“I can’t believe it.” I said aloud after a couple nights spent traveling, “To think I’m finally back in TN after so long!”

The road to here was quite bad for my motion sickness. I could hardly keep it together for most of the trip, but every time I’d think of throwing up, I’d ask myself how the driver would feel about that, so I held it in mostly. Emphasis on the mostly, since there were times when I simply couldn’t take it and had to ask the driver to make an urgent stop in the middle of the road. He was chill about it, though.

The first thing that surprised me upon crossing the border was that the people working there as guards stayed the same since Grim and I left Trivis Numerica. After reading my name, one guy actually recognized me. In his words, “Seeing two pipsqueaks legally passing the border isn’t something I’d forget that easily. Although you’ve grown quite a lot since then.”

He gave me a pat on the back and sent me on my way. The most noticeable thing about this place that differentiates it from the others is the sheer volume of wheat fields. It’s just wheat and other crops as far as the eye could see! You definitely couldn’t see scenery as beautiful as this no matter where you looked, it’s just that unique.

I spent most of the travel time chatting with the driver (to take my mind off of the motion sickness) and it turns out he’s also from here. We chatted and chatted about all sorts of things, apparently he’s a driver because he needs the money to get his daughter into school. The gesture is beautiful, but schools, universities and the like are only found in Simpleton, no? Isn’t that a bit too unrealistic to fund someone’s tuition with a single job?

I didn’t want to accidentally insult him or anything (I’ve done enough of that in The Plural Divide), so I refrained from saying anything. Even still, why couldn’t he just send his daughter off to work somewhere to gain life experience that way? I mean, Grim used to work part time at his father’s, and I landed a job at the local marketplace helping them with calculating the change.

Man, that takes me back! Grim would always brag to people about how quick he is with his change, but he still has nothing on me! I used to learn people’s habits to the point where I knew what each person was going to buy the moment they walked into the store! The look on their faces as I immediately rang them up before they could even approach the register was priceless!

Eh, back on track. I probably don’t have the full picture on the driver’s daughter’s situation. Maybe they’re already well off or something, who knows?

“If you don’t mind me asking, sir,” I decided to just go for it, “How old is your daughter?”

“She should be turning 6 this summer.” He stated with a chipper tone.

SIX?!? THAT YOUNG? IS SHE A GENIUS, OR MAYBE A PRODIGY?! I couldn’t believe his words. A person usually enrolls in the schools in Simpleton when they’re around 20 or so at the youngest, and even then it’s only when they really REALLY want to. Sending your daughter at a measly 6 years old is crazy, she’d get bullied to all hell, not to mention the curriculum would be too difficult for her! This guy’s really proud of his daughter!

“Is she gonna be alright over there?” I worried, “I mean, being without her father at such a delicate age is…”

“Well, I thought so too.” He said, “But I can’t keep coddling her forever. Sooner or later she’s gonna grow into a beautiful young lady, and I want her to have the brains to back up that beauty.”

Whoa, that’s actually kind of cool, what he said. If I had a daughter, I’d probably just let her do whatever she wants, but I guess she’d grow up spoiled if I did that. This man is turning out to be more and more amazing by the minute!

“Well, this is my stop.” I said as we arrived near Leins, “Thanks so much, sir. I wish you and your daughter the best of luck!”

“Thanks, young man.” He said, “I’ll be getting off here as well, so it’s kind of lucky on my part how I got a passenger’s destination be in my hometown, whahaha!”

***

I made it back to Leins, huh? Somehow, it feels unreal to even say. I always thought that I left our adventure around the world early, but thinking back I made it quite far out. I traveled to the edge of the continent on the East side. Heck, if I boarded a boat and continued going East, I’d have made it to the shores of Occidence all the way in Cardina! (or maybe Vallis?)

Booking a room in the same inn Grim and I stayed in previously, I had expected to tear up when I saw the room or something, but that wasn’t really the case at all. What instead happened was I immediately ran to the bathroom to throw up all the motion sickness I held in the entire wagon ride here. After that, I could barely skid my way to the bed, where the Sandman beat me to a pulp.

After waking up, my stomach started to hurt immensely. Looks like throwing up last night left me quite famished, so I ran downstairs to get some food. This was the emotional and nostalgic moment I was hoping for! That’s right, I’m of course talking about… The bread!

Trivis Numerica is famous for its extravagant pastries, since we have an abundance of wheat to work with. Whoever looked at bread and went “I could turn this into a spiral or swirl” Should be given a million gold coins, because they’ve certainly put this country on the map because of their discovery!

I ate and ate, be it from hunger or just pure nostalgia, until I was stuffed to the brim. It got so bad that I actually chipped my tooth from it, but I still ate through the pain. It was THAT good…

But something didn’t feel right. As I gazed at the broth’s reflection of my face, I couldn’t help but notice my eyes shone differently than usual. Usually, they’d shine a bright green, aligning with my Iro, but this wasn’t the case this time. I started panicking before quickly running off to go check in the mirror.

Sure enough, there they were. The two eyes I was born with, the two eyes that let me see this beautiful world up to now. They were a dark brown color... I was given no time to get accustomed to the change of my lifelong Iro color, as I immediately saw mysterious words start to form on the mirrors surface. I got closer in order to read it, but the words still stayed a fixed length away from me.

Not only that, but the moment I looked away from the mirror, the words followed my gaze. It was as if the words weren’t tethered to the mirror, but rather burned into my eyes. Like they were telling me “You have no other choice but to read me”. And read I did.

“I wanna…visit… Springwood…?” I tried to make out as much as I could.

Why is this written in first person? Is it telling me to make another detour instead of just going straight to Whitehood?

“But that’d be troublesome…” The words changed in front of me to reflect my current mood.

What?

“What is happening?” They changed once more in accordance with my own thoughts.

“Wait, could it be…?” I figured, “The ability of the Brown Iro… Can I… Read my own mind?”

I know it sounds stupid, but hear me out. I figured since I was looking at a mirror, the Iro was peering into my own thoughts, thus I saw what I was thinking materialize in front of my very eyes. So by that logic, could I read other people’s minds if I gazed at them?

I immediately ran back downstairs to continue my meal, and more importantly to check out if my hypothesis is correct. I gazed at the innkeeper who served me my food.

“Oh, it’s the kid again. Where’d he run off to? His broth got cold…”

“No worries, sir! I don’t mind eating it cold!” I said with an excited tone, ”Thanks for the food!”

“U-Erm??” He stood there surprised, “D-Did I say that aloud?”

I couldn’t answer him (or rather pretended like I couldn’t) since I was eating my cold breakfast. It’s really true! This is incredible! Now I’ll never get scammed again! Hooray for Iros!

After finishing up my meal and hastily putting all my stuff back in my bags, I ran out and decided to listen to heart.

“Screw going straight home, I’m visiting Springwood!”

***

I now spent most of my time in the transport wagon looking out the windows, even though I was supposedly not good with it. The world somehow looked different than before, it was a lot more… informational? Like, I would focus on a passing traveler walking by foot, and I’d hear him envy me, who was in a transport wagon! Guess he couldn’t afford it, poor guy…

Apart from that, did you know animals had cognitive thoughts, too? I focused my gaze on a bunny, and it repeated the same unintelligible phrase as it ate its food. I’m not sure what the phrase meant exactly, but I assume it’s something to do with food, since that’s what it’s eating. This is a revolutionary find, animals think in rational thoughts, but in a different language!

If we try and learn some of their language, could we perhaps… talk to them? What would that lead to, establishing communication with animals is now a realistic thing to expect from the future, and it’s all thanks to me acquiring this ability from the Brown Iro! Woot woot!

Wait… Calling it ‘The Ability of the Brown Iro’ is getting really tiring. Maybe I should shorten it? Grim did the same with his Red Iro, so…

“Analyze…” The word popped into existence on the glass window’s reflection of my face.

“Heh, if you say so.” I chuckled upon realizing I read my own mind again.

“Did you say something?” The wagon driver leaned back, thinking I was talking to him.

“Oh, nothing!” I tried to play it off, “Just me talking to myself, haha…”

“I see.” He simply stated.

“...Weirdo.” But his mind spelled out his true opinion of me.

I felt kind of sad, since I didn’t expect him to think so lowly of me, but I guess that’s good to know too. Now I know I don’t have to tip him much for the fare… In fact, that gives me an idea…!

“Actually sir,” I got his attention, “Did you know I’m actually an incredible street performer?”

“You are?” He didn’t seem to believe me.

“Yup. I can guess any number you’re thinking of from zero to a hundred.”

“Alright then, what number am I thinking of?”

“You wanted to pick 18, but thought it too easy, so you switched to 58.”

“…”

He was quite shaken from that occurrence, so I thought of going for one more push. This is gonna be so funny…!

“Tell you what,” I added, “If I guess the next number correctly, I don’t have to pay for the fare ride at all. If I guess wrong, I pay double. Up for it?”

“No way!” He immediately rejected the idea outright, “It’s too easy for you to guess from zero to a hundred!”

His logic didn’t really check out, but I guess he was just being wary now that he knew I wasn’t all talk. So naturally, I made it “harder” for myself…

“Alright then, think of any number, I don’t care about the range.”

“…” He thought long and hard, “Okay, got it.”

“Is your number the Queen of Hearts?” I suggested.

“Whuh?!” He stammered, “B-But…! How did you-!? T-That isn’t even a number!”

“I know,” I agreed maliciously, “But it is what you were thinking of, am I wrong?”

“Grr…!” He was fuming internally.

I only saved about 10 silvers because of this, and I don’t intend on doing this in the future anymore. Even still, this guy annoyed me, so I wanted to get back at him somehow. It isn’t about the money, it’s about sending a message, am I right?