Chapter Twenty Five: Cats, Dogs, Rekka

Fumiko and Nariko exited the guild after getting the 'go-ahead', so to speak, from the guild. It was basically just a check to see if the quest had been cancelled, and the info of where the one who posted the mission lived.

It might seem weird to give that information and trust a person you didn't know with that information, but it was just so that the one who took the mission could go to that person and see if they still wanted the mission to be done.

Since low ranked missions in the Bronze rank were notorious for not needing to be done but the person not bothering to inform the guild so they could take the quest down.

As they both left the guild, Fumiko decided to be honest with Nariko. "If this quest is cancelled but the person didn't say anything about it, I'm going to punch them in the face."

Nariko put her arms up in placidly as she used a 'calm down' motion. "That doesn't sound like the smartest thing to do."

Fumiko looked at Nariko with furrowed brows. "What? You mean you wouldn't be angry that they wanted our time when we could be doing something better."

"Well… I would be… annoyed. Angry is kind of an exaggeration." Nariko said honestly, before she remembered the conversation they were having in the guild. It would also help to get rid of the thoughts of beating someone up, or at least push it to the back of their minds. "So, what type of dogs do you like?"

Fumiko looked at Nariko weirdly, before letting out a breath. "I almost forgot that you like cats more." She said in an almost… admonishing tone? "Well, I like big dogs. Not those tiny, yippee, dogs that are shaking all the time." Fumiko explained.

Nariko thought for a moment before guessing a dog type. "Golden retriever?"

Nariko could see Fumiko thinking about it, as they navigated through the people on the streets as they got towards the more residential area of Vlison City.

"Hmm… no." Fumiko said finally.

Nariko was surprised at that, she thought everyone loved golden retrievers, even if they weren't a dog person. Although maybe Fumiko liked the dog, but it wasn't the dog she had in mind. "So, what type of dog then?"

"Huskies." Fumiko said with passion. Nariko's eyes widened at that, as it was the first thing that Fumiko seemed to express a proper interest in… except for beating people up, but Nariko wasn't counting that. "They're like the perfect dog. They're loyal, protective, big, strong and you only need a few to pull a sled. You don't see other types of dogs doing that shit."

Fumiko wouldn't mention it, but she also liked the fact that they were fluffy and you could just cuddle into them with all their fur.

"Did you ever have one?" Nariko asked, hoping to keep up Fumiko's good mood.

But it had the opposite effect as Fumiko had a small frown on her face. "No." She answered, the sadness coming off in waves to Nariko.

Nariko cursed herself in her head. Of course she couldn't have known that it would make Fumiko sad, but she just wished that the mood didn't just go down hill because of one question.

"I took care of one before." Fumiko supplied without being promoted to, and Nariko looked at her as she talked, which Fumiko appreciated. "A small pup, on the side of the road in my town. I couldn't bring him to my house, the owners wouldn't allow it. I tried to give it food when I could, but I didn't have much… and certainly didn't have enough money to buy anything for him." Fumiko said.

Fumiko closed her eyes and took a breath to calm herself down. She didn't know why she was saying this, and she wasn't about to continue before this evolved into something she didn't want it to. "So yeah, one harsh winter he died. End of story." Fumiko said quickly, getting over it. "What type of cats do you like?"

Nariko noticed the change in topic, but didn't pursue what Fumiko was saying before if she didn't want to talk about it. Fumiko seemed to have been attached to the dog, so it was a hard topic. And although there were a few things that stood out to Nariko during Fumiko's talk, Nariko ignored them in favour of talking about cats. If Fumiko wanted a change in topic, she would happily oblige.

Fumiko looked at Nariko as a beautiful smile grew on her face, her light brown hair blowing with the wind when a particularly strong gust came along. "I like ragdoll cats."

"Why?" Fumiko asked, moving the conversation along.

"I don't know, to be honest." Nariko said, shrugging her shoulders as she did so. "I've always had cats in my house since I was young, so I just grew to like them. And ragdoll cats were easy to take care of with a child in the house, so my parents got that type of cat."

Fumiko felt pang of jealousy at that, but didn't say anything except for a small murmur of. "Hmm, must be nice."

After that they rounded one more corner and reached their destination. Nariko checked the piece of paper they were given, and confirmed that the person that posted the quest lived in the house in front of them.

It was a nice house, it wasn't high class, but it wasn't something low class either, just somewhere in between.

Nariko and Fumiko entered through the gate surrounding the house and walked up to the door.

Fumiko had silently decided to stay quiet for this conversation, and to keep her anger under control in case this was just a waste of time. And besides, Nariko seemed to be more agreeable than herself.

A knock on the door, and only a few moments later a woman on the other side opened it.

Like Fumiko told herself, she let Nariko do most of the talking. Besides, Fumiko was barely paying attention to the conversation. Her mind only picked out the important parts that would help her.

Like when the cat went missing, what it looked like, where it usually went to when it left the house, and other things.

Nariko and the woman seemed to get along well, and it almost looked like they were going to be talking for hours, but Fumiko dragged Nariko away.

The quicker she and Nariko completed this quest, the faster they could rank up and go their separate ways.

The first place they were going to check was the shopping district. Even though the cat usually hung around the residential district, if she was hiding there, she would have been able to get back to her house, or the owner would've noticed her when she went outside for a walk.

As they entered the district, Nariko came up with a plan for them to follow. "You search the east side, and I'll search the west. Since we're closer to the south now, we'll meet up at the north once we've searched our areas." Nariko said, her voice like she was planning for a battle… not searching for a cat.

Fumiko found the contrast between her tone and what was going on to be funny, and a slight smirk came onto her face. "Ok, ok." Fumiko agreed. She didn't really like that she was being told what to do, but there was no reason to argue over something petty like that.

Fumiko started walking to the left and Nariko to the right.

Fumiko used her magic to create a small area around her which she used to feel any mana in things. She could use her mana to search the whole of the city of Vlison. But that would only give her where mana signatures were and how much mana they had, but not the shape. While reducing the search zone gave her a much more precise and effective searching effort.

It was weird, she had never done this searching technique before, as she never had a need to, but just feeling where people were without seeing them. And the ability to see what they were doing and an idea of what they looked like without turning around to see them was weird.

It would be useful, especially if fighting a lot of people, but she couldn't help but feel like this was overkill looking for a cat.

But she also knew that she would never find the cat if she didn't do this, so she kept searching using mana anyways.

Nariko, on the other side of the shopping district, was doing the same. She was also looking at what the people around her were selling, to see if she needed to buy anything or if she found something interesting for her to buy.

As she was walking, not picking up any mana signals that seemed similar to a cats, but she did pick up a signal that worried her.

It was a weak mana signature, like a flame holding on despite the cold wind. Nariko subtly picked up her pace, getting to the location faster.

But she did reach there, she went to a stall she saw on her way. Buying some bread along with a flask of water that was already filled to the top.

She finally reached the location, slowing down to a walk with a look of sadness on her face.

Inside of the alley was a small kid, around eight or nine. He had matted pitch black hair, light clothes with holes in them. He was gaunt, with sunken cheeks.

He was sitting up against the wall with his knees to chest, trying to keep his warmth.

He didn't notice Nariko until she sat down beside him. He looked afraid of her at first, until she handed him the bread.

He looked at her with confusion, as she answered him. "Have it, it's yours."

The kid took it slowly, to see if she was tricking him, but only seeing her look at him with sadness in her eyes, made him take a bite, then another, and another, until he finished it all with big bites.

Nariko handed him the flask, and he downed half of it when it came into his hands.

Nariko really didn't know what to say. She wanted to get him out of this situation, get him to live with someone. But she couldn't take care of a kid, she didn't even have a house right now. She could try and get him to an orphanage, she doubted a city this big didn't have one.

"I'm Nariko Kamata, what's your name?" Nariko asked softly.

The boy looked at her from the corner of his eye, he still didn't fully trust her despite the kindness she had shown. "Rekka ."

Nariko gave him a smile to hopefully get Rekka to warm up to her. "And where are your parents, Rekka?"

Rekka didn't look her in the eyes as he answered. "Don't know." After a moment of silence he continued. "We came to town and my Mom told me to stay here, that she'll come back for me if I wait here." Nariko heard Rekka sniffle as his head was turned away from her. "... she'll come back for me, right?" He asked, and Nariko wasn't blind to the desperate undertones in that question.

Nariko could only feel sorry for Rekka. The kid had been abandoned and he didn't even know it. Nariko felt mad at whoever had left Rekka here, especially since they didn't even leave Rekka with anything other than the clothes on his back.

Now, maybe they were desperate and money was running low and they couldn't take care of Rekka, but that wasn't an excuse to just… leave him in an alleyway to starve to death! They could have at least brought him to an orphanage where he could be looked after. But instead they left the poor kid to starve in an alleyway.

And Rekka hadn't even left to get food, just looking at him you could tell. Nariko felt a responsibility to take him to a place where he could sleep without having to worry about freezing. And the only place that Nariko could think that was like that, was an orphanage. She just hoped that there was one in Vlison.

"Rekka, I…" Nariko hesitated as Rekka looked at her for an answer. "I'm not sure… what's taking your Mom so long." She said, lying to him. "But I know that she wouldn't want you to stay here. You might get hurt here."

Rekka huffed as she said that. "How would you know? She told me to stay here."

"But she also wouldn't want you to get hurt." Nariko said to him. "I'll take you to a place where people will look after you. You'll make friends there." Seeing that he was looking at her sceptically Nariko made him a promise, hoping that it would make him go easier. "And when I have time, I'll come visit."

"You promise?" Rekka mumbled, holding up a pinky finger.

Nariko nodded her head. "I promise." She then locked her pinky with his. "I'll even bring my friend with me. Maybe you'll help me cheer her up, she's really grumpy." Nariko said jokingly, standing up.

And as Rekka tried to stand up he almost fell down, so Nariko caught him so he didn't get embarrassed. "Here, you can have this bread as well."

Rekka took the other bread happily as he ate it, more slowly than before, while Nariko carried him on her hip.

For Nariko the search for the cat was temporarily forgotten, and now all her focus was on Rekka.

"I'll make your friend not grumpy when I see her." Rekka promised, one hand shooting out in a fist with a small but confident smile on his face.

"I'm sure you will." Nariko said, walking out of the alley and looking around for any noticeable buildings in sight which screamed 'orphanage' to her. "Now, where is it?" Nariko mumbled.

As Nariko's hand was on Rekka, she started transferring heat to him. She could tell he was cold so he needed it more than her. Nariko let out a breath as she felt the cold poking at her like annoying sticks.

While Rekka felt the heat and started to get tired. This was the most comfortable he had been in weeks, and all of the tiredness he was trying to suppress before just started catching up to him.

Nariko moved Rekka to a more secure position as she felt him start to fall asleep. His head tucked into the crook of neck her neck, and Nariko let him start to drift off as she went up to a nearby person to ask about an orphanage in town.