Looking for a House

Their chase immediately ended when Luna felt their speed gradually decrease. Finally, Akiro gestured for her to come down already. She slowly came down while she was holding her dizzy head. Her body wobbled and quickly leaned on a tree beside her. She went startled when Akiro touched her forehead and whispered something to himself.

"Are you fine by now?" he asked as he thought of her wobbling body earlier.

Luna nodded. She found it surprising that her dizziness vanished because of him. She guessed that it was a spell and thought about how this world treated fatigue instantly.

"Let's go," Akiro said.

"Where?" Luna asked with her furrowed eyebrows. She couldn't see the sight of that person in this huge lush forest.

"Look behind you," he said.

After hearing his unclear answer, Luna decided to turn around which answered her confusion a while ago. At the center of the forest was a two-story house that stood alone. The color of the house imitated the color of the forest that makes it unnoticeable in a distance. She deduced that the person brought Claret to this isolated place.

Akiro carefully walked behind the trees and bushes to see the front part of the house. Luna followed him, thinking that they would show up in front of that person. When Luna walked past Akiro, he stopped her from advancing furthermore.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked.

"It's enough for now. We have to go back to the present," he answered but he received her frowning face.

"We will not save her?" she asked, confused.

Akiro sighed and quickly gave her an explanation before they run out of time and said, "Past can't be changed. We'll deal with this in the present."

Luna was suddenly reminded of that law. She felt bad that she forgot such an important thing. 'I'll not forget it next time!' she thought while nodding her head. All she could do now was to remember every single detail of the house from afar.

Seeing her enlightened expression, Akiro quickly took out his golden pocket watch. Its hand rotated clockwise in a fast motion, speeding up the time around them. Then, their bodies ended up where they were at the present time. It was inside the Red Castle Hotel room numbered 4023.

"It's a pity that we can't end up in that forest," Luna uttered.

"Well, it's no use crying over the fact that we can only end up where we first time-traveled. Let's locate the place already," Akiro said.

Luna agreed. After that, they didn't waste a time and started working. They hurriedly went out of their room and impatiently strode down the hallway and took the four stairs that lead to the ground floor of the hotel. With their speed, they reached the West Village border easily although with speed which Luna could only catch up.

'We finally reached the village!' Luna thought.

The incident happened two years ago and some changes like the increased number of houses and different alleyways made their task increase its difficulty that was already hard from the start.

"Let's go that way," Akiro said as he pointed to an alleyway. It was an empty street that resembled the ones in the past. The only difference was it currently leads to a market. Then he began to walk that increased slightly as he stepped which made Luna struggled to catch up with his pace.

"Wait for me!" Luna shouted and ran faster. They continued to stroll down the crowded market, a park, other shops, and alleyways yet they could not find where Claret's incident had happened. Until Luna felt that the surroundings were overly familiar for her. A thought entered through her mind. 'It's this way that I was suddenly lost!' she thought.

"Why are we going this way?" she asked. The thought of having the place turned dark suspiciously again bugged her mind.

"To find Claret," Akiro answered.

Luna almost rolled her eyes with his obvious answer. It's just this place didn't look like the ones in the past. The place looked eerie even in the morning than the forest they followed the woman during nighttime. The forest indeed brought slight trauma within Luna after she got herself entrapped alone in the dark. She did not let loose of her sight into Akiro, fearing that something might happen.

They soon stopped their tracks after seeing the separated way that would lead to two different places. He walked down the right lane without hesitation. Luna felt that he knew the right way by now and didn't disagree with his decision. Who knew if Akiro suddenly got mad at her and made her took the left path alone.

'Not gonna happen,' she thought.

After a long walk, their efforts paid off after seeing the familiar two-story house in the middle of the forest.  Nothing much had changed at that house that made them a hundred percent sure that it's the same house they saw in the past.

Luna noticed that the painted house looked old than two years ago. The faded green and brown pigment on the walls was seen as they walked closer to the house.

Along the way, they saw a young lady happily watering the plants in front of their house. The red roses stood out between the withered leaves from the bushes near it. When she saw them, her face went startled.

"A-h, hello we-" Luna said.

She was interrupted when several pieces of ice with sharp pointed edges suddenly welcomed them at an amazing speed. Luna felt one of it went past the side of her neck. Her eyes widen and went frozen in her place. However, Akiro swiftly went towards her and dodged them all while carrying Luna in front.

"W-what is that?" Luna uttered. She had never been threatened like that in the past. The sudden attack felt like death was waiting at her doorstep.

"It's an ice spike. Calm down, everything's fine," Akiro said.

"Stay there for a while," he continued. Akiro let go of her and observed the situation. He teleported to the scared young lady's position. However, it wasn't her that attacked them. Instead, it was the woman at the back that did it.

The woman with her black clothes at the back raised her eyebrow and readied her hands to attack.

Luna, who was quite far, was still able to see the figure of the woman and her attire. It was a familiar scene that made her convinced that she was the one that took Claret away.

"What do you need from us?" she asked, frowning.

"I think it's best not to talk outside," Akiro said.

However, the woman maintained her hostile appearance and didn't obey what Akiro said.

"I knew you're being wary of us. There's no need to. We came here because of a woman named Claret," Akiro said. Then, he eyed the young lady who looked like the young girl two years ago.

'Her facial features changed a lot,' Akiro thought as he didn't notice that it was Claret at first.

Meanwhile, upon hearing Claret's name, the woman sharply looked at him. "What business do you have with Claret? She's dead," she answered.

Akiro's lips slowly grinned. He sideglanced at the young lady in front of him. "I'm afraid not, isn't she in front of me?" he said.

The woman felt helpless and didn't expect him to recognize Claret with her disguise.

"May you let this wish maker be your guest?" Akiro said

With that short and simple word, the woman changed her expression. She seemed convinced and the hostile action she bore earlier vanished.

Luna couldn't help but think of Akiro's reputation in Vermillion. The change of behavior from that woman made her suspicious since it looked like his kind of work was a secret.

"L-let's go inside. You can bring your companion," she said.

Akiro turned towards Luna which she immediately got what he meant and hurriedly followed them inside. The woman's strong and domineering aura disappeared completely and started to treat them with hospitality.

The house inside was filled with wooden types of furniture. She suddenly felt familiar with the simple look of her house without the usual lavish style in this world. Then she sat beside Akiro while the lady and Claret sat opposite them.

"What do you need from Claret?" she asked.

This time, it was sincere and her tone sounded like she was willing to answer their questions as long as it wouldn't bring danger to the young girl.

~~To be continued..