Chapter 15 - Date

"Let's go on a date!" Fily requested with a smile that we just couldn't refuse.

"Okay."

As soon as Venedette approved, she hurriedly locked arms with us and pulled us outside of that dusty library using her weak force.

I couldn't help but giggle at the thought that she's really trying her best to pull us. Despite having a slightly heavier body than me, she couldn't even make us move an inch.

Venedette looked at me, covering her demonic laugh with her free hand behind Fily's face..

After our short laugh, we decided to go along with Fily to wherever she wanted to go.

"What is a date?" I whispered to Fily hesitantly, afraid that they might make fun of me.

But instead, she gave me a mild squish on the cheeks saying, "A date is when people hang out together." so straightforwardly that I almost believed what she said if only Venedette didn't interfere.

"What are you talking about? A date is when two people who like each other romantically hang out."

"Or it could mean the fruit or the day today which is April 19, 4016," Fily replied with a pout that made Venedette laugh even more for ruining her cover.

I didn't know Venedette was such a bully.

"It's okay girls, we can still consider this a date," she hugged the both of us that brought back the smile in Fily's face.

"Where do we go first?" Fily asked Venedette.

Among the three of us, she's the most knowledgeable about this place, taking into account that she grew up here after all. So it is only practical to ask her where we should go.

But we should've known better.

Venedette is such a troll!!

"What are we doing here?" I asked her and Fily too who also seemed as confused as me.

"Welcome to the plains!" Venedette posed like a bird opening her wings.

"I don't understand." Fily, for the first time, said words that I can totally relate to.

Here we are, in the middle of nowhere that is surrounded by damp mud and dirt that had been formed into squares where old people with straw hats were planting with grass.

"Aren't you glad to smell fresh air and see the sunlight?" she continued her facade, running along the hills where we stand.

I took a moment to appreciate the clean air that she was talking about, the breeze, cooling our body so it wouldn't be too hot for us to stay under the direct warmth of the sun.

"Come here!!" Venedette shouted from a distance and we saw two maids behind her setting a white blanket on the grass.

They left two baskets of what I assume is food and something else that looked like a triangle paper in pink and white. It floated and was immediately caught by Venedette who was already seated on the white blanket.

Fily and I approached her and she tapped the space on the blanket where we should probably seat.

"What's that Venedette?" I asked her, regarding the thing.

Fily was the one who answered me despite her munching on the sandwich from the basket already, "It's a kite."

"What does it do?"

"It flies."

Somehow, Fily isn't very descriptive when she's awake. She just says things straight to the point with no background information whatsoever like when we were in that car.

She even tends to forget things easily when she's awake.

"Where's my glasses?" She panicked, looking for something that she's already wearing.

"Here" I pointed at the middle of its right lens straight to her eye... and she didn't even blink.

"Oh, silly me." She cracked a laugh.

Is she okay?

After our short sandwich time, we played with kites.

Me and Fily running along on the ground while Venedette was flying in the sky, trying to capture our kites.

It was fun.

We had a lot of fun...

Only until Lei arrived with his 'kite' that totally destroyed ours.

It was Von. In a string.

He punched our kites to death!

"It's okay little Gem..." Fely tried to calm me down but I already decided to kill Von if he ever comes down from there.

'Just try to step foot here in my territory you ugly dumbass and I will kill you with my own hands!!!' I swore to the heavens with all my might that even the gemstone agreed with me.

"Where do you want to go next, kids?" Venedette strolled happily ahead of us to the city.

"Can we go to the night market mom?" Von suggested while sticking behind Venedette like gum. He's probably scared for his life after seeing my death glare huh?

I noticed Lei when he stole a glance at me.

"What?" I growled at him. I really need to release my anger to someone else or I might hurt Fily here who's still clinging to me.

"Don't mind him too much. He's really just like that," he said.

That was the first time Lei actually talked to me. Usually he's just silent in the corners, putting up to every bullshit that Von has to offer him.

"I'm not like you." I scowled at him, trying to walk faster so I could get away from his pep talk but Fily was dragging me behind.

"He wasn't like that before. He only changed two years ago when his--" Lei hesitated a bit and shook his head, "Nevermind."

"What? His what?" Now I'm interested!

"Nothing. Forget it," he repeated and went ahead to Von and Venedette who were both running around the small stalls here in the night market already.

"Woaaah!" Fily and I almost had the same reaction when we saw the lights opened up from the buildings, stalls and even in the castle that's included in our field of view because of its elevation from the town.

The place was weird. It was a mixture of very advanced gadgets and no gadgets at all. It was like time skipped in the middle of an era where the rich would only be the ones who can attain advanced gadgets and the peasants were left with nothing. Not even a simple gadget could be affordable nowadays based on what I am seeing right now.

Most of the people who wore decent clothes have accessories and advanced suits for fighting while the peasants were not wearing anything. Yet some of them could still win the fight in one of the festival arenas in the open.

While some stalls were with television that displays their products, others were left with stalls made of wood and cloth. Some of them don't even have stalls.

When we made it to the food section of the night market, the sweet scent of cooked potatoes and then grilled barbecue suddenly invaded my nose. It was pleasant.

Good thing I have Fily beside me since she was very useful in helping me identify the kinds of products these vendors were selling tonight.

"Today is the first Sunday of May, festival of

"Here." Fily handed me a bag of cotton candy. And while she was paying the vendor with coins, I noticed that we were already separated from Venedette and the boys at this point.

I closed my eyes, trying to single out Venedette-- or even Von's voice from this crowd but I couldn't hear them.

"What's wrong Gem?"

"I think we're lost." I said that made her laugh silently.

"Don't worry, I know the way home." she patted me on the back, and just before we were able to exit that stall, I heard whispers from the people that bothered me a lot.

"Someone said the monster is here in our town."

"Isn't she that little girl? With the girl from Maharlika."

"There's a monster here?"

"I haven't seen her face around here before."

"That's probably her then,"

"What should we do?"

"If she's a monster then we should kill her!"

As if on cue they all started eyeing me, some even walking closer to corner us both.

"But what about the Maharlikan girl?"

"Get her out of here."

"We'll deal with this little one."

"But isn't she the Princess' pupil?"

"Shut up. We don't want a criminal here."

"But--"

"There's a million pog bounty for her head. We could use some of that." The people made way for the guy who said that.

It was a dirty looking butcher that was holding a cleaver that was still reeking with pig blood.

The crowd went silent when he sharpened his cleaver with a sharpener that ignited sparks to the ground. The sparks stunned me in my place as they reminded me of the fiery borders.

"Stay away! Gem is a person, not a pig that you can butcher!" Fily shouted at him as she threw herself to cover me.

But without even realizing it, I was already suffocating inside my own thoughts and horrors.

"Gem!!!!"

That with that, I lost my consciousness in the real world.