"It…was a dream?" Kishio muttered. He placed his hand on his cheek, no tears, was he really getting this emotionless, he couldn't help but wonder.
But he knew that subconscious act, when he had placed his hand on his cheek, he knew what he was expecting, a stream of tears, instead his eyes were just slightly watery.
He blinked his eyes a few times, clearing them from their teary state. As his eyes opened up again, he could see a little girl standing at his door, her hand still on the handle indicating she had just walked in.
'Yue?' Kishio called out internally, unsure if he was seeing properly, or his past was still attempting to traumatise him.
"Big brother, Yue wants to see the water park," Kishio heard Yue's sweet voice drift into his ears and he smiled subconsciously, the past might be trying to traumatise, but at least the present wasn't.
Not to say he wasn't bleeding internally, that he couldn't fulfill his promise, that he ran away, but there was truly nothing he could do, if there was a way he could redeem his promise…
"Up, up, up," Yue suddenly yelled as she pulled Kishio off his bed, cutting his trail of thought off.
He offered no resistance to her weak pulls as he slowly stood up from the bed.
"Hurry, Yue is waiting for you outside," Yue spoke, urging Kishio to haste his steps afraid night will fall faster than she could count her fingers.
Kishio splashed water onto his face as he looked himself into the mirror, it's been almost two weeks since he was reincarnated, had he changed that much, he clenched his fist as a few memories came flashing before his eyes, splashing another handful of water onto his face, he shook them off.
He had better focus on the day with Yue, but before that…he really couldn't take her to see any water park or such, especially after he had given Yanran his entire earnings from his last dungeon raid.
'I had better come up with an excuse,' Kishio thought, knowing Yue, she could literally point at anything at any time and claim she wanted it, not every shop would have ulterior motives like the first one with the old man.
Kishio and Yue could be seen walking about under the beautiful morning sky. Many others could be seen hitting the road, some off to work, some adventures off to the guild in search of the daily bread.
"Big brother, where are we going," Yue suddenly asked, noticing the route Kishio was leading her down was not where she wanted to be.
"Let's go see Yanran, maybe we could help her out," Kishio suggested, he truly couldn't come up with the words to reject her, so he could only bring up an alternative.
"No!" Yue shouted forcefully pulling her hands away from Kishio's "I want to see the water park," he raised her voice again, folding her little arms together against her chest.
The little show Yue had put on had already drawn many eyes to the duo.
Kishio bent over a little so he could look Yue in the eyes "Yue, how about…" Yue immediately turned around on hearing Kishio's opening sentence, she wanted to go to the water park, and it was non-negotiable.
Kishio let out a frustrated sigh, he reached out his arm to place it on her shoulder, but before he could place his hand on her shoulder, she took off running, her short legs surprisingly faster than one would expect.
Kishio watched her run off with a sigh, but he knew he couldn't let her go alone, Yanran would probably give them both an earful if she found out.
He sprinted after her, but the little girl had taken a sharp turn darting into a narrow alley, Kishio snickered, remembering she had the advantage of terrain–she was more accustomed to this area, but he was an experienced adventurer.
He spotted her small frame running away at the far end of the alley, and he immediately leaped to the top of the building, chasing after her from above.
"Yue, stop. Let's talk about it again," Kishio yelled, as he chased after her, eyes glued onto her as he chased.
Surprisingly, he saw Yue turn her head to look at him from on top, and with that she gave a weird smirk as if challenging him before taking another sharp turn.
Noticing the buildings along that path wouldn't allow him to keep up the chase from above, he leaped down, immediately taking the turn, but he soon halted his steps as he took the turn.
There were three more turns: one straight ahead, another to the left and the last to the right.
Kishio's mind slowed down as he wondered where the little girl could have followed, he squinted his eyes looking closely at the floor.
There were three Yue-sized footprints leading to all three directions.
'How did she…?' Kishio questioned internally, as he observed the three different paths, no matter how he looked at it, she couldn't possibly have run in all three directions.
He sighed knowing that his plan to use her footprints to locate her had just sunk down the drain.
He couldn't just stand still and do nothing, he looked to the path on his right, he would just have to pick a path.
Kishio turned to the right and was about to sprint down the path when he heard a little girl scream ring out from his left.
His eyes sank coldly as his feet moved faster than his mind controlled them, worry plastered across his face as a single thought went through his mind.
'What happened to Yue?'