-13-

The train slows down as it arrives at the Shang Mu Train Station, the youths prepared to leave the locomotive before Milla interrupts the other two youths, "Hey, can we have our cloaks on when we go into the city" the hound timidly asks.

"Why would we need to wear our cloaks?" Kai questions.

"Uh-" Milla attempts to find an excuse, "I heard it was going to rain later today, could never be too careful!" she argues, both Kai and Norah remain skeptical of the hound's motives.

"Alright."

Kai's sudden compliance catches both the hound and panda by surprise, who looks at each other in disbelief. Milla quickly grabs her beige cloak and lifts up the hood which made her seem somewhat unrecognizable as Kai and Norah puts on their grey and purple cloaks respectively with their hoods off.

"First thing's first… I'm hungry" Norah complains as the youths exits the train station and began to walk through the bright, busy and vibrant streets of Shang Mu. Several skyscrapers and building made from either stone brick or concrete ravaged the city's skyline with a blend of primary colors, the predominant hue being crimson red. Lights of white and yellow brightens the city with an indistinguishable glow which may even rival the spiralling blue glow found in the Avalician night sky. Monuments, attractions and stores are found throughout the metropolis; similar to Dōng mén, Shang Mu's main focus was towards it's economy and trade. Several locomotives, vehicles and vessels are found throughout the city, transporting an array of goods as the large crowds of people and the diversity among them kept the city as lively as ever; truly there was no city like Shang Mu in all of Avalice, it's possibly the largest in the world.

The youths finds a restaurant and decide to eat dinner there, they find an available booth and sat in the same orientation as when they were in train about thirty minutes ago.

"So, who wants sushi!" Milla joyfully asks.

"Alright." Kai monotonously complies.

Both girls were once again surprised by the husky's compliance, the hound ignores the other canine's strange behavior and calls the waitress, "How may I help you?" the waitress politely asks.

"Give us the biggest plate of sushi you have!" Milla explains, the waitress responds with a short nod, "I'm going to use the restroom." the hound informs her friends.

As Milla leaves to use the restroom, Norah immediately interrogates the nonchalant husky sitting across from her, "Alright, what's the big idea?" she demands.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kai casually responds.

"I mean, you're usually not this complacent. Do you honestly believe that overcast story, I've known Milla for eight years… she's an awful liar"

"I know she lied, she've been acting strange ever since we entered Shang Mu territory; quite frankly I don't want to argue with her."

Norah remains silent.

"She doesn't want to attract attention."

"Oh, yeah I guess being one of the 'saviors of Avalice' can have that effect, though if that were me I would be taking full advantage of that fame… but I'm not Milla."

"Actually, it does benefit us more to remain anonymous until we reach the City Hall."

Norah changes the subject, "Explain to me something: Why did you decide to travel with Milla?"

Kai remains silent for a moment as he ponders on how he should explain his motives, "For no particular reason."

"That's not an answer!" The panda argues,

"I'm serious, I just joined up with her because I felt it would be interesting-"

"Hey don't lie to her." Kai is caught by surprise when he hears Milla's response from the booth behind him, "You joined because I offered you one thousand five hundred gems, just to save a girl." Milla teases in a sarcastic manner as she jumps into the booth and lands next to the monotonic husky.

"That's only the partial truth, you offered me one thousand gems because the mayor of Xīchéng initially offered two thousand, we agreed to split the reward 50/50."

"To be fair, your machines did kidnap Talia."

"I thought we agreed that wasn't my fault."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

"Anyways, it was Talia who made her father increase the reward to three thousand."

While Kai and Milla were arguing, Norah was observing the argument while drinking some water through a straw from a glass cup in the meantime, after a couple of minutes of arguing the waitress returns with a massive plate of sushi on both her hands, "Here you kids go!" she kindly informs.

Norah was intimidated by the large amount of food as both canines began to eat the raw fish, the husky ate one piece of sushi one at a time as the hound was eating the sushi in large bunches, Milla have a large appetite as usual.

After about an hour the group leaves the dinner and begins starts to walk towards the City Hall, "So Milla how did you and your friends save Avalice?" Kai asks.

Milla began to stutter her words in response to the question "Um, well we busted into Brevon's launch sight at the Shuigang Snowfields, then we snuck into his dreadnaught, then we defeated Brevon but then the dreadnaught self-destructed and the Kingdom Stone transformed." she vaguely explains.

"That's all? Seems a bit vague." Norah retorts.

"Any details?" Kai asks.

"I can't exactly remember the details." Milla argues, this was a lie.

"Alright, so how far are we to the City Hall, exactly."

Milla simply shrugs her shoulders in response, both Kai and Norah facepalms and then sigh, "I'll ask for directions." Norah assures.

"I'll get some more supplies, Milla you stay here."

"Why do I have to be the one to stay here?" Milla complains, "Seriously, how old do you think I am?"

"Twelve." Kai and Norah responds in unison, the husky continues, "Just stay here."

"Why not we meet here instead, I'm not doing nothing! you know what… let's meet at the shopping mall."

Kai ponders a moment, "Fine, just don't cause any trouble. The last time you strayed off in such a big city, we met her." the husky references as he point towards the panda behind him.

"Hey!" Norah growls.

"Alright, see you two later." Milla says as she starts run over to Zao's Shopping Mall.