“Alright, here’s the plan.” I said as I had us huddle up, “Our destination is the house. That’s not that far away, but we should still be careful, since we already saw what happens if we get caught.”

“Those poor kids…” Anna was still a bit shaken up.

“…Mn.” Arthur only nodded as he started walking through the alleyway, “Okay, looks like this street is clear. Let’s…”

“Stop!” I raised my voice slightly as I hid him from an approaching soldier in the last moment, “Watch out, I understand you want to get to safety as soon as possible, but rushing will only get us caught.”

“Right, apologies.” He fixed up the suit he had on as he waited for my signal this time, “Go on then, lead the way.”

I really dislike saying this, but Arthur’s kind of being a pain. First it was not letting me try and save those kids, and now he’s jumping in harm’s way? I understand that some nerves might be in play here, but he really should use his own brain before telling me to use mine.

“Alright, let’s see…” I said as the world around me turned Sepia, “Yup! I can only hear your guys’ voices, so that means the soldiers have left.”

“Oh, you’re using your Brown Iro!” Anna noticed, “Smart thinking!”

“Are you sure it works properly?” Arthur was skeptical, “Can’t you check once more?”

“Just follow me, dammit.”

And so, after a hefty amount of mental preparation, we braced ourselves and on the count of three, we leapt from the alleyway we were just in and made a beeline for the one across the street. Running along, I made sure to look left and right just in case I might’ve really missed a soldier or two, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.

“Puah!” I finally let out a heavy sigh, “We made it, we’re one step closer to home!”

“Yeah, out of at least ten more.” Arthur clicked his tongue, “Well, guess we can’t help it. Let’s just move with this same tempo.”

Thus, we had to basically rinse and repeat this entire process a dozen more times. It was exhausting, both mentally and physically speaking, but there really was no helping it. Either we do this and live, or stay here and die. There simply didn’t exist a third option.

That being said, something frightening happened around the eighth or ninth time, that being that, while I was running through and checking at the same time, I actually did happen to see a soldier, but thankfully he didn’t turn around, so all was fine in the end. Even still, I made sure to not let that happen again, so I was extra careful with listening for voices using Analyze.

“This is it!” I couldn’t help but crack a smile as I said, “We’ve made it! There’s the house!”

“Hold on, Ed.” Anna warned, “Did you lock the door when you left? I know it’s a stupid thing to worry about, but what if someone had entered while we were away? We shouldn’t let our guard down just yet.”

“Oh, yeah, I did.” I reassured her, “But you’re right. No matter how you look at it, anyone would think to enter the empty house in this time of crisis. It isn’t a needless worry, so thank you for giving us the heads up.”

Slowly approaching the backdoor, I made sure to use Analyze as I tried to peek through the little window on it. Then again, I highly doubt I would hear anyone, as the backdoor had actually led to the kitchen, which was probably the last place someone would go to during a war. But surprisingly, I did see some words pop into view…

“La-dee-dah!” The cursive words floated from just outside of view, “Geez, where is he? Well, the Goddess of Song shouldn’t have to torture herself with waiting, so I guess I’ll just partake in the food from the refrigerator.”

“Goddess of Song?” I furrowed my brows before realizing, “Oh hold on, wait! Don’t eat the food! Those’re gonna be our rations from now on!”

Practically busting open the door, quite the scene had unfolded itself in front of me. With her hand firmly placed on the fridge’s handle, a princess-like girl around the same age as us was caught in the act. Getting yelled at so suddenly must’ve startled her, because she quickly let go and started apologizing as if she was a child who had done something bad.

“Bwaaah!” She cried out, “I’m sorryy~! I was, I was just, hick, j-just hungry is all~!”

“What? Uh, no, don’t worry about it…?” I glanced back at Arthur and Anna, who were equally as confused as me, “You can take some food if you’re starving, just please ask first, okay?”

“Hooray!” She was suddenly all smiles as she pulled open the refrigerator door and took out almost all of our food, “Oh wow! You guys have so much to eat!”

Looking at her once again, she really did look way too out of place. Her hair was a dazzling baby blue, but she wore a frilly white princess dress that had all sorts of pinkish accents on it. The circlet on her head was also quite striking, leading me to believe that she is either a really important noble, or a really impressive cosplayer.

“By the way, lady.” Anna groaned, “You mind explaining to us who you are exactly?”

“Oh. Oh!” She suddenly jumped from her seat and introduced herself in a hurry, the bits of food still on the edge of her mouth, “Good day to you all! Rejoice, for you are in the presence of the one and only Goddess of Song!”

“You do know that calling yourself a God is a serious offense, and is punishable by law worldwide, right?” I just wanted to make sure.

“Eh?! R-Really?!” She seemed even more scared, “T-Then forget what I said! I’ll just give you my real name, okay?! It’s Vivia Carmen!”

“Car-!?”

Carmen!? As in, the Carmen!? So wait, is she royalty or something? Maybe she’s related to the King? And if that’s the case, then this makes her being here all the more suspicious! Why is she separated from her men, and who was she looking for before I burst in?

“Right, you got me!” She stuck her tongue out in a cutesy pose, “I am the Princess of Carmen. My dad is the King.”

“Whoaaa~!” Anna suddenly jumped to fawn over her fully, “A real princess! A really real ephemeral being known for her endless beauty! For real!”

“Hehe, thank you for the compliments!” Vivia smiled back, “But you know, you too have the makings of a Princess. That is, if you try hard enough.”

“Really?!” Anna saw stars in that very moment.

“Alright, you two, break it up.” I quite literally lifted Anna by the collar and pried her off of the Princess, “You’re forgetting a goddamned war is happening just outside of here. Princess, please don’t think we’re suspicious of you, but I’m gonna have to get inside you to verify it, just in case.”

“Eh?!” Her face went beet red, “I-I-Inside me?! What kind of a household did I stumble upon?! I-I’ll have you know, I’m a virgin!”

“What?”

“I mean, you are quite the handsome man, but aren’t we skipping a few steps here?” She went off on her own, “Certainly, I am the fairest lady in all the lands, but for you to be so enamored by my endless beauty that you’d resort to tossing away your reason in favor of your carnal desires is just-!”

“Lady, what the hell are you talking about?” I donned a genuinely befuddled face, “I just wanna… Ugh, never mind. Just close your eyes and don’t move.”

Whimpering a bit as she looked around before sheepishly resigning herself to her fate, she did as she was told, albeit while puckering her lips out for whatever reason. Weird, but no matter. Time to Analyze…

“H-He’s being awfully patient…” Her inner voice could be seen coming out of her noggin, “I hope he’s gentle. Ooh, but maybe I’m the type of girl who likes it rough? Dearie me, I should’ve read more books on this topic, I feel like my heart still isn’t ready for this…”

“Will you get your mind out of the gutter, you goddamned walking pair of tits!” I berated her for not giving away any important information.

“Ah, so you were staring at those melons, after all…” Anna loomed over me, cracking her fingers all the while, “I had my suspicions, but I told myself you were better than this…”

“Yikes! That’s not what I…! Aargh, Vivia, just tell us why you’re here already, please!”

“Oh, that?” She suddenly got a tad bit more serious, “It’s because, and I hate to admit it, but my father’s gone mad.”

Hm? That’s an interesting turn of events. She’s saying she doesn’t agree with her father’s actions? That’s quite responsible of her to notice, y’know, given her personality. But at least we now know for sure that the culprit behind this horrible day is the King of Carmen, and not only that, but his daughter is on our side. This is good, I can work with this!

“Alright, then why were you in our house?” I finally got around to asking, “Who were you looking for?”

“Well, to tell you the truth…” She looked down in shame, the tension rising with each millisecond that passed on in silence, “I was hungry, so I snuck out of the soldiers line and just went to the nearest tasty looking house I saw.”

“Tasty looking house?”

“Well, not the house, obviously! I’m moreso talking about the food inside the house.”

Goddammit, with a daughter like her, I’m not at all surprised that her father went mad… Actually no, this isn’t the time for jokes! We need to figure out how to leave this place, so this whole conversation’s just been a waste of time!

“Well then, you’ve had your fill, so please leave quietly now.” I started ushering her out of the house, “Oh, and do us a favor, would ya’? Don’t tell anyone that we’re here.”

“Wait wait wait wait wait!” She started panicking all over again, “You can’t just send me back to those brutes! Not after seeing my one hit knockout super special puppy dog eyes!”

“Right, I’ve been meaning to ask you this as well, but…” I took a good look at her oddly colored eyes, “What is your Iro? From one angle, it looks to be Red, but from another…”

“It looks Purple, is probably what you wanted to say, right?” She chuckled, “Yeah, my Eyes are kind of weird like that, but please pay no mind to it. Father says I’m one of the first cases of a Pink Iro, but I think that’s just him doting on me and singling me out for no reason. Really, I don’t know what my Iro is either.”

“Is that so?” I tilted my head, “Well, as long as it’s not Purple. If it was, I’d feel really bad for you.”

“You would?!” She jumped, “Really?! Bad enough for you not to kick me out!?”

“Ed, I think we should let her stay with us.” Anna tugged on my sleeve, “I mean, she is against the war continuing, plus she has some power in the enemy team. Maybe we could use her nobility to get out of here.”

“Anna…” I turned to her, “You’re just saying that because she’s a Princess, aren’t you? You damned Princessophile.”

“I am not a Princessophile!” She pouted, “Tell him, Grampa!”

“Well, I mean…” Arthur tried to find a proper way to phrase it, before just giving up, “I think this is a matter you two have to solve as fiancées.”

“Dammit, Grampa! H-Hold on, wait.” Anna turned to me, “Fiancées?”

“Yeah, about that…” I pulled out the rings from my pockets now that the cat’s out of the bag, “Actually, the reason I was rushing us home today so much was…”

“W-What?” Anna was driven to tears, “If that’s the case, then yes! Absolutely!”

Jumping for joy a couple of times before embracing me wholeheartedly, Anna was truly experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions today. Honestly, I wanted to postpone the proposal until after we got to a safe place, but seeing as Arthur ratted me out, I guess I had no choice. Heh, she really is happy, isn’t she?

“Oh, you guys getting engaged?” Vivia immediately ruined the mood as she continued gobbling on the food, “Congrats.”

Damn this stupid Princess…