IV: Abschussen im Dunkeln

[Nayt]

Usurii sat back, slouched in the couch and folded her arms over her diaphragm. She refrained from sighing. She was happy Isac was trying to help, but . . .

"If you don't know where they are, then how can you find them?"

She averted her eyes and stared at the floor. It was times like these that Isac's memory would have been greatly beneficial to all of them, but that was regrettably not an option. At least, not a viable option. Usurii wasn't going to hurt him for her sake, survival instincts or no.

"It's a big world, Isac."

And their travel was fairly restricted, especially if they weren't going to go through the usual means. There were specific Ersatzshad that could send a person to a particular place, but they were contracted. You had to get through a bit of bureaucracy--including a lot of explaining "why" you were leaving--to get the go ahead to leave.

[Zach Kaiser]

"It is, but..."

He sorted through it in his head. Yes, he knew how to get there, of that he was certain. How he knew how to get there, or if it was really the most efficient way to get there he was less sure of. But there was a route he knew to take. The trick was in the starting point.

"I know it's in that country with the paper doors and lanterns and things...and we start from a crater. One the size of a city."

Hebe, a city that disappeared in a flash of light a little over a decade ago. If Usurii knew anything of recent history, she would have probably heard of it. A great manhunt was started for the demon that supposedly caused it. It was three years until the demon was found and slain, by an influential samurai whose entire family had resided in the city at the time of the incident.

[Nayt]

"Paper doors and lanterns?" Usurii looked at him again.

She mullet it over for a second. She'd seen a lot of memories, and a lot of places they were set in. She couldn't sort out a lot of these places that well. That one was fortunately vague, though. And also, the last detail was fortunately very specific and very memorable.

"Oh. Cizok?" She asked rhetorically, "Probably Hebe? Either that or the Imperial City. I haven't seen any other places with large craters in or near them."

Still, the starting point was way too specific, even if Isac figured out which city it was.

"Isac, I ... we can't count on going anywhere specific. You know that, right? I don't want to ask a contracted person to take us anywhere. They ... they ask too many questions." But they were also the only ones good at their jobs.

[Zach Kaiser]

"W-Well..." Okay, that was kind of a flaw in the plan. It didn't do them much good knowing where a doctor was even if they couldn't be sure they'd even get there. The contracted people were too risky, they'd want to know why, and if they told them...

Oh, duh. Isac suddenly smiled. It was such a simple solution! "Don't worry, they have no reason to be suspicious of us! After all, we're just going because I remembered something, and there might be a clue there, right?"

They couldn't tell them they were going somewhere because Usurii was sick, but they could tell them they were going somewhere because he was trying to recover his memory. Which wasn't even technically a lie, though getting Usurii to a doctor took priority.

[Nayt]

It was times like these that Usurii would have liked it more if Isac knew a little more about his own history. He'd have understood the flaws in that plan, then. Telling him no, now, became a little difficult. Even if they were let through, they wouldn't be allowed to go alone.

"Isac ..." she frowned, "You know they'd want us to be escorted. And you to be watched ..."

Were that not the case, it would've actually been a pretty great plan.

"We can probably get someone who isn't contracted, but ... um ..." Usurii trailed off, "they're ... usually not that, um, fond of Master, and aren't too great at transport."

[Zach Kaiser]

"Oh, would they?" He frowned; he was fairly certain last time they'd gone to the human world they hadn't been watched or supervised or anything. Maybe it was different when they were on a mission?

Fortunately, he didn't put too much thought into why someone would want to keep an eye on them (or more specifically, him). He was more concerned with solving the problem at hand.

"Well...I suppose. I guess that means we should just be prepared for some walking, huh?" After all, as long as they were on the right continent they could get there sooner or later.

Though, he did just thing of another snag in the plan. "If we go, though, what are we going to do about Mimi? Take her with us?" They couldn't exactly leave her to fend for herself in any case, and asking someone else to take care of her would be a pretty big sign that they were going somewhere, which wasn't good if Usurii wanted it to be a secret.

[Nayt]

Yeah, that was probably the only opportunity they had. Walking for an indeterminate amount of time didn't sound like Usurii's favorite thing in the world to do, but it wasn't like they were struck with urgency. They had all the time in the world, as far as she knew.

But that feeling changed once Isac mentioned Mimi ...

"Oh, crap." Usurii groaned.

Having Mimi around was like caring for a child. It was nice and comforting to know they could keep her safe and sound, but Usurii suddenly realized how frustrating it could be if she had something to do and no way to make arrangements for Mimi. And like hell was she going to let anyone else look after her ...

"I ... I ... I have no idea." Usurii paused. "We could ... take her with us, I guess?"