A Heart's Thoughts

Day 22 - Part 2

[A/N: for those of you who forgot, Eriline is the Empowered city the group is from.]

The color drained from Antony's face and Cecilia, too, had stopped laughing upon discovering their location.

Anthony thanked the girls and pulled Cecilia with him as he walked away, stopping only after walking a few blocks. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh, stress becoming visible on his face.

"We're in Japan."

"I know, I heard those girls."

Cecilia tried to remain calm, both to stay in control of the situation and to calm Anthony down as well.

Anthony let out another frustrated sigh, "they said we're in Hokkaido. Look around you, we're surrounded by mountains but there's no way there's enough forest around here to hide an entire city. And last time I checked out the view in Eriline, I didn't see any mountains. How is this possible, Cecilia?"

Cecilia folded her arms, "maybe we stepped into a different dimension when we crossed the border? Or maybe this is another consequence of the drama going on with those timelines Clover is trying to fix?"

Anthony let out a frustrated sigh as he shift his weight from one foot to another and looked around at his surroundings before dropping his head, shoulders hanging low, "this is impossible."

Cecilia stared at him for a moment before taking a step closer to him and pulling his cheeks.

"waa-aaah "

Anthony tried to protest but his words didn't quite come out the way he'd wanted. When Cecilia finally let go, Anthony took a step back and placed both hands on his cheeks as he gave Cecilia a look of betrayal, "what was that for?!"

Cecilia crossed her arms, "you were looking too serious so I figured you might lighten up if I surprised you."

Anthony looked away, still rubbing his cheeks as he mumbled, "there are plenty other, more enjoyable ways to surprise me."

Cecilia chuckled, "I heard that."

Antony cleared his throat, "so, now that we know where we are, what are we going to do now?"

Cecilia folded her arms, "look around? The first thing to do when you're lost, is to familiarize yourself with your surroundings."

Anthony sighed and grabbed hold of Cecilia's arm before starting to walk, "off we go then. Finding a library would be a good start, right? If we're lucky, they'll have search engines we could use."

Cecilia looked up at Anthony in wonder, "and here I was thinking you were only good at being stubborn and impulsive, but you're actually capable of coming up with useful ideas."

Anthony sighed, "Cecilia, you're the last person I want to hear talking about stubbornness."

Cecilia didn't say anything after that, knowing Anthony was right, and instead, let him lead her further into the city.

"Uhm, Anthony, is it just me or is everything starting to look rather... abandoned?"

Anthony shook his head, "it's not just you, this place looks like a ghost town."

"Just look at all those empty houses," Cecilia moved away from Anthony to take a closer look inside one of the abandoned houses, "hey, this place is still fully furnished! You think we'd get into trouble if we break into one of these houses and settle in?"

Anthony walked closer to Cecilia, grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the window, "I don't know if we'll get in trouble, but I don't think staying in these houses would be any better than staying in that factory. They're both abandoned places, but at least in the factory we're out of sight from any locals."