"Thank you Mrs Irina, say hello to Albert from me!" Lea cheered at an elder lady he had just purchased a bag of grapes from which he was now holding in his hands.

"Always such a pleasure to see you Lea." The woman chuckled.

Isa merely observed the interaction that was very normal for them, happening nearly every day. Lea always made a point out of knowing everyone he met by name, and in return they were sure to always remember his.

Lea always seemed to strive among many people, he was always well liked and welcomed. The way he would always address people by name and ask about their lives just seemed to cheer them up, and he to seemed the happiest when he was being noticed and surrounded by people.

In fact, Lea was always beside himself when he was forced to be alone, it never sat well with him. Only a few times had Isa caught Lea getting himself lost by mistake, and immediately Lea would attach himself to Isa so he wouldn't be alone.

It was something Isa had learned about his friend early on. Lea didn't like being alone. Not ever, not for any reason. He always needed to hang around someone, and that someone... Just happened to be Isa most of the time.

Isa on the other hand had never been a fan of such big crowds nor that much attention, he liked the quiet and merely sitting in silence with a book.

He could not deny though, that he liked observing. There was a nice warmth to being able to merely sit on a bench with his book while Leas voice would constantly float around right beside him, talking to all the people he had just met, laughing and joking. Then sometimes grab Isa by the shoulder and ask him a question.

Isa couldn't quite put words on it, other than he just really liked their arrangement of hanging out like this. Each just doing their own thing while still being together.

Just then Lea came running back towards him. "ICE CREAM TIME!" he laughed happily waving two blue ice-cream, sea-salt. Like usual.

Isa glanced up at him. "You're going to get fat if you keep eating that stuff every day."

"No way! Look at me, I run around all day, I am fit and strong. I'll burn it all right off!" Lea stated. "You on the other hand, you're just sitting."

"Then why are you buying me ice-cream?" Isa asked.

"I can't eat ice-cream alone, that's just not right." Lea stated handing Isa the ice-cream and finally Isa accepted as he amused shook his head.

"Have you ever considered trying something different than sea-salt?" Isa asked.

"Is there something else you like?" Lea asked. "I know sea-salt is your favorite, so well." he shrugged stuffing his own ice-cream into his mouth.

"Hm." Isa smiled amused. It really was typically Lea, just buying Isa's favorite just because… That was what Lea did.

"If you want something else, just tell me." Lea asked. "I'll get it." he grinned taking another bite of his ice-cream chewing happily.

Amused Isa shook his head quietly eating his ice-cream, then though he glanced up… Lea was being quiet. That was unlike Lea, and then he saw, Lea looking towards the big castle with distance thoughtful eyes.

Isa lowered his ice-cream.

"You didn't just say that last night right?" Lea asked. "You're going to help me right?" he asked.

"Of course I am." Isa stated. "There's no way I'm letting you go in there alone."

And Lea grinned as he turned his head. "Sorry, I thought maybe you were just saying that to make me go back to sleep." then he turned back to the place. "Something really weird is going on in there.."

"I suppose that can't be denied." Isa had to agree. "How-ever, Lea. Even if we find out what it is, there may not be anything we can do. You realize that right?"

"Well, we wont know if there's anything we can do before we know what is going on!" Lea pointed out. "Beside, as long as it's the two of us working together. We'll be fine." he stated in a light smile sticking his ice-cream into his mouth yet again.

"Lea, I might not always be there to get you out of trouble." Isa pointed out.

"I know." Lea assured. "How-ever, you will be there when it matters! And that's what matter!" he grinned. "Cause that what it means to be best friends!" he stated triumphantly.

Isa smirked, then he chuckled as he shook his head. "Lea, sometimes you are just way to ridicules."

"That's why you love me." Lea blinked at him.

"Love is a very strong word." Isa commented as Lea just gulped down the rest of his ice-cream, leaving the stick in his mouth as he grabbed for a tree branch pulling himself up, looking towards the castle.

"What are they supposed to research in there anyway?" Lea asked.

"The research is called top secret, so yeah, we are not supposed to know." Isa commented.

"That's just extra suspicious!" Lea exclaimed.

"The man leading the lab and owning it, his name is Ansem." Isa informed. "Goes by Ansem the wise."

"Ansem the wise? He sounds old." Lea stated.

Isa shook his head. "He has a whole team of researchers working for him, even his assistants are considered brilliant in their own right. They are though willing to be mere assistants just to be able to work under him."

"So he's a big deal then. got ya." Lea nodded up from his branch still looking towards the castle.

"He's also the reason why we are living at such a nice place." Isa informed.

"huh?" Lea blinked and Isa exhaled deeply.

"This garden, the fountains, all of it. Ansem is the one paying for it." Ansem stated. "For the gardens to be kept pretty and the fountains to function, the streets to look so decent. It was all his vision and he is paying out of own pocket."

"Oh." Lea realized.

"Lea, you live here, you should already know this!" Isa snapped at him.

"Heh, I think I was told ones before but I didn't get it memorized." Lea grinned. "It was boring."

Isa rolled his eyes.

"So what kind of scientist is that Ansem guy?" Lea asked. "What does he study exactly?"

"What part of secret research is it you don't understand?" Isa asked.

"But why does it need to be secret though?" Lea asked. "If it is secret, it can't be all that good." he shivered slightly.

"We can drop this if you want." Isa offered.

"No!" Lea exclaimed. "We got to figure this out!"

And Isa sighed deeply. "Stubborn as always, fine." he stated. "At least if all of this turns out to be nothing, you shouldn't have any problems sleeping anymore."

"It's not nothing, clearly it's something!" Lea stated. "And we are going to figure out what it is!"

"You are going to owe me big times when this is over." Isa commented.

"That's okay! I'll buy you all the ice-cream you want!" Lea grinned with his arms spread out into the ear.

"I'll pass, I'm sure there are other things I am going to need more." Isa stated.

"That's good, because I don't actually have the money for that much ice-cream." Lea laughed making Isa smirk amused as he shook his head.