Making bets

The reason why Lila has not experienced many difficulties since becoming the leader of the assembly is most likely due to the work of her mother. It may have looked like she just vanished and dumped her responsibility onto Lila, but the reality is something different.

"Kiryu! Let's look around over there." Lila smiled brightly as she held a bag in her hands. "I got a discount on other fruits too! We can make a nice meal with this and give it to Kotori-chan."

Kiryu's eyes widened when he saw the smile on her face.

"Thank you so much."

"It's alright, your a good girl; make sure you return."

Even when there is so much at stake, Lila can still smile. No everybody else here can smile because they still have hope. He wondered if it was the same for Kotori. Did she come with him despite the circumstances because she has hope? That girl, whenever they are together, always encourages him.

'I hurt her so much and scared her, but she still stayed by my side.' Is that the extent of her love? He doesn't understand why she fell for him but does he have to? The fact that he can see how genuine her feelings should be more than enough.

Kiryu gradually stopped looking at Lila and browsed through the stalls. 'They even have weapons on display, these are human-made, but the craftsmanship is amazing.'

It still upset him seeing weapon stands, however necessary it is to have them. They should be living in a time of peace; they should not have to arm themselves. But despite the liveliness of the market, he knew better than to let his guard down.

His gaze fell on the grey skies. When was the last time anybody here saw blue skies? Those days they all took for granted. When the world returns to normal, can they treasure those days more?

Kiryu already knew, however, that when everything returned to normal, Hyou4 planned to erase people's memories. They even have a plan to explain how all those people died from a major train crash. But he wondered if it was okay to do that.

Do the people truly want their memories to be erased? Do they truly want to forget the hardships that made them stronger?

His thoughts broke off when he felt a familiar pair of hands tugging on the edge of his clothing.

"Kiryu, what is that?"

Kiryu looked over and saw several large wooden targets a bit further away from each other. Many people in makeshift stalls all shouted and waved their money around.

"Wow. It's a shooting range where you gamble. I haven't seen things like that in a while. I guess they still have them around, huh."

'But who would waste money on this type of game now?' However, to his surprise, there were more people in the stalls than he thought.

"Gamble?"

"You bet on where you think the challenger is going to hit the target," Kiryu explained.

He watched as Lila tilted her head, still confused. But that simple act of tilting her head made her look even more adorable. This trying to get over Lila thing isn't going to be easy. Now he understood why she was trying to maintain a distance between them. The more time they spend together, the more things he finds to love about her.

But somehow, something is different now. What has changed?

"Hit the second mark."

However, the present man who was hitting the target missed by a long shot. "You suck." Despite this, though, Kiryu noticed how high everyone's tension was. They're so happy, it felt strange, but he felt relieved. So there are people who can smile now. Ever since the world turned upside down like this, all he has seen are the faces of disgust and hate.

"It looks like fun," Lila mumbled quietly.

Even though, judging from the number of arrows on the floor, nobody has actually hit the mark yet; an idea popped into his mind.

"Hey, mister, can I be a challenger?"

"Eh are you going try? That would be unfair on the others. But it would be cool."

Kiryu felt his cheeks color when he heard Lila call him cool. 'I have to calm down. Lila is the type of person who says those types of comments without thinking.'

"Hey, young man, the next spot is just about to open up."

"No, actually, the one challenging is going to be this young lady here." Kiryu pointed at Lila.

"What?! This little girl is?"

After the man clarifies it, he feels Lila turns to him.

"Deciding things on your own like this. You don't change at all."

Kiryu laughed when he heard her frustrated tone.

"There is no problem, is there?"

After all, one of the first things Lila did when the world turned out this way was practice her archery skills. There is no doubt that she is better than half the people here.

"There is no problem, but it is impossible. That little girlie is so small she might even fall down trying to hold the bow. I don't even know if she can pull back the now string. Don't even try," The elderly man shook his head. "I don't want there to be any accidents."

Kiryu understood what the man was getting at. It is hard to tell with people dressed simply who is from a rich family. This person does not want to risk offending anybody.

"Now that's just rude !!" Lila exclaimed. He watched as Lila's cheeks puffed up, annoyed. "I can't let that comment slide."

Kiryu chuckled when he sensed her sudden determination.

"You can't just judge someone by appearances. A warrior's strength isn't determined by gender either. I can at least do," Lila trails off before murmuring quietly. "That much."

His lips curved to a smile, and he patted her back, urging her forward; he watched as Lila took the bow and stood in the marked place.

She immediately drew the attention of the people on the stalls.

"What? Is that little girl seriously going to do this? She's definitely going to miss."

"Well, then one thousand yen if she misses."

"Well, then I'll bet two thousand yen she cries and runs home."

The voices of the watchers are distracting. Or rather, what's with those rude comments? Geez. It is true appearance-wise. Lila looks weak. But he knew how many days and nights she spent training. How much did she sacrifice to achieve her current skills, even causing the blisters in her hands to bleed?

Calm down; they may be saying rude remarks. But they are not hostile. 'I almost forgot how normal people behave.' Ever since the world turned upside down, he has kept a cautious stance towards everybody he meets.

"Double that; she hits the first mark," Kiryu called out.

Kiryu watched as her eyes widened. He immediately understood what Lila thought. They indeed left the hideout in a rush, so they did not bring a lot of money. But even then, Kiryu felt confident. These people do not know how hard Lila worked; they do not know her as well as he does.