An Hour and a Half Later, On the Way to Luna Mountain

Gaga walked quickly, and if Onua were not so swift a mover herself, she'd have been left behind by his agitated strides. Gaga was still seething inwardly at Niko's unprecedented behavior. Onua had said nothing this entire time, giving him time to cool off on his own, but it didn't look like that was going to happen. She sighed, turning her thoughts towards their surroundings. They were only half an hour's trek from the base of Luna Mountain.

Unlike most mountains, Luna didn't have real foothills. Instead, it stuck out of the ground like someone had simply set it there, and the forest grew right up to its base. The woods here were rather pleasant, somewhat more open than most. So far, it had been a pleasant journey, except for Gaga's bad mood. She sighed again, with satisfaction, breathing in the clean air.

Gaga noticed the contented sigh, and looked up for the first time since they had left. He realized that he'd completely missed most of their journey so far, because of his irritation. He slowed down to a more comfortable pace, and took the time to look at the environment. As he took it in, he finally began to calm down, and turned to Onua. "I'm sorry for snapping at Niko, Onua-san, I shouldn't have done that."

"That's alright; I can understand why you were angry. And it was a good idea for you to come along. You were right, and Papa was being stubborn."

Gaga was slightly surprised at how quickly she agreed with him over her father, but didn't say anything about it.

They walked on in a comfortable silence for a while, and then Onua said, "You know what? I'm glad you came along. It's never been just the two of us before. I like it." She clasped her hands behind her back and looked up at the sky, a happy smile on her face.

Gaga was startled, he hadn't thought of it like that. Though really, I should have. It will be three days with just me and Onua-san. We'll be…alone together… Gaga flushed red, and hoped that Onua didn't notice.

Oh my goodness! I shouldn't have come, but I was just so angry, I didn't even think about it! What am I going to do? He glanced over at Onua, who seemed completely unconcerned. Nothing. I can't go back now; it would waste too much time, and then who would help Onua-san? No, this was really the only thing I could do, but I still don't feel very comfortable with it…

He tried no to think about it, but failed. To distract himself, he tried paying more attention to the details of the walk, but found his eye drawn to Onua. He remembered his first thoughts and impressions of her; how he'd thought that she was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen. Those thoughts came back strongly to him now, and nothing he saw changed his mind.

Onua was incredibly lovely, from her ebony hair and flawless complexion, to her exquisite figure and vivid green eyes, to her fine-boned frame and graceful, swaying walk. In fact, his appreciation was intensified, because he now knew that she wasn't beautiful merely on the outside, but on he inside as well. She was intelligent, clever, honest, discerning, kind, practical, and sincere; she was the perfect mixture of pragmatism and spontaneity. For a few brief moments, he allowed himself to simply appreciate her, and then he snapped himself out of such daydreams as Onua said, "Look, Gaga-san!" They had arrived at the base of Luna Mountain.