CHAPTER 5 - Getting Closer | Takanashi Kiara

"What happened last night Kiara?", Claire asked while eating.

"Hm? What do you mean?", I asked.

"What happened after your Q&A segment with almost all of the Villagers?"

Oh yeah, I noticed that Claire and Kitty weren't around at that time.

Maybe Kitty got sleepy and went to sleep first, and maybe Claire was there to watch over her.

"Oh, yeah. Um.. I got tired and went to bed actually..", I explained to Claire in a pretty simple way.

"Eehh? Is that all?", Steven asked as if he's teasing.

"Y-Yeah.. That was all.."

Steven. After this. I will slap you.

"Okay! Well, Kitty went ahead to sleep last night. And I'm sorry if I didn't catch up to the segment, Kitty told me to watch over her.", Claire said.

"No no! Umm.. It's really fine, really. Actually, I want to thank all of you. For giving me a place to stay."

"You're welcome, Kiara.", Mike said.

"Well, I did hesitate at first. But, it turned out that you really are a good person.", Steven said.

I don't even know why I'd be a bad person, I can't find a reason to be a bad person either.

Although, I'm wondering if I was a bad person before..

"Thank you, everyone. I'm really grateful."

And with that our conversation ended and we continued eating. And by the time we finished eating, we headed on our separate businesses.

Last night was really something.

But I wonder of what would happen today.

Claire went to the market to buy some groceries, Steven and Mike went to the townhall for their Village work.

And I'm left with Kitty, and I really don't know how to start a conversation with her.

Kitty is currently playing with his doll, well not playing. More like, talking to it.

I can't really make out what they're talking about since I kept some distance away from her, it might get weird for Kitty if I immediately get closer.

But it's fine, she's cute even from afar.

But I wonder..

Claire did say that she opens up if she gets close to someone, especially to her friends but..

It doesn't seem like she has friends to interact with. There are kids playing outside, but I don't think she's interested.

She's more happy to talk with her doll than to talk with those kids, I guess..?

I'm not really sure.

"Kitty, I'm going outside for a bit. Are you going to be okay here?", I asked Kitty.

"Y-Yeah.. I'll be fine..", she replied.

"Okay.."

I took my cloak and went outside to take a breath, and even though it's not snowing like last night. It's still really cold..

I wasn't really entrusted to watch over Kitty, even though it's already common sense that I should watch over her.

I still decided to walk around a little bit, but not really far from the house.

I walked around about 5 meters away and checked my surroundings, and it's really peaceful and relaxing.

I don't know, but I'm missing this feeling.

I have no idea of what my life was like before, but inside me.. It's like telling me that this is the life that I've been craving for.

As I was walking around, I noticed the two woman talking to each other.

I know their faces, but I can't remember their names. Well it's not like I asked for their names though.

I decided to talk to them.

"Good morning..", I greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning, Miss Kiara.", the woman on the left greeted me.

"How is the village so far, Miss Kiara?", the woman on the right asked.

"It's actually, feels nice. It's relaxing and peaceful.", I said.

"Yeah, it's always like this in the Sun Village.", the woman on the right said.

"It's like we don't even need the guards anymore, since the days are always like this.", the woman on the right again said those.

"But I guess you still need them, for emergencies or stuff like that.", I said.

"Probably.", the woman on the left said.

"May I know your names?", I asked.

"Well of course! We were wondering why you didn't ask us immediately haha.", the woman on the left said.

"My name is Cassandra.", the woman on the right said.

"And my name is Cassidy.", the woman on the left said.

"And we're twins!", the both of them said.

"Ahh.. I see, you don't look like twins though..", I said.

"Eh?", the both of them said.

"E-Eh? Did I say something rude? Eh I'm sorry if I did!", I apologized and bowed down immediately.

"Haha! We were just messing with you!", Cassidy said.

"Yeah, we were just messing with you. All of the Villagers know that we're twins but we don't look alike.", Cassandra said.

"And that's why, when a Guest like you comes to the Village, we use that strategy to tease you!", Cassidy said.

Eehhh... Are they like.. The teasing twins..?

"Well, it is true that we don't look similar. Mike told us that it's because of a biological phenomenon. Where the other inherits the face of either the mother of father, and the other inherits the face of both or someone in their family tree.", Cassandra said as I slowly raised my head.

"Eh? Mike told you that?", I asked.

"Yeah, he's a pretty smart guy. We bullied him before when we were young. But we realized that, even after all of those. Mike still chose to help us.", Cassidy said.

"Eh? Was your condition really that bad back then? Like your faces?", I asked.

"Well, to tell you the truth Miss Kiara. Our parents used to fight back then. And when their fight reaches to us, they immediately compare to which of us inherited who. They always compare themselves to the other, and as their children. We really feel.. Sad..", Cassandra said.

"But it doesn't really bother us anymore since we're adults now, right?", Cassidy said.

"Yeah.. It doesn't..", Cassandra said.

Somehow, Cassandra feels a little regret while talking about their past and parents.

While Cassidy is more of like a free woman.

"Where are your parents now?", I asked.

"Who knows? They suddenly disappeared by the time our age reached 20. Maybe they quit raising us and moved to a new village?", Cassidy said.

That's just something, no parent would leave their children like that right?

And why of all time did they leave by the time they reached 20?

That's just weird...

"Then, how did you two manage to survive without parents?", I asked.

"Hm? Well of course, we worked.", Cassidy said.

"Chief was the one who helped us and gave us a job. He was also the one to give us our own house.", Cassandra said.

Eehh.. They really are good guys..

"I'm glad that they helped you.", I said.

"Yeah, can you imagine that? We bullied the guy who's helping us now. Life really has lots of twists.", Cassidy said.

"Yeah, life really is mysterious.", I said.

Our conversation went silent as we were gazing at our surroundings.

"Does that kid ever had a friend?", Cassidy said.

"Eh? Who?", I asked.

"That girl.", Cassandra said while pointing at Steven's house.

And as I looked really carefully, I can see Kitty looking at us.

And when she noticed that we're all looking at her, she immediately hid.

"Kitty? Was she just looking at us?", I asked.

"Yeah, she was. I've heard that, that kid has never had a friend.", Cassidy said.

"Eh? Really??", I asked.

"Yeah, there was that one tragedy before. And that tragedy made it hard for her to make any friends.", Cassandra said.

"Wait, are we allowed to tell her that?", Cassidy said.

"Oh shoot!, you're right.. Um... We better get going Kiara.", Cassandra said.

"Eh? Where?", I asked.

"We uh.. We're actually on our break from work. So yeah, we gotta go. See ya!", Cassandra said.

"O-Okay.."

And with that my conversation with the twins ended.

But, I don't think they're on duty. If they are, they would've checked the time when they were leaving right?

Oh well, I guess they have their own reasons.

But, Kitty..

I thought at first she had friends but..

Now I know why she's not interested to go outside..

A tragedy huh..

I wonder if I can ask Mike about that..

I wanted to stroll around a little bit more, but I decided to go back home.

And when I entered the house, Kitty was sleeping. Or more like, pretending to be asleep.

"She's asleep huh..", I said those as if I got convinced that she's actually sleeping.

I sat down on the couch across from Kitty to watch over her, but I also looked around the house.

But, if Kitty doesn't have friends.

Can I be her first friend?

But before I can even cross that line, I have to know her past first.

I have to know, this Tragedy.