Chapter 191: Morning in the Colony

Jin bolted upright and to his behind. He had decided to spend the night at Kai's place. He ended up drinking late last night. Drinking grape juice with Kai, that is, and chatting about things he could not even recall. 

The bed he laid down on was a bit hard: the mattress was quite thin and did not do its job of cushioning properly. He sighed. It was quite the uncomfortable bed, but he did sleep well in this room. The walls were thin, but somehow it wasn't cold in here. 

Kai and his sister, Kaylie, had an extra room, so he did not need to live in the Inn. Suddenly, something started to mist and darken. Then, it shifted and twisted, taking an amorphous form. And finally, it grew limbs, and skin, and eyes, and hair. It became Cliff.

Cliff perched at the edge of the bed, holding a cigarette in his mouth. "Good morning, kid."

Jin, eyes still fuzzy, looked at him. "Morning."

"What's the plan for today?" Jin asked.

"I get up, I listen to that girl outside blabber," Jin rolled his eyes, "I listen to Kai's sulking, and finally, I go searching for ways in which I can get more experience points—starting with the search for an ice user within these walls." His voice was not husky, a bit deeper than normal after he'd woken up. 

He got up off of the bed, and perched on the edge of it next to Cliff. Cliff looked up in the face, and then averted his eyes.

"It's the same thing over and over again," Cliff shook his head, "I'm tired of it."

Jin was about to ask him 'what you're talking about' or 'what do you mean?' but he didn't bother. He couldn't care less. He got up, and stood on his feet. Then, he started toward the door. 

He clutched at the door handle, revolved it, and pulled the door opened. His sight met a living room. Two old couches facing each other, a wooden table in the middle of them. Sitting on these couches were Kai and his sister Kaylie.

Kaylie heard Jin's footsteps on the wooden floor, and quickly leaped to her feet, spun around, and darted toward him. She then halted, and slapped him across his face.

Jin's head went to the direction of the slap. He slowly t turned it back to its initial position, peering down at the angry Kaylie. He grimaced at her with furrowed brows, one slightly raised higher than the other. 

Kaylie scoffed at him. "I can't believe you ... what you did is absolutely condemnable."

Jin smirked. "What is this?" he rested a hand upon his reddened cheek. "Just last night you were asking me to talk to you and now you're slapping me to the face?" 

"Shut up!" She snapped. "I didn't know you were a liar. You hurt my brother. When I healed him, he didn't tell me who hurt him. He just left. Little did I know, it was you along!" She jerked a finger forward, pushing at Jin's chest.

Then, she looked up at him and melted. His black hair was messy, much messier than. His eyes were emerald green. His lips were cherry blossom pink. Her scowl slowly raised, until she was radically throwing a smile at him. She blushed, and hugged him.

"I'm sorry, Jin. I- I forgot they accidentally thought you were a demon. You had all the right to defend yourself. Plus," she squeezed him tighter, "you're cute and smell so great I can't help but not be mad at you."

Jin scowled, but she couldn't see him. "Can I be released now?"

She released, hopped on her feet, and then ran back over to the couch.

Jin scoffed. 

Kai got up from the couch, and walked up to Jin with his hands in his pockets. "Morning, sleepyhead. We didn't even drink anything but grape juice yet you knocked out cold like a boozer." A smile was on his face.

"Yesterday," Jin smirked, "was a pretty pretty long day for me."

"And yet," Kai stopped, "you ain't got any scars to prove it."

"Got scars in my mind," Jin reformed his smirk, "from all of that horrible fighting you've done."

"Screw you," Kai raised a middle finger, "you're the one who spammed that teleportation. What was I suppose to do when you kept moving?"

Jin looked at him. "Stop me from moving. Duh."

"That was impossible," Kai facepalmed, "one of these good days, Jin, I'll get my rematch. And I beat you for good this time."

Jin scoffed. "Whatever you say, chief," he yawned, "I'm looking for something to occupy myself with thsi morning. Don't we have Hunter stuff to do?"

"Well," Kai said, "Wiz said that you have two days to familiarize yourself with the place. Two days haven't passed yet. But you do have to finish signing up those agreements."

"Nah," Jin frowned, "not doing paperwork today. Let's just go somewhere, perhaps? Or let's start working as Hunters without the Wizard knowing. Yeah. I wanna start today. I don't need to waste today walking around like who knows what."

"Uhm," Kai scratched his head, "I don't see a problem with that. It is possible. Maybe we could just do some patrolling today. If we meet trouble—we kill it. Is that simple enough for you?"

"Too simple," Jin said brusquely, "actually. I was hoping it'd be more fun. I doubt there would be any trouble."

Kai clicked his tongue. "Trust me, you don't know the citizens here. There is always trouble. Never had a day gone by without any."

"Fine," Jin frowned, "let's just do the stupid patrolling like we're some stupid cops."

"Childish," Kai remarked. 

Jin smirked.

Kai started toward the front door, Jin followed. "And hey," he stopped, looking at Jin while grabbing the door handle, "just because you had it your way this time, it doesn't mean you should be inclined to try making this a recurring truth next time. I don't like to go against the Wizard's word. The amount of things that man did for us ... he's become a father figure already. And I show him the respect he deserves. The respect that is due. 

"If Wiz says to jump, I'd jump. If he says to use two days to familiarize myself before actually working, I'd take two days to familiarize myself before actually working. You get the idea. But do you understand what I mean?"

"Yeah, sure," Jin said, "I do ... I think."

Kai pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes. 

"Okay, okay," Jin raided both his hand, "I do, I do, okay? Geez." 

"Good," Kai turned to the door, and pulled it opened.

He waited for Jin to walk through before him. But Jin just stood there peering at him. 

"Ladies first," Jin said, a smug on his face.

Kai rolled his eyes, and scoffed while walking through the door. "Then why'd you not open the door for the lady?"

"She did it herself," Jin walked through the door, and fell in beside Kai.

Kai shook his head. But then, a soft smile kindled on his face. He didn't know why, but it just happened.

"BYE GUYS!" They heard Kaylie say.

"See you later, Kaylie! Won't miss your hugs."

"Later, sis!"

"So ... patrolling, huh?" Jin said. "Gotta be the lamest thing I've done in days."

Kai looked at him. "You do know how childish you sound when you say this like that, right?"

"I don't, do I?" 

Kai grimaced. "One weird guy."

A system screen appeared before Jin.

[New Task: Defeat a user of ice magic]

[Reward: 15 Exp (reward is subjected to change, depending on the opponent's power level)]

'Yes, system,' he thought, 'I know, I know.'

"What are you looking at like that?" Kai managed to ask.

"The distance," Jin looked ahead, "what else? A chick?"

Kai looked at him for a bit, a nuance on his face, but then looked ahead again.

They started to roam the area randomly. 

These streets weren't as bad at all, but still very busy and crowded. The new houses were built too closely together. Similarly to the domes, they didn't have much space for construction. The citizens were up and down, in and out, and through the streets. Some had even set up stalls.

Jin wasn't at all hungry, so he didn't even look at the food in these places. Not after all he had eaten at the Inn yesterday afternoon.

Kai walked these streets like it was his home. And that it was. He waved a few people, greeted some, and he had even received a hug from a little, grubby boy. He did love his home. 

Everything was quite slow. Jin and Kai spoke for the most part, but after a while things got quiet. They only heard the noices of the streets. Pots clattering. Voices sounding like murmurs. Loud sizzling. Hammering. 

It remained quiet until Jin and Kai had stumbled across two fighting men.

Kai dashed toward them. "I told you there was always trouble."

Jin perked up. He watched one of the men thrust a hand forward, sending a speck of ice at his opponent. 

"Jack pot!!!" Jin shouted, closing his hand. A dagger manifested. He sprinted, smirking.