Act I. Part IV.

An electronic sign with large, red text on it read "[2:00 AM]"

The three sat on the rail platform, and all turned to face the girl sitting on the bench behind them with puzzled expressions. Ryu gets up walks up to the girl and squats as he begins to talk to her,

"Hi, my name is Ryu. And these are my friends Mila and Toshiko." He said while pointing at the two who waved back at her with puzzled expressions. "What's your name?" He asked with a smile.

"A-Aikaterine." She stuttered.

"Well, that's a bit too hard for me to pronounce so why don't I just call you 'Aika' for short?"

She quickly nodded with her eyes closed.

"Our mutual friend from back at the house told me to take care of you, is that alright?"

She nodded once again.

"Before you guys decide to leave, why don't you all come over? We all need the rest, and my house is too big to be empty right now. So please?" Toshiko asked with a forced smile.

"For the first time, I agree with you. Looking at the time and the state of our clothes." Said Mila, as she looked at all of their blood-stained shirts.

"Yeah..." Seconded Ryu in a low tone.

[Moments later]

Now on the street, Toshiko pulled Ryu back by the arm and left Mila and Aika walking ahead of them, having a separate conversation of their own.

"Who is that girl and where did she come from? I don't remember seeing her with us." Toshiko asked as he stared at Aika.

"After I ra--, passed out, I woke up and, next to me was the house I found her in. Remember, the one that man brought you to." Replied Ryu.

"Which house? That entire place was empty, there wasn't even one complete structure, so how could there even be a house in that place? Are you sure you saw a house? It's probably the trauma getting to you." He said with a worried expression.

"You're probably right. She might have been with us all along, and we didn't notice her." Ryu said with a torn expression.

"When we get home, we need to start piecing together the information we have and find out who those people are. The people that murdered our families." Toshiko said with fierce determination in his eyes.

"I'd rather not" Replied Ryu with a smile as he looked ahead.

Toshiko turned to face him, and just before he could respond to Ryu's confusing words they had arrived at the estate. They walked in using the front gate, and they began to walk on a winding stone pathway going further into the estate. The path was surrounded by trees that had lanterns hanging from them, they brightly illuminated the estate and the gardens around it.

Once they arrived at the main house, they were greeted by a member of the estate who seemed to come out of nowhere. A short old lady with narrow eyes, and a completely grey head of hair. She wore a jade green kimono, and she didn't seem to have good eyesight because she didn't react to the blood on their clothes.

"Good evening young master and guests." She said as she bowed.

They all bowed their heads, and Toshiko raised his head and answered, "These are my friends. They'll be staying with us for the week."

"As you wish, young master. Follow me I'll--"

Toshiko quickly interrupted, "Don't worry, I'll lead the way. They are all very tired, and I'd like to get them into the house as quickly as possible." He said as he smiled. "Thank you very much, you may take your leave." Immediately he finished, she bowed and walked away from them.

Trying to avoid the blood on their clothes being seen, Toshiko begins to push them away from the lady.

"Who was she?" Asked Mila.

"She's a member of our family's branch family. She's like a grandmother to me, but enough about that we need to get you all to the back entrance before anyone sees us. But quickly tuck in your white shirts." Toshiko hurriedly replied.

As they all quickly approached the back entrance, they were met with an unbelievable sight, a slightly burly, elderly man, looking towards the sky, while leaning with one of his elbows on the step behind him, majestically smoking tobacco with a pipe. Toshiko's eyes began to well up with tears and glisten as he reached out and said,

"Grandfather?"

"Well, who else can it be?" Toshiko's grandfather responded with a smirk as he puffed out a cloud of smoke, which slowly disappeared into the night.

They were all left wide-eyed and speechless by his response, rather than by him being there.

"I thought yo-- you were gon- gone. I'm so glad you're back." Stuttered Toshiko as he responded through his crying.

His Grandfather made a puzzled expression, "All I did was go to work and back. Haven't I always told you not to cry? Crying is only acceptable if you're a beautiful lady."

Toshiko began to laugh as he wiped his tears away. His grandfather tilted his head to look at the three behind Toshiko. "I see you've brought some friends along, hurry inside and have dinner. Granny prepared lots." He finished with a wide grin on his face.

They all bowed their heads to him and began to head into the house, before Mila went in Ryu pulled her aside, "I'm going to my house, please take care of Aika for me. I'll be back tomorrow morning." He said with his head bowed.

"Be here early." Responded Mila with a slightly angered expression.

Ryu ran out of the estate gates ecstatically, jumping and skipping through the artificially lit streets of central, with a giant smile on his face and teary eyes. He runs and shouted,

"Yeeessss!"

He took off his tie, removed his blazer, and remained with his blood-stained white shirt. He continued to run and run until he reached the apartment building, which was just an old, not at all modern, six-story building with a staircase on the outside. Ryu reached the staircase and started slowing down as he climbed up the stairs, letting out grunts, but he didn't care for his exhaustion, and continued running until he reached the fifth floor. . .

[Ba-bump]

He ran to the end of the hall, and stood face to face with the door of his family's apartment. . .

[Ba-bump]

Reached out his arm, gripping onto the door handle, and pushed it down with a wide smile on his face, swinging it open. . .

"Grandfather, do you know of a 'Lars'?" Toshiko asked his grandfather, who had a newspaper in hand, and began to lower it onto the tatami mat.

"Yes, the commander of the royal army. Although I work under the government's wing, I report to him. Why?" He asked Toshiko as he picked up his paper.

"Oh, we're learning about central's government, and his name came up. But I wasn't listening to the explanation."

Mila nudged him with her elbow and they both started to nervously laugh and his grandfather joins them in laughter. . .

Ryu laid on his living room floor, with nothing but the light from the moon lighting up the room. With his arm over his eyes, crying.

The newspaper read: THE KING'S PRESENCE EXPECTED AT SHOWCASING OF ARTIFACTS FROM ERA OF THE GODS

End.