Hinata woke up at the inn, with a concerned expression plastered on a pale face staring down on him. "Komaeda…?" He attempted to lifted his head. " What happened with the-" The brunette flinched and dropped his head again. "Don't move, Hinata-kun! Your head is still hurt." That's right, I hit a tree… or something.

"The dragon flew away, I hit it in the eye with my spear. We're safe." Komaeda seemed to feel as though what happened wasn't important, but rather, how Hinata was. It was just a tree. I'm fine. Why is he so concerned?'

The barkeep made his way towards Hinata, who learned he was lying on a table, and dropped a leather satchel of gold coins next to him. "Aye, there's for a job well done. Sorry to hear about the wrestle with the dragon."

He nodded, slowly lifting himself off the wooden table, and to the floor, despite Komaeda's objections. "I'll be fine, I promise." Hinata laughed carefreely. He lifted the sack of gold. "Let me buy you a new spear."

As if he already knew Komaeda, he expected a flood of protests, and wasn't at all surprised when they came. Without listening he tugged Komaeda's arm and pulled him into the weapons shop.

At the mention of a spear, the shopkeep immediately brought out all he could find. A dozen or so different spears rolled and clattered onto to countertop, each a different size, diameter, type of wood/metal, bearing different points, the list goes on. Hinata checked them closely and evaluated their prices. Maybe the best opinion would be from one who would be actually using the thing. "Which do you like, Ko-"

Komaeda's attention wasn't on spears at all. The brunette spun around and followed his line of sight, which fell on a bow. It was a dusty, dulling grey, but looked generally sturdy. And it was on sale, luckily enough. "Komaeda… were you interested in that bow?" He asked slowly, cocking his head to the side. The other boy turned and shook his head quickly. "It's alright, it's alright… it's not important. I can save up for it. You shouldn't even have to get anything at all for m-"

The coins were on the counter, then the bow was in Hinata's hand. He pulled the wide-eyed boy outside and handed him his weapon. "Comes with ten arrows too. What a deal, huh?" Hinata blinked and frowned when he realized the other boy was still staring blankly in surprise. "You would get this… for trash like me…"

"You're not trash." He stated flatly. It didn't take terribly long for someone like Hinata to get bored of the "Komaeda human garbage" ramble.

"How can I repay you, Hinata-kun?"

"You already did. You saved our asses from the dragon."

"That doesn't coun-"

Hinata stopped. "Komaeda it's a fucking bow. Think nothing of it. Now. Let's get back to that Inn for the night before I have to punch you."

To Hinata's relief, he actually did shut up. It was an empty threat, it came to it, he probably wouldn't have been able to punch him. As he ran back, trying to beat sundown, he smiled. Komaeda wasn't that bad, really.

/

"Let me come with you."

Hinata perked his head up from his packed gear. It was morning, and as soon as the barrels of ale safely arrived, the bar was full of customers again. Few drank this early in the day, but those who did were certainly here.

Komaeda stood over Hinata, bow lurched over his shoulder. He looked more ready to leave than the brunette. To be honest, he was more than glad to have Komaeda join along, as a lonely trip is a shitty trip. Or something along the lines of that. But he would feel guilty, throwing the guy into danger like this, and maybe getting him killed. They've already been through enough chaos with the scorpions and the dragon.

"I understand if you don't want me to come with you. If you're sick of being around me, I don't mind." Oh no. Oh noooo. Hinata groaned. Now he HAD to bring him along. It was mandatory, but disguised as a choice. It remained unclear, however, whether he was actually degrading himself or knew this would work flawlessly. Either way, it resulted in his favor.

"Fine, Komaeda. Let's get going." The white-haired boy lit up like a bonfire. The joyous expression brought some sense of hope to Hinata as well. He gestured to the weapon first, though. "Can you use that thing?"

"Oh, I know archery better than I know how to throw a spear, haha. No worries." Considering he nailed a dragon in the eye with a spear, he must've been an awfully skilled marksman, Hinata thought. Unfortunately, the occurrence was truthfully pure luck. But Hinata didn't know that.

"Let's head out for the next town. I want to see if there's anyone else who can join our group there." Komaeda nodded, and they departed at once. It was a dangerous road. They needed all the help they could get.