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The night where Arin and Sora escape the underworld and run away from Ras is really tiring for them. Not only did they run away from him, but also Arin himself foolishly trusted someone like Ras of all people, truly believing his parents were dead. It really did damage to his own mental and energy as his own willpower was drained by his influence.
“You okay?” Sora asked, her face was now patched with a bandaid on her cheek. Arin still felt guilty he had almost sacrificed her because of him trusting Ras words and manipulation. He almost lost the person who's close to him, the second most important person in his life. He sighs, a strained smile on his lip, “yeah…. I mean– No. Not really” he said as Sora sat next to him.
“We almost died back there… you almost died because of me…” He said with full of guilt in his voice as tears escaped his eyes, he curled into a ball, hiding his head onto his knees. Somehow the thought of losing Sora was more sad and hurtful than anything happens if the sacrifice were successful. “Because of me, we both got led into something dangerous and… I let Ras manipulate me all this time” he kept blaming himself and apologizing about how it was all his fault for anything happening to himself and her.
Sora put her hand on his shoulder, expressing how concerned she was about him. “It's also my fault. I was the one who tried to be in your way, I tried to make you not concerned about your problem or anything. If anything it's also kinda my fault” she said and pulled Arin into a hug, as the boy couldn't help to hug her tightly and let out a tear onto her shoulder. Sora then comforted him and caressed his hair to calm himself up.
“We're in this together… you don't need to feel sad anymore. We are both still here. I miss us” she admitted and even hugged him tighter than Arin hugged her. “We both are stupid, aren't we…” He asked as the two let out a small laughter between themselves,
“yeah, I guess we are…”
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A few hours later, the two went ahead far away from the underworld as they rode on their own bike and drove far far away from Ras who might have followed them. They didn't know how but they somehow got themselves arrived at the mysterium and stopped at some ice cream stall nearby.
“So how is everything?” She asked, Arin just shrugged but he still smiled nonetheless as he enjoyed the ice cream as he kept staring at Sora who was happily licking and enjoying her ice cream. There was a bit of the cream on the side of her mouth. She didn't notice it and she kept enjoying her dessert in peace until she could feel Arin was observing her. “Hmm? What is it Arin? Does there something wrong?” she asked as Arin didn’t say anything, but his action was faster than he was about to say something. He then took a small napkin that he had in his pocket and cleaned the cream on Sora’s cheek while he snickering at how adorable she was. Like a small kitten being taken care of by its owner, “you have some cream on your cheek, hmm blueberry” he said and even went back to eat his ice cream.
He definitely didn’t see her face turning into a ripe strawberry color, a small steam came out from her head as she kept staring at him with agape expression. “You’re such a tease… idiot” she said under her breath, still blushing as she continued to eat her dessert. Cannot stop thinking of what just happened.
As the night came, both Arin and Sora decided that they need to maybe take the night wherever they are now, since it's already night and also they are pretty sure far from Ras. “We should make a campfire here. We could continue our journey tomorrow morning” Arin suggested to her and the two agreed to stay the night in the wild. And so, Sora was tasked to gather the firewood as Arin searched for something for them to eat, hopefully something that is edible enough.
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After searching enough material and food, both teenagers decide they share a blanket. Since apparently Arin only brought one and Sora didn’t have any time to bring anything with her at the time. So that’s how they ended up sharing the same blanket while staring at the starry sky above them, the heat from the blanket and the campfire were enough for them to survive the night. They used to do like this before even met the ninjas or even have this world saving problem happen.
“It’s quite beautiful, the star.” Arin said as Sora couldn’t help but to agree more to him, “yeah, it does. Just like we used to do this, right?” she asked back as the two of them laughed it off as if it was the normalest thing to happen to them. They kept talk about everything that has happened these past two years and even what happened while the two of them splitting up, from how Sora learned to bake a pie from Frak and even to Arin told her about the time Ras acting like a grumpy fat cat while he also got a plushie of Lloyd from a kid that had helped him before.
As it started to get even more dark than before, and the fire began to dim, Sora was already starting to get sleepy and so did Arin. “You know, I'm glad…” Arin started and Sora then looked up at him, “glad because of what?” she asked back, Arin only let out a small chuckle and smile as he kept staring at the skies.
“Everything. The fact we stick together even after we separated for a while back there… thank you”
“You don’t have to thank me though…. I should be the one who’s thanking you” she said as that made the teenage boy look confused.
Sora stared again as she played with the sleeves of Arin’s hoodie. “If I hadn’t met you in the first place, I don't think I would be like this. I don’t think I would be free with you. So thanks… and I—” Sora didn’t have time to finish her words as she felt Arin’s already fallen asleep on her shoulder. She smiled and covered him up more with the blanket, even gave him a small kiss on his head. “Love you… and sweet dream” she sighs as she also sleeps for the night, putting her head right on top of Arin’s head. Whatever happens in the future, she knows she and Arin will stick together. Even if they change for the good of themselves.