Morning, the time of the day when I lot of events take place, such as: Waking up, breakfast, showering, and more. This morning, however, was holding something in store for the group of thieves and Ivet.

Yohiro awakened, having slept without a shirt because of the bruise Clous left him with. It hurt to have fabric touch it too much, and seeing as Yohiro liked rolling around quite a bit, he took it off, not realising he had been rubbing it against the covers anyway. ‘’Thinking back, where did they put Ivet?’’ He wondered for a bit as he got out of bed.

With his frustrating morning haze clearing, he headed out, grabbing the first shirt he could find, left on the floor by Bernie, being a rather plain, bin one. He had gotten more than a little used to living with them, so much that he instinctively would pat Clous on the head each morning, following Bernie and Rosa’s example, which would anger the beastman. He would also talk about the topic of relevance at that moment, even if he didn’t know what they were talking about most of the time.

It was weirdly quiet that morning, quite unusual for Yohiro, as he was used to loud debackles, early from waking until long after the sun had settled down. ‘’Good morning, you gu--’’ He stopped in the middle of his already pretty much scripted greeting, freezing up immediately after stepping into the room, filled with depressing atmosphere, the group of three thieves and Ivet sitting around the table. Bernie was the exception, standing up so Ivet could have a spot to sit in. They were all being suspiciously quiet, as if they noticed the mood and went along with it.

‘’G-guys…?’’ Yohiro walked in fully, making his way to Bernie. ‘’Why are you all so quiet?’’ He tugged Bernie’s shirt, shaking him from what seemed like a ‘’lost-in-thought’’ moment. ‘’Ah, sorry, Yohiro, it’s just that-’’ ‘’Yohiro!’’ Hiona interrupted the sad man, intending to frighten Yohiro, but failing horribly, still getting his attention quickly. ‘’Help Bernie and the others pack their baggage, we’re leaving the base as soon as possible,’’ she said, sounding surprisingly monotone for someone so explosive and energetic. Yohiro, of course, was shocked by the order given to him, both because he fully refused to follow her orders, and because of the announcement within it.

‘’Leaving?! Cut it out with the jokes this time!’’ Yohiro walked over, slamming his hand on the coffee table in front of her, startling Ivet and annoying Clous, with Rosa sitting there and spacing out, most likely due to denial. ‘’It’s not a joke, kid, we’re moving out,’’ she clapped her hands, forcing a grin to emerge upon her face, looking unnatural and out of place compared to her usual, honest outgoings. ‘’Explain it, then,’’ the boy calmed down, relieving the others, since they didn’t want to bear with an argument.

‘’The guy that ordered us to steal the princess brat apparently backed out while we were in the middle of the whole thing. So now, we’re not supported by the thieves guild. By their shitty logic, we ‘acted on our own’ this time, because it wasn’t supported by an assignment,’’ Hiona briefly explained. Yohiro stared at his feet, beginning to think, before ‘’That’s not allowed, is it?! He shouldn’t have had the authority or ability to retract the submission while it’s in effect! That would be a system too flawed to even operate!!’’ He tried to apply logic to the situation the best he could, sounding confident in his words all the way. To his dismay, his entire statement was crushed with a single line, ‘’It was all planned, by the guild themselves, I mean,’’ Hiona said. It felt like a dark room, the two of them being the contestants in a game of retaliation. ‘’Explain tha-’’ ‘’I’ve told you about this. The guild simply doesn’t want a guild that gets bad rating for being rash and incompetent, therefore they wanted to get rid of us. My guess is that the guy was paid to submit such a high-ranking assignment such as stealing fucking royalty, asking for us, one of the lowest thief groups, to take it up. That’s all I can say about that,’’ she stood up, patting Yohiro on the head as she watched his eyes slowly widen, the boy taking in the words one by one.

Everyone in the room sensed it - the storm that was abrewing - and knew it would result in a disaster. Hiona began walking back towards her room, passing by the defeated by facts Yohiro. He gritted his teeth, stiffened his toes and turned around, grabbing Hiona’s arm. ‘’What is it? Wes that information not correct? how would you dispute my claims? Or are you just angry? Or do you want a hug from good ol’ me, hu-’’ ‘’We’ll do something about it…’’ Yohiro muttered under his breath, prompting Hiona to lean closer. ‘’What was that, you brat~?’’ She whispered in his year, making him shiver all over. ‘’I said we should fight back! You’d usually want to kill them all! Where’d that go, you pretend-playing excuse for a master?!’’ It was like his semi-positive demeanor destroyed that little dark space of verbal competition. Hiona didn’t even react.

‘’Mr. Yohiro, p-please calm down,’’ Ivet added, unlike the other people in the room who, while wanting to say the same thing as Yohiro, couldn’t force the words to come out. They stood there like complete statues, because even they knew one thing: whenever Hiona was the quietest, she was the angriest. ‘’Yohiro...I wanna kill them, for sure,’’ Hiona said, ‘’Then why don’t w-’’ ‘’I want to, but some of the bastards there are beyond me through and through. If I ended up getting apprehended or killed, you’re all fucked for life. We’ll be leaving the city, today!’’ Hiona yelled, making her words echo through the room, shaking the members of her group shake intentionally. ‘’I’ll fight them! It’s going to work, it has to work!!’’ The kid didn’t back down, pushing against the heavy stone she was holding over his head.

‘’I’ve said enough. Any more and I might snap. Get your shit ready - we’re leaving in three hours or something, I don’t care,’’ Hiona told them, walking over to her own room and shutting it closed immediately. The rock was dropped, just like that, and Yohiro fell down onto his knees. Ivet quickly ran over, kneeling next to the angry, defeated Yohiro. ‘’Mr. Yohiro, we’re practically fugitives now, we should be careful. Right?’’ The girl smiled, trying to relieve him of his bitterness. ‘’No, I get that, but,’’ he said, ‘’it’s so dumb!’’ He shouted, hitting his fist against the floor. ‘’A-ah, Yohiro, please calm down,’’ Bernie requested, placing his hand on the boy’s shaking shoulder. ‘’How can I calm down?! Why do you have to get the short end of stick like cowards?!’’ He was quickly shut up by a jab on the back from Clous. ‘’That’s enough outta you…’’ Clous told Yohiro as he quickly put him to sleep, leaving for Ivet to catch him in his fall.

‘’That was too much, Clous!’’ Bernie scolded him. ‘’Shut up! Have faity in my judgement for once. What’s the point of having him complain while we pack. He doesn’t have anything, so we’ll just carry him,’’ Clous said, his statement making a surprising amount of sense to Bernie and even Rosa, who had finally snapped out of her shock.

‘’Um, Mr. Bernie, Mr. Clous, what do you mean when you say Mr. Yohiro ‘doesn’t have anything’?’’ Ivet raised her hand as she asked the question that has settled itself in the center of her mind. The two men, and Rosa, grew concerned, unable to understand how she would react to their answer. ‘’Is he not normal? That leads me to ask, how did he learn my and father’s name names…?’’ It seemed like the girl had caugh on already. ‘’Do we tell her? She’s not leaving anyway, so maybe it’s safe?’’ Clous shared a few stares with his comrades, watching them nod accordingly, confirming it.

They had told the girl to sit down, which she did, keeping Yohiro next to her due to her sense of duty, placing his head on her leg as she sat with relative comfort. She felt really embarrassed for some reason. ‘’Okay princess, have you ever heard of The Tree? The one that people obsess ovr every year?’’ Clous asked her, getting a weirdly joyous and excited reaction in return, ‘’Yes! I do! I’ve always wanted to attempt getting the treasure The Tree gives, but my father always said I was too young to try, an--’’ ‘’Yeah, yeah, whatever. That kid got puked out by The Tree, and that’s about all,’’ Clous said in a low tone, watching the girl’s tone turn to stone. It took a little while to take everything in, even if it was just a few quickly spoken words.

‘’A human?! From The Tree?!’’ The girl’s face turned red, looking at Yohiro and back at Clous and Bernie rapidly, switching between the two. ‘’Yes, princess Ivet, and the gem on his chest is the real problem and what’s making us so confused,’’ Bernie switched out with Clous. Ivet was fully enticed by the information she was given. ‘’He says that from time to time, the gem itself talks to him, gives him advice and indirectly defends him from harm. It’s hard to understand for me, though…’’ Bernie tried his best to explain it, even though Clous would have done a better job at it. ‘’So...my f-fiancee is technically not human at all?’’ Ivet tried to remain calm, comprehending everything and trying not to look at Yohiro. ‘’Wrong. We’ve confirmed it. His organs seem to function the same way as ours, it’s just the way he came into the world is weird. His body wasn’t that much different from what it is now; the kid’s about two months old or so,’’ Clous dished it out. ‘’But he doesn’t look that much older than me… It’s all hard to believe, isn’t it...?’’ She muttered to herself, patting Yohiro’s hand with her hand. The boy was sleeping quite soundly; Clous wasn’t applying too much force when hitting him.

‘’After hearing all that, I’ll have to ask: Did Yohiro tell you that you can go willy-nilly and do whatever you want?’’ Clous leaned closer as he tried to intimidate her. They were sitting across each other, the coffee table in-between them. ‘’He...did. He told me I could go. He seems to believe I’m his slave. The word ‘fiancee’ doesn’t seem to be familiar to him at all,’’ Ivet explained shortly. ‘’No matter the case, you’re staying here from now on. Leaving this base, this group, means immediate death. Do we have your word on that, princess~?’’ Clous grinned maliciously. ‘’I don’t intend to leave as of yet. whether I’m wanted or not. My father would be the first to-- Never mind. I can’t, either way!’’ She declared strongly, placing her hand on the table gently, as if to seal the deal. ‘’Good answer, thank you so much for understanding, princess Ivet! We really appreciate it!’’ Bernie smiled from ear to ear.

‘’Before we’re done, though...about that marriage, princess…’’ Clous lowered his voice even more, beginning to seem angry. ‘’Marriage?! No such thing will happen!’’ Ivet shouted at him. ‘’But, when Yohiro finds out what fiancee means, and trust me, he will, what happens then? If he doesn’t know or consent, something like a marriage can;t occur, so I’m warning you, don’t you try anything funny, you POMPOUS LITTLE B-’’ Clous’ mouth quickly got covered by Bernie’s. ‘’Excuse him, princess Ivet, he’s just really emotionally attached to our Yohiro,’’ the friendly man said, ignoring Clous’ struggles to escape. ‘’P-please, take it at your own pace and don’t mind the entire marriage situation. You’re not confined by tradition anymore, right?’’

It was somewhat of a flash to her. ‘’Oh, I’m not?’’ is what she thought. However, the way she had been thought to live for those thirteen long years were a stronger influence on her conscious decisions. It was her duty. ‘’A-ah, then, um… When I become of the legal age, maybe, if Mr. Yohiro understands by that time, I will fulfill it,’’ she spoke, flustered. ‘’I just told you, though, you don’t nee-’’ ‘’I want to!’’ She didn’t want to. ‘’That’s, well, your choice and all. Just think of Yohiro’s right of consent as well, alright?’’ Bernie chuckled, surprised to find her staring at Yohiro with determination, reassuring herself under her breath over and over again. ‘’Ah, haha… Will this become a problem? I hope not,’’ Bernie thought to himself as he continued laughing lightheartedly, before he felt sharp fangs dig into his hand’s skin. ‘’WHAT ARE YOU, AN ANIMAL, LET--AHH- GOO!’’