LIV

Suche

Feeling uneasy about standing there Kyou looked at both her sister first and then at Nana who was standing behind her. "I really don't want to go, why should we even go with this bug? I don't like to go with her."

"Because you should at the very least try and understand how the human world works, not to mention it was also you who complained of being stuck in the house. Well you are getting your chance and still it isn't good enough for you. Also you should stop calling people bugs, not all people are like those at the institute, you should knows this by now." Nana remarked in a calm tone.

"I don't mind going out, I just mind having to go out with a bug. Bugs are bugs." She grumbled in response to Nana's little remark, she was much more interested in going out on her own and not having to listen or take orders from a human. Even if this human had done nothing wrong to her in particular she was not just going to let it slide, all the things their species had done to her, all the wrongs they had inflicted on her, the harm they had caused.

"I still don't like it, she tries anything and I will leave."

Nan stood poised to numb her, with that kind of attitude there was every risk that Kyou would use her vectors in anger. Given how many people there would be around her it was a potential dangerous situation. She had her reservations about this, she just praid that it wasn't going to end up badly for them.

Kyou had already noticed it. "I can sense vectors just like you can, don't worry I am not going to be so stupid to use just because some bugs annoys me. As much as I hate them I do know that they are the ones who infest this world."

"You still hate humans don't you? You shouldn't judge them all because of what a few did." Nana remarked as she noticed the hate and bile in that last comment from her, still it was going to be difficult to make her change her opinion after years of abuse and torment at the hands of people.

"More people have been cruel to me than nice, so far I can judge them just fine. I also don't feel like listening to one of my kind who threw herself to one of them humans, you are just like Saeko-san and her stupid habit of calling somebody master."

Nana had to bite down on her teeth; it was uncalled for what Kyou had just said. "Perhaps if you changed your own attitude them perhaps you would learn what it is like to be liked by somebody, Saeko-san's habit might seem odd but I know that he at least cares about her. Do you have anybody that cares about you?"

That seemed to hit a nerve with Kyou as her face contorted. "Hmm like I want somebody to like me, least of all if it is just some annoying bug."

She tried to downplay it but having a better look Nana knew that she was lying, would it be possible that in reality she was actually jealous of both her and Saeko because they had experienced what it was to be liked by somebody.

"Fine I will do my best not to hate her but if she tries anything then I won't hold back. Bugs just need to be squashed."

Having said that they kept on waiting until Mako finally appeared with her car, the reception she received was less than welcome as far as Kyou was concerned. Fortunately for Mako's sake both Nana and Ryou did not share her opinion and were all too eager to welcome her.

The bench made another cracking noise as Arakawa stomped her foot on the ground; it was no use at all. Not a single one of the books she had brought with her listed a Maple Inn. "Just what use is this book if it tells me nothing that I already know, why is that stupid Inn not even mentioned?" Frustrated she hurled the book into the nearest random direction, she simply had it. They book was worthless and right now she could not even care if it was just borrowed to her, fuck it all. "Just calm yourself, if you lose it now you will never get to find them."

That was right, she needed to compose herself and get a hold, if she started to panic or get too frustrated she would likely never find even if she was so close now.

Then it began to dawn on her that maybe she was picking the wrong strategy.

Perhaps it would be easier if she would just ask the people around, surely if she mentioned the name then somebody could tell her where it lied. "Well then that is going to me my next approach." She looked around seeing if there was anybody near that she could ask.

She smiled as a couple walk past her, getting up she approached them. "Excuse me but may I ask you a quick question?"

Nyu listened as Saeko was what seemed to her in an over-excited mood telling her exactly what she was planning on for tonight. Since Dreachon had apparently accepted that he was being called master by her again she now had gotten it in her head to tell him how she really felt. "Nyu-san have you ever told anybody how you really felt for them?"

"Well I think I have but I don't really remember how it went." Was the reply she got from her, with her own heart beating with excitement she didn't wanted to wait for much longer but there was also uncertainties about how to best tell him. Part of her was still scared of saying such a thing, what if he would not feel the same to her.

"Don't you think you are being a bit overeager for this, I think you shouldn't push yourself. Give it some time but I am not sure if it would be smart for you to do. He is a lot older than you are Saeko-chan, wouldn't it be better to pick somebody more of your age?"

"N-No!" Saeko screamed at hearing that, she literally jumped up. "Master is the only one for me, I want nobody other than my master! He has been the only one to be that good to me!"

Nyu could well understand her confusion but it appeared to her that Saeko was not aware that in general it wasn't normal people of her age to go out with much older people, people in general did not take kindly to such odd relationships.

"Please Saeko-chan and listen to me, you are not going to be making friends if you go through with what you are thinking. People are not going to accept it no matter how good your intentions are, they will also not show understanding to it and he will likely be accused of things. You won't be doing him a favor at all believe me."

"No! I won't listen to that! He is my master! Master has always been good to me!" She screamed as loud as she could while stomping on the floor, unaware of it and triggered by her fit of confusion her vectors lashed out narrowly missing Nyu and breaking some of the vases that Yuka had bought. They exploded on the spot as pieces flew through the room.

Screaming Nyu ducked trying to protected herself.

Saeko cried as she dropped to the floor, pain shot through her head as something felt wrong.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!?" Nana yelled as she retracted her vector. "STOP THIS AT ONCE!?" She grabbed her by the arms. "WHY DO YOU ATTACK NYU-SAN!? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!? STOP FIGHTING ME!"

Struggling to get free Saeko kept on screaming and crying as she wrestled to break free of Nana's hold in her. "LET GO OF ME, I-I WANT TO GO!"

Still holding on to her nana finally lost her balance and tripped, crashing into the ground she lost her focus for a moment as her limbs dropped to the floor. Seizing her chance Saeko fled from the room and ran towards the front door, not even bothering to grab her shoes she kept on running, not bothering to stop for any. Tears running down her face she didn't care of anything at the moment, she just wanted to get away.

Hefting up the weapon he was surprised by how little it weighed compared to the size of it. It much more resembled a weapon for being mounted on a truck but he could lift it with both of his hands without effort. Still it was far heavier than any conventional assault rifle he had used and there had been plenty of those.

"Put that down at once." Dreachon remarked, still inside the cockpit he was fully aware of what Bando was doing. "You are going to cause damage to this structure if you fire that. I refrain from tinkering with your equipment and weaponry, I expect the same token of respect from you."

With a grumbled remark Bando placed down the weapon, that didn't mean that he was done with it. still keeping a hand resting on top of it he asked. "So tell me what sort of high powered ammunition does this little toy of yours fire? Knowing you it will have to be something really fancy." He grinned as he already imagined using this against a certain horned woman, how many shots would it take to take her down with it.

"I said put it down, that is a particle weapon. Its output is far in excess of any human weapon of a similar size." Bando finally got his explanation, studying what seemed to be the weapons ammo capacity he was somewhat dismayed to find only five vague looking objects being stored. "Ammo I suppose?"

"Each out those clips function as a condenser for the particles, collecting them and forcing them to compress into what is called a mega particle. A positron field keeps them together preventing them from destroying the weapon itself or from having the bolt disintegrate in the flight path. " Dreachon held one of the clips up to see, it was about roughly the size of man's lower arm. "Each of those have the same output as a small fusion reactor which is still something beyond the ability of you to create. The weapon operates at approximately 56 MW capacity."

Bando whistled as he heard that, that was something fancy alright but until he could actually see it in action he remained skeptic. If it was true then gun possessed more stopping than a tank or an attack helicopter. He could hardly wait to test it on something and it would hardly matter to him what or who that something would be. Honestly his desire to see it in action had only strengthened.

"Now has that been enough information for you? Now leave it alone before you do more damage with it!I will not ask the next time!" He growled.

Satisfied Bando relinquished his hold of the weapon as he placed it back where he had found it. "Found anything on those sensors of yours, would be a darn shame if some bastard got past them. Yeah that would really mess up our plans."

"Do not lecture my on the severity of our situation, I am well aware of that. Mind you that I also have others matters to keep track of as the chief is up to something and we have still not figured out what it is exactly. The vermin have purged it from their system and thus far Dogo was not able to extract their next move from all the information we have pulled from their system."

"What makes you think they are planning on something?"

He growled again. "When you have a project called Lebensborn, what do you think!? Then there is also that over six months ago they already tried to spread the vector virus by having a weather satellite carrying the multiple containers of the virus to detonate over Tokyo bay. Back then I prevented it from detonating by altering its flight path into the upper atmosphere allowing it to burn up, that was shortly after I recovered her body from the SAT team."

Bando spat at hearing that. "Sounds more like a name created by some megalomaniac with an ego the size of the country, and if they really did that then you can bet those bastards are not going to give up! To think that those fucking assholes were planning on spreading that miserable virus, we can't let them get away with that! Also I really have to thank you for having saved that horned wretch back then, would have been a shame if I could not get my revenge." He eyed Dreachon close, not entirely happy with knowing that but alas.

"My thoughts exactly and that is why we need to find out, the recapture of Lucy is only part of a far grander scheme. The man is far too egotistical to just leave it at that one attempt but I do not believe they will be stupid enough to try the same method again."

Bando's phone rang attraction their attention. "Yeah, oh it's you." He sighed, not so keen on having to listen to her he was about to cut the line when she said something urgent. Putting the phone back he looked at him. "Well we seem to already have a problem, that little diclonius of yours ran off. She is on her own in the fucking city."

"She is what!?" Dreachon snarled as he quickly grabbed his stuff. "We need to find her this instant, with people out there searching for them they could stumble into each other."

"And the fun never ends."

Pulling over to the side of the road Mako parked her car; it had been a rather tense ride as neither she nor the twins had made any attempts at having a conversation. Didn't mean that she hadn't tried though.

But for whatever reason it was, the girls and that was mainly due to Kyou, had not said a word the entire ride. From what Nana had told her earlier she was not very keen on going out. Even the term that she was using now to describe other people was a bit shocking to her, it meant that she had no intention on forgiving people for the all the wrong done to her. Didn't seem to get through to her that not all people were like those at the institute, she couldn't just paint all humans in the same color because of the actions of a few.

"There we are, now you two remember what your friend has told you? You are not to take off your headdress or to do anything that could attract attention. Do you both understand what that means?"

Still she got the silent treatment from them both but at least Ryou gave her the courtesy of a little nod, well it was more than she got from Kyou for certain.

"Let's see if we can find some beds that would fit you, I heard from Dai-san that you still use futons back there right? I think you might like a bed much more than those." Just like before there was still no response, hopefully they were not going to keep this up for long otherwise this was going to be a very one-sided shopping trip.

Taking a deep breath she and the girls got out of the car, oh she was making litany of prayers to try and calm her own nerves. Right now she was committing an act that a few weeks ago would still be considered to be nothing short of ludicrous; taking diclonius out in the open and to make matters worse a crowded shopping mall. If any of her colleagues would see her know they would be screaming bloody murder left and right.

Luckily both of the twins followed her rather diligently though they kept close to each other and keeping a good distance between themselves and any person who might get a little too close for their comfort. Hopefully nobody would bump into them, even if it was an accident who knew how violent the reaction from Kyou would be? Let alone if her sister was the one who got hurt.

Ignoring most of the other shops she went for the furniture store and with the twins in tow headed straight for the bed section, if anything just to try and keep their exposure to other humans as short as possible. Mako counte herself fortunate that so far it has been going rather smooth, no problems encountered thus far. Still this was proving to be a strain on her nerves, this had to be her most nerve-wracking shopping trip ever without a doubt.

Walking up to a bed that seemed to have the right size for both of them Mako turned and pointed towards it. "What do you think of this one?"

The reaction of them could not have been any more different that from what she had seen before; while Ryou gently sat down on it Kyou ran headlong and jumped on the nearest bed. She laughed as she kept on jumping up and down taking delight in how bouncy it was. "This is fun." She giggled as she jumped even harder now. Spurred on by the laughing and giggling of her sister Ryou started to try it for herself.

Hearing them both laughing and enjoying themselves felt good to Mako but that did not hinder her in the least to grab both of them and give them a scolding. "What do you two think your doing!? Get off that bed this instant!"

But it was already too late as the bed Kyou was using to proper herself higher and higher finally succumbed to her abuse and with a loud crumble it fell apart.

"What were you two thinking!? You do not go and jump on beds, these are not yours. Quickly clean up the mess you made and hope that nobody spotted it." Oh god, they were going to be in so much trouble right now, she needed to come with a good excuse as to why this had happened. She was going to need to pay for the damage caused as well.

As she kept looking in every direction for the inevitable employee or store manager to come collecting for a good explanation but as time went on she was feeling confused that nobody seemed to have noticed, no member of the personal appeared. well as strange as that was she also counted herself once more fortunate, now would likely be a good chance to just walk out of the store and try their luck somewhere else.

Gazing at her she could tell that something was going on in the head of Kyou, that grin on her face told her that she had figured out something. Oh what was going on in that little mind of her? It couldn't be good right?

"So if it is not okay for us to jump on other's beds then we should be fine with jumping on our own right? In that case we want those." She pointed towards the ruined bed. "Just buy them bug so we can go home."

Mako could not believe her ears, was she just being told to buy those beds the twins had messed up. "You are in no position to dictate anything young lady, not after what you did to that bed, I swear if you were my daughter I would have held that from your allowance."

Ryou chimed in. "What's an allowance, can you eat that?" Mako sighed after hearing that, this was going to be a bit more problematic than she had initially guessed. There was just going to be too much that she needed to teach these girls.

Kouta was feeling rather nervous as he got closer to where he was supposed to be heading to, his teacher had told him to deliver these papers to the science office but as he got closer he saw much to his fear that the office in question actually belonged to the assistant. That wasn't good and if she were to find him there then he would be in a lot of trouble, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves he slowly opened the door before taking a little peek.

Relieved that there was nobody inside he moved as fast as he could, the quicker he was out of here the better. The door slammed shut just as he placed the papers on the desk.

"Can I help you with anything?" Crap he had been caught by her. "Hey could you turn around and answer me?"

Swallowing he turned, his eyes closed he didn't dare to open them but every fiber in his body was ready to run at the first opportunity.

"Is something wrong with you, open those eyes." Footsteps approaching told him this person was coming closer. "Ah I see that you brought the documents I had asked for."

Daring to open his eyes he was surprised to see that it was just a teacher, realizing how odd his behavior must have seemed he tried to come up with an excuse. "Ah yes, yes they are. M-My apologies, you scared me all of a sudden sensei. I had not heard you coming inside."

"My apoligies for that, well with that said I am glad to have them, I have been waiting for some and I really needed them for some of my students. Now go on and get back to your class quickly, Matsuyama-sensei is not a man to keep waiting."

Saying his thanks Kouta bowed, his heart had finally started to slow down a little after that little scare. Damn that had been rather close but as he took hold of the door-knob he felt the need to ask one more question.

"Excuse me sensei but where is the assistant that normal works here? She worked with the late Kakuzawa-sensei."

The teacher looked away from his papers. "Ah you mean Arakawa-san, she took the day off. Something about not feeling well, now you should go back to class kid."

Under any other circumstances he would have felt good knowing that but for some this only made his stomach turn, he didn't like the sound of that at all. First thing he needed to do was to call back to the Inn and inform Nana that she had to be cautious when going outside.

Outside the room he watched to make sure that nobody were to see him. Using the cellphone he had gotten he dialed the number and waited for her to pick up the phone, much to his frustration nobody picked it up. That wasn't normal for them, they knew better.

With a growing worrying feeling he went back to class and after that he would go straight towards Yuka.

Breathing heavily from exhaustion Saeko leaned against the tree, her feet were sore and scarped from all the running she had done. She didn't know for how long or how far she had run, it was only because of exhaustion that she had stopped but now she wasn't even aware where she was. Taking in her surroundings she realized that she was lost, this was a part of town she had not seen before.

Holding her hands close to her chest she began to cry as she just wanted to go home, having no idea how she was going to go back she started to call out for the others. With no response she felt more desperate as she could not recognize anything, her feet were also hurting she also didn't want to walk anymore. Neither was she able to sense either Nana or the twins.

"M-M-Master… w-where… are… y-you?" She sobbed as she dropped to the ground, her clothes were going to get dirty but she didn't care about that now. She just wanted to see him and go home. "MASTER!?… MASTER!?… MASTER!?…MASTER!?" She cried aloud.

She was feeling so lonely with nobody around. Why did Nyu have to say such things to her, wasn't it her decision to make? Why was it wrong for her to feel that way?

"P-People don't understand me… they don't understand what I went through… they don't understand my pain… and suffering… all I ever wanted was to be loved..."

Craning her neck up to look at the sky she really wanted to tell him. "Why is it wrong for me to be loved by somebody… he is kind to me… doesn't that mean more… than how old he is… I don't care about that... master will always be... my master..."

She shivered and despite huddling up it was starting to get colder outside, not having taken a coat with her there was no way for herself to keep warm. "I want to be held… to be cherished… to be told that I am useful… that I am a good girl… that I have a use."

Wiping away some of her tears she looked down as her stomach started to rumble, lonely, cold and now hungry as well. "P-Please master… come find me… please come fast..." She kept on repeating, it was the only thing she wanted now.

Her eyes started to close as she was feeling tired again, maybe after a good sleep she would be feeling better. Maybe if she just closed her eyes he would be there when she awoke, yeah that was something hoped for, to wake up in his arms.

Why couldn't they all see him the way she did, why couldn't they just accept him like she had. "Master likes me… I know it… master… loves me… and I… love master."

She was aware that most people found it odd that she kept calling him, even when she had other ways to call him she still preferred this one the most. Even the honorific she had used earlier had been dropped as to her it could express her feelings for him, not in the way she wanted to express them. "Master… will come… master will find me… master saves me…" Whispering those words she lost consciousness as everything around her faded into darkness.

"Where is she!?" Nyu was worried sick, they had been searching for some time now but there wasn't a trace of her. "Nana-chan where could she have gone?"

"I-I don't know, I can't even sense her presence." Just as worried as she was Nana was starting to panic herself; it would have been easy if she could just have sensed Saeko's presence but that was not the case, this was just what she was afraid off when she had first noticed that Saeko no longer gave of a presence like Nyu. Now instead of helping her it was making it worse as they could not locate where she was.

To make her feel even worse about it she knew that with having numbed her that Saeko could not possibly use her vectors, if she were to get in any kind of trouble she would have no means of defending herself. "We should try the places that she normally went shopping with you or Yuka-san, we have to find her before it is too late."

"But I don't know of all the places, often Yuka-san just went along with Nozomi-chan. Best thing to go for I think might be the clothing shops, you know how she liked it when we had first went there to buy her some clothes."

"I remember that but we have already gone over the stores that we know of, she has to be somewhere else and I don't want him to find out. We find her quickly and then we never talk about what happened, he is going to be so pissed at us."

Nyu objected to that. "We have to tell Kouta and Yuka-san, if we don't tell them they will be angry at us as well and I don't want them to be angry."

Nana sighed as she heard that, Nyu had a point there. If they were to lie about they would have everybody being mad at them. "Okay then where should we go next?"

"Oh I know." Nyu exclaimed. "How about that jewelry shop we have been too, it's the one where she bought that beautiful choker."

"I don't remember seeing that one." Nana was puzzled, when had that happened?

Nyu swallowed. "It was just before some bad people abducted us, Yuka-san told me they took it from her and smashed it, you remember that night do you?" There was a sad look in her eyes, she didn't remember all that much but that was one thing that had stuck with her.

"Well I guess we can give it a try, you still remember which store it was?"

Nyu nodded and with that they took off.

Yuka had a deep frown on her face upon hearing what Kouta had to tell her, the news of the assistant not being present was in her opinion rather good but she did agree with Kouta that while it was odd for the girls not to pick up the phone it wasn't that uncommon she did add. "They might just be watching the TV together, that happens you know."

"I know that but somehow I just feel better if they know it as well, I just need to hear them say everything is fine. Your likely right and it is nothing." Gazing at his watch he noticed that class was about to begin, well that meant he would need to wait before he could call them again. Not exactly something that took away his anxiety.

She smiled at hearing that. "Try and call them again after class, we should have plenty of time as I have some quick grocery shopping to do for tonight's dinner."

He looked up. "What are you planning on making this time?"

Waving him off she knew that he was well aware of what was going to be for dinner, he had after all suggested it himself yesterday. "You know fully well that we are having sukiyaki again, you know that Nyu-chan and the girls love it."

"That is true but do you have enough beef for in it, Nana-chan always eats nearly everything of it leaving little for the rest and with the twins at home now we need even more of it."

She smiled. "I fully prepared for that, Nozomi-chan has already went and bought the extra beef for it, there is going to be plenty for all of us unless off course somebody." At this point she was giving him a suspicious wink. "Brings in even more girls."

"Don't try and blame this on me, I recall that you were the one who started all this by saying that we should take Nyu-chan with us that day. You also made the suggestion that we should adopt Mayu-chan." And then off course there was that she had invited Nozomi to come over as well.

"You invited almost all of the girls we have in the house, not me." He finally added to it.

"Yeah that is true but I am a girl myself so it is okay for me to do so." Yuka commented as she enjoyed the look on his face, Kouta could be so cute when he had that look in his eyes.

They both heard the bell ringing signaling that their last class for today was about to start "So I guess there isn't much to do other than just sit out class eh?"

Pulling her book in front of him she whispered. "Not really, besides you need to be present as your grades aren't that good." She pointed at the teacher who was already keeping a close eye on them.

Well so much for trying to call them, perhaps just waiting for an hour wouldn't have such lasting consequences. "Take good care of yourself girls."

"Stop staring at me bug!" Kyou let our a snarl as she looked at the man that Mako was talking to, she really didn't like the way he was gazing at her. Honestly why was she even bothering with him as she already had what she wanted, why waste more time. In her mind this was so stupid.

Her sister was also started to become a little bored with this place and truthfully they both just wanted to go home or at the very least away from this place and somewhere else where they actually could have some fun, something to eat would also not be a bad idea.

"Well we are done here, no thanks to you." Mako remarked as the man left them, eyeing up Kyou she wasn't that happy by the bed she had ruined, luckily it was an old show model so there was not much of an issue made of it but she was kindly asked to keep the twins away from other furniture.

"You two have caused me already enough trouble, I was thinking about taking you out for dinner but now I don't think you would even like it."

"G-Going out for dinner? What is that?" Ryou asked as the sound of different food sounded good to her, they were only used to the food back at the Inn and the special food that Saeko had let them try had been just a single experience. She wondered what other types of food there was available.

"Well I was thinking about going to a fast food restaurant in order to keep it simple, I wasn't really planning on doing any cooking for the day myself. "What do you think of some yakisoba bread or perhaps a hamburger?"

That had caught the interest of Kyou as well, something different than the rice she had nearly every day would be a welcome change. "Yakisoba bread? Hamburger? What are those?"

Mako couldn't suppress smiling at that question, well she could try and explain it to them but given these girls never had much diversity when it came to food in the DRI it might be better for her to take a different approach. "Why don't you order one and find out, the best way to find out if food is good is by tasting it. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I-I like food, I am getting hungry. O-Onee-chan can we go with her and try this food? I want to try a hamburger? Please?" Somehow the mention of new and untried food seemed to have gotten Ryou rather excited as she was becoming quit vocal about wanting to try them out.

"And after that would you two like to try some cake? There are lot of different flavors to chose from. Which one would you prefer hmm?" She had them now, it appeared that if she wanted for them to listen she just had to mention food.

Kyou had her eyes wide open at hearing that, she had seen cake on the TV but she hadn't yet had the chance to taste it. "C-Cake? Did you say Cake? I want cake! Cake! Now! Please I will behave if I can have some cake!"

So that was one of their weak spots, both of these girls apparently had a sweet tooth. Well that was something she needed to remember as it could be useful for later. "Well do you two with go to have dinner with me or do you want to go home like you have been telling for the past hour?"

Needing time to think about this unexpected offer the twins looked at each before going into what seemed like an almost sisterly chat as they made up their minds.

"Okay then, we will go with you to having dinner out but don't try anything on me or my sister you bug. Otherwise I will show you how I deal with bugs like you." Kyou pointed out even though without her vectors there wouldn't be much that she could do for now at least.

Mako kept that in mind; she knew fully well what a diclonius was capable of it they wanted to inflict harm. The DRI had been ripe with stories of silpelits breaking free and going on a rampage as they set out to cause as much harm before being put down. Then of course there was also the case when Lucy broke out and killed over twenty people, finally she had seen for herself what happened to one of Ritsuko's assistant's.

"Don't worry, I am not going to harm either of you. I am not that stupid, I have seen what you girls can do. Now come along with me to the car and let's get something to eat."

"Your smart for a bug, let's go then." Kyou smiled as she and her sister followed Mako out of the mall and back to her car, she was really interested to see this hamburger thing for herself.

Nyu couldn't express in words how relieved she was to have finally found her. "Nana-chan come quick! I found her!" Lifting her off the ground she could feel how cold she was to the touch, her clothes were also soaked from the snow and her feet were a mess.

"Nyu-chan how is she doing!?" Catching her breath Nana arrived next to her. "Is she okay!? Do we need to get her to a doctor!?"

Pressing her hand against her forehead Nyu could feel that she would likely be fine. "I don't think she is in any trouble, she just needs to warm up and get plenty of rest. We should get her back to the Inn quickly."

Nana nodded as that would be the best thing to do, the only problem was that in her state she couldn't walk on her own. They would need to carry her home but neither of them was actually strong enough to do so and Nana wasn't so keen on using her vectors out in the public. "Nyu-san can you carry her for some distance, I will take over when she becomes too heavy for you."

"I will try." Nyu mentioned as she carefully lifted Saeko up on her back, Nana had to help her to prevent Saeko from falling off but after some fiddling they were good to go and set off on their long wlak back towards the Inn.

"I am glad we found her but how did she end up all the way here, she must have kept running on for like a full hour. Where did she get the strength to keep up with that?"

"I-I don't know." Nyu mentioned, tears started to form on her face. "I think she kept running because I said something really bad to her, maybe she kept running so long because she wanted to get as far away as possible from me."

Nana stopped as she watched her. What on earth could Nyu have possibly said that would have caused Saeko to react like she had? The last time was when Kyou had insulted her and her way of life. Surely Nyu did not say anything like that; there was no way that somebody as kind or gentle as Nyu could have even said anything close to what Kyou had done. "If I may ask, what exactly did you say to her? Was it really that bad?"

Nyu let out a troubled sigh in response. "I told her that she couldn't have a relationship with him, he is far too old for her and she didn't like hearing that." Nyu mentioned as they kept on walking, it was going to take some time before they could get home finally. Having said that an uneasy silence settled between the two of them as neither knew what to say to that. They just kept on walking.

"Nana-chan, could you take her over from me, she is getting heavy?" Nyu asked after a while as they had walked for a good time, judging by the streets she guessed they were about halfway home.

"Sure, just help me with it. She is about my size and weight so I likely can't carry her for long." Moaning as she felt the weight on her back Nana took a deep breath before continuing with their walk home. "I think she actually gained some weight." She joked.

Making sure to keep plenty of distance between herself and them Arakawa smiled as she had found them. "Now I have finally found you Lucy." Much to her delight she had stumbled onto them almost by accident, seeing that they were too busy in helping this third diclonius it made her feel more confident that she could keep herself unnoticed to them.

With the snow starting to fall down again they would likely focus more on preventing themselves from tripping while carrying the third one instead of paying attention to the possible chance that somebody be following them. "Yes just go back home to the rest of your family. Just show me exactly where you girls live. That is all I am asking of you."