บท 28: Festival
Three days after leaving Villeshervil, they arrived at Ratay. It was the day the coming together of the moons' festival started. This year, the festival was going to start at the beginning of the week, on April 7.
After arriving at Ratay, Charlotte and Gut explored the train station for around a hour and then went out of it and explored the streets, it was only at 7 pm when they got to a hotel.
They went to the hotel's cafeteria and ordered some food. She had been eating less and less since the day of the 'kidnapping' incident. Gut was a little worried about the sudden reduction intake of proteins she was having, so he chose to wait and speak with her until a later date if she looked malnourished.
Charlotte played her game while they waited for the food, she was now a level 40 thief and was soon to get her second class. After she playing around for some days, she had realized that she was not suited to be a thief, and wanted to try one of the magician's classes, there were 6, each with varying effects and abilities.
When the food was brought, she stopped playing and started eating with relish. Even if she wasn't as hungry as before, she was still eating more than a normal person!
Between the two of them, they ate three dishes together.
<Hmm so if I don't do anything in the External Projection I won't be as hungry? Is it because I'm not using it or because I'm not modifying the exterior while being in there?>
She wondered what could it be. For now, though, she wanted to finish purifying the blackness of her 'soul' before trying anything new.
She had decided to call it her 'soul' after thinking about it. After all, she could move and see things but not being seen. As she could affect reality, she could be detected too, she believed. The meditation helped her soul connect to the Crystal's Space, and in that way to modify her own soul and the exterior.
She believed everything she saw in there was the Prism's doing. And that only her 'soul' was using that space as a borrowed tool. That was her hypothesis anyway. She still had too many things to corroborate.
As soon as they finished eating, blasts started to be heard from the outside.
*Bang bang bang!
She looked outside in fright, she hadn't been that close to fireworks in her life! They exploded some meters from the windows of the hotel they were in!
"What the! So this was the surprise they told us about! Dang it, I almost had a heart attack!"
"Ha-ha-ha it was really something else, so that is the reason this particular hotel is not that popular at this time. The fireworks are too close to it and they will go all throughout the night."
Gut nodded when he understood this. Searching on the net before choosing a place to stay, they only found this place with free rooms in the commercial area of the city, close to the city's plaza; there were more, but they were of inferior quality and that was something Charlotte wasn't satisfied with.
Ratay's plaza was known for being one of the more dignified ones of the country. It had three big water fountains and multiples pillars as if they were holding the sky, it was surrounded by trees and flower beds, along with carvings of famous kings of the past.
"We're staying here for two days, right? I think I won't be able to sleep well…"
"You sleep like a log, so there should not be any problem."
"Hey! Hush with that statement! I'm always alert for any happenings in the surroundings!"
"Yeah, say that after you wake up from me moving you around from the bathtub."
Charlotte blushed at his remark, the day after leaving Villeshervil, in the hotel they were staying in the city of Echaps; she stayed for a little too long in tub, so long that she fell asleep.
"I-I was so tired… I fell asleep without me knowing! And you! How could you…"
Realizing what she was going to say, she kept her mouth shut.
<I'm pretending to be a boy now, I can't go around saying I'm a lady. But, his face...!>
Gut was smirking while she looked at him in frustration, it was something he was doing lately, and with pleasure at that.
"… I'm getting my sweet revenge one of these days!" She said with her knuckles closed tight.
She pouted for a while, all the time, fireworks were going off near the building. Giving her a little scare every time one was too near the window. She was pretty okay in regards to her head. She was just having a little trouble with over noisy things, like right now.
<Damn… I should say I'm sensitive to rackets from now on.>
"At least the stay in here should be fun." She said after covering her ears for the nth time.
Getting up from her seat, she went to ask for ear caps so she could survive the noisy night. After waiting for a while, they gave her a pair. They were black and looked like headphones. Before she put them on, she told Gut to touch her head if he wanted to tell her something.
After staying in the table for almost an hour, she asked if they could go out to the famous plaza and be part of the festival, which was met with a positive response. She first went to her room to retrieve her satchel, saying that maybe she'll find something to buy and, not wanting to busy her hands, would put it in there.
After going out of the hotel, they started to walk around the plaza looking at the different stands, it was still early in the evening so the festival hadn't reached its peak of the day.
Because it was the beginning of the festivals, the two moons were not fully close, so they couldn't be seen at their best while being together.
While seeing the different stalls, she bought some sweets and some other souvenirs. When it was close to midnight, Charlotte motioned Gut to lower his head so they could talk without having to shout.
"Hey, I'm gonna do something for a moment, wait a bit for me… Go to where we bought the cotton candy."
"Uh? Is it okay if I am not near you? It could be dangerous, you know?"
Charlotte rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe he'd say that in a day like this, today was a festival and there should be plenty of safety!
"Don't worry, I know how to protect myself, I'll be going now, see you there!"
Sighing at her antics, he wondered what she was planning on doing, he knew she brought something in that satchel of hers, what exactly, he wasn't sure. They had bought a bigger bag for her, she now had close to 7 sets of clothes, and some other miscellaneous things she had bought to keep for herself. She had kept the satchel with her, saying it could be useful when going around, proving tonight that Gut was wrong on his thoughts.
He didn't directly go to the place she told him. Since the last time she got in trouble, he kept on her a tracker of his. He could find her wherever she was if she was in kilometer radius from him. If he saw some suspicious movement from her, then he'd go to her place and be sure of what was going on.
He saw she enter an alley at the side of the plaza. He moved in her direction to prevent her from exiting his range. She stayed still for a while and then started to go back. He didn't want to be noticed by her, so he rushed to where she had pointed before.
Pretending he wasn't aware, he was 'surprised' when she arrived at his side.
"Hey!" Charlotte patted his shoulder, coming out from his behind.
"You took your time. I was planning on going back already." He said without turning around.
When he looked back, he saw that the clothes she was wearing were different. He couldn't help but be truly surprised this time.
She had a fox mask covering her face, it was all red except for the eyes and other ornaments, like the corner of the eyes that had a dark blue on it. The whiskers were long and had a white hue along with its chin. The ears had a dark blue intonation in its edge while it went for red to white.
She was porting a traditional dress from Decross, a Yukata.
Ever since that time almost two months ago, she had wanted to try this kind of dress. The waitress in that restaurant near Laurent's company looked so beautiful on it, she experienced some bit of jealousy, and she was proud of not being envious of people!
She got this outfit when they arrived at this city and toured the train station, she saw a decronian clothes shop. She ran without thinking and bought the one she liked most on the spot, making Gut wait somewhere else so she could show him later on. Its base color was a different kind of blue than the mask's but similarly dark, on the sleeves it had silver spots surrounded with gold plating, on the back was a red colored stem with a silver flower.
The yukata reached to her mid thighs, making it easy to move in, contrary to what she had seen with the waitress wearing a similar yet different dress.
She didn't buy the traditional footwear as she didn't know how to move with it. It looked quite complicated to an amateur like her. She was wearing a pair of brown sandals she was quite fond with.
"… You know it is dangerous to be like that?"
Gut said softly after staring at her for a moment.
She went close to him and while standing on her tips, she whispered:
"I still have my makeup on, don't worry so much or you'll get wrinkles. Nothing will happen. You can carry my bag."
She basically threw her satchel at him without waiting for an answer. After he put it over his shoulder, she grabbed his hand.
"Let's have fun tonight! It's a festival after all!"
She brought him to a section where everyone was dancing and fooling around.
Some people had white flour in their hands and were throwing it at everyone who was still clean. They were the ones who livened most the festival in this part of the city's plaza. Charlotte didn't know about this and was showered with flour the moment she was getting near the liveliest part of the plaza.
"Hey! Come here! I'm gonna show ya how's it done!"
She ran after the young man who had assaulted her in hopes of getting her revenge. Gut stayed in the border of the warzone, however. He wasn't going to get in and be showered with flour by the drunkards in the middle of it.
No one dared to throw flour at him, he had a serious expression as though he was planning on committing a murder! Sober people knew better than that. And the women who were courageous enough were left talking to themselves without an answer. All but a little girl.
"Hey! Fish face! C'mon! You're missing on the fun!"
Charlotte said after throwing a full pack of flour to his face.
Cleaning his face, Gut saw how she approached him while skipping on her feet.
She dragged him to the center of the plaza.
*****
When the sun was preparing its grandiose entrance, they stopped dancing. The one who had danced the most was obviously Charlotte. He only followed her lead and kept things in a controlled state, so there wouldn't be anyone interested in making things troublesome for them. She was prone to make things go awry after all!
They entered an alleyway before going back to their hotel.
"Stay over there, I'll change in a moment."
She said while signaling a place for him to stand. As she finished changing, she threw some flour she had kept at the back of his head.
"Heh, serves you right! Killjoy!"
"Sigh, you know, we need to be ready for anything and everything."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Hey, throw me one at me now!" She said while making a taunting motion.
"Why? Have you not had enough?"
"It's not about that! If I get back like this, it'd be stranger, it's so late after all! C'mon! Do it with spirit!"
She hadn't drunk any alcoholic beverage during the night, but she still felt euphoric for some weird reason. She had not felt this way in such a long time!
<… No, it hasn't been that long… It's just that so many things happened in such little time that I feel like it's been- >
*Puf
She stopped for a moment and starting having a sad face while reminiscing the past, Gut decided to throw the flour to her face at that moment.
"Do not make that kind of expression. It does not suit you."
"… Thanks." She smiled at him.
She didn't have the time to be like that. She should make this trip the best trip of her life. After all, she wasn't sure what was waiting for her in Paversia. She sighed softly and searched inside her satchel. Finding what she wanted, she threw one more flour pack at Gut.
"Serves you right! Heh!"
Gut welcomed it with his hand, preventing it to shower its contents on him. He smiled as he made a feint without throwing it.
She closed her eyes while stepping back, when she felt nothing was coming her way, she opened one eye to see the bag of flour already in front of her face.
"Ugh! You're so gonna pay for this!"
At that moment, despite the dark thoughts she had and the uncertainty of the future, she felt happy.
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