Dantega:Volume 3 Chapter 2

(PART 2)

With the group dried up and rested, they walk northbound a few more miles until they reach a rather large city. This city is surrounded by green grass and a seemingly infinite amount of different colored flowers. The buildings are quaint and are made with both wood, stone and grass.

After entering the town, they find that it is bustling with a large festival that seems to be celebrating numerous large statues of Pagan deities. Entering the town square, one can see the similarities between this place and that of middle aged northern Europe. Merchants, both on horse drawn carriages and merchants with their own shops closely occupy the place. Bars, restaurants, motels, and outdoor food stands are in or around every other building.

Napoleon bumps into, and knocks over an obvious drunkard, he lifts the man up and says his apologies.

The man burps and raises his wine glass in the air while shouting, "Don't worry about it! I barely spilled a drop!"

Napoleon's eyes water when the stench of alcohol from the man's breath enters his nose, he takes a step back and asks, "If you don't mind me asking, what is this festival for?"

The man starts laughing a loud drunken laugh and replies, "Ohh? You guys are from outta town eh? Well this is the first day of a week long celebration for the God of Harvest!"

"Harvest God? Well thank you."

"No problem kind sir! Get drunk and be merry! She won't bless us next season unless she sees that all of us are celebrating to our maximum potential!"

Napoleon waves goodbye as the man sings a song while he stumbles off into the crowd.

He walks to Ubica and asks, "Worshiping such gods as this, would it classify as something that will keep these people from being accepted back to Aires?"

Ubica looks a little disappointed when he answers, "Unfortunately yeah... Though these people don't know about religion for the most part, they can experience things that would normally be counted as luck, and turn it into the influence of a god quite easily."

Napoleon is quite interested in what he has to say and listens intensively as he continues.

"The thing about this kind of idolization is that the chances are, this so called God of Harvest is likely to be a real deity. These deities, whether malicious or not can tempt people into losing their second chance at life by the mere sight of them.... It has always been said that belief and faith can be a man's worst blunder."

"Well can't you stop them somehow?"

Ubica reveals a strained smile and replies, "Something like that is out of my realm of work, I'm not a Prophet."

As soon as he says this his body jolts and he puts his hand on his head.

Napoleon sees his odd reaction and asks, "Is something wrong?"

Ubica takes a deep breath and looks away. "It's nothing... I just remembered a certain someone that I hadn't thought about in a while..."

Napoleon shrugs his shoulders and looks at the backs of the rest of the group, they are running around and smelling the many different foods and looking at all the different clothing, jewelry and other goods. They look like they are enjoying themselves so much but it's a shame that they are so broke they could barely afford a loaf of bread.

Napoleon realizes how fortunate they are that they had come to this very town during such a vibrant event; the odds of them getting some kind of part time job is very good.

He gathers everyone together and makes an announcement.

"Hey everybody, I think this is a good time for us to split up and find some work just like we had discussed earlier."

They all agree at first until they realize that they would be spitting up into pairs. Naturally, Tsubiri, Daey, and Trojia all jump at the bit to be paired with Ubica.

After a few minutes the three decide on who goes with who by playing rock paper scissors, and, Trojia won in a clean sweep. So the groupings go as such, Tsubiri and Daey, Ubica and Trojia, and Stauphius is paired with Niomyo and Napoleon.

Struaphius is disappointed at this outcome as well, it seems that he has taken a liking to Tsubiri and he also thinks that Napoleon and Niomyo are quite dull. Even so, the decision has been made and they all go their separate ways while planning on meeting up at a motel that resides in the town square at midnight.

---

The sun is almost set and the festival lights begin to shine; the illumination of the city really sets the tone for this carnival like atmosphere. Napoleon and the two find a large restaurant and head in, by now hunger is setting in because they have not eaten since the early morning, and the delicious smell of the food is causing Strauphius to drool.

They enter and find that the restaurant is stacked with people and all of the waiters are running around in a hectic manner trying to please the rowdy costumers.

Napoleon walks up to the host and politely asks, "Excuse me, the three of us are looking for a part time job during this festival, and we were wondering if you needed the help, you'd be gracious enough to allow us to--"

The overweight man interrupts him with a loud and panicked shout, "You're hired!" He then points at Strauphius, "You, dishes!" Then to Niomyo, "You, waitress!" And to Napoleon, "Can you cook!?"

"Uh.. Yeah a little."

"Good! One of our chefs just quit so you go to the kitchen and take his place!"

The three are so surprised at the suddenness of this hiring they are speechless.

The man looks at them with a face full of urgency. "Now go! We're shorthanded here so get to work!"

They jolt up, shout "Yes sir!" and quickly scurry away to their new jobs.

---

"Damn it all! Why is it always that girl who gets to be with him!?" shouts Tsubiri.

Her and Daey are walking down the lighted street with dark auras that are completely opposite to the festivities.

"I curse the fact that I am so bad at that stupid game... She always beat me when we were kids too." Daey mutters angrily under her breath.

Tsubiri roughly rubs her hair and yells. "Ahhh geez! Let's get a stupid job so I can get my mind off of it."

"Well, where should we look first?"

"Hmmmm, oh! That place looks perfect!"

Tsubiri points to a building where there are dozens of rowdy drunk men standing outside the door, it's obviously a bar.

Daey sees this and instantly says, "Ehhhhh!? How does that place have anything to do with us getting a job!?"

Tsubiri grabs her arm and leads her toward the large wooden building. "Just watch, I'll make us plenty of money before the night is done!"

Tsubiri walks up to a group of ten men that are sitting around a small table; she follows her sudden appearance by slamming her foot on the table to get their attention.

"HEY!!"

The men all stop what they were doing and look at her funny.

She smiles and grabs a drink out of one of their hands and asks, "What do ya guys say? How about we make a little bet here."

It seems that all of the men know exactly what she means and smile, confident that they'll win at whatever game she conjures up.

Daey is standing there completely aloof as to what is going on when one of the men asks, "So what's the wager?"

Tsubiri laughs aloud and answers, "If I win, you all have to give me half of whatever money you have in your wallets."

A man pours some of his beer into a cup from his pitcher and asks, "And if we win?"

Tsubiri huffs a taunting air out of her nose and grabs a confused Daey. "If any one of you guys can beat me... Your prize will be both this girl and I for one night."

The men look at the two beautiful girls with eyes full of lust and all simultaneously shout,

"DEAL!"

Daey's face drops, though she doesn't know what the game is, she knows the odds are greatly stacked against Tsubiri by numbers alone. And the mere fact that she is one part of the opposing team's prize makes her quickly realize that this could end up being an absolute disaster and she would be paying for Tsubiri's brazen bet with her own body.

"WHAT!?!?"

---

Trojia and Ubica are circling the town square gazing at the sights, all of the lights shine in many different colors and the atmosphere is happy and fun. Ubica has never experienced such a thing so he is thoroughly enjoying every minute of this with a big smile on his face.

Trojia is quite nervous, she can't find the right words to say and is twiddling her fingers awkwardly.

"H-Hey Ubica..."

"Yeah?"

Trojia zones out on his face for a few moments and scrambles her sight off into the direction of the sky. "Eh uh, um... It's nice weather today..."

As soon as she said that she thinks to herself, (Uuahh!!! That was pathetic!)

Her thoughts are stopped by Ubica's gentle shove on her shoulder. "Relax Trojia, it's me you're talking to."

"Ahh sorry! I don't know what's gotten into me."

Ubica chuckles and changes the subject, "So, what should we do for a job? Any ideas?"

Trojia looks around the town center and doesn't see anything that catches her eye until she looks at the large wooden statue of the Harvest god. This large statue is covered with different colored candles and is surrounded by torches, the light emanating off of the statue makes it appear that a real goddess is actually gracing the festivities with her presence.

At the front of the statue, a platform with a large sign is based at its feet, she tugs on Ubica's sleeve and points at the writing on the sign.

He looks and sees that the platform is for some kind of dance competition.

Trojia grabs his sleeve and shyly looks up at him, "Can we do that?"

"Uh, but we need to find a job."

"Back at the lake, I saw you dancing with Tsubiri... I want to dance with you too."

Ubica takes a sigh of resignation, the face she showed when she said that should be illegal, there's no way he can say no to her now. He takes her hand to lead her and they both walk to the platform.

A man dressed in funny clothes is working the booth in front of the platform, like a newspaper boy he is shouting, "Come one! Come all! Grab your woman and bring her to the dance floor!"

A large amount of people begin to gather and merrily grab random women as the man continues, "Our judges will find the couple that best pleases the God of Harvest with their dance and will pay you generously! To the victor goes the spoils! Come one! Come all! Only two minutes left until the music starts!"

By now, people are rushing onto the platform and it is filling up rapidly.

Ubica grabs Trojia's hand and says, "Did you hear that!? They'll pay us if we win, this could be our job!"

They run onto the dance floor and position themselves for another waltz. Trojia is blushing at his sudden surge of enthusiasm.

He puts his arm around her back and pulls her close, with a tender smile he says, "Let's win this thing Trojia."

"Right."

The music from a band on the left side of the platform begins playing.

"Remember that our judges will be looking for style, chemistry and beauty! These are the conditions needed to please the God of Harvest!" The man shouts his final words and proceeds to join the three judges in watching the group of people dance.

Some are dancing ridiculously in their drunken stupor, some are taking it extremely seriously and some are just kissing wildly. But out of all these people a certain two stand out in the crowd like there is a golden light surrounding them. Dancing very close and very well these two are by far the most beautiful people on the dance floor and the judges can't look at anyone else but them.

Trojia is staring at Ubica with a more than a happy face, she is pleased that all of the dance lessons she received in the past in training for royal balls have come to be of good use; she is also surprised that he is such a talented dancer and is wondering where and when he learned as well.

She wants to talk to him and ask him many different questions, these thoughts are racing through her head and she begins to become distracted. In somewhat of an entranced state she accidentally blurts out a thought that has been stuck in her subconscious,

"What am I to you?"

Her face instantly drops at her own words.

(What are you doing Trojia!?) her mind yells.

Though they are still dancing as if no words have been said, she feels as though the suddenness of her question has ruined the once romantic mood.

Ubica is caught off guard at first, and it takes him a few moments to gather his thoughts and figure out an answer.

"What are you to me huh?"

He can see that Trojia is flustered and apprehensive while she waits for his reply, so he decides to consider it carefully, though this causes her to suffer in anxiousness a few moments longer.

He thinks back to when they first met on that road in the forest and how beautiful he thought she was when he laid eyes on her. He remembers how kind and caring she was when he was struggling with problems that he never had the courage to even tell her. He can't help but think that as of this moment, she is his someone very special to him.

"Trojia you are... You are..."

"Ubica."

Suddenly, a girl's voice other than Trojia's rings in his head and it shakes him to his very core, this voice is familiar to him.

"Don't you dare forget about me Ubica."

Not only is this voice familiar, it is one he knows all to well, he shuts his eyes and thinks that there is no way he is hearing this voice. After a few moments of denial, he opens his eyes only to see that the people who were once dancing next to them are all gone, and the person he is holding is not Trojia.

It is a girl with long, straight but flowing white hair, she has bright gold eyes with pupils similar to Ubica's, a halo sits about a half foot above her head and its color matches her eyes perfectly. She looks to be in her late teens and she is wearing a flowing white and red outfit that has numerous gaps, revealing a somewhat inappropriate amount of her smooth white and blemish free skin.

The music is still playing and they are dancing because Ubica cannot seem to control his body for some reason, the surroundings around the platform that they are standing on is all black and the only sight that can be seen is the large candlelit statue of the God of Harvest.

The girl is wearing a faint smile when she says, "I don't like how close you are getting to that girl."

"What did you do to her!?"

The girl still has the same expression when she replies, "Is that any way to greet your lover?"

He frowns and says, "Tell me where she is... Messor."

"Don't worry she's fine, I'm just taking her place for now."

Ubica stays silent as they dance, Messor puts her hand on his face and strokes his lips with her fingers. "How I've missed the feeling of your lips after all these years."

Ubica shifts his eyes away and changes the subject, "When did you escape ?"

Messor simply answers, "About a year ago."

"How?"

"The way you thought I would... But don't worry, I ditched that bastard the moment he set me free."

Ubica takes a sigh in relief, but he still looks like he feels guilty about something, it is the same expression he always makes when he thinks about his past.

The smile on Messor's face disappears when she asks, "Is that a face full of guilt I see?"

"....."

"You should feel that way... But I have forgiven you for leaving me back then, all I want from you now is for you to have me, just like in the past."

He lowers his eyes and replies, "There is no going back to the past Messor."

She smiles the same blank smile and says, "Even after I fought for you? Even though I followed you into an endless pit of fire? Don't you get it? I will always be your past, present and future. You and I are one... So we 'can' go back to the past, it has never left us."

Ubica refuses to accept her words and tries desperately to move but he is in a paralyzed state. "No! It is gone, I need to destroy it! I need to destroy all of that evil past!"

"Are you talking about me as well?"

He flinches and stops his shouting, she does a twirl and says, "Do you think I am still evil? Who says that only you can change Ubica? I had a chance to regain everything I had before, and I threw it all away, just so I can find you. I am no longer... The False Prophet."

Ubica is starting to feel his senses come back to his body, he squeezes her hand with all his might and asks, "How did you find me? Did you lead Damien here?"

"I told you I ditched him didn't I? I would never do anything to harm you..."

Of course Ubica is skeptical, but he can't find any dishonesty in her words. As for the answer of how she found him, she continues to explain.

"I was always able to sense you. So when I searched for you on Earth, the you I could sense ceased to exist so I never could find you, it only took me until a few days ago when you finally released your old self that I was able to obtain our long awaited reunion."

Ubica starts to slump over, she was right about the guilt that he is feeling, but at the same time he has not fully given into her words. As the False Prophet, she was responsible for convincing two thirds of the entire world's population to trust, believe in, and worship Ubica the Anti-Christ. So he very well knows the power of her words.

With a broken voice he asks, "What do you expect me to do for you now? You should know that nothing's going to change."

She snaps her fingers and the music stops, she puts both of her hands on each of his cheeks and moves her face closer to his. "The real question is, what were you expecting once we reunited? There's no way that if I had found you a few months ago before you were sent here, that you'd say such ridiculous words to me. There's no way you wouldn't have welcomed me back with open arms. So I'd like to hear what you would have done out of your own mouth. Maybe that would make you understand that the only thing that isn't going to change is our relationship. "

"....."

Ubica knows that answer. If his mouth could move he'd be able to give it to her her desired answer as plain as day. But Ubica's in such a state of mind that he just can't do it.

"Listen Ubica, I don't want the world again, nor do I want all the power that went along with it... All I want you to do is remember that at one point, you could have had any woman in the entire world... But you only lusted for me. I want those days back, I want to be yours forever. I want you to want me."

Messor puckers her lips and begins to kiss him.

Ubica now has complete control of his body, and instead of pushing her off of him he strokes the silky soft skin of her lower back with hands full of sensuality.

Messor gently pushes him off her causing them to finish, she smiles and says, "I'm pleased to see that my lips still have such an effect on you." She pulls his collar so he once again moves closer to her. "I can still sense your skepticism towards me though... To prove how very serious I am about this, I'm going to give up everything once more, so wait for me Ubica."

She puts her hand over his eyes and gives him another kiss.

Ubica opens his eyes to see that he is kissing Trojia, the music is playing and by now the majority of the dance goers have their eyes stuck on such a beautiful sight. He quickly backs away and looks at her with a face full of confusion.

Trojia's face is beaming in a bright blush, she smiles and embraces him tightly. "S-So that's what I am to you... I'm so happy."

Ubica is about to try to explain what had just happened but he himself doesn't exactly know what's going on.

Before he can find the words to speak he is interrupted by the host of the dance competition saying, "Ladies and gentlemen! I think we have our winners!"

The host is pointing at Ubica and Trojia and all of the participants begin to clap.

Like a kid, Trojia has a wide smile when she says, "Yay we did it! Did you hear Ubica? We won!"

Ubica is still confused and is so distracted he has yet to blink, without a shred of positive emotion he replies, "Y-Yeah..."

In her excitement, Trojia fails to notice that he is obviously distraught as she grabs the sack of this town's currency being handed to her by the host.

After being congratulated by the judges and others who were standing by, Ubica and Trojia are now walking to a fireworks show that the host had told them about. The host stated that it is said that any couple who sits on a certain hill in the middle of the town during this event are destined to be together, so with this and the fact that they had won the dancing contest she can hardly contain her excitement.

Ubica hasn't said much since they left the competition and is being helplessly dragged by the hand of Trojia. They begin walking up a stone path that leads up a flower filled hill; once they reach the top they join a group of a dozen couples all sitting or laying on the grass and flowers awaiting the fireworks show.

The two sit down and Trojia glares at a spaced out Ubica. "Hey... Are you okay? You look distracted."

He doesn't respond quickly and it causes her to be a little impatient.

"Ubica!"

His shoulders jolt, "W-Wha? Oh sorry about that... I'm just a little tired."

She blushes and pats her hand on her lap and asks, "You can rest on my lap if you'd like."

"N-No it's alright, but thank you though."

She pouts and grabs his ear, she pulls him closer to her while she also moves closer to him, causing them to both be leaning on each other with an equal amount of weight distribution.

"You don't need to be so tentative all the time Ubica, you are always welcome to lean on me."

He smiles and begins to relax, this is the same warm feeling he was reminiscing on while the two were dancing, he feels a rare sense of security until the first firework is shot into the air, the flash and the bang instantly make him think about the face of Messor.

He flinches and Trojia assumes he was frightened by the blast, she begins to laugh along with all of the noise. "Hahaha, how cute of you to be startled by such a silly thing."

He nervously laughs and replies, "Hehe, y-yeah."

The two's eyes meet for a split second and in that short time frame a multicolored firework explodes and the shining lights flicker on their face. Trojia's heart beats fast as she scrolls her view from his eyes down to his lips. She leans in for a kiss, with her slight movement the sound of another exploding firework bangs in the air.

Ubica is frozen, he feels that he should move but he finds it very hard to say no to anyone, especially her. But then, the image of Messor once again pops in his head and all he can think about is how her lips felt and how it made his body numb with a certain feeling he failed to remember after many years.

He grabs her shoulders and pushes her away. "I'm sorry!"

Trojia is beyond surprised, she has a face full of shock and confusion when she asks, "W-What's wrong?"

He hangs his head low and replies, "I-I shouldn't be doing this."

Trojia is beginning to feel more and more like she has just been rejected.

"B-But when I asked you what I was to you... You kissed me then, why are you saying no now?"

"I'm sorry."

This apology, she doesn't like the tone of this at all and it is increasingly making her feel sick to her stomach.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"It's wrong for me to do such a thing if there are these kind of feelings behind it."

These words of his crush her heart, her voice begins to crack when she speaks, "So you are saying that you have no feelings for me?"

"I'm not saying that at all, I-"

She grabs his wrists and interrupts him, "So which one is it? Tsubiri or Daey?"

She starts smiling as tears form in her bright green eyes, Ubica can see how hurt she is and thinks to himself how much he hates to see her like this.

He has no clue what to say as she continues.

"They are cute, and they are older... You always look so happy around Tsubiri and you always look at Daey with such caring eyes..."

She blinks and the tears that were forming in her eyes fall down her cheeks, she looks so pitiful while she unsuccessfully tries to wipe her flowing tears with the palm side of her sleeves.

Ubica is progressively feeling a horrid pain in the pit of his chest, Trojia is showing a weak side of her that he has never seen before, her insecurities can be seen even more apparent then the fireworks that are exploding above. She is desperately trying to cope with what she thinks is Ubica rejecting her, this has affected her so deeply that even when she was sent away by her mother for an unwanted marriage she didn't shed a tear. Now it's like her whole world has crashed on her head and she doesn't know what to do.

"I can see why you'd love them over someone like me."

Ubica can't stand the feeling that is brewing in his chest, he knows that if he would just lie to her she would likely feel better, but he knows that lying to her would be just as painful as seeing her in this state. So he decides to tell her exactly why he feels the way he does, he tosses her hands away from her face and grabs onto her shoulders, he looks at her in the eyes and says, "You don't understand, it's impossible for me to love anyone."

"...What?"

Ubica grits his teeth as he tries to explain. "Love is something that I was created to be the opposite of. You three are the most important people to me, but I know it can't be love because it is something I am completely incapable of. "

He leans back and finds it extremely hard to allow the words to escape the back of his throat.

"I am... I am..."

Trojia gives him a blank stare and helps him finish. "The Anti-Christ."

Ubica's body feels like it has just been shocked by a bolt of lighting.

She stands up and looks down on him, "I know who you are Ubica."

"H-How?"

"I followed you the night you fought with that strange man, I saw everything."

He puts his hand over his face and says, "Then you understand what kind of monster I am... I don't deserve anything good that ever happens to me, I certainly don't deserve your affection in anyway."

"Why? Because of something you did in the past?"

Ubica looks up at her and replies, "It's not just something. Do you have any idea what I've done? Everything about me is unforgivable."

Trojia actually does know exactly what he has done; after the Apocalypse a third testament of the Bible was created, in it states everything that the Anti-Christ did in gruesome detail. The imagery in this third testament far surpasses what was said in the book of Revelation, and it is more like a history book that goes through the dates of certain happenings that occurred all the way until the aftermath of the battle of Armageddon. Because she was raised as a Catholic and being surrounded by philosophers and teachers of Theology, she likely knows the majority of Ubica's old ways, she was taught to fear those times after all.

Instead of fearing him, she takes another step closer lifts his head so he is looking at her, with a frown she raises her right hand and slaps him on the face with all her might.

His head turns from the force and he feels a pain that is far worse than any stab wound he has ever felt.

She once again turns his head back so he looks at her and shouts, "Stop that!"

He is confused when he softly asks, "Stop what?"

"Stop dwelling on your past! I could always see that it has been eating at you, I can see how guilty you feel about it, so I wanted to ask... What good has that done you?"

Ubica is speechless, all he can do is stare deeply into her dark green eyes.

"You want to rid yourself of it right!? Then start by accepting that there are people who love you! Accept that they feel that way for a reason and that you do deserve it!"

She is exclaiming loudly, thanks to the noise of the fireworks the rest of the people on the hill cannot hear her yells so there is no scene being made.

"If you continue to walk around with all of that weight on your shoulders, eventually you will break! So give me some of that weight to carry!"

Ubica wants to retort but nothing will come out of his mouth, all he can do is sit there and listen to what she has to say.

"Don't you want to be free from it all? If you want to become someone that can feel everything that a human can then let me in, I'll help you... But first you must be willing help yourself and forget about your regrets. The past is over... Only the future awaits you."

She once again stands up, holds out her hand and shows a large smile, over her shoulder a firework explodes in dozens of different colors and the sight of this entrances Ubica.

"It's either live for the future or die in the past...Take my hand, and it will gone for good."

A new wind envelopes his psyche, he is now willing to let someone help him instead of bearing all of his burdens alone. He takes her hand and stands, they share a surreal moment as they look into each other's eyes, a new found determination shines in them as the grand finale of the fireworks show rises to its climax.

"Thank you Trojia..."

---

Tsubiri and Daey are walking rather gingerly down the street toward the motel, it's close to midnight so they ready to rendezvous with the others.

"Buahahahahaha! I told ya Daey, they didn't have a chance!" says Tsubiri as she slurs her words.

Daey hiccups and replies, "Yuuueeeaaah, noooooo chance!"

It is quite obvious that they are in a drunken state as they weave and bump into each other, their loud laughing and manner of speech allows them to blend in with the rest of the crowd.

They are drunk for a reason, the challenge against the group of men purposed by Tsubiri was a drinking game.

This game is called 'fire and ice', it involves a deck of cards and the rules are simple. In a standard deck there are four different suits of two different colors; black and red. Each contestant is given three face down cards, and before they can flip one over, they have to guess what color it is beforehand by saying 'fire' being red, or 'ice' meaning black. If the card is opposite of what they chose that means they have to chug a large wooden cup of beer or wine, so the one who chooses the most correct out of three wins the bet.

Tsubiri played ten of these best out of three games and by pure luck she won them all, but she still guessed wrong more than enough times to be completely belligerent.

The money she had earned can be considered a small fortune since all of the men forfeited half of their wallets to her, chances are they made enough cash to cover at least another week of travel. As a celebration, Daey joined her for one cup of wine, it was her first time drinking and it truly showed because she was faded before she even knew it.

The two wobble to the front of the designated motel; in front of the entrance is Napoleon, Niomyo and Strauphius. They have exhausted faces and their bodies are slumped over in a pathetic way.

"Soooooo how much money didjjyaaall make?" asks Tsubiri.

"Are you two drunk?" replies Napoleon dejectedly. He automatically assumes they never found a job if they are in this bad of shape.

Tsubiri pulls out a purse full of gold coins and smiles. "Tellll me how great I am."

"Wow that's a lot!!!" shouts Strauphius. He is the first to jump in and praise her.

"So whaddya got?"

Napoleon takes his money pouch out and shows them less than a quarter of what they have.

Tsubiri and Daey look at each other and break out in laughter, "Hahaha what the hell's up with that chump change!? What kind of job did you guys do?"

They don't answer her question because the fact of the matter is that they spent all night working the most back breaking job they have ever done for such small wages.

Niomyo changes the subject and asks, "Well what did you guys do?"

"Let's jusstss say that some mennn weren't able to hold their liquor as well as meee."

What goes through their minds when she said that is the thought of them robbing some drunkards. But that thought is brushed off when they catch sight of Ubica and Trojia walking back. They all say their hellos and the two drunk girls glare at them coldly because they feel that the couple looks awfully cozy.

"How did you guys fare tonight?" asked Napoleon.

Trojia has a smile on her face when she pulls out a sack filled with almost as many gold coins as Tsubiri's and says, "There was a dance competition in the town center, we won and we got this as the prize."

Strauphius's shoulders drop and he asks, "Is that all of the work you guys did?"

She smiles and replies, "Yup!"

Him, Napoleon, and Niomyo sigh loudly and their body language is that of complete dread. They worked a ruthless job and they don't even have half the amount of money the other two groups have, to add insult to injury, the others earned that much by simply drinking and dancing.

---

All of them are sleeping in two rented rooms, the men in one room, and the women in the other. Tsubiri is still extremely drunk and restless laying on a bed next to a passed out Daey. All she can think about is Ubica and she is getting more and more angered at the fact that they did not spend any time with each other at the festival.

So she decides to leave her room for a walk, while in the hallway she passes Ubica's room and figures she might as well see if he is still awake. It is a couple hours past midnight so she is hoping for the best, she knocks on the door to see if he'll answer but nobody does.

She tries to open the door and finds that it is locked, with a drunken smile she takes a hairpin off her head and easily picks the lock. She learnt this through her days as a maintenance worker when she would need to clean the inside of a room that had its door locked; because she did not have the keys to every room, she would sit at the door for hours on end until she figured out how to pick it.

"Sorry to intrude." she says quietly with a slight slur.

Once entered, she sees that all three men are asleep.

She finds it hard not to laugh at Napoleon's sleeping position when she sees that he is laying on his bed flat on his back and has his hands crossed over his chest making him look just like a vampire who would fit perfectly in a coffin with that form.

Strauphius on the other hand is sprawled out on his bed with his limbs flopping in different directions awkwardly and is snoring loudly. He flings his arms upwards as he yells in his sleep and shouts,

"No more dishes!!!"

She thinks this look of his is quite annoying until lastly, she finds Ubica sleeping beautifully on the ground in the corner of the room.

"Jackpot." she snickers to herself as her eyes turn glassy from the alcohol.

Tsubiri walks to him and turns him from his side onto his back, she removes his blanket and while doing so she accidentally hiccups loud, she looks to see if she had woken anyone up and to her relief they remain dead asleep.

The reason behind this is that Napoleon and Strauphius worked long, grueling hours at that beyond busy restaurant so they are already past their breaking point, the other is that Ubica rarely sleeps for some reason so when he does he's usually out like a rock.

She throws the blanket back over him but this time with her in it, resting on top of him she finds that he is not wearing any pants, and is only in his boxers.

"Ohhhhooo izz this an opportunity ta take a little peeeek??"

Because she is not thinking straight, she doesn't realize how creepy this kind of act is considered to be, all that is going through her hazy mind is that of wanting to be with him in any kind of way. Before she pulls down his underwear she decides to sneak a kiss or two in first so she shifts her eyes to his face, there she sees a sight that makes her sober up a bit.

Under Ubica's head is the giant obnoxious blue jacket that she had bought for him a few days back, he is using it as a pillow. Though one would not take much merit in this because they would think that he is just using it because there was nothing else, it turns out to be the exact opposite because just a few feet to the side are two pillows that are not being used at all. The only explanation for this is that even though he doesn't like the thing, it was still a gift from someone important to him so he will put it to use whenever he can, specifically with that person in mind.

Tsubiri starts smiling and halts her sneaky stealth attack on his lips.

"You are so kind Ubica..."

Instead of proceeding with her plan she rests her head on his stomach and asks, "I hope you don't mind if I stay like this for a little do you?" Of course, Ubica doesn't answer so she adds, "Good, cause either way I'm not leaving just yet... Muah...ha...ha...ha."

By the end of this sentence she is fast asleep with a drunken smile on her face. This mission on her part was a complete failure, but she fell asleep thinking it is better off that way.

---

"Uaaaaahhh! What is this!?!?!?" shouts Ubica when he wakes up to see Tsubiri sleeping with her head a few inches below his belly button.

She is drooling on him and he can feel it sliding down his belly all the way to the inside of his boxers.

She slowly opens her eyes, and looks at him with a tired face full of confusion. "What are you doing on my bed Ubica?"

"You're the one laying on top of me in 'my' room!"

Tsubiri puts her hand on her head and rubs her temples. "Could you not yell so early in the morning? I have a terrible headache."

Even though this is such an odd situation Ubica can't help but think that she looks really cute when she looks like that, but that doesn't change the fact that she is on top of him for a reason unbeknownst to him.

"Just let me go back to sleep for a little." she says as she drifts back to sleep.

Ubica grabs her shoulders and begins to shake her. "No! You can't go back to sleep like this! Imagine what someone will think if they see us!?"

As soon as he said that, he feels the sharp glare of two pairs of eyes coming from the left of him. He turns to see Napoleon looking at him dejectedly and Strauphius is looking so stunned that it seems as if his jaw will fall to the floor.

"W-Wait guys! This is a misunderstanding!" Ubica pleas, but his words fall on deaf ears as they continue to give him a death stare.

At this moment, with brilliantly bad timing, the rest of the girls come through the door of the room. "What's wrong!? I heard some shouting!" yells Trojia.

Once she sees the scene that has just unfolded she gasps with a face full of horror.

Daey, who walked in with a hangover of her own instantly gets all her strength back as her eyes begin to flame with anger.

"UBICA YOU PERVERT!!" they both yell simultaneously.

Ubica has gotten blindsided by this, one moment he was asleep and the next moment, everybody thinks of him as some kind of freak.

"This isn't what it looks like!!!"

He frantically tries to wake Tsubiri up so she can explain to them for him, she postures up but she is obviously still asleep. He tries to get away in this brief moment of freedom. He backs away but she drops back on him, and as a result her head doesn't land on his belly, rather it lands right on his groin.

He looks at everybody in the room and they all have their mouths wide open upon seeing this. He can feel her face rub perfectly against it and he continues to turn blue, in one final attempt at calming them down he shouts,

"THIS IS A MISUNDERSTANDING!!!"

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