As a Rune Knight, the girl had to cut back on her midnight strolls, if she were to get any rest. The ungrateful and lazy town of Magnolia, as Akira had come to assess it, kept her too busy through the day, to refill the energy reserves she was forced to change her nocturnal habits and surrender to slumber at night. Too bad no one had any requests for her to work at night, although just the sound of that, owing to its connotation, was repulsive. So here she was, crouched under the shade of a tree, with her back against the rough bark. Akira hummed to softly to herself, she had a deep, yet surprisingly sweet voice and the girl could definitely hold a tune.

Her eyes were closed, her hands rested casually on her thighs, it was essential for her to meditate this way, keep the darkness inside her in check... Perhaps it was for the better that she was forced to place herself outside the comfort of the dimly lit places. The dappled sunlight through the leaves, warmed her skin and the darkness within her recoiled, making it easier for her to play boss. She reassessed the various things she'd gone through since she took the rank of Rune Knight, the good and the bad. Tsuru's face often swam amidst the memories, each time plucking a string of a different emotion.

In conclusions, she realized that while she had faced a certain degree of prejudice and it wasn't fair, she too would have to make an effort to change the way people viewed her. She'd donned the defeatist, dark-look so well, could she overcome it and change her colors again, despite the magic inside her? Could Akira find it in her to alter the way she defined herself for the sake of the job? Did she want to?

This little pause gave her much to introspect on... there were choices to be made, like always. A dog barking in the distance broke her chain of thought, she crinkled her nose and opened one eye just a crack, then the other, she finally opened them both, wide and scanned the area around her, spotting the dog. There was something so pure about the freedom of its existence, despite the ironical leash that hung slack from his collar. She wondered if there was anyone else watching the creature and spotted a boy with reddish-orange hair, parked on a park bench nearby, he couldn't have been much older than her... Her eyes rested on him, as she surveyed him, wondering if he'd notice her silent stare.

Haru and Akira never got along well from the start, to put it mildly. But the recent mishap at the nobility’s party had only made things worse. Haru wanted to believe that the tension between them had dissolved over the couple of days since, but he really wasn’t sure if that was case. But the nineteen-year-old healer was persistent. Even if she used darkness magic, was pessimistic, rude, and a tactless loner, Haru believed her heart was in the right place and wasn’t ready to give up on her yet.

The duo did not have anything planned that morning and Haru thought they could go sight-seeing under the pretext of ‘patrolling’. However, by the time Haru got ready and knocked on Akira’s door, she had already left the hotel. “The young lady left earlier than usual today,” said the hotel maid when Haru asked her if she saw Akira. Haru had no clue where she could have gone, and it took him almost the entire morning to track her down. The park was the last place he expected her to be, but there she was, sitting under the shade of a tree.

As he walked up to her, it seemed she had not yet noticed Haru but was busy staring at the boy sitting across on the park bench. Haru jumped in front of her suddenly, his usual grin-face up close to her, blocking her line of sight completely. “Looking for a boyfriend?” he asked, rather cheekily, insinuating that she was interested in the boy she was staring at. “Let’s go say hi!” Haru would then attempt to grab Akira by the hand and drag her towards the brown-haired boy. “Hello there! I’m Hatsuharu and this is my patrol partner Akira,” he introduced cheerfully. It did not even occur to the silly boy that Akira might have been looking at him for other reasons. But what can you expect from someone who had lost all their memories and have no sense of social etiquette?

Her sight was interrupted by the ever familiar seemingly omnipresent poof of orange. Her face scrunched, she made no effort to hide her disappointment and annoyance, how the hell did he find her here? The park was a tactical choice too, beyond everything else, it was supposed to aid her in avoiding her partner. She had truly not expected him to come looking for her here... He must be pretty fast, this had to have been among the last places he looked... Subconsciously, just to confirm, she shifted her gaze and stared at his lengthy, legs, his attire stopped her from gleaning any information about their muscular strength.

The healer probably took that Alice woman's advice seriously, 'get faster' she'd said,  Tsuru was the sort of brown-noser to take any suggestions as the word of god. How much she wanted to wipe that grin off the boy's face... She thought as her eyes traced their way back to his face. 'What do you wa-' but she was interrupted again by his assumptions. 'What? Of course not I wa-' for someone who came off as polite he really lacked basic manners when it came to her. His suggestion sounded so condescending, like a parent trying to get their kid to make friends or something.

Before she had a chance to decline, he'd already grabbed her and was dragging her towards the one sitting on the bench, introductions already tumbled out of his lips, before she smacked his fingers and pulled her arm away. 'God damn it! What have I told you about grabbing me like that?' she hissed, she had hoped not to alienate the one they'd bothered, but they were probably past that. 'Er... We're just scouting and... er... Are you new here, Sage?' she blurted, trying to sound authoritative as her mind rushed to find an excuse for her partner's disruptive behavior. She cleared her throat 'If you are, we're going to need some details about your recent travels, we've heard rumors of some illegal trade between towns... Right Tsuru?' she asked darkly, nudging her partner to support her story.

For being a Rune Knight, Haru surely lacked any sense of caution. He thought the best of everyone, until proven otherwise, and the same was true about Sage. “Hello Sage! Lovely to meet you,” he said, grinning even widely if that was even physically possible. The healer frowned for a fleeting moment when Akira swat his hand away, but quickly got back to his cheerful self. He took a step close to Akira and whispered softly so that only she could hear him. “You know? You should be sweet and nice if you want him to like you,” he said, before turning towards Sage again.

It didn’t seem like Akira took his advice, because her response to Sage’s question was nothing ‘nice’. Instead, she said the boy could be a potential suspect on a smuggling case, which Haru had never heard of. The older Rune Knight had trouble remembering such a case, and did not realize it was a made-up story until he felt Akira’s nudge. His puzzled expression quickly changed to a shifty formal one; anyone could immediately sense he was not used to being authoritative. He gave Akira knowing glances, like he had it all figured out. Nice one! She is trying to get more information about her love interest by pretending to investigate. “Umm… Yeah! Sage… These are dangerous times,” Haru said, a little too dramatically than necessary. “I must insist you cooperate… with my partner here.” After that last sentence, Haru gave a quick smile and a wink to Sage, and hoped he got the hint.

She resisted the urge to smack Tsuru on the back of his head, for the exaggeration and mocking tone of his voice. Was he still hung up on the boyfriend thing? She pursed her lips and attempted maintaining a poker face. She nodded, pretending to assess the other guy's response, while she racked her brain for some more ideas. Either he was taken in by her act, despite Tsuru's botched attempt to set this ruse or... Sage was mocking her too. She folded her arms and tapped her feet, intimidation could be tough with her lean stature...

But then he couldn't do it anymore and he didn't even have the grace to play along and give them a polite exit for appearance sake. Akira couldn't really fault him, the dark-dweller did prefer honesty though, so maybe it was a good sign that he decided to drop the charade. Nonetheless, she was a little annoyed that he saw through, what she believed was a well-wrought plan, especially because she'd thought it up so quickly on her feet. She cleared her throat and sighed. 'Fine, whatever. Coffee sounds good right about now.' she muttered, slumping, with the illusion of make-believe fading, the charm of it lost, Akira was quite herself again.

She smacked Tsuru on his side, gritting her teeth she added 'You're coming too.' rather pointedly, to wipe any ideas that he may have, to set Sage and her up on some brunch date.

Haru liked how Sage didn’t waste any time and got right to the point, catching the drift from his clues. He was going to suggest a lovely café he had been to the previous weekend and let the two take a walk there under the lovely warm sun. However, all his plans were squashed when Akira smacked him-again-and forced him to go along with them. Haru wanted to protest, maybe make an excuse and disappear; but, it didn’t seem possible with Akira that close to him. He knew she would probably hook his leg with her kunai and drag him back if he had to. The healer did not want to incite any such dramatic scene in the middle of the park; especially, not in front of Sage, whom they had just met. So, he nodded half-heartedly and began walking towards the café.

“I know a really good café right around the corner. Trust me… You should try their croissants… Out of this world,” Haru exaggerated and smacked his lips, remembering the last time he had one.
In a moment, the sweet-tooth Rune Knight forgot all about pairing his patrol partner with the newcomer and got more excited about the prospect of having delicious baked goods. “This way,” he said to two of his companions, leading them towards the café. “So… What brings you to Magnolia, young Sage?” Haru asked, while they walked towards their destination.

'Probably scouting the famous Farty Tail... Hoping to get recruited or something.' she mumbled, scoffing bitterly as she trailed behind the two boys. Magnolia's oppressing presence had still not lifted, in fact, Akira felt more and more stifled every day. 'Maybe, got denied and is now too embarrassed to share that.' she added, still pretty softly, like she was taking pessimistic mental notes for herself. Her feet skid as she shuffled along, towards this amazing cafe. Tsuru had always been better with interactions, so she let him do it, but listened carefully.

It was the acquaintance's chance to ask the questions, she cringed when he asked about their respective magic. Out of curiosity, she wondered if he'd react like most others when the girl revealed her abilities. The girl could have attempted lying again, but first, she had an aversion to needless deception and second, the truth would reveal a lot more about this new guy than the lie would. As they turned a corner, first she decided to warn Tsuru, an attempt to wean him off his obsession with a certain brand of goodies. 'This better not be Olly's again, that idiot will probably spot us for cheap labor again.' she said, a little louder.

'That's the life of Rune Knights...' she said, with a soft sigh, now slinking closer to partake in a piece of the conversation. 'And yes both of us are part of the Rune Knights and indeed, we are both mages... He has an interesting non-elemental magic, something to do with density and I possess a less common elemental variety, which manifested as, what I like to call dark-dweller' she said, piping up with a gentle eagerness, as she waited with bated breath.

As the three walked down the lane, their conversation started to liven up. Haru liked the fact that Sage travelled without any set goals associated to a destination. After all, the Rune Knight joined the ranks mostly because he gets to travel all over the continent and be paid for it. “That’s the spirit! Travel for the sake of travelling. You got that part right,” Haru replied in an appreciative tone. All the while, Haru could hear Akira murmur her pessimistic theories behind them and he had to speak loudly to drown her voice with his. Thankfully, the topic fluidly shifted towards magic, and Haru was more than happy to explain his magic. But before he could begin, Akira had already started speaking. For a moment, Haru wondered if his partner jumped at the opportunity to lie about her magic element, but to his surprise, she did not. Haru truly did not expect her to reveal her darkness magic so openly and was proud of her courage.

“And it’s not Olly’s, of course. That one is at the other end of the town,” Haru replied exasperatedly amidst the magic talk, before expanding further on his density magic. “Yes! I can control the density of matter around me. You know… Making them lighter or heavier. Very handy. I can even use it on people. Play with their bone, blood, and muscle density to heal and buff them. But… Despite the implications, I use it only to defend and heal, but never to harm,” Haru said, his expression becoming serious just for a moment to emphasize how much he believed in pacifism. “So… What kind of magic dwells in you, Sage?” he asked, equally curious about the young man’s potential.

Meanwhile the three had reached the café Haru was talking about, and he held the door open to let the two in before following them inside.

The dark-dweller raised her eyebrows everytime Akira had to shrug off the gentle rebuke from the older man, she felt chastised for her lack of directional sense, when he mentioned that they weren't headed for Olly's. It wasn't like she was always bad, she'd still not gotten used to this town, perhaps it was because she didn't want to. 'Quit scolding me like I'm some child... you're only- wait how old are you?' she muttered softly hoping just her partner caught her question, the two had displayed enough lack of solidarity for one day and she only just realized that she knew so little about her so-called teammate.  

With child-like eagerness, the healer went on to explain his spectacular magic. In all fairness, Akira thought it was a rather handy ability, unique too, it was wasted on someone like Tsuru, who was so hell-bent on only using it to prevent harm... and aid comrades. She shook her head, making no effort to hide her clear disagreement with his ideals. Following which Sage went to explain his magic. 'Two elements... interesting, I believe that is rare.' she remarked, rather flatly, merely assessing the facts. She stopped in her tracks momentarily before entering the shop, the scent of freshly baked goods wafting and luring them in.

'Er... Well... I can manipulate darkness around me and...' she took a deep breath 'and inside me... With it I can create objects tangible objects, I can also make objects disappear into it, making them accessible only be me...' she explained her brows creasing as she wondered if this explanation would tease any response that wasn't as mundane, or not... She snuck to a small table with three stools and perched herself onto one, her eyes darting between the other two... 'And of course, I can channel the darkness too, hurt those who deserve it' she finished nonchalantly, but with a dark gleam in her eyes.

Sage was quite right about them not having a clue about what Woodland Queen magic might be. Haru scratched his head and was on the verge of asking for more information, but before he could, Sage kindly followed with the required explanation. “Ah~ That is a rare combination, indeed,” he said, rather impressed that the boy could not only control two different elements, but two opposing elements at that.

Next came the description of his partner’s magic, directly from her too. He had seen her use that darkness within her too many times to not understand what she was trying to explain. But Haru wondered if it was clear enough for Sage. Nevertheless, he did not wish to interfere and let Akira finish describing it herself. Meanwhile, a blonde waitress approached their table, ready to take their order. Haru jumped at the opportunity and ordered first. “One chocolate croissant and an espresso for me, please,” he said, grinning widely. He then turned to his companions and spoke enthusiastically. “You guys should really try the croissant. There are many flavours too,” he said, nodding vigorously.

Once the other two had given their orders, Haru would continue the conversation. “Sage! If you love travelling, you should the Rune Knights. They compensate well for all ‘patrolling’ and you can choose where you patrol most of the time,” he said, air quoting the word ‘patrolling’ to signify it as a free means of travel. “Besides, the people need mages like us protecting them. You may be young, but you already possess such a powerful magic. We could use people like you,” Haru said, throwing the invitation out of the blue.

He didn't betray much reaction, but while she sensed a mild curiosity, the boy curbed himself from asking any questions. This was typical, dark stuff was not a very palatable topic at the table. At least he hadn't taken the bait, nor did he spill into some long-winded story about darkness being the spawn of evil things and the alignment of demons and other abhorred races, Akira could only be grateful for that.

However, she did assume she'd been subtracted from the conversation and just leaned into the table, folding her hands on it, she let her head fall into her arms. It wasn't until she heard Sage place his orders, that she lazily lifted her forehead and muttered 'Custard Croissant and a frappuccino.' the girl had been so soft, the waitress had to lean in and ask her to repeat the order, which she did... slowly and loftily. The waitress made a sour face before jotting it down and sauntering away.

Her head flopped back down, but her sharp ears followed the conversation. Slowly she peeled her face off her arms again. 'Minus all the glamour that Tsuru is painting, anyone is strong enough, Rune Knights could just do with some numbers, in all our time as cops we've fought one guy and he was no mage nor was he armed, Frankly... It was kind of pathetic...' she muttered and shrugged. 'But hey, I don't know about you, but that's a plus for me, not a very difficult job, cheap travel at your own leisure and fairly constant pay, so I can't complain...' that last bit was a lie, being a darkness mage, she had her own set of issues with the system, but since Sage wouldn't have those problems, there wasn't much point in bringing it up.

The waitress finally brought their orders, placing Akira's down in front of her with a louder clink than the others. Akira nibbled on the croissant while taking a hearty slurp of her drink. 'Well, at least you're good for sniffing out good bakeries, Tsuru...' she said, half-joking and half-serious, her dry wit was wasted on most, but at least her partner was easy going enough to tolerate it, or so she assumed...

The scarlet-haired Rune Knight was happy that both Akira and Sage listened to his suggestion and ordered the croissants. He was sure they wouldn’t regret the decision. While the waitress was rather sweet to him and Sage, she seemed a little jumpy when it came to Akira. Haru wasn’t surprised, considering most his partner had such an effect on most people she met. The enthusiastic Rune Knight was glad to hear that Sage would consider joining their ranks. “Of course! It’s a big decision to make. Take your time. If you would like, you can even accompany us for a few patrols before you decide to join. Would be like a trial period, eh?” Haru said, winking at Sage and patting him gently on his shoulder.

Just then, their orders came in and Haru dug in immediately. Lucky for Akira, the boy was completely lost in the delicious pastry that he missed half of what she said regarding the Rune Knights. But, he did hear parts of it and could comprehend she was giving him a very biased picture. The nineteen-year-old began to retaliate with food still in his mouth and barely anyone could understand him. Realizing he wasn’t making much sense, he chewed and swallowed his food as fast as he could and repeated what he said before with his mouth full. “It’s not about fighting. It’s about protecting,” he said with great emphasis on the last word. He probably had repeated that phrase a million times to his partner, and yet she didn’t seem to understand. Haru then turned towards Sage and reassured him again. “It’s not as bad as she portrays it to be. Besides… Like I said, you can always give it a try before deciding,” he finished. He didn’t want to talk about Sage joining the Rune Knights anymore. The two did not approach him with that intention and he didn’t want to paint the wrong picture. So, Haru left the topic there and focused on his coffee instead.

Once he had finished his coffee and snack, Haru waited for the others to finish while he settled the bill. If the other two offered to pay, he would simply wave it off and say ‘next time’. After all, he was the oldest among the three, and it was his responsibility.

She raised her head and stared at Tsuru with wide eyes, shaking her head a tad, admonishing him for using the word we. Softly she muttered 'I suppose if you want you can take him around Tsuru... Not really part of my job description to recruit...' She said, after swallowing another bite of her custard-filled croissant. If Tsuru was the friendly sort, it wasn't her place to choose for both of them, but she could decide to back out from this patrolling mission and do something else instead, like rest. Or loiter around in the town with less... purpose and with less company. Two was already forced company, three was definitely a crowd.

'Whatever.' Akira muttered as Tsuru just drowned her con points and painted them as 'not as bad.' Maybe he was right, maybe she was biased because the organization was biased against people with magic like hers. She just shrugged and finished her food. Arguing for the sake of arguing was not her thing, wasn't energy efficient, mostly would be a large drag. Sage too, seemed to not really care about what anyone had to say anyways, or so she gleaned from the way he focused on his own food. Then why should she waste her time? She sighed as she sipped her frappuccino. Maybe the boy had already made up his mind and just wanted reassurance or something... Tsuru seemed great for providing that.

She was still sipping her drink as Tsuru went and paid and Sage joined the man, she stayed firmly attached to her seat. 'Should he choose to join, or not or whatever, let me know later' she said over the din of the crowd as idly waved at the two boys. 'I'll catch you later...' she said, hoping they'd be awhile.

“It’s my pleasure, Sage,” Haru said with a smile, when Sage thanked him. Akira was not very delighted about the prospect of giving the trial patrol. He knew he couldn’t force her into it; maybe he will ask her once more if she was interested when they were actually going to do it. But for now, he chose to let it go. With everyone so involved with their food, there was little talk after until Akira was done and ready to leave. Haru could understand; crowds were never her thing. So, he simply nodded and waved back as she left.

He considered staying a bit longer with Sage, but didn’t want Akira to feel like he dumped her for the new friend. So, instead, he suggested to Sage that they meet that evening for the promised patrol and decided to catch up with Akira. “So, how about we do that patrol this evening? We can meet at the street next to Olly’s cake shop. That’s where I’m assigned to patrol today,” Haru said to Sage. After hearing his response, he would wave goodbye to him and jog out of the café. “See you later.” Once outside, he looked around, but couldn’t find Akira. Assuming she must have headed back to her room, he made his way to the hotel.

-Exit-