Blood Of Platinum
Chapter 36. Foreign Places in New Town. 1
Night skies with full moons and bright stars adorn, even for areas without illuminated light, the moon in the sky can be a light. In a three-story inn, the Yuki brothers and Kaito were sitting on wooden chairs with their calm faces. Their weapons had been next to the wardrobe, Kaito's robe had thrown him over a small bed nearby, he said, kaito's pocket watch and a shopping bag containing a lot of bread are on their table now.
Ryou placed the silver pocket watch on the table and looked at the time the object showed.
“Now the hour hand shows at half-seven o'clock” Ryou speaks without passion
“.....” Kaito is silent
“Kaito-san, I seem to be starting to understand our current situation a little. If what Kaito-san said is true that ‘the two worlds’ has disappeared meaning this city is an ordinary city, right?” Kino asked Kaito
“.....” Kaito is still silent
“Means from now on there will be no more looping and the rules as before will no longer apply Kino” continues his words
“True. With the disappearance of the repetition that we used to do, everything became normal” Kaito finally opened his mouth
Along with the answer he gave, Kaito could not stop putting on a serious face as if thinking of something. It was really the first time for him to experience something like this.
‘At first I thought because my memory pieces at that time had been successfully retrieved from ‘world malam’, the possibility of strange powers from ‘both worlds’ was unstable. But if this is the case, what other possibilities can I conclude?. Besides, this pocket watch still hasn't brought me to ‘world’ or any other dimension. That means my other memory pieces are in this ‘normal’ city, not in ‘both worlds’ again. That's all that makes sense’
Kaito's mind is filled with complicated things now and Ryou hates complicated things the most.
-braak
The sound of the table being hit by Ryou. The sound of the table's buzzing made Kino a little surprised but managed to melt the atmosphere.
“Then let's just say we're in a normal city this time. Nothing called ‘world day’ or ‘world night’ again. It's just a city whose name we don't even know. No problem, right, Kaito?” Ryou spoke with restraint
“.....I think we can assume so”
******
A little backwards before this, about 27 minutes ago. The three people were really sculpting without being able to do anything.
“Listen Kaito, we're crazy enough now. Even me and Kino haven't found the pocket watch yet. After ‘world night’ disappeared, now you say ‘world day’ also disappeared?! Then where are we now?”
Ryou was so emotional back then and spoke in a loud tone to Kaito. Kaito just looked around the place and started fighting with his own mind without responding to Ryou's words just now.
‘It's impossible! Is it because my memory gem has already gotten me back then? Is this another place where my memories are? What happened I don't understand. This is beyond my expectations. None of this makes sense!’
Until a while ago, no one accepted the situation. However, Kino began to see shops and buildings around the street.
“Night really comes, not ‘world night’ which seems to kill all the state of the city but really real night that comes”
Kino may still not be out of shock but he is trying to enjoy the state of the place. The fountain pool began to be illuminated by street lights around the street, the shops became colorful and although not as crowded as it was this afternoon, many residents still came out and laughed.
“Indah~” Kino smiled and praised the place in a soft voice
Hearing that, Ryou and Kaito immediately looked towards Kino's smiling face and they slightly relaxed their tense brows.
“See Ryou, Kaito-san, those lights are on. There are people in this place even though night comes. Though we have only been here two days, but it feels very long once” Kino approached the two people who previously struggled with the atmosphere
“Kino, you know this is not the time to talk like that, right? It's my brother's emergency, we're in serious trouble now you know”
Ryou's words were like inviting his brother to panic like him. But it didn't work because Kino is very happy now. Too happy to finally make the sister relented to invite him to panic.
The longer, the more the day is getting late. Now, they have to think about where they will sleep and what their next plan is.
“We can't attract more attention than this. I think we can still find an inn to sleep in tonight. Let's get out of here” Kaito asks them to follow him
“Tu–wait Kaito first, where do we go now?”
“Search lodging. We'll go to the inn this morning”
Kaito was mentally tired and decided to take them to a residential area earlier.
For the third time they went down the same road again. The difference is now the atmosphere of the night and the streets are not as crowded during the day. The residential area is different from a crowded shopping area or city center. In that place only lights from the house or garden lights are lit. There was hardly anyone passing by except one or two people.
After more than fifteen minutes of walking, they finally reached the previous inn [Hergement Clarks]. Again they were warmly welcomed by the same two maids. Kaito took care of his administration back and after getting the keys they went straight up to the second floor.
The room they got again was the same as before, this was enough to fill their luck list. When Kaito opened the door, the two sisters did not feel nostalgic at all and simply walked over to put down the items they were carrying.
Kaito locked the door of the room, removed his robe and sword sheath, walked to the chair and sat down with them. After that they were silent for about ten minutes to gather their common sense. Then the conversation started when Ryou placed his silver pocket watch on the table.
******
Returning to the current time, the three of them were still in a complicated state and were trying to understand the current situation.
“No more looping means all normal. I hope you know what it means from the word normal”
Kaito puts pressure on the normal word while continuing the conversation.
“We understand that, Kaito-san. Everything really happened without any magic or anything like that. Similarly if we are injured or lose something like this time, all will not return like nothing happened
“But the best part of it all is we will not see any annoying ugly strange creatures like goat heads or goblins or black wild dogs like before” Ryou added his explanation with spicy language as usual
From that point of view, they had indeed obtained a normal life but Kaito added something else.
“We still haven't found your pocket watch. Besides the problem now, we also have to find a way to survive”
“Hah? What does that mean, Kaito?”
Kaito took the money out of his pocket and put it on the table.
“This is what I mean”
“....” both brothers were silent
“You already know what the word normal means now. Money is also normal. Unlike before, now we have to think of ways to earn money. First reason, we don't know how long we're gonna be in town until your pocket watch or memory is found. The second reason, we also have to buy food or other needs while in this city. The third reason, it will be useful to buy important information. At least other problems are gone but new problems appear”
What Kaito said was right. The previous rule was gone. Previously, any object they touched in ‘world day’ will appear in ‘world night’, the wounds they have while in one of ‘world’ will disappear without a trace in the next ‘world’, the things they do to city residents will reset like never happened. But now it's not. For Kaito who had gotten used to the previous rules, this was another matter.
“Money yes.apparently everywhere the money is indeed the source of the problem” Ryou criticize
Kino took out all the money he had and put it on the table.
Ryou also took out everything he had.
“Kino right. The money issue for the next four days is over. While this used to be no problem, right?”
“Kurasa. Next I'll think of something” Kaito agrees
“Now...our pocket watch–” and Kino are starting to turn the atmosphere into a bit gloomy.
“I will also work on something. Don't worry” Kaito smiled towards Kino
Ryou who saw that gave the code to Kaito by glancing at him with a sharp look. Kaito realizes that and his calm demeanor means he understands Ryou's code.
******
On a dark street with no illumination, there was an old building with no light there. The building consists of two floors without window curtains, only containing stone debris from the walls of the building, some chairs that are still quite decent to wear and some dirty shabby cloth full of holes.
Stelani and the other children were on the second floor. The place they were in was a room like a room without doors. They sat in the cold inside the building. Each of them was covered in a thin, shabby, dirty cloth to warm themselves.
“Theo is still not back. Is she okay?” Fabil approached Stelani who was sitting near a sleeping child
“I hope he's okay”
“Stelani-neechan..I'm hungry.” the child sitting next to her moans at her.
Stelani and Fabil who are bigger than them may still be able to withstand hunger a little more, but the other children are younger than them. After eating a piece of dirty bread, they ate nothing more.
Since arriving at the place they call ‘rumah’, they have done nothing but sleep while holding hunger. Luckily Justin's men didn't check their house, so they didn't have to accept bad deeds from him. But, because it holds hunger from morning until night, anyone will definitely moan.
Stelani can't do much. He could only hug the child while shedding tears.
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't take good care of you all. Ii'm sorry. Hiks...hiks..maaf” Stelani crying.
Fabil who saw it tried to comfort him wordlessly by stroking Stelani's back. The other children who heard Stelani's cry also became sad and began to cry.
From behind the walls of the room, Theo was already there. He stood up while clenching his hands.
******
Retreating back before Theo reached her house, she still ran over with a panicked face.
“I have to go home! I had to go back there and tell them how crazy the gorilla was”
Theo traced the road and turned to the right alley. Passing through the alley, he continued to run straight until he reached an old building. With a breath he entered. He did not try to hide his panicked face at all. What happened in the bar made him forget how to control himself.
Climbing the stairs towards the second floor, he had already hurriedly wanted to meet with Stelani and the others. But his footsteps came to a halt as he heard the sound of crying from inside the room he was about to enter.
‘Sounds of crying...’ Theo murmured in the heart
He walked slowly and heard Stelani crying.
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't take good care of you all. Ii'm sorry. Hiks..hiks...maaf”.
Followed by the sound of another cry made the place crowded. Theo clenched his hands and rethought to recount the horrific incident he had just seen.
‘I can't possibly say all that to all of them. They have been in trouble all day. Besides failing to get bread to eat them, I also ran away from that place like a coward. Kh!’ Theo bit his own lips while cursing himself in the heart
‘I let them all down’
He was so upset that he let out tears because he could not do anything for his friends. After crying silently for some time, Theo wiped his tears and entered the place.
“Theo!” Fabil shouted and went straight to him
“That's Theo! Theo!”
The other children became cheerful and immediately ran towards him. Stelani who saw that instantly wiped her tears and walked over with a smile welcoming Theo's return.
“Theo..welcome da..Your face!” Stelani immediately turned panicked
Fabil and the others also realized Theo's face had many bruises and wounds. Stelani was the most worried until she touched the wounds.
“What happened to you?! Why did it get like this? Did Justin-sama do it?”
“Ouch, sick! Don't touch! I'm fine, let go of your hand Stelani” Theo moans in pain
“Theo, what happened?” Fabil asked with the same anxious face as Stelani
“I just fell. Not a problem”
“You must be lying!” Stelani still insists on making Theo honest
However, his efforts all failed and Theo could only remove Stelani's hand from his face. The other little ones looked to Theo's right and left and asked “have you brought food, Theo?”
The faces of Theo, Stelani and Fabil are now changing. They showed a scared and sad face now.
Stelani and Fabil looked at Theo and they knew the answer. But, Theo casually replied “I will just buy it”. It gets a cheerful smile response from the other kids. Theo took Stelani and Fabil's hand and left, saying he wanted to go buy bread and water. Of course, the faces of the two of them were confused. But because they could not escape from it, the two were forced to follow Theo away.
Outside their home, Theo let go of their hands and looked towards them.
“I'm sorry I”
“Theo, I'm serious. You don't have to lie to them. If it does not get money, we can look for bread again tomorrow”
Fabil said as if against Theo who considered lying to other children. Stelani said the same thing. The sentence was not responded to by Theo who casually took out a large amount of gold coins from his pocket.
“T–Theo this right?!” the two were shocked and shocked
“I have money, don't worry. We can buy bread and water to eat with this money”
“Isn't this supposed to be given to Justin-sama? It would be very dangerous if you put it on Theo” Stelani anxiously trying to stop Theo from spending that money
“I've met him. That gorilla just killed a lot of people in bar”
******