A LEAP OF FAITH

Chapter 27: I thought you said I could trust you.

Mugi walked swiftly around the deep forests. It was quiet, and surprisingly, peaceful. It was a lot nicer traveling alone, rather than with loud hooligans that fought constantly. Despite being the hall of elements, everyone was incredibly immature.

He glanced around, "Where could he be...?" He said aloud, a bit frustrated at the fact that it's been several days, and Kiren still hasn't been found. Mugi stopped in his tracks when he heard a particular sound coming from nearby.

"Kiren?" He called out, looking around. He heard quiet sobbing from just a few trees ahead of him. He heard the person's breathing quickened as they shuffled to their feet. "Kiren, is that you?" Mugi said again, walking closer and closer to the sounds.

"No, I'm- um... my name is...Patricia...!" A fake girly voice said. It was evident that it was Kiren.

"We've been looking for you for the past few days, Kiren, where have you been?" He saw Kiren standing directly in front of him. His face was flushed and blotchy, it was evident he had been crying.

"Look, I'm sorry for running away like that, my anger got the best of me, and..." Kiren's voice cracked and broke as he trailed off into a mess of sobs. Mugi sighed softly and sat down on the grass, patting the spot beside him. He hated comforting people, he didn't understand other people's emotions that well, considering he barely had any of his own. He was terrible at being empathetic, but he knew Malcolm was very special to the poor boy, so he had to at least be nice to him. Kiren sat down next to him, hugging his knees tightly to his chest. "I just... I could've prevented it, but I didn't, and now he's dead and it's all my fault..." he said shakily.

Mugi sighed and patted his back, "You did your best, Kiren, and that's all that matters, okay? What Malcolm did was his choice, and I'm sure there was a reason for that, and it most definitely wasn't because of you," he explained softly.

Kiren nodded, sniffling, "But why...? Why couldn't he just... y'know, say his last goodbyes to me?" He mumbled.

"I don't know, I really don't... but I understand dealing with death is difficult and confusing. But you just can't run away from it, alright?" He glanced up at him, "I'm sure Malcolm wouldn't want you to give up."

Kiren smiled through his tears, "Yeah... he wouldn't..." he said just above a whisper, easing his posture. "I didn't know you were such an expert on dealing with stuff like this." He chuckled softly, wanting to switch up the subject. He didn't want to talk about Malcolm.

"Ah, well, I lost someone very dear to me... I had to figure out how to manage it on my own." Mugi shrugged, looking the other way.

"Really? Who?" Kiren asked curiously. Mugi considered responding with a snarky comment, but he knew Kiren was genuinely curious to know.

"My sister... Miyu..." he said softly, "she was one of the children to die during the avalanche." He lowered his head, his bangs falling over his face.

"Shoot... that was your sister...? How come you never told us-?" Kiren asked in surprise.

"I'm... not the biggest fan of sharing my hardships with others. I'm working on it, though... I know I need to get better with working as a team..." he mumbled.

"Glad to hear you're trying to do better, buddy." Kiren grinned and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, pulling him into a hug. Mugi awkwardly patted his hand, not knowing what to do. "Anyways... how are we gonna get back to the others...?" Asked Kiren.

"Well, we agreed that after a week, we'd all meet back at this one particular spot. I made a trail that leads back to the spot, so we can get back easily," Mugi explained before standing up, brushing himself off.