pointed to a well-built youth, seemingly around their age if not a little older, who was carrying a sack of flour on his shoulders.

"Nah, we have you if we need any heavy lifting" responded Touma.

'That's what you picked me for?' thought Akira, a little bewildered.

"Haha, yeah, you're our beast of burden Akira" laughed Isao.

"Talk to me again when you can actually see past the crowd, you midget," said Akira

"Thinks he's all tough even though he looks like a stick" muttered Isao as he turned his head away from Akira.

However, Akira, who heard him, growled "What did you say! Mr. I-need-a-ladder-to-get-off-my-bed"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" screamed Isao.

Touma tuned them out as they began to get into another argument. He continued looking around the crowd when he spotted blonde hair out of the corner of his eye. He turns to look and he's awestruck as he witnesses the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. She had her blonde hair let loose as it hung just past her shoulders, and she had a white dress on that worked wonders with her light gray eyes, which despite their seriousness, he noticed held an unmatched passion. She continued walking and as she was about to leave his sight, Touma snapped out of his trance and took off after her.

He ran up to her and stopped by her side. She, at first startled, quickly returned to her impassive gaze as she looked at the new arrival.

"Hey there, my name is Touma, would you like to—I mean, what's your name?" said Touma, as he was almost stuck in another trance once more. 'Damn she's even cuter up close' He thought as he freaked out about talking to her 'Aah why the heck did I stutter! What kind of weirdo asks someone to join their group as soon as they talk to each other' he continues as he disregards the fact that he's done the same thing to both of his other friends.

He's snapped out of his thoughts as she responds "Annie Leonhart"

"That's a pretty name," he says without thinking, he tries to cover up his mistake by saying "So you come here often?" and then proceeds to smack his face at the utter failure of holding a proper conversation.

Annie blushes at his first words then proceeds to giggle when she sees his antics, unfortunately, she quickly regains her state of calm as her face loses her blush.

*Clears throat* "Excuse me, It's nice to meet you, Annie," says Touma in an effort to ignore what had previously occurred.

"It is nice to meet you too" Annie responds with a neutral voice.

"Would you like to hang out with our team? We need one more person before we can do something big"

"I appreciate the offer but I am busy, my father requires my presence at home."

Annie then proceeded to walk away, Touma just stood there entranced as he watched what he now realized is his first crush, walk away. He is about to turn around when he feels a hand on his shoulder which makes him jump.

He turns and looks at Akira who stands there grinning "Ah young love, so fresh yet always so bittersweet"

"Shut up, it's not as if you're that much older than us anyways" Touma remarks as he rolls Akira's hand off his shoulder.

"Even at 6 I hold such wisdom," Akira says holding his hands up as if he were addressing the heavens.

'Hoh, look who thinks he's hot sh** now' Touma thinks as tick marks show up above his brow.

"YOU'RE THE SAME AGE AS ME" shouts Isao as he approaches Akira.

Almost instantly Akira's grin turns into a frown as Isao's loud voice brings him back to reality.

"What you should be asking is how you're six years old yet still so damn short." He snaps as Akira is once again annoyed by Isao's high-pitched voice.

"Yeah well, at least I'm not delusional, at least I know the clouds won't talk back to me" Isao points out making fun of Akira for his earlier actions.

"Let's go, guys, we've got to find one more," Touma says interrupting them.

-----*------*-----*-----

A few hours later…

Touma and the group are sitting on a couple of barrels watching the street as the sunlight slowly dwindles.

"Hey Touma, did you see anyone?" asked Isao.

"No" he responded

"What about those people I pointed out earlier?"

"They didn't seem like they would be that helpful," said Touma, as he thought 'Though if this keeps up I might have to just bite the bullet and pick one of them'

"What do you think Akira?" says Isao but he's only met with silence. They both turn to look at Akira to see him sleeping while standing with his back on the wall.

"WAKE UP!" Isao screams as he slaps Akira's shoulder. Akira's eyes shoot open and he tries to step back but he's unable to as his back is against the wall and he gets hit.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He asks with an angry tone.

"What do you mean?" Isao says while smirking.

"You small twerp!"

"Walking stick!"

"Alright enough! It doesn't seem like we'll find anyone at this hour. Let's just go home and meet up again tomorrow." Touma interrupts them, not wanting them to start yet another fight. He then begins to walk away in the direction of his home.

Akira and Isao turn to leave when all three suddenly hear a shout of pain and several laughs. The three look at each other, then run in the direction of the noises.

As they're running they hear a voice suddenly shout "Cease action! Harm upon the elderly is misconduct, and furthermore, theft and assault is a crime worthy of time in jail."

Upon arriving they notice three teenagers, looking to be around 16 to 17 years old, surrounding an elderly lady kneeling on the floor with a boy around their age standing in front of her with his arms out facing the teenagers. He has blonde slicked-back hair, with glasses covering his serious and determined eyes. His proper clothing seems to indicate a wealthy background however the bruise on his cheek and the mud stains near his wrists indicate a previous struggle.

"Ooh check it out, boys! The fancy pants wants to stop us!" says the tallest teenager.

"Just bugger off, sparkle-shirt we got business with the old lady." says the teenager with spiky hair.

"Yeah, she owes us…her wallet," says the final teenager, who is wearing a tank top.

"I will not allow further misconduct, any further action and I will act to alert the relevant authorities," said the blonde kid.

"Huh, do you really like knuckle sandwich that much?" Tank top says with a snarl on his face.

"Just step aside four-eyes," says the tall teenager.

"No!" the blonde boy responds

The teenager with spiky hair raises his fist preparing to drive into the boy's face once more.

As the fist nears the blonde boy's face he closes his eyes, only for the pain he was expecting to never arrive. He opens his eyes to see the fist previously heading for his face in the clutch of a boy with dark-brown hair and eyes. Next to the boy stood two others: a short kid with brown hair and green eyes, and a teenager with gray hair and eyes.

"Oi oi, this doesn't seem like a very kind thing to do, does it?" says Touma with a cocky grin on his face

"Bastard!" says spiky hair as he swings his other fist at Touma. Touma pulls the held fist as he steps backward throwing both the swing and the person backward, as the teenager falls he follows up with a knee to the teenager's nose and lets him drop to the ground, unconscious and with a bloody nose.

The other two teenagers look at each other and rush at Touma. The tank top rushes from the left only to be stopped by Akira who feints a punch to the face, then drops to the ground and sweeps the teenager's legs. He then stomps on tank-tops face, knocking him out cold.

The final teenager, who is rushing from the right, suddenly sees a small boy with brown hair rushing at him. He gets ready to fight but the boy just drops to the ground, and so the tall teenager just continues rushing only to suddenly smack into the ground as Isao grabs his left foot.

Isao doesn't lose the opportunity and with a yell "Hiiyyaaaah" he jumps on top of the teenager's torso, once again slamming him into the ground. Isao stands up and places one foot on the unconscious teenager. He proudly looks over to Akira only to see the kid in question ignoring him.

Touma walks up to the blonde kid.

"Are you okay? Nice job with the distraction!" He says as he strikes Might Guy's pose, a thumbs up outstretched and one eye closed while he smiles with a glint in his teeth. Touma then walks around the kid to help the old lady up. "Do you need help ma'am?"

"No, I'm quite fine, thank you for your help, all of you," she says as she looks at every person there. Akira just nods indifferently, while Isao smiles and shyly scratches the back of his head.

The blonde kid's face flushed red and he smiles brightly. "It was my duty madam, as an advocate of justice I cannot allow such a thing to continue to occur."

As the lady leaves the blonde kid turn to Touma and company, then bows at a 90-degree angle. "Thank you for your aid," he says as he straightens up "My name is Shigumura vi Brittannia, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Same here, the name's Touma Kirigaya"

"My name's Isao Ogi!"

"Akira Aizawa"

"So Shigumura, do you wanna embark on the adventure of a lifetime? You should join my team, we could use someone smart like you," asks Touma

Shigumura pushes up his glasses such that glare reflects off them and says "And what would be the objective of this team you have assembled?"

"We're gonna give those jerkface soldiers what they deserve!"

"How would you accomplish this goal?"

"Uuuh, we haven't gotten that far. We do however have a target and ideas for what to do. We plan to take this greedy soldier's money."

"I see…however I refuse, this doesn't appear to be justice but retribution." Shigumura says "Very well, I once again thank you for your help and goodbye". Shigumura then starts walking away.

"What! Are you just gonna stand by and let them walk all over us Eldians!" Touma shouts after him, which makes Shigumura stop instantly. He then slowly turns around and looks at Touma with a serious and mildly irritated face.

"You confuse justice and vengeance, not only that, in the grand scheme of things you accomplish nothing. Your ambitions and goals amount to nothing." Shigumura says.

"And you stand around doing nothing. Pretending that their behavior is justified because you can't do anything about it. Admit it, you're just a coward!" Touma snaps back with a smirk.

"Childish drivel," Shigumura responds and then continues walking away.

"Prove me wrong." Touma says "Stick with us, and see for yourself if what we do makes a difference."

Shigumura stops once more but he stands still as if contemplating something. After a while, he turns around his face once again calm and dignified. He walks up to Touma and states "Very well, I accept your proposition I shall aid you and see whether you intend to follow through on your words, simultaneously proving your earlier claim incorrect"

Touma holds out a hand to Shigumura who then shakes it, they are both interrupted by a *Tch* coming from behind Touma. They both turn and see Akira handing Isao a dirty coin.

"Damn, thought he had a longer stick up his butt" Akira grumbles with an unpleasant expression.

"Haha, this is why you should believe in our captain!" Isao says beaming with a smile.

"Captain?" Touma asks.

"Yeah! Since you're our leader we need to call you something special! It was either captain or boss so I chose captain!" said Isao.

"I too believe proper designation of positions would aid our organization in improving our cooperative capabilities," stated Shigumura as he once again pushed up his glasses with a glint.

'How is he doing that? There isn't any light for it to reflect like that!' thought Touma as he said "I'm fine with just my name though"

"Whatever you say…captain," said Akira

*Sigh* "Fine, just call me whatever you want." grumbled Touma as he started walking home, "Let's go home, it's getting pretty late"

"I concur."

"AAAALLLLRRIGHT!"

"Ok"

The four then walked away.

-----*-----*-----*-----

[Leonhart Household]

As Annie lay in bed she thought of all that had occurred that day. She then recalled her meeting with a kid that had dark-brown hair.

'He was rather interesting wasn't he.' she then blushed as she was reminded of him calling her beautiful 'He's kind of cute too, Aaaah what am I saying calling a boy cute.' She then thought while rolling on her bed and holding her cheeks.

That night as a boy and girl were contemplating their day, two thoughts aligned. 'I want to meet her/him again.'