Night One

"Hell no!" Felt shouted in shock. "Why would I let you crash with me? Can you see that place? That bed IS the hut. Only place you'd sleep is under that mess of a couch. Besides, you annoy me too much anyway. And you look weird, you'd probably try to touch me in my sleep or something like that."

"What! Damn you're a little brat, you know that? What are you, like twelve? Too young, way too young." Izumi, rather displeased by Felt's outlandish statement decided to- "-You wish I'd do that! Stop looking at me like that, brat. You keep giving me that weird glare and I might think you actually like me!"

"Whaaaat! I would never! You have to be the strangest looking man I've seen in a while. Pink hair like that, that has to be some of the brightest pink I've ever seen on a man! Not to mention your scary face and weird cut!"

"Jeez, did she really have to yell that to the whole world! I'm the protagonist here, not you!" He thought. "Damn this little blonde brat is getting on my nerves. But! I'm new to this world, whether or not I'm the protagonist I'd like to avoid conflict as much as possible until I discover what my powers are. With that said, let's try to calm the loli down before she starts falling for me. Dad always said 'you can't have a woman without war forever.' I'd like to save finding out the truth behind that for later. Back to it!"

"Okay okay, that was a bit uncalled for. Even though I did say some relatively questionable things a second ago, I'd like to formally reset this conversation so we don't end up stabbing each other. I may seem a bit ungrateful for your helping me disguised as cleaning up the road but I really do appreciate it." He reached his hand out with a dumb and obviously forced smile with teeth and all.

"He's faking it. Idiot thinks I'll fall for that?"

"No, you're looking at this wrong." Izumi's face turned a bit more serious.

"What?"

"You're probably thinking that I am either faking it or trying to get in your pants. I'm not. I do mean what I said, the face was the only forced part about that. You see. . .I'm not much of a smiler. Not much in my life to smile about. But when I get the chance, like now with someone like you saving me from becoming tomato sauce, I can force one out for a rare occasion." Izumi's eyebrows narrowed a little and the corners of his mouth dipped down slightly. "I may not be grinning crazily now, but trust me, I thank you dearly for that. You saved me Felt."

"Eh? What's with this guy, he's so weird. His mood shifts so much." Felt took a short step back in something similar to awe and insecurity. Izumi's 'in your pants' part of the speech hit weird. Despite that, "Well, if you mean that then I'll point in a direction where there should be a spot to crash for the night. But you'll owe me one, ya' hear?"

"Yes! She really can be a little cooler than a Brittany brat when it counts!" Izumi lost himself in thought for a second. Felt snapped her fingers non-aggressively which popped the little headspace he'd created away from his conscious. Clearing his throat somewhat assertively, Izumi followed with an endearing, "Gotcha, just point me in the right direction and I'll be out of your magnificent hair."

"Woah, stop with the mood changes. Pick one and roll with it." Felt ordered. Her body recoiled instinctively at Izumi's accidental rubbernecking. "And stop looking at me like that, creep."

"Eh? Am I-shit! I might have already caught a case the feels for this little kid! Why must reality be so cruel?"

"Anyway, back to that comment about my being twelve, I'm not." She took a breather for a second, did Izumi's attitude wear her out? Ignore that. She looked him over one more time and started again. "I'm around fifteen years old, maybe closer to fourteen right now. I don't have any parents and I usually stay at that shack or at the loot house up there." She pointed at the three way intersection and drew it down the road that was blocked by some broken down homes. "If you need anything and have the capital for it of course, the loot house probably has it. I won't be there much except for the evening if you need me for whatever reason."

"Woah, she's getting really nice all of a sudden. Was I an idiot for copping an attitude with her?" Izumi questioned his actions and kept watching her closely. Then, it hit him. "Wait, you're a thief right? And your parents are absent I presume?"

"Watch what you say next and make it quick, the sun is going down." She adjusted her stance somewhat awkwardly and stepped towards Izumi slightly.

"Who's taking care of you? You give off 'independent teen vibes' but you must have someone to keep you company. Like a-uh. . .father figure of sorts? Maybe mother figure?"

"Not really, all I've got is old man Rom up at the loot house. He runs the place." She caught herself mid sentence, clapped her hands and smiled a little. "Sorry but it's getting pretty late. You shouldn't travel at night, especially around these parts so I'd suggest you get to my old crash spot. Just follow the road straight into town and it should be to your left once the red blacksmith shop comes into view. See yah!" She gave Izumi another smile, this time it felt a bit for genuine. After that, she ran towards the houses behind her and popped right up onto the roof in one easy hop.

"Thanks Felt! I owe you a couple!" Called Izumi as he also began his adventure. "She's starting to grow on me. Damn, I really am soft these days." Tsuki made his way down the road just as felt had told him to until the red blacksmith shop finally came to view. At that, Tsuki turned his head down the alleyway directly left.

"What are you doing here, kid? Got someone you need me to off for you?" A short man, about Tsuki's height but definitely older reached out of the darkness and snatched something off his neck. Tsuki didn't even bother looking down at his missing collar that had been ripped off and backed away slowly. "Hmm? Not the talkative type, huh?"

"I-"

"Maybe not, but he sure is a hotty, ain't he?"

"Huh?" Tsuki's body froze. The woman behind him reached around his chest, dug her nails in and rubbed her quite large chest against his back.

"You taste strange. your smell is weird too but I can ignore that for a little alleyway action. I've been dying for a young one lately, these horny old men are nasty things. I'm sure all the ladies love you, I do too, can we?" Her voice, it disgusted Tsuki so much. He wanted to reach back and tear the silky soft hair right out of her skull but his body failed to move. Her hands had reached all over his entire body, stopping to feel his arms and legs. "Oh, you sure have some muscles don't you?"

"Let go of me."

"Awww, but I just wanna rock your world. Why can't we?"

"Leave him alone, Banshee. The kid doesn't want to waste his innocence on an alley whore. Besides, aren't you supposed to be killing people for money? Prostitution scams are not what I signed up for, sister." The man exposed only half of his face in the lovely moonlight. His golden eyes glimmered in the starlight as did the cigar he had placed, unlit in his mouth. "Let him go, now."

"Ugh, fine. I'll ask him later when he can see my lovely figure." Banshee released her lustful grip on Tsuki's forearm and hip. She made sure to grind her breasts across his stiff back as she slowly walked around him. "Hmm, your face is a bit concerning. Do you roll the other road? I'll stop if that's-"

"No, I don't. I'll be leaving now." Tsuki spun around, flashed Banshee a dirty look as the bright Lugnica streets adopted his fearful escape. "Sorry for intruding, I'm new around her." He said, walking slowly as if waiting for a response. There was none however and the two siblings just watched him. One suspicious and the other fantasizing about their boundless sexual desires.

Tsuki walked and walked and walked a little more. Soon, he found himself without the slightest damn clue where he had wound up. Everything looked the same. Dimly lit neighborhood streets with bright street lamps at the end of each avenue signaling a shopping road. Temporarily abandoned fruit stands and shop windows rested peacefully, watching him as he travelled down the lonely roads. Every couple minutes, the distant chatters of townspeople out to eat or maybe even on a date to find true love would seem a bit focused. He'd glance at them, maybe thinking they were speaking to him but was met with disappointment every time. This was life for the rest of his night.

"Man, this sucks. I already miss Japan and it's only been like three hours by now. What have I even done so far?" Tsuki slowly ran out of hope that maybe someone would cal out to him and so he curled up in a ball next to a fruit stand. "Let's see, I've met a somewhat attractive loli. Almost been killed. Almost been raped. Probably almost killed then too so that make twice. Could I even consider Felt a friend? let alone a love interest? No, Felt is nice at heart but she's too outspoken for me, I'd lose my marbles with someone like that."

Laying there under the night sky, Tsuki tried his best to adjust to a more comfortable position. Sometimes he'd make the awkward placement of his legs and strange twist of his back last for a half hour or so. Sometimes it would take just as long to make the stones beneath him feel a little more like dirt. Regardless, he couldn't sleep anyway. He'd only been awake for about six hours by this point and that meant rest wasn't possible. Besides, he was to stressed for that anyway. By now, it was somewhere around actual three in the morning now. He'd lived this same time of day twice in just six hours, pretty neat right?

Anyway, things weren't looking up for the youth. His back started to hurt from the poorly kept up road he decided so wisely to sleep on. His mind drifted all over the place, coming up with all sorts of options for his escape from such detestable conditions.

"Damn, I shoulda taken her offer. I coulda worn myself out actually gotten proper rest-no, dammit! Why would I even consider doing that? My first time is reserved for a super hot girl with short hair that I still need to find!" Yeah, he knows what he likes. "Bed to lay on or not, sleeping with that girl would probably give rise to all sorts of issues. I was never the visual novel type but I can assure that if Felt was somehow my one and only later on then she wouldn't be happy that I made a dumpster baby with someone on my first night in Lugnica. Hey, I got it right this time." His eyes closed slowly, almost shedding a tear. "Mom, Dad, I miss you. I love you."