Chapter 5: Carnival

This was always the saddest part of his day. No matter how many times he goes through this, his heart would always wrench out in pain. There was nothing more worse than this. He would take one of Rood's books in his face but not this.

"Noooo, Rood! Don't go!" Kielnode cried out.

"Enough, act your age for crying out loud." Ren reprimanded her superior as she pulled said superior's ear dragging the man back to his office. "You'll see him after you finish your work!"

Ren continued dragging the large man child with her down the hall leaving the three children to play.

"Your Old Man's weird." Dio said out loud.

"You don't have to tell me that." Rood sighed. For once in his life, couldn't his guardian get his act together start behaving like a normal person. How embarrassing. There's a limit to how much embarrassment he should cause Rood.

"Now that we're free! Let's play!" Dio grabs Rood by the wrist and drags the latter with him. Not wanting to be left out Lidusis follows suit.

Really, he didn't like how his day started. He would rather have tea and cookies with Rood than some annoying man who hardly does a thing to control his rampaging dog that he calls his son.

Normally, he send yet another complaint to the man about his lack of restraint when it came to his own men, but this time was different. Today's topic was one thing he couldn't push off to the side. These days, it's becoming harder and harder to keep Rood away from the psychotic maniac. He should give that man a piece of his mind while he's here.

"Good day, Master of Opion." Lanoste greeted Kielnode after setting down the cup of tea Ren offered him. "It's a rare occasion for us to meet up like this and all because of a couple of children. It's not easy raising a child I tell you."

"Hey..." Kielnode interjected. "Don't go putting my child on the same level as your's."

Kielnode's eyes glimmer in all seriousness. Rood was way different from Lanoste's unruly beast.

"Haha, I can't deny that." Lanoste chuckled. "I'm rather envious of you in that aspect. You are rather fortunate to have such a diligent and well mannered child. If only Shic could take a page from his book, then that'd make things easier for me."

"I'm not letting you have him." Kielnode firmly responded with a glint near his eyes.

"That's too bad. I wouldn't have minded trading my Shic."

"I wouldn't want him even if he was for free." There was no way he'd want that little demon anywhere near Rood. Nor would he dare take him in. That kid was practically the devil's spawn. Oh, the horror.

"Pst, shouldn't be start discussing about that?" From behind, the loyal Association dog whispered over to his master's ear reminding him why they were there in the first place.

The two were already seated in front of each other. Now they just needed to start their meeting.

Ren too felt that the current conversation was getting them nowhere.

Both chairmen of famous organizations were seated face to face on the nice couches with their respectable subordinate. Van standing behind Lanoste, and Ren sitting beside Kielnode.

"I guess we got a little side tracked there." Lanoste lightly said.

Kielnode was not really amused by Lanoste's joking manner.

"Actually, before we begin, I think you know something..."

All signs of the previous lightheartedness vanished from Lanoste's tone turning the discussion to a serious point.

What was this feeling? Rood didn't know why, but he was feeling anxious almost as if something wasn't right. What could this be?

"Hey, Rood!" Dio called out to his friend snapping the latter back to reality. "What are you standing around for?"

"Nothing, just thinking about something." Rood quickly brushed off.

"Could it be about my handsomeness?" Dio remarked with a straight face as he cups his chin with his thumb and forefinger like a detective from those old mystery movies.

"Lidusis, there's a traveling circus show in town. Want to kill some time over there?" Ignoring the dark blue haired Idun, Rood shifted his attention to his gray haired friend.

Lidusis didn't mind where they were going just enjoyed Rood's company. But at the same, he couldn't help but feel guilty. Bad things will certainly happen to Rood the longer he stays with him.

Leaving their frozen friend aside, Rood and Lidusis continued on their way. Lidusis was wondering whether Rood was going to do something about Dio or just leave him like that.

Unbeknownst to them, a small figure around the same size as then watches the two Iduns leave behind their frozen friend.

"WHAT!" A loud shout resonates throughout Opion so much that even people outside could hear it.

Kielnode wasn't sure if he heard that right. Or were his ears playing tricks on him?

Sweat drips down from Kielnode as he stood up with his hands on the table.

"Surprised, aren't you... I guess that's only expected." Lanoste lightly said. "Even I didn't think..."

"H-How long..." Kielnode stuttered frightened by the possibility of something happening to Rood.

Rood!

"I need to find Rood!" Kielnode rises up from his seat to retrieve his precious bundle of joy.

"Now, now. I understand how you feel, but you shouldn't be so hasty." Lanoste reasoned.

"Understand! If you understood how much trouble your organization has given me, you wouldn't have brought the root source of my troubles."

"Now. Now. It's not my fault Shic happened to have overheard our conversation."

"It's 100% your fault!"

Oh, how Kielnode regretted holding a meeting with Lanoste of all people.

Meanwhile, roaming around the town, the trio stopped in their tracks upon hearing a loud scream resonate throughout the air.

"What was that?" Dio wondered where that came from.

As his two friends pondered on the thought, Rood had a distinctive feeling that he felt that he heard that scream somewhere. It sounded vaguely familiar.

Nah, it's can't be.

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

No matter how childish and strange his master acted, even he wouldn't go off screaming at the top of his lungs like some weirdo.

"?"

Was it him or did he just feel a strange gaze? Looking back, Rood saw nothing so it was probably his imagination.

If only, it was just his imagination. The poor child was unaware of the dangers awaiting him.

Moving on, the three Helios students walked around the crowd. It was really fun for them. They got cotton candy. Dio got a balloon from one of the entertainers. Rood won a few games and got a few prizes. He gave Dio a couple of stuffed animals, one rabbit and one panda, and Lidusis the biggest prize a giant sheep plushie. It was bigger than Lidusis himself. He could practically sleep on it and use it as a bed. Dio whined on how Lidusis got the better share between them and how Rood was favoring Lidusis over him. He soon stopped complaining after he received a bonk on the head.

Their next destination was the petting zoo. It was filled with so many animals and some small, harmless demon beasts too. They checked out the animals first since Rood didn't think it'd be good to expose an introvert like Lidusis to demons. It seems that it was a good idea to go to the animals first since Lidusis seems to be getting along with the animals. Must be his meek personality.

It might just be him, but whenever Dio sees Rood with Lidusis, it kind of reminds him of an owner and his dog. And seeing Lidusis get so well with the animals is making it harder to think otherwise. Though he couldn't say that out loud.

What's more is that Rood is looking more and more like a pet owner seeing how much the animals like him. Maybe that's why he gets along with Lidusis so much. That really is something he can't say to either one of them.

But still the two really did

"resemble them..." Dio accidentally spoke out loud.

"Resembled what?" Rood asked after hearing Dio's words.

"!" Oh, shoot. Dio didn't mean to let that out. He can't tell them he thought they resembled a master and his pet. He needed to think of something before he starts raising up suspicion. "I-I was just thinking how much you and your old man didn't resemble each other much! You must take after your mother, Rood."

"... Probably..."

"Probably?" What did he mean by that?

This caught Lidusis's attention as well. He was genuinely curious about Rood. He calls his own guardian 'Master.' The woman who he originally thought was Rood's mother was actually his guardian's secretary. Thinking about it, not once did he call Kielnode father or anything other than 'Master.' Kids don't normally call their parents that unless the two weren't actually parent and child. Then that lead to a bigger question, who were Rood's parents?

"As far as I can remember, I've always been with Master. I've never met my mother or at least I don't remember her."

"..."

Dio breaks out in a cold sweat as he mentally kicks himself for thoughtlessly saying such things. If he's never met his mother or doesn't remember her, does that mean she's no longer...

It can't be...

Dio just wanted to kill his past self for saying such thoughtless things as he sweats buckets.

No, no, no. There's no guarantee that his mother was like that. Rood only said that he's never met her or doesn't remember his mother. Maybe she's just really, really sick so Rood could hardly see her or maybe divorced and left Rood to Kielnode. There's no way she could possibly be dead... probably.

"I'm sure you'll get to see your mother eventually." Dio forces himself to think positively.

"I'm not sure about that. I asked Master once about my mother, but he just looked away and never said anything. He tried avoiding the subject so I stopped asking after that." Rood answered nonchalantly. Even if he didn't have a mother, he still had Master and Ren so he was fine with not knowing who his mother was.

This was bad. Steam practically gushes out of Dio's ears and mouth. He just stepped on a landmine (at least he thinks so anyway). How is he supposed to bring back the mood. Thinking that his careless words might have hurt Rood (which they didn't but he doesn't know that), Dio thinks of a way to cheer up Rood.

"W-Well, at least, you've got your dad with you even if your old man is weird." Dio encouraged.

"No, Master isn't my father. He's only my current guardian." Rood clarified for Dio.

When he thought he was cheering up his friend, he just made things worser. At least, this is what Dio thinks and Lidusis too who could not find a point in the conversation to intervene.

"I-I..." Dio shakily says with his head down.

"?" Rood was slightly confused by his dark blue friend's change in mood. One moment, he's his usual moronic self. Then he starts acting like he needs to use the restroom. And now he's depressed. Rood just couldn't keep up with all of Dio's wild mood swings. What was he a teenage girl?

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Dio jumps at Rood with tears and snot in his face startling the latter.

Somewhere in town, a white robed youth wandered around the streets as everyone around him was in a festive mood. It wasn't that he disliked the atmosphere. He did find the air to be rather different from where he's from. It was just that he had other things preoccupying his mind. He wasn't sure what it was, but something inside him was telling that today was going to be an eventual day.

He was so excited. And it wasn't from the merry mood. His heart was pounding so hard. He could hardly contain it.

"I wonder... What is this?"

Just what was this? Rood knew Dio was always acting strange, but this just takes the cake. Staring at the lifeless body of his dark blue haired friend, Rood considers taking Dio to a therapist or possibly a brain surgeon. Sometimes, he wonders what's going on inside Dio's head.

...

On second thought, maybe, he's better off not knowing.

Leaving the unconscious Dio in Lidusis's hands... well more specifically on a bench while Lidusis watches over him, Rood goes off to get them some lunch. Under the impression that Dio was much like a dog, Rood thinks that some food will get the fool up.

As Rood was walking, he heard a loud wailing.

"Waaahhhh!" A child cried out.

Drawn in by the crying sound, Rood looks around to see a small, green haired boy a slightly smaller than him crying by a tree. Being the good natured person he is, Rood walks to the little boy and pets his head to pacify the child.

"What's wrong?" Rood asks the younger kid.

Lifting his head up with teary eyes, the little boy looks up at the tree and points to a branch. "M-My balloon got caught... I wanted to show it to my s-sister, but the wind blew it really hard a-and I can't climb."

"Alright, don't cry. I'll get it for you so stop crying." Rood instructed.

The green haired boy nods his head and wipes his tears away with his sleeves showing Rood a more assured look.

As he said, Rood climbed up the tree to the branch where the boy's balloon got caught. The only issue was that it was caught near the end of the branch. Fortunately, the branch was very thick and sturdy so someone as light as Rood could easily climb over without much difficulty.

Inching closer to the balloon, Rood reached his hand out to the balloon. However the moment, he grabs the string in his hands, the section of the branch he was on snaps off. With the balloon in his hand, Rood falls from the tree.

Usually, when a person falls from great height like a tree, they would either panic or brace for the impact, but that would only apply to your normal, average civilian. In Rood's case, he would simply land perfectly fine without any injury or harm. But before he could do so, someone had already caught the boy while he was in midair.

"My, my. Children should be more careful. You aren't hurt, are you?" The white robed stranger who saved Rood asked.

There was something strange about the man who saved Rood. He couldn't put his finger on it as he blankly stared at him.

"Hey, Brother, are you okay?" Addressing Rood as 'Brother' for his heroic actions, the green haired boy runs over to the youth who sets Rood down.

"Yeah." Rood answered giving back the boy his balloon.

"Thanks." The boy thanked Rood.

"Ben!" A young girl with green hair most likely his sister called out.

"I got to go. Thanks again for getting my balloon." The boy named Ben gave Rood one last thanks of appreciation as he runs back to his worrying sister leaving Rood with the stranger who saved him.

Now before Lidusis starts worrying over him, Rood goes back to the original task he had on hand. Or at least, he was going to if the white robed stranger hadn't picked him up with his hands under Rood's underarms like he was holding up a baby or something.

"Wow~ You're so cute and small~"

A large anger mark appears on Rood's head. Did he really have to mention that last part...

"Uhm, I have to go. So can you let me down?"

"Hmm..." The strange youth stared at Rood's face for a while as if thinking about something. "Alright, I made up my mind. You're going to accompany me for the whole day!"

Great, Rood just had to run into a weirdo. Of all the people to catch him, it had to be a weirdo.

Not taking no for an answer, the light green grayish haired youth drags Rood around with him from place to place. Keep a firm hold on Rood's hand, he explores the ground all spirited and giddy. He was incredibly delighted and ecstatic the whole time although the same cannot be said for Rood.

He was irked by the white robed stranger's actions. He didn't have time for this as he needed to get back to Lidusis and Dio.

While the older man's attention was drawn in by a food stall, Rood took the chance to escape through the crowd of people. Unfortunately, his plan did not work when he got caught.

"That was a close one. You need to be more careful or you'll get lost. We wouldn't want you to be abducted by some stranger, would we?"

The man's words hardly touched Rood seeing as how he was already abducted by a total stranger right now.

Roaming around in search of his prey, the young redheaded boy could feel his prey close by through the large mass of people.

The only question was where did he go?

Normally, he would have just incinerated the whole area.

But if he did that, then his prey might escape from him as usual. Also, Lanoste will probably send Van out to get him. The last thing he needs is any interference in his hunt.

It was unfortunate that he didn't find him at Opion, but this time he won't let him escape.