A New Way Forward

“Where are we going?” Mira asked as she tugged onto the back of Yusato’s shirt.

“I’m looking for a shopping district.” Yusato kept turning his head left and right to try and find something in the dirty run-down town. “I don’t suppose you know if this town has any?”

She shook her head.

“Didn’t think so.” Yusato sighed as he continued to look around.

“But why do we need to go shopping?”

He came to a stop and turned around. “Were you planning on wearing that thing the whole time?”

Mira looked down at her tattered rag. Yusato stared at her blankly for a few seconds. Leaves blew by in front of them along with a gust of wind. Then, she covered her body with her arms and blushed.

“I had to get rid of my clothes! I didn’t have a choice!”

For a minute, Yusato was worried about her outburst. But as he glanced around, he realized no in the town was paying them any mind. He let out a sigh of relief.

“Relax, Mira. It’s not like you’re naked or anything, geez.” He started to walk again with Mira treading lightly behind.

“Then, why you’d bring it up.” With pursed lips, Mira dipped her chin down. “Big meanie.”

“It’s gotta be uncomfortable, right. I was just thinking we should find you some better clothes, that’s all.”

He was curious about why Mira said she had thrown her other clothes away. But he decided it was best to no ask about that matter. At least for now.

Right now, his main priority was to do what he needed to take on that quest again. He would need help to do that and so he didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize his partnership with this girl, despite how little he trusted her.

While they walked through the town, Yusato found himself repeatedly staring at his hand. When he shook his Mira’s hand, that purple glow occurred. The exact same on that that happened when Dadilda shook his former friends’ hands.

He didn’t want to believe it, but it was hard to deny the evidence that was staring him straight on in the face. It had to mean that this girl…Mira Luin…was the one who summoned him to this world.

But why? What purpose would she have for doing that? And why hadn’t she mentioned it this whole time. All these things added up and only fueled his distrust for her even more. He could confront her about it himself, but he wanted to keep her on his side for as long as he could.

Eventually, they came to to an area in the town that had a few different stalls set up. Yusato noticed one of the stalls was selling hand-me-down clothes.

“Perfect. Mira, over here.” Yusato led her over to the stall and he started up a conversation with the women running it. “Excuse me, Ma’am. I’m looking for something for my friend here. Do you have anything in her size?”

The women peeked over and saw Mira standing next to Yusato. She looked her up and down while rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm. I think I might have something that fits her perfectly.”

She dug through her basket of clothes and soon pulled out a neatly folded outfit. She handed it over to Mira. “Here you go. Try this on. It was my daughter’s but she just recently grew out of it, so she donated it.”

Mira nearly fell over as she took the clothes from the lady.

“You alright there?” Yusato asked. “You’re not seriously that weak, are you?”

“I was just surprised…”

“Right. Well, go get changed.”

She fiddled around with the outfit in her hand, trying to find a comfortable position to hold them in. “Where do I change at?”

“There’s a tree right over there.”

Mira’s face flushed pink. “I’m not doing that!”

The stall owner chuckled a bit before pointing behind her. “Those are changing rooms back there. You can use those, sweetie.”

Nodding happily, Mira smiled a bright one. “Thank you!” She ran off to the changing rooms in a hurry.

“Well, she sure seems excited.” Yusato couldn’t help but make a small smile at that. Even though he still didn’t feel like he could trust the girl, he had to admit it was nice.

Having someone else around always made him feel more at ease. He hated solitude so having the company of even one other person was a lifesaver.

A few minutes passed and Mira came out of the dressing room. A light turquoise overdress fashioned over a white undershirt with puffy sleeves hugged her body. She ran hand over her new red ribbon in her hair and clacked her matching red Mary Janes shoes together as she daintily looked up at Yusato.

“What do you think? Does it look away?”

Cute. Super cute.

Those were the only words that entered Yusato’s mind as he stared at her. The women was right. It fit Mira perfectly. Too perfectly.

Seeing her in that outfit, it brought back some memories of Azumi. He didn’t realize it before, but she actually kind of looked like her a little bit.

Her hair was a different shade, but they still looked close enough that they could be sisters. And Mira wearing an outfit that was similar to the one, Azumi used to wear a few years back certainly didn’t help.

He was stunned speechless.

Birds cawed in the distance. The stall lady seemed to be watching this all in amusement. And Mira just stood there, her finger to her lips, cocking her head. “Yusato?”

Thoughts of Azumi ran through his head. All of the memories they used to have from when they were younger. And his feelings for her. Then, his smile slowly started to fade as he remembered what happened.

All those days were behind him now. Azumi had betrayed him just like Tomoki and Mahina. There was no point in getting wrapped up in the past.

He shook his head and took a few steps forward. “You look nice, Mira.” He turned back to the women. “How much?”

“Five-hundred gold should cover it.”

“Sounds good.” Yusato dug through his pockets and pulled out his gold coins he had got from quests he completed last year.

“Thank you very much—Oh.” The stall owner frowned a bit.

“Something wrong, Ma’am?”

“It doesn’t look like you have enough. This is only two-hundred and fifty gold.”

“What? I know I had double that though.”

She just shook her had. “Sorry, but I made sure to count it carefully. It’s not enough.”

“Do we have to give it back then?” Mira lowered her had.

The woman itched her forehead while looking at Mira’s despondent face. “Tell you what? Why don’t you keep that outfit. And when you kids have the second half, you can just pay me then.”

“Really?” Yusato asked. “Are you sure about that?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” She waved her hand in a nonchalant fashion. “I’d hate to make this poor girl cry after all.”

“Yay!” Mira raised her arms in the air. “Thank you, Miss!”

After that, the two left the stall and started walking around the town again. “What’re you looking for now?” Mira asked Yusato.

“I need a weapon. I lost my sword in my last battle, so I need a new one.”

Yusato also realized he couldn’t keep relying on the spirit’s power so much. After he learned that the reason he lost his half of his gold was because of how he asked for a little bit of power against the hooded men, he knew he was going to need another option to fight. Of course, that wasn’t something he wanted to bring up to Mira.

“We also need to find a Quest Manager, so that I can try that quest again.”

“So, you’re alive after all, huh?” A slender man with shaggy white hair and silver eyes walked out from the shadows of the alleyway. “And now you’re looking for a Quest Manager?”

The man wore a fancy white jacket over top of a black t-shirt and had several rings on each one of his fingers. He had a calm and collected presence, yet Yusato could also feel a subtle intimidating aura surrounding him.

He seemed almost dangerous, but like he couldn’t be bothered to ever act upon that danger.

Yusato covered Mira with his arm. “Who are you?”

A smirk crossed over the man’s face. As if he was waiting for that question. “Leo, the Hero of the Third Crisis of Talria.”