Having passed through the well-constructed walls surrounding the admittedly shocking city of Iwatayama, the hesitancy in Andrei's joints slowly ebbed away after he found a nice resting place in an alleyway, leaning up against a wooden crate as he dozed off on the cobbled stone streets. Warm smells of a nearby bakery wafted down the alley, and the hints of forested fresh air descended from above as glimmering half-Chimeric birds fluttered and sung overhead. Phanes found his place on Andrei's lap, finally splitting from Suzuko after several days of the two being stuck together.
Not one to be separated from her new friend, Suzuko found a spot right beside Andrei, pushing him closer to the wall so that she could sit next to him and play with Phanes as the cat tried to sleep. Her black wood mask grinned as she played, and the large orange cat eventually reciprocated her attention, swatting at her large, loose sweater sleeves.
The others, save for Inoshishi and Hattori, had gone off from their resting place, the two men sticking by the one Chimera they could both agree on. The wolves of Dove, Raiju and Ainu, had stayed with them the whole day, barking occasionally and waking Phanes from his sleep. Inoshishi did his best to quiet them, and Hattori reluctantly cleaned his spear as he leaned against the wall of a sheet metal building, using a smeared cloth to polish the tip of his weapon. "Can't believe they told us that they wouldn't let any sorta' Chimera into anywhere." Inoshishi said, looking back to his brother and the others.
"Eh. There's a precedent for troublemakers I guess, especially if that Vivian girl and Bayashi are from around here." Hattori said. It was a matter of fact, at least in his opinion. "Speaking of... those two won't cause any trouble together, will they 'Drei?"
Opening one of his warm amber eyes, he looked over Suzuko and Phanes, towards Hattori and Inoshishi. "Probably not. If they do, we can handle 'em. They don't have whatever weird core was lodged in 'em now, so they don't really have a reason to." He closed his eyes again, crossing his arms and yawning as hair fell over his sealed eyelids. "I think they only went to see the place again... if I were to guess, they don't get around often."
As Hattori and Andrei talked, Suzuko and Phanes between them like two children, Raiju and Ainu leapt onto all fours, beginning to bark more frantically, bolting to the entrance to the main road. Inoshishi jogged after them, and both Andrei and Hattori looked over alongside Suzuko, who had been dragged from her own little world. Pausing at the edge of the alleyway, Inoshishi threw out his arms in greeting. "Hey! Look who finally turned up!"
Stepping into the shaded, homely alley, a black-clad woman in thick leathers, with a worn duster and a slightly torn cowboy hat smirked as her black and white wolves leapt onto her, causing her to stumble back a bit as they lapped at her face, tails wagging excitedly. "Hmm... Maybe Raiju and Ainu aren't as bad as I thought." said the woman, nodding to Inoshishi.
Hattori couldn't help but give a hesitant, tired smile, and wave her way. Andrei did the same, and Suzuko nearly jumped to her feet... after all, this one of the saviors of her people! "Dove!" The two teenagers said in unison, while Hattori was much less enthusiastic, far more mature with his greeting. "Glad to see you made it." Hattori added on to his own statement. "What about Big-Hat and the Merchant Company?"
Dove gently pushed her wolves down back onto all fours, patting Raiju on the head before scratching the chin of Ainu. Looking back to Hattori, she shrugged, her brow twisting into something confused. "Lost 'em the night of the storm. Raiju and Ainu probably only picked you guys up 'cause of chain-chest's Chimera power, if I'm being honest." She nodded to Andrei, and by proxy Suzuko, who waved back. "Glad to see you're still kickin', kid. You're pretty tough for a Chimera, even by my standards."
Andrei nodded and thanked her, complimenting her own tenacity before Inoshishi jumped back into the conversation. "So... nobody else? Just you?" He pondered, the rest of the group save for Suzuko and himself knowing that answer, or so they thought.
YOU ARE READING
CALAMITY CORE : FREE THE WORLD
Action- BOUND THE WORLD - After falling from the sky in a blaze of glory, without so much as a memory to his name, and cleaving a path through the whole of the Tokyo Dead Zone with the discovery of his nature as a half-human half-Chimera, a monster from a...
