Chapter 7

The hairless bird that looked like a shaved cat hollered with its two heads to signify that morning had arrived.

Waking due to the noise, Chrono opened his eyes to once again, find himself staring at Ise. Rather than panicking as he did last time, Chrono admired Ise’s sleeping face. He enjoyed how she looked like she was at peace with the world, especially how her hair covered parts of her eye and how her breathing matched his.

He was so engrossed in Ise's face that he hadn’t noticed Auran leaning on the door frame. Shaking his head helplessly, he let out a small cough. Chrono truly believed that it was only him and Ise in the world, and didn’t register Aurans voice. Auran slightly ticked gave a violent cough. Chrono felt his hand slowly go to Ise’s face as he softly caressed her cheeks. Auran who was practically seething placed his hands at his holster and pulled at his revolver. Aiming it to the sky, he pulled the trigger and, BANG.

Chrono didn’t even flinch as he brought his head closer to Ise’s and placed his forehead and hers and hugged her tighter. At this point, Auran diffused and couldn’t help but not be mad anymore. He sighed and thought of the time when he was young. Leaving the room, he moved the responsibility of getting them to dinner to Captain Cason. An hour after this event, Ise fluttered her eyes open and saw that Chrono was still asleep. What surprised her was that she was in his embrace as well which caused her heart to beat out of rhythm. Looking at his pretty innocent face though, Ise couldn’t help but let out a radiant smile. She was enthralled by him and was tempted to poke his cheeks. Falling to temptation, Ise slowly poked his cheek and felt her finger smoosh Chrono’s soft and smooth skin. She giggled and was having too much fun to stop. Captain Cason who walked in saw what Ise was doing and rolled his eyes.

“Get up! It’s already 11; we have a lot to do!” Captain Cason yelled. To his surprise, Ise seemed like she couldn’t hear him and began to pull on Chrono’s cheek while giggling to herself. Captain Cason felt his eyes twitch as he roared upwards “Get up!!!” With small flames shooting out from his mouth. Whether it was due to Ise intentionally ignoring him or due to her amusement of Chrono, she didn’t pay attention to Captain Cason. Instead, she placed her hand on Chrono’s cheek and leaned in and kissed his forehead, snuggling back into his embrace.

Captain Cason for the first time in his life felt utterly defeated and groaned.

“If only I hadn't spent most of my money.” Captain Cason complained to himself and left the two in their own world.

Outside the fort, Captain Cason headed towards Auran who was sitting on a dead log at the edge of the island and looked out to the other islands near them. In his hand was a cup of alien wine famed for its strong bitter but savory taste; A Grachery Speciality.

“Mind if I join?” Captain Cason said with exhaustion in his voice. Now he knew why Auran dragged himself here and drank so early in the morning. Auran nodded and poured Captain Cason a drink.

“To adventure, to glory, to being free!” The two cheered somberly and swung down the wine