Following him had been easy enough.
Despite not knowing how to get to the next town over; with Yu's lackadaisical steps, she was able to tail him without being noticed. There were several instances where she had to slow down her pace because the other wasn't walking fast enough, and the uneven travelling pattern was starting to grate on her nerves. Still, she persisted, wanting to find out where Yu truly lived.
She couldn't believe she hadn't thought about it sooner. She had been to all of her other friend's houses - Bouquet's cute modern home, Sally's old and new home, and even Albert's home. Yet she still didn't know about Yu. Trying to picture a possible place caused her to draw up a complete blank, so the fact that Boondox might've been where he lived actually made some sense. I can't jump to conclusions though. That might not be where he lives...
Looking up, she could see him approaching the edges of Animal Village. She wanted to dart forward ahead of him and see what the town looked like, but didn't want to give herself away. Instead, she resigned to just slowly following him until they reached the entrance.
Most towns in the vicinity would have a banner or something to indicate that they had reached their destination, but all she could see was a sign with 'Boondox' messily tacked on with black paint, some of it chipped off from age. There was a crudely drawn stick figure underneath that had its arm raised, as if to offer a warm greeting to anyone who happened to be passing by. At least they made an attempt to seem welcoming, right? She was trying her best, but even then her optimistic thoughts weren't doing much to quell her concern.
Ai was knocked out of her focus on the sign when Yu continued his walk into the town. She ran after him, only to remember that she wasn't supposed to do that. Resorting to the pace she had from before, she took the time to look around the area. Everything seemed unfamiliar to her - the path she walked along was covered in dirt, and not a single patch of grass was to be found. The buildings hardly looked anything like the ones in Animal Village, being made of brick-shaped stones and dried dirt.
There was one place, however, that bared some resemblance to her home. Across from the path was a bigger area where most of the villagers were gathered, and they stood in front of a building that looked like a poor reimagining of the town hall. The building was made out of actual bricks this time, but the roof and surrounding décor looked like it could collapse on them at any minute. She flinched when she noticed one of the roof tiles shift out of place, and whipped her head away to avoid witnessing a potential disaster.
Up ahead, Yu went a sharp right turn into a neighborhood, which she presumed was their housing unit and where he probably lived. It didn't seem like he'd caught onto the fact that Ai was tailing him yet, so she crept closer and hid behind a nearby wooden pole. I really hope this isn't where he lives. There's so much more dirt and mud in this area, and this is supposed to be where people sleep! She watched him go deeper into the path, and sighed in relief when she saw how much cleaner the inner parts of the neighborhood were. Still not by much, but it's an improvement at least.
She kept observing and following him closely, not taking her eyes off of him for even a second. Some of the other villagers gave her puzzled glances, but she was so focused on Yu that she didn't even notice. She watched in anticipation for him to stop at a house - his house - because she just couldn't wait any longer to see it.
Ooh, the suspense is killing me! Just stop already-!
Her train of thought was interrupted as Yu did exactly what she'd wished for him to do. He paused in front of a building, and after pulling a key from his pocket, unlocked the door and went inside.
Ai came out from her hiding place and onto the path leading to the house. She kept her eyes trained on the ground the entire time, not quite ready to face the inevitable. For over a year, she hadn't known a thing about where he lived or what he did away from the village. Would today really be when she found out?
She put her hand over her forehead and peeked out from underneath. Upon seeing it, she dropped her hand in shock.
The house was in terrible shape. It was made of the same material as everything else was, but the walls looked more worn out than anything she had seen so far. There were blank beds of soil at the front, which were seemingly meant for planting flowers. She tentatively placed her foot on it, even if he did want to grow some flowers, he wouldn't be able to in this soil. It's way too dry. The rain that poured itself on Animal Village yesterday apparently hadn't affected Boondox.
There was a fence surrounding the house that was smeared with dirt and crushed in some places. If one looked closer, they could see that the fence's color was formerly white. What in the world happened for this fence to be stained this much? She wanted to touch it, but refrained from doing so as she was afraid it would topple over. She didn't want to ruin what resemblance of grace this house had left.
Ai stepped back to observe it some more. The building at least had windows, but they were sealed up with wooden boards and devoid of glass. She could only imagine how dark it was in there, unless it had more windows that were uncovered; or electricity. She sincerely doubted but hoped it was the latter.
Some spots in the wall felt flimsy and weak when Ai touched them, but weren't visible at a first glance due to the dried dirt that filled them in. Looks like Yu or maybe someone else took the initiative to spruce it up. It still needs a lot more maintenance though... A piece of dirt from the roof fell on top of her head, Like, A LOT a lot more. This house is practically falling apart! I can't believe he comes home to this everyday!
She paused at the realization. For a year, and probably even longer before she moved here, he'd been staying in a place that seemed more like a junkyard than a house. So many questions ran through her mind; how long has he been living like this? Does he live with anyone else? Has anyone helped him at all? Judging from the rest of the village that was just as much in ruins as his house, the last question was self-explanatory. No one had come to help this town.
Ai rested her head on the wall in an attempt to calm down. It was dirty, but the cool mud helped to soothe her nerves. After taking a few deep breaths, she lifted herself off from the wall and clenched her fists. Now that she'd collected her thoughts, it was time to-
The door behind her creaked open.
Ai tried not to look back as she darted behind the wooden pole she'd just come from. She returned back to her secretive stance, making herself as small as possible before peeking back out again. She sighed when it looked like Yu hadn't noticed her, that was extremely close! She didn't like hiding from him, but she wasn't sure if she was prepared to confront him about it yet. She'd have to know the full situation first before asking.
Yu was still in the same costume, but his shovel was gone. In its place was a rather sizeable pull-along wheel wagon that contained-
Fossils? She craned her neck out some more to make sure she wasn't seeing things, those are definitely fossils. But why is he carrying them out with him? Weren't they for his collection? And come to think of it, he left the other bucket back in the forest... She looked back for a second, almost acting as if she could see the forest she'd found him in at the beginning of the day. She made a mental note to bring it back to him later.
The boy came towards the direction he'd come in from, which was out of the neighborhood; causing Ai to shift around the pole so he couldn't see her. He was struggling to pull the wagon across the dirt road with him, which must've been at least twice his weight. She had no idea where he could be taking it, but that was exactly the reason why she was doing this in the first place. To find out more about Yu's life and what he did when he was away from her village. I already know that he lives in Boondox, so might as well dig more!
She kept following him, hiding behind structures and buildings just like she had done when tailing him to his house. She was very tempted to jump out and help him when she saw just how much he struggled with the wagon, but refrained from doing so. She managed to suppress the urge by looking around her some more. Some villagers were lounging around just outside the neighborhood, sitting on some makeshift stone chairs or even just the ground. A fair bit of them didn't have clothes, which she realized were probably a luxury that most couldn't afford.
Yu made his way to the square. The town hall from earlier was still on the verge of toppling over, except this time it was in even worse shape with a huge chunk of the roof that had fallen off resting on top of an empty bed of soil. She could clearly see the gaping hole it left behind, and wondered how anyone could even stand to work in there without fearing the worst.
There was no one loitering around the building anymore, much to Ai's relief. However, Yu still had the courage to open its door and step inside.
Wha- what is he planning on doing in there? Doesn't he know how dangerous it is?! She was, quite frankly, very concerned for his safety. It reminded her of their time at the cave, when Yu had jumped at the rocks in an attempt to get to a fossil and the cave had started collapsing in on itself. To this day, she still didn't know if it had really been caused by him or not - but there was a good chance that it had been, and she was afraid he would do the same thing with the town hall.
She wanted to see what was going on in there - but unfortunately there was nothing obscuring the windows to protect her from sight, and she was reluctant to go in with him, so she stood outside behind her tree and waited.
It took a minute, but Yu very quickly exited the building. He was still pulling the wagon filled with fossils around, but in his other hand he was also hauling along a cardboard box.
Ai watched further, waiting for him to pull the lid off of the box. Pull it off was exactly what he did, and it opened to reveal...
Ah. The box itself was what he was using. There was a sign that she hadn't seen taped to one side of the box, and it read 'Special! Very rare fossils!' in big, bold and colourful letters to get the reader's attention. Underneath was a price tag slightly smaller than the other words that read, '1000 bells each'. He unfolded it so it looked more like a stand, propping it up by its legs and parking it on the side of the square. There was a chair that he had brought with him in the wagon, and he pulled that out to sit down on it.
I-Is he... selling his fossils?! Ai couldn't believe what she was seeing, But he loves collecting those! Doesn't that mean he'd rather keep them for himself? She looked at the wagon again, and at the small fossils that she'd seen him dig up more then enough times. They were the exact ones that he'd complained about being too common in the forest. Realizing that this was probably his way of getting rid of them, she sighed and turned back to the stand. I see, so he's just giving away the ones that he doesn't need. But is this really the best place to sell them? The people here don't seem to be particularly rich...
But just then, someone did come up to the stand, going against everything Ai had initially thought. She blinked once, then twice, before checking out who the person with apparently enough money to buy something in Boondox was.
A rather tattered looking bear with enough dirt on him to build another mud house stood in front of the stand, asking Yu about the type of fossils he had on sale. One of them was in his hands as he looked it over, bringing it up to his face so he could get a close look.
Ai looked on worriedly, Those are the same fossils he complained before about being too common... There's no way someone will fall for that, especially if they're looking at it that closely-
Her train of thought was cut short as she saw the bear smile at Yu and hand him a sack of bells. He walked away with a small bag of fossils, satisfied that he had gotten so many "rare fossils" for such a bargain.
Her jaw nearly touched the ground, shocked at how easily the bear had been fooled. But just when she'd managed to close her mouth again, she turned back around to see a small line forming at the front of Yu's stand. All the potential customers ranged from big to small, short to tall. What she noticed, however, was that they were all apparently citizens of Boondox, having some degree of dirt splotched or splattered on them.
Ai stumbled back from the tree. By now, a huge line was forming that extended beyond the town square. She'd swear that everyone in the village was there, waiting in line to buy something they didn't actually want.
How were people falling for this? Why wouldn't they want to save their money to provide food and shelter for their families instead of handing it to someone who was tricking them?
Yu looked delighted to see so many customers who wanted to buy from him. He was trying his best to manage them, yelling out to not crowd so much. In the middle of it all, he happened to look over to the tree Ai was hiding behind.
The girl blanched, I-I have to leave! She immediately got up and ran the opposite direction, no longer caring if Yu had seen her or not. All that mattered to her was getting away from the scene of crime.
As she was running the distance from the two villages, she wondered if following him had been such a good idea after all.