Fragments

Ch.14 - A Break From the Chaos

With the passing of another day, the team of Guardians was slowly being rebuilt, their home growing livelier with many different voices and noises. Early in the day, Ku was released from the infirmary, the head injury he sustained having healed, but sadly, he immediately went outside and spoke to nobody. In addition, Rosea's recovery was still anxiously awaited – though the girl's arms were completely healed, she was still unconscious.
Thankfully, the city was at peace despite the recent events, giving everyone ample time to exercise and have fun. The two parts of the Station receiving the most attention were the large training rooms, since they contained everything from traditional gym equipment to sparring rings and places to test abilities. In one of them, unsurprisingly, Reuel hogged almost all the weights for himself, meanwhile Yuu and Min were doing joint training on the room's other end. "Come on!" While throwing jabs at one of Min-jun's shields, the boy intensely focused on the precision of his strikes. He was tasked with hitting two barriers that covered Min's palms as accurately as possible.

"Too open again," Min calmly said while gently pushing his hand into Yuu's side. "You forgot to draw your arm in, you keep focusing too much on attack. If this was a fight, I would've hit you just now." Looking down, Yuu loudly sighed, momentarily giving up as he sat down on the nearest bench. They've been training for half an hour, and neither felt like any progress was made.

"This is exhausting…" Yuu said. "I'd rather eat something, I'm hungry."

"You'll get used to it, I'm sure." Min responded while looking around the room. "Wanna go for some food? We can get something sweet, if you want."

"Sure!" With a burst of energy, Yuu excitedly hopped up and began taking off his gloves.

Yin was alone on the Station's roof, talking to someone through the phone.

Lilly laid in her messy bed, reading a large, ornate-looking book.

And Ku, the unpredictable one of the group, was absent-mindedly sitting on a bench in a nearby park with a baguette in hand.

Everyone found their places again, and the Station became less of a workplace and more of a cozy home. It wasn't just the Guardians feeling relaxed, however, as the city in general appeared to be happier. Calmer. Stalls, booths and various minigames were being constructed across the street from the Station, all in preparation for one of the world's only holidays – the Zenshin Festival.
Due to the world's sorry state, the fear of Reaper attacks and their collateral damage, large public gatherings such as different festivals and holidays were almost completely abolished. The Zenshin Festival was exempt from this only because its existence ties to the world's most popular religion. It is unofficially referred to as the Day of Peace.
Suddenly, with the ornate book in hand, Lilly ran down to the training room Yuu and Min were in. "Guys! Guys!" Loudly opening the door, she yelled into it excitedly.

"What? Did you curse yourself by accident?" Reuel poked at the girl's sudden appearance.

"N-no! The festival's today!" She said, waving her arms around to get attention.

"Yeah, I've heard!" Yuu said to Lilly while turning away from Min. "We were just about to get food, wanna go together?"

"Hm? What's this about?" Min asked, feeling left out. He recalled hearing about a popular yearly event, but from his lack of general knowledge, he was a shut-in before he became a Guardian and never checked it out.

"Min, how can you not know?!" Lilly angrily yelled at him. "It's a holiday! We can't miss it! Yuu, let's go right now and have fun!" Due to how rare of an occasion holidays were in the world, it was no wonder Lilly, alongside a lot of other people in the city, felt excited.
Though, her happiness was interrupted when Asuma appeared behind her like a ghost, which scared the small girl. She screamed in panic and hid behind Reuel, looking both comical and a little sad. "Stop doing that! You're scary!"