Okay. I admit that it's getting harder and harder to write each day when work life takes up most of my energy each day. I miss writing like in school days...

A small thank you to favourites and followers out there, by the way!

Chapter five: At Parthia Plaza

4/08, Sunday: Morning; Anna's

It wasn't a school day on Sundays and under normal circumstances it would have been a time to rest or prepare for the upcoming school term the following day. But Robyn was in need of fresh school supplies and a new set of clothes. Morgan was at home taking care of the house, despite her age. Either she was setting up traps for any possible thieves or preparing another stack of tomes to welcome Robin back home.

She couldn't conceive wearing her school uniform everyday – there had to be a change of clothes for the weekends. Strangely enough, she had been allowed to keep wearing her school uniform from her former school at Plegia City School (in the neighbouring country of Perezia). But then again, Tharja herself wore the same uniform. Robyn supposed Ylisstol High had made it an exception – and a regular – to allow transfer students from that particular foreign school to wear their old uniforms here.

Then again, that was her life for the past year, being able to wear the same Plegia School uniform to class. Albeit in this reality, things might be a little different in that she would be one more transfer student to Ylisstol High.

Breakfast was also brief too. Just one helping each of a pineapple bun that they took with them on the road. They ate similarly too, being careful not to drop any crumbs of the sweet crust on top of the bun that gave the bun's iconic appearance. Robyn also noticed that Robin ate with the same care and pace that she did, even if they were walking downhill on Ylisse Street toward the enormous department store that was called Anna's.

Practically a landmark of the city, Anna's took up a lot of space within the city centre. It had everything from groceries to electronics to toys to school supplies. It even boasted a food court, as if designed to draw customers in. It was normally busy in there, but the store was big enough for some spacing, and its regular volume of sales kept it well in business. Anna's competed by pricing out other businesses with essentially wholesale prices, which was the death of any small business here.

Robyn and Robin spent time picking out standard school supplies that Robyn might need. Funding might have been a problem, and Robin's father had only provided a limited amount of cash for such supplies. But being the careful one he was, Robin spared enough leftover cash 'just in case' if he ever needed more supplies. Now was definitely the time to use the cash. It was a good thing Robyn already had her old uniform with her, so that saved some funds.

"Do you have anything else you need?" Robin asked. Robyn had gotten the basic supplies that she needed like paper, binders, and even a new calculator. Then there was also a fresh box of pencils and a sharpener – the same brand that he used, but it was a typical brand.

"That's it for supplies. Now for clothes," Robyn replied. She made her way to the clothes section of the store.

And that was a bit of a worry for Robin because he had no idea if he had enough leftover funds to even buy clothes! Not that he was acting as Robyn's shopping buddy or that this was a date or something, but clothes might strain his resources. At this rate, he and Robyn were going to need to find was sustain themselves. For now, it was okay.

In the end, Robyn picked out a sweater, scarf, skirt, leggings, boots, and even underwear. Fresh clothes, which helped because Robyn neither had a wardrobe here and she suspected that it would impossible to go to her old world to get them. Of course, she needed nightclothes and so bought a set.

And furthermore, this was totally out of Robin's expertise or judgement to pick clothes; mainly because he had no idea what a girl would prefer. And his other self, not to mention! So this was at least one difference between him and Robyn. Plus, he got to learn a little what his female self would have liked to wear. It was also a strange feeling too, seeing that he saw a mirror image of himself walking and shopping around. He wondered how many people would have mistaken them for twins.

"Well, what do say for lunch?" Robin said.

4/08, Sunday: Afternoon; Parthia Plaza, Marutama Ramen

Parthia Plaza was, in stark contrast to Anna's, essentially the bastion of independent businesses that had survived the onslaught of the arrival of Anna's. After all, it was common knowledge in the corporate world that Anna's competed on price and threatened independent businesses in its area wherever it went. Yet Parthia Plaza had specialist shops, a handful of restaurants, and even an arcade. There was even a bakery and sweet shop that Anna's couldn't match. If there was one thing that helped these independent businesses survive, it was the specialisations of each business that had grouped into a single environment.

And of course, it was a favourite place to hang out for locals with its rich diversification. That was something Anna's could never achieve. Its atrium, for instance, had a water fountain to complete its look. Interesting that Parthia Plaza and Anna's were located across the street from each other!

The other, more well-known example, was the independent business called Marutama Ramen. Its noodles were soft as pillows and its broth – likely pork-based – was a local secret with a golden-like appearance. As amazing as Marutama Ramen was, it was also modest, having a very small shop-like appearance that no one would have guessed it was famous ramen shop from the outside. Nor did it try to be anyway. The nature of Marutama Ramen was to not condemn itself to the tourist trade – that was the opposite of its intentions. Rather it just wanted to be a place for the residents of Iris-shi to eat well and be well fed.

And so that ramen shop became a local secret within Iris-shi. In one of the booths, Robin and Robyn sat together and with big bowls of Marutama Ramen's staple: three slices of chashu pork, two pieces of nori, one marinated egg, and a heap of green onion and bamboo shoots. It was all of that bathed in Marutama Ramen's 'golden' broth. Robyn could eat two of these at once but knew that she wouldn't need to eat dinner later on.

At first she didn't have an appetite as her thoughts were still lingering on her new reality and her old one that she couldn't get back. And then her thoughts went to Naga and the Fire Emblem. But her thoughts immediately dissolved the moment the ramen arrived, and it came rather quickly.

"Thanks for the food," Robyn and Robin said together.

Smiling sheepishly at the same time also, they started eating. Robyn then started to realise just how hungry she was and recalled she hadn't eaten dinner yesterday, and breakfast this morning clearly wasn't enough. The two of them ate quietly, enjoying the famous flavour of Marutama Ramen for the next few minutes.

When they had cleared off the nori and half of their chashu, Robin then went to business. "We have little time to prepare for you coming to school. We'll have to buy books from the bookstore – and don't worry about which ones. I'll get you up to speed. But apart from that…"

"You want to know about that shield I carry around," Robyn finished for him.

Either it was obvious or Robyn knew that was exactly on Robin's mind. But she had to give him credit too because she had already displayed too much of a mystery the first time he saw it. The first time he asked her about it yesterday, Robyn admitted she didn't know how it worked. Still, there wasn't any harm in sharing a bit more of her story?

"It was given to me from the Divine Dragon herself," Robyn said. "I know it might sound strange, but that's what happened. All I'm told is that this is the key to saving your world. I – it's like trying to make up for something, okay?"

She had expected Robin to brand her a madwoman, but Robin merely nodded. For what it was worth, given he was literally talking with another version of himself, anything was possible. If it wasn't Robyn but some other stranger, there would be room for doubt. But Robyn was something else. She was much different than any other stranger could be.

While Robyn went back to her food (though she lost some of her appetite), Robin said, "I'm not doubting you, but if we look at this clinically, we need more clues than that. What else can we work on? That shield won't tell us the answers on its own."

"The Divine Dragon did mention to me about watching the daylight hours, but that's about it." Robyn put down her chopsticks, having finished her serving of noodles. All that was left was to finish the soup. It may have cooled down a bit, but one mouthful was enough to send a feeling of warmth throughout her body all the way to the tips of her toes.

Robin joined Robyn in eating. He too was finishing his bowl and was helping himself to the broth. "And what exactly happened to your world, then?" he asked, but was met with a sad shake from Robyn's head. "…I see, you're still not ready? Then let's talk something else…" His eyes wandered away. "You mentioned daylight hours, huh? We could always monitor the time of day when the sun rises and sets. That might be a start. But I think today can wait. We have school to worry about."

4/08 Sunday: Evening, Robin's Residence

They took their time looking for good deals on books that Robyn would need for class. It was fortunate that the bookstore was located just a five-or-so minute southward walk from Parthia Plaza. From the bookstore, the train station was in view too. Ideally, Robyn and Robin wouldn't spend too long at the bookstore as Robin knew exactly what Robyn needed. But this was the bookstore. Aside from textbooks, there were also books and novels; the sort of stuff Robyn and Robin liked to read. So they ended up spending time browsing manga before dark. Robyn also shared with Robin the story of her encounter with Anna at the school and how she had to trade her half-read novel for help. That led Robin to scoff, wondering whether he would have done likewise.

And walking uphill back home took time with a load of books with them. Instead of taking Ylisse Street back home, they used an alternate, parallel street to Ylisse Street that passed by the city park of Iris-shi that was a lake. Robyn knew that lake well because that was Amatsu Park, the very place where she had lived her last moments of her reality. Would she live to see that horror again?

Across the gate of Amatsu Park was a stretch of road that went uphill and past a few blocks of houses and would cross Ylisse Street eventually at the top. And after crossing Ylisse Street, it was only a matter of minutes before Robin's home would be in sight.

When they got home, surprisingly there was no stack of tomes waiting to collapse on them when they went through the door. They instead found Morgan reading a chess book that was filled with thousands of simple puzzles and how to checkmate in one turn, two turns, or three. Being the young girl she was, Morgan only stuck with the mate in one puzzles.

"Welcome back," she would greet. "Robyn onee-chan, welcome back too."

Robyn wouldn't have thought she would ever hear those words spoken to her from Morgan again. Still feeling a little bitter over the death of 'her' Morgan, she nodded back politely.

Within the next hour, Robyn was showering, with the feeling of warmth entering her body from the water. Even this shower felt like home, but then again, it was the same home after all. Just with another version of 'her', which she didn't need to keep reminding herself. While showering, Robyn's thoughts went back to the Fire Emblem. How would it help in the days to come? In any case, she decided she was going to make her room as liveable as she liked.

Now that she had changed and was preparing for bed, Robyn took a good long look at her room. The bed, desk, and shelves were in the same place as she knew them. Only the desk and shelves were empty, but if she had time she would fill them. Well, her newly bought books would be a start. Then she heard knocking on the door, so she went to open it and found Robin standing there, also in nightclothes.

"You told me earlier you traded away your half-read book, right? I thought you might like it if you could continue where you left off." He offered the exact same novel to her, with the bookmark in the exact same place where she had left off.

Robyn may have been depressed, but a small act like this did bring a smile back to her again. "I'll be sure to give it back to you." She gratefully took the novel with her.

"Just don't spoil anything when you do, okay?" Robin said.

Smiling, Robyn closed the door. "You know I won't," she replied, and then she climbed onto bed, turned on the desk lamp beside her, and opened the book where the bookmark was. It was as if yesterday hadn't happened and she had carried on everyday from where she had left off. Her hair wasn't in twin tails anymore and was down, so she did have to brush her hair aside occasionally.

And Robyn also kept an eye on her clock, knowing how much time she had before sleep too. She wondered how she might be received by the school tomorrow.