Wow, I actually managed to get this chapter out considerably earlier than expected! Sure hope this will be the case for the next few chapters….
Well, aside from that, really not much else to say other than that I now have Batman Arkham Origins to keep me busy whenever I'm not working on my side project or school work, so I will try to keep the chapters coming out at a decent pace.
Oh, and finally there will be the beginning of some action in this chapter that will last for a few chapters most likely. So I hope you enjoy.
So without further ado, here we go.
Chapter 3
Naruto fumed as he walked down the dirt road, his teeth set in much irritation. It had been a few days since his little chat with Ryuichi atop the Hokage Monument and already he found the idea Ryuichi all but preached to him of slowly opening up to his family to be a very hard task.
The reason why? When he had come home later that day, he was approached by his mother.
Even to this very moment, he could recall virtually every word spoken.
(Flashback Start)
Naruto had spent just a bit more than half an hour hanging out with Ryuichi, simply chatting about what kind of group training they'll do and the likes before finally heading home. He felt he might as well nap away in his bed for the rest of the day since he had nothing else to do.
However, when he got home, he was quite surprised to see Kushina sitting at the dining table, a serious expression on her face.
"… Kaa-san," Naruto eventually greeted after getting over the surprise.
"Naruto." Kushina's voice sounded just as serious as she looked. It made Naruto blink in surprise. "Where were you?" She was rather surprised to see Naruto back this early, though she considered it good fortune since she had just come back downstairs barely a few minutes ago to wait for him.
"Nowhere really. Just out," Naruto replied. He was starting to get a little confused. He would often go days and on rarer occasions, weeks at a time without much of a conversation with either of his parents, so that his mother was apparently trying to start a conversation with him like this was throwing him off a bit.
Kushina just slowly nodded. "I see."
Silence fell upon them both.
Naruto stood where he was, hands in pockets as he tried to figure out just what it was Kushina wanted right now.
As for Kushina herself, she was a bit torn; just how was she supposed to address the issue at hand? Should she just bluntly ask her son about it or should she go for a more subtle approach? Should she try and chat him up calmly for a bit before slipping in a question or two about what happened with Reiko?
The wife of the hokage slightly rocked her head from side to side as she silently mulled over this.
This went on for a moment before Naruto finally broke the silence. "Is something the matter?" he asked, trying to keep the growing annoyance out of his voice as he gave up on trying to figure out what was going on here.
Kushina snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at her son. As soon as she did so, she finally reached her decision on how to proceed. Being an Uzumaki, subtlety was never her strong suit so she went with her usual approach to things. "Did you do anything to Reiko?" she asked calmly.
Naruto blinked in surprise, his eyes widening slightly before they suddenly narrowed in anger. He now knew exactly what this was about; Reiko must have told Kushina what had happened. "No."
Kushina now narrowed her eyes at her son, feeling a little skeptic. There had to be a reason why Reiko had looked so sad. "Reiko came home some time ago, looking crushed. She said you turned down her offer to spend time together."
The eldest Namikaze child did his best to keep a growl from escaping his throat. "Yeah, that did happen," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.
"Why would you do that?" Kushina asked him. "She just wanted to spend some time with you. Is spending time with your imouto so bad that you'd turn her down?"
She had asked this in a confused and almost disbelieving tone of voice. She couldn't understand why such a thing would have happened.
But to Naruto, who had spent very little time with his parents growing up, he didn't register her voice as sounding confused. He registered it as an almost accusatory tone of voice. So it was with this in mind that he decided to retaliate in a way. "So what?" he said. "Just because we're siblings doesn't mean we should have to spend time together. I have better things to do than be around her, the 'hero' of Konoha." He spat the word 'hero' as though it was a curse, as all the years of neglect and being in his sister's shadow began to rear its ugly head.
At the tone he took with her, Kushina actually leaned back in her seat as though she was just smacked. She never would have imagined her son taking such a tone with her. Then her eyes all but began to blaze as it just occurred to her that her child had just talked back. "Naruto," she said very sternly. "How could you say that? The two of you are family! We're all family!"
Naruto's breath hitched and now it was his turn to look as if he was struck. Family. That was a word he never had heard before in a context related to him and the other Namikazes. Then, the shock disappeared and was replaced by anger. "We're family?!" he growled out, loud enough for anyone in the house to hear. "Like hell we are!"
He yelled that so loudly it actually shook the room a bit. Kushina nearly jumped out of her chair, shock etched deeply onto her face. "N-Naruto?" Kushina's voice sounded so quiet now. She had been waiting for him to come with the intention of first asking what exactly had happened with Reiko followed by if there was anything was wrong for him. But now, after he yelled like that, the redhead was now at a loss for words.
She stood up slowly, her eyes, so full of shock and even hurt, never leaving Naruto. "H-How can you say that?" she all but whispered. She had never heard such rage in her son's voice before.
Naruto's glare grew worse. He removed his hands from his pockets and balled them tightly into fists. "You're asking me how I can say that?" Now he sounded much quieter, but the rage was still there. "If you can't figure out the reason why I'm saying that, then I'm not telling you."
Without another word, he turned around and started to walk away.
"O-Onii-chan?" Reiko's voice called out.
Naruto stopped mid-step. He turned his head and looked up at an angle to see Reiko standing at the top of the stairs. His yells must have gotten her attention, if the stiff, almost frightened posture of the girl was anything for him to go by. "Onii-chan, w-what did we do wrong?" she asked as her eyes began to water a bit. She was an emotional girl by nature and the few words Naruto had yelled just now wounded her deeply.
Naruto now turned his glare on her, making take a step back. "What do you do wrong?! You still have fucking figured it out?!" he yelled, his temper beginning to hit its critical point.
His fists clenched even tighter, almost drawing blood. "You know what, screw this," he growled a few seconds later.
Without another word spoken, he stormed out of the house, before either Reiko or Kushina could do or say anything to try and stop him.
(Flashback End)
He had spent the rest of that day out of the house and at the training field, training himself into the ground to work out the anger that had surprisingly overcome that time.
"Should have yelled at them more," he muttered as he continued walking down the dirt road. "And it didn't help me calm down either when he tried to talk to me…."
He spoke of his father, Minato. The hokage, after having heard from Kushina of the talk having gone very bad very quickly, had tried to corner him just the day after that and question him on the matter too. Minato had approached him gently, confused and shocked, but just like what had happened with Kushina, Naruto had registered his voice as sounding slightly accusatory and nearly blew up on him too.
After that second failed talk, he had taken to staying out of the house as much as he could, only returning home long after his parents and sister had gone to bed.
And it was now, on the day that he was to meet up with Miki and Ryuichi for some group training, that Naruto had decided to head out to small village close by Konohagakure to do some shopping. He figured he might as well pick up some snacks for him and his team to have after training and since these healthy little snacks weren't sold in any shops in Konoha, he had to travel outside of the village to get them.
"At least with the snacks, we'll be spending more time out of our homes," Naruto thought, slightly hefting the small bag that he held with his left hand. He really hoped that the group training and the eating of these snacks would take up a considerable amount of time; he still had no intention of heading home anytime before sundown.
As he continued his trek back home, the blond teen couldn't help but think to himself on a few things. Namely, the situation with his family. Though he resolved himself to be out as late as possible for a time, he knew that he couldn't avoid them forever. Reiko knew his hang out spots and his parents were skilled and powerful shinobi that could track him down if need be. And the last thing he wanted for them to look for him and potentially interrupt something.
He walked on in silence until twenty minutes later, as he passed through a particularly large part of the forest that existed between Konoha and many of the minor villages in Hi No Kuni, he heard the sound of running water.
"A waterfall, maybe?" he thought as he came to a stop in the road. He had taken a short way to the minor village and was now taking a longer way back, to enjoy the scenery and silence. Aside from traveling on missions, he rarely got to see and experience certain things so seeing a hopefully large waterfall sounded a bit appealing to him.
He looked up at the sky for a second. "I still have some time before we're supposed to meet up," he thought, "I can afford to spend several more minutes."
With this in mind, the eldest Namikaze child changed course and made his way towards the sound of the running water.
Just like with his walk down the dirt road just now, Naruto took his time walking through the forest towards the water fall, letting his mind go blank so that he can calmly hear and enjoy the sounds of nature all around him.
A few minutes later, he reached a clearing in the forest, an area that was right next to a very small mountain. Sure enough, water poured from what he presumed to be a small stream on the mountain and into a large pond.
He would have enjoyed the small yet peaceful sight were it not for one thing.
Someone was bathing in the pond. Said someone was a teenaged girl. And she was naked. And she also happened to be facing forward in his general direction, giving the young Namikaze a clear view of her body.
"Gah!" Naruto's face turned red as he quickly spun around. He slapped a hand over his face as if to try and rid himself of the sight he had just unintentionally been a witness to.
The sound of splashing water could be heard. Naruto tensed as he could also hear the girl move a bit closer, undoubtedly to try and clobber him for looking, unintentionally or not. "S-Sorry," he muttered, loud enough for the girl to hear, he hoped. "I heard the sound of the waterfall, thought it'd be cool to see it. I had no idea someone would be here… well… bathing…." he said, summing up what had happened quickly and concisely in order to perhaps try and calm what he assumed would be an irate female.
So it was much to his surprise when instead of hearing the girl – "So pale… and those red eyes," Naruto thought – get angry and start yelling at him, he heard a very calm, almost emotionless voice. "…. Who are you?"
Naruto was about to answer that, but stopped before he could even speak when he heard a loud and strange growling sound.
"Ah…." The girl sounded embarrassed.
Hearing her pat her stomach, Naruto cautiously raised his left hand, which still carried the bag. "You…. hungry?"
Back in Konoha, more specifically, training field 13, Ryuichi sat atop one of the boulders there as he waited for Naruto to come so that the team could start their group training.
He was not alone though; Miki was there as well, leaning up against the sakura tree that Naruto cherished so much. A look of slight apprehension and some other emotions Ryuichi couldn't immediately identify was upon her face.
"Miki? Something wrong?" he asked his friend.
"E-Eh?" Miki replied dumbly. Apparently, she had been deep in thought over something.
"Is something wrong?" Ryuichi repeated.
Miki waved him off, but did so just a bit too quickly. "A-Ah, no. It's nothing. Just had a bit of a hard time getting to sleep is all," she answered with a smile, but it was a bit strained.
Ryuichi narrowed his eyes microscopically, easily seeing through the lie. But he decided not to push it; if Miki, a girl who was usually quite outgoing, was being this secretive about something, then it had to be bad. But he couldn't just pressure her into telling him, so he'd have to wait until Miki was a bit calmer before trying to coax the truth out of her.
As for Miki, her thoughts were a mess. Just as she told Ryuichi, she really was suffering from a lack of sleep. Ever since that Takehiko boy had dragged her and others into that Ai Space dimension, she had been a wreck. Granted, at first she was determined to make it through this sick ritual that Takehiko dared to call a game and she was still very much determined to do so, but she had expected him to start the battles not long after announcing Ragnarok's start.
And yet, he hasn't. If it was simply the case of giving them all a full day before invoking Ai Space, then she would understand that, but it's been a few days since he appeared before her and now the tension was beginning to get to her as she realized that he could be activating Ai Space whenever he wanted, even at night.
Wielding a large practice sword in her right hand, Miki clenched it tightly. "And it's not just that either…." she thought in worry.
Remembering very clearly what Takehiko had said about how magi awakened their abilities, her thoughts were focused on one thing in particular: the unknown stones that bond with magi. She recalled the three stones she, Ryuichi, and Naruto had found long ago as kids. "There's no doubt; those things had to be the stones he was speaking of," she thought.
That would mean that like her, Ryuichi and Naruto were magi. Whether or not they had awakened or were even aware of this was unknown to her, but that's not what worried her. What did worry her was whether or not that meant the two of them were also going to be involved in this ritual. She did her best to avoid biting down on her lip. If they were, then that meant that no matter what, they'd have to fight and potentially end up removed from existence. Even though their deaths at some point in Ragnarok would prevent the world from being consumed by Ai Space, the mere thought of them suffering such a fate terrified Miki beyond belief.
"Please don't let them be involved in this," Miki silently prayed. "Please, leave my friends out of this."
If she had expected an answer of sorts to this prayer, she received none. The grip on her sword tightened even more, nearly splintering the hilt. She really hoped her prayer would be answered.
Back with Naruto, the teenaged boy was currently sitting on a particularly grassy spot next to the pond, a slight bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face, his mouth slightly ajar.
"Mmmmmm." The girl – now dressed, much to Naruto's relief, though her clothing did look a little odd to him – was currently munching away on the last of the snacks he had bought.
"And I bought enough to keep us fed for an hour or two…." he thought numbly as the girl had eaten all of the snacks, leaving him to simply be a witness to the surprising gluttony she demonstrated.
If his stare bothered the girl, she didn't show it. Instead, she simply sighed in contentment as she finally finished up the last snack and she slumped back, her red eyes looking up at the sky. "Those…. were some pretty tasty snacks," she commented.
"Y-Yeah," Naruto started, blinking, "Glad you liked them…. Uh..." he trailed off and made a slight a gesture with his hand towards the girl.
She turned and stared at him, confused. Then a form of understanding appeared in her eyes. "Ah, my name's Yuko," she introduced herself, a small smile forming on her face.
Naruto smiled now. "I'm Naruto. Nice to meet you."
Yuko's smile disappeared and she now gazed at Naruto sternly, sizing him up. Naruto simply blinked in surprise at the sudden change, but remained silent. Then, Yuko spoke up a few minutes later. "You're not saying that just because you expect me to pay you back or something, right?"
Naruto's face went from showing confusion at her actions at first to surprise. "What? No!"
Yuko raised an eyebrow. "You sure? How do I know that?" She sounded pretty cautious now, moving away from Naruto a bit. "How…" She was beginning to sound a little uncertain, even a little afraid. "How do I know you won't try and force yourself on me?" She demanded, folding her arms across her chest protectively.
At this, Naruto leapt to his feet in shock. "What?! Why the hell would I do something like that?!"
Yuko seemed to shrink in on herself, her gaze never leaving Naruto. "Cause," she began, "That's what a few other guys I've run into tried to do."
Naruto's breath hitched a bit. She had said it so sincerely that she couldn't be lying and he didn't detect any other sign of deceit either. He prayed that nothing had actually happened to her.
He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "I…. I don't know just who you had the misfortune of running into in the past," he started. He opened his eyes and gazed at Yuko. His eyes contained nothing but complete honesty. "But I would never do anything like that. To anyone."
Yuko just kept looking at him. "How do I know that? You did see me in the buff…. You even blushed…."
At that, Naruto coughed a bit in embarrassment and even lightly blushed. "Y-Yeah, I did, but like I said earlier, I had no idea that someone would be here bathing of all things. And blushing is a natural response to….. well, something like that," he finished lamely.
So it was with this said that he calmly sat back down, his eyes never leaving Yuko. "So…. What do you say? We cool?" he asked.
The red eyed girl simply continued to look at him for a moment longer before cautiously dropping her guard, a small smile slowly appearing on her face again. "Okay…. I believe you then…." she said slowly.
Naruto smiled slowly. "O-Okay then," he repeated awkwardly.
"Sorry…. for being so cautious…." Yuko paused. "Well, not exactly sorry, but…."
Naruto waved her off. "Don't worry about it. If what you said was true, then you had every right to look ready to attack or run." Now it was his turn to pause. "S-Say, sorry if this is blunt or anything, but what you said about guys just now…."
"Ah. No, they didn't actually force themselves on me. I've come across a few bandits that tried that, but I managed to fight them off," Yuko answered.
Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "O-Oh, okay." He felt relieved to hear that; if she really had been…. violated, aside from perhaps taking her to receive some potentially long overdue physical and mental treatment back in Konoha, Naruto honestly wasn't sure what he'd do. Aside from perhaps tracking the bandits down and beating them to a pulp for such a horrific action, of course.
He looked up in surprise when he heard Yuko actually giggle. "You… you're a cool guy," she said, her face slightly red. "Normally people tend to stay away from me for one reason or another, leaving me to myself…. so being able to talk with someone so calmly like this is really nice…." She said this quietly, but Naruto still heard her.
"I see." He sounded almost solemn. "So you must have been on your own too, huh?"
"Eh?" Yuko looked at him confused.
"I've been alone for quite some time too," he began. He looked up at the sky and sighed. "Aside from two very close friends of mine, I really don't have anyone else…. Well, I do have a family, but for the longest time, I've always been ignored by them and everyone else in my village and that's a fact that probably won't be changing anytime soon…" He drifted off as he thought on this. Having been so angry lately at his parents and sister, he hadn't really had a chance to do anything to blow off all that steam, what with Ryuichi and Miki doing their own thing and all until today. So being able to tell someone this, even if said person was someone he just barely met was kind of nice.
The Namikaze teen looked back at Yuko, a small yet kind smile on his face. "I guess that makes us two of a kind in a way. So assuming it's possible, we should probably try to look out for one another, huh?"
The smile dropped though a second later and he blinked in surprise when Yuko's face turned even redder than it was just a moment ago. "Err, Yuko-san?" he called out, using an honorific since they had only met. "You okay?"
"E-Eh?" Yuko seemed a little dazed, as if something was on her mind. "Ah, no, I'm fine." A pause. "Say, do you mind if I call you Naruto-kun?"
Naruto tilted his head in slight confusion, but was still quick to respond. "Ah, go ahead. I don't mind."
"T-Then, Naruto-kun," she said a little nervously.
"Yeah?" Naruto responded.
"C-Can we be friends?" she asked shyly.
Naruto, for the first time in a few days, truly smiled, said smile practically reaching his ears. "Sure."
His smile did freeze in place though when Yuko seemed to stop moving and tried to say something, only for a stutter to come out of her mouth. "Odd. She's acting like Miki does sometimes…." he thought, completely oblivious.
It took a minute or two for Yuko to finally regain her composure, but when she did, she smiled brilliantly. "T-Thanks. This, it really means a lot to me."
"Yeah, same here." Naruto smiled before looking back up at the sky. "Hmm, but I should probably get going to do some group training though; we had promised to meet up today," he thought aloud as he noticed the time.
At that, Yuko looked surprised and sad that her new friend would already be going, and so abruptly too.
Then he looked back at Yuko. "Yuko-san, would you like to come with me?" he asked. "You can come with me to meet my team, if you want. And…. if that's not your thing, we can still talk on the way back."
Yuko looked surprised yet again, but then smiled. "That… that sounds great."
Naruto smiled and then stood. As he did so, he offered his hand to the still sitting Yuko, getting a blush out of her as she grabbed hold of the hand and was helped up by him. No one has ever helped her before, even for mundane things like this.
"Let's go," he said with a smile.
Elsewhere, Takehiko and Katsu watched all of this from afar. The former smirked. "She took a bit longer than I had expected, but she's finally close to the other two participants," he commented as he watched Yuko and Naruto from the top of a mountain a few miles away. Despite the distance, he could see the two of them clearly for all magi, upon awakening their abilities, had enhanced senses. Though by no means infallible, it certainly made seeing and hearing certain things easy.
"So now that she is in the general vicinity of the other two, do you plan to activate Ai Space?" Katsu questioned gruffly from beside the young boy.
"Yes. I'll give them just a few more minutes to approach Konoha and then start the game for good," Takehiko replied.
His larger ally looked at him. "And what of the boy next to her? Won't he notice her disappearing when you activate Ai Space?"
Takehiko snorted. "Oh, he will, but there is nothing he can do about it; once Ai Space is activated, the only way for it to disappear aside from me dismissing it would be for one of the participants to lose. Either that or, of course, they fail to kill anyone and end up letting Ai Space destroy the world."
"Hmph. Tell me then, as great a chance as there is of one of the three participants being defeated, what if such a thing doesn't happen?" Katsu asked. "I highly doubt you'll just let them pass the time limit and watch as Ai Space consumes the world."
The boy turned to face Katsu. "Of course, I do."
Katsu actually looked a bit surprised. He hadn't actually expected him to say that. "Oh, is that so? Then do you plan for us to fight if things don't go your way today?"
Takehiko shook his head. "No. We'll be fighting another day." Then he smirked again. "Instead, if the three of them refuse to fight or simply cannot kill each other, there will be another magus to come along and take one of them out."
Katsu hummed in acknowledgement. "I have the feeling that this magus isn't going to stumble across them by pure chance." He gazed evenly at Takehiko. "I am not the only one you've made an alliance with, am I?"
The boy blinked once, his expression faltering for a second before it returned. "You… you're surprisingly perceptive."
"Headstrong and quick to anger I may be," Katsu commented, fully aware of his faults, "but a fool, I am not."
Chuckling, Takehiko looked away from Katsu. "I see. Very well then, let's start this game." He raised his right arm up and then snapped his fingers.
The sound of a water drop rang out across all of the lands, audible only to the participants of Ragnarok. A brilliant light flooded the world for all of an instant before disappearing to reveal the change that had occurred.
Ai Space had been activated.
"W-What is this?" Ryuichi muttered in shock, getting up off of the boulder he had been sitting on. He immediately took up a defensive stance in case of an attack.
All around him, everything seemed the same as before, but the entire world seemed odd, almost transparent and colored slightly blue. The atmosphere was also different, filled with something that the teen couldn't identify.
"Is this some kind of attack?" Ryuichi pondered aloud.
Then he turned to Miki to see if she was alright. He hadn't expected her to be standing almost ramrod straight, looking at him with wide, terrified eyes.
"No," Miki thought, "No, no, no….." Her prayer had seemingly gone unfulfilled after all.
Back with Naruto and Yuko, the former, much like his friend Ryuichi, was very much surprised by this. "W-What the hell?!" he exclaimed, instinctively taking up a fighting stance when Ai Space had been invoked.
He spun all around, noting that the strange transparent look seemed to apply to everything in the area, at least as far as he knew. "Is this some kind of genjutsu?" he wondered.
Then he spoke to Yuko. "You alright?" he asked, still keeping his guard up in case of an attack.
Yuko didn't respond. "Yuko-san?" he spoke.
Still no answer.
Turning around to see if she was hurt, Naruto was instead surprised to see that Yuko standing perfectly still, her eyes wide in shock. Then Yuko's head slumped forward and her shoulders sagged. "No…. why did you…." she muttered.
"Yuko-san?" Naruto called out, dropping his stance now and walking up to her. Then he stopped when she suddenly began to shake.
"Why did you have to be one….?" Yuko muttered, this time louder than before. She raised her head and Naruto was surprised to see her eyes welling with tears a bit.
"Y-Yuko-san? What is it?"
Instead of actually answering him, Yuko took a few steps, spreading her arms out a bit to the sides. "Naruto-kun…. I'm sorry for what comes next, but…."
Naruto felt a chill run down his spine as an odd aura formed around Yuko. He didn't know what this mysterious energy was, but it definitely wasn't chakra.
"But I need to get my wish fulfilled…" Yuko quietly spoke, her voice slowly becoming devoid of emotion. Then she closed her eyes for all of a second before opening them, the tears that had been forming now gone. "Gate open!"
Naruto was forced to cover his eyes as a flash of light seemed to engulf Yuko. Though it was nowhere near as bright as the flash of light just prior to this strange change in the world, it was still sudden enough and bright enough to be a cause for alarm.
The light stopped and Naruto immediately uncovered his eyes and looked at Yuko.
His jaw dropped slightly at the sight.
Before him, Yuko stood to her full height, her legs and arms shifted from their earlier positions to form a battle stance that he's never seen before. But what had his attention were the four cyclone blades that Yuko held in her hands.
Each blade had three points with curved edges. A number of strange lines and markings were all over the blades and seemed to pulse with the strange energy Naruto had just sensed, said energy flashing from one color to another constantly.
Naruto took a step back, subtly shifting into a battle stance. "Yuko-san….?"
Yuko looked him, her eyes now emotionless, though there seemed to be a glimmer of sadness in her red eyes. "Naruto-kun, I'm sorry that this had to happen, but…."
She raised her arms. As soon as she did so, two of the blades literally levitated out of her hands and proceeded to move until they were positioned just above her shoulders, spinning in place.
"Die for me." That was when Yuko finally attacked.
Yep, cliffhanger, ha ha ha.
I had originally intended to put more action into this, but then ultimately went with the decision to keep pretty much all of the action into one or two whole chapters, rather than put some of the action in half of a chapter. That being said, you guys can expect a good deal of fighting to be taking place over the next few chapters (perhaps less than a few depending on how long I make each chapter too) so suffice to say, all of the major talking is done for the time being.
As for Yuko, well, admittedly, I kind of suck at creating unique weapon designs, so I decided to go with a somewhat modified version of the Aquila weapon from DmC Devil May Cry. That being said, while the general design of the weapons are pretty much the same, the actual abilities of them are vastly different, so you will definitely be in for a treat when I unveil just what they can do.
Anyways, thanks for reading! Hope you look forward to the next chapter!
