I couldn't help but to notice how alight the woods were with energy as I walked amongst it. The air was filled with the sound of woodland creatures chattering about as they scurried or flew about through the trees. The sunlight that filtered through the tree limbs felt refreshing on my face, making me want to take my mask off to enjoy it more and the gentle breeze passing through the trees was pleasant and cool. The atmosphere around me was completely relaxing.

I shook my head, disengaging myself from the clouds I flew into, and resumed listing all the things that I needed from Morinoya.

"Gonna need some more toiletries," I murmured, tapping the said items into my coil, "Food, obviously... Maybe I could pick up another book or two while I'm at it."

I thought back to the several unread books I already had back at home. I shook my head with a sigh.

"More books," I tapped in, ignoring my common sense for the sake of books.

Speaking of books, I thought, I wonder how Mr. James is doing?

Mr. James was my caretaker for the year that I stayed in Morinoya. At that time, he was the only person that I trusted since Manzo specifically said I could trust him. So with that being said, I followed Mr. James around like a lost puppy for the longest until the middle aged man got sick of it.

With the exclamation of, "Face your fears," the salt and pepper haired man dumped me in the middle of town and left me there.

At first, I nearly shitted myself, thinking that everyone was going to turn me in since I didn't wear anything to disguise myself at that time, so I went into the alley ways trying to hide and found myself in a portion of Morinoya that I've never been in before. I was wondering around the place, contemplating whether or not if I should crawl into the nearest manhole cover and die for the stupidity of my actions when I was approached by one of the locals that lived there. The young woman had asked me if I was okay; apparently, I've been walking around the neighborhood in circles with the saddest expression on my face. From there, I promptly broke down in tear and told her about my situation. The lady, Mrs. Yomo, was fuming at the end of my explanation and took me to her home so she could call up Mr. James.

I chuckled as I thought about how awkward I was feeling, being surrounded by Mrs. Yomo's little children and husband while the said woman was fussing on the phone with Mr. James. Mr. Yomo was giving me a heated stare while all three of the little kids yanked on my long hair.

"Pweety, pweety~," the little kids crooned with each tug on my hair.

I stared pleadingly at Mr. Yomo for help with his kid, but he was content to watch me become a play thing for his children.

"O-ow~," I groaned on a particularly hard pull.

This somehow made Mr. Yomo snap out of whatever trance he put himself into. The brunet stood up hurriedly and gave me an apology as he pulled his little triplets away from my hair.

"I was just so entranced by your coloring," he explained as he bounced the children on his lap, "I've never seen a deviant with eyes like yours. They're like the epitome of green!"

I gave a embarrassed chuckle as the young man continue to gush over how pretty my eyes were. That's when Mrs. Yomo came in with a triumphant grin. She told me that Mr. James was on his way and that he won't be pulling a stunt like he did anymore.

"But he meant well," I defended, looking down into my lap, "I guess you can say that I have a phobia of people in general."

That very statement began the start of my recovery.

Mr. James as well as the Yomo family began to take me outside as often as possible to get me accustomed to being around people in general. In the beginning, I blanched at the thought of going around a lot of people on a daily basis, thinking that someone will turn me in or something. But as time went on, I soon realized that my fears were unfounded; the townsfolk of Morinoya were quite nice and welcoming to me. It was obvious that they weren't used to seeing a deviant like myself around, but it didn't stop them from being kind to me. Eventually, I found myself looking forward to going out and about town and socializing with all sorts of people. I was still paranoid, yes, but not as much as I was I first.

But despite a majority of the locals of Morinoya taking a shine to me, there were others that couldn't stand me period. At first, they seemed nice; they would chat with me and invite me to go places with them. But soon, they would make jokes at my expense and alienate/ me from doing certain things because I'm a deviant.

When Mr. James caught wind of this, he immediately sat me down and asked why did I continue to socialize with them.

"They're just joking around, aren't they?" I had responded, "Right?"

At the serious expression Mr. James was giving me, it was apparent that they weren't. I soon learned that I couldn't please everyone, even if I tried my hardest. I dissociated myself from the toxic people that were racist towards me and strived to make better friends that weren't mean hearted towards me.

A year passed before I decided to leave. Mr. James was distraught to hear about my decision when I told him.

"At least give me an explanation as to why you're leaving, Kain," the middle aged man had said while I was packing my stuff in my room.

I faltered momentarily in my actions before answering.

"I can only bring about unwanted change due to my selfish desires," I said lowly, looking at the black markings that crisscrossed over the back of my hand.

I'd rather not play into Toue's game.

"I didn't hear you, what?" Mr. James said as he entered the room.

He squatted down beside me on my place on the ground and grasped my shoulder with a sympathetic expression.

"Is it them again?" he asked, "Look, if it is, we can help-"

"No," I interrupted, continuing to place my clothing into a suitcase, "It's more personal than anything else."

Mr. James was quiet for a moment, probably waiting for me to tell him, but I didn't say anything more, wanting to leave my explanation at that. He gave a heavy sigh and stood up. I paused to look up at him with an inward frown.

I should've worded that better that better, I thought to myself, Especially considering his past with people leaving...

"Just to let you know, me leaving has nothing to do with anyone here," I then raised my eyebrow, "So don't go shouldering all the blame on yourself."

The middle aged man flinched. Bingo

The salt and pepper haired man gave a sheepish chuckle as he scratched the back of his head.

"You know me too well," he said as he picked up my clothing off of the bed.

At my questioning stare and raised his eyebrow at me.

"You think I'll let you pack up all by yourself?" Mr. James said as he began to fold them, "Please. You'll take forever."

If anything, Mr. James did everything in his power to hamper me leaving, so it took forever regardless. Not that I minded all that much; I'm going to miss him and everyone else when I leave. And I did.

I still came to Morinoya to buy stuff for my cottage, but I tried not to linger despite wanting nothing more than to stay. So I usually brought my items in the bulk to save trips to the town; my presence wouldn't do anyone any good there, even if they thought other wise.

I patted my cheeks roughly to concentrate. I need to get it together so I don't forget to buy something important and have to travel all the way back.

"Okay! I'll safe the meat and frozen foodstuff for when I go back home," I concluded as I tapped the items onto the list.

I then frowned as an important detail became obvious to me.

How in the hell am I going to refrigerate anything without a generator?

I pouted as I backspaced on any fresh foods that I put on the list. Guess I'll have to eat out for the duration of my stay to make up for it. I paused and gave a perverted giggle at what I thought.

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Soon, I made it to the Home of the Woods in record time. I enter through the eastern part of the town through an entrance I dubbed the East Side. Coming in through the east is the safest side of town; I can enter through without being seen by a shit ton of people since it opens up to an alleyway. There's other ways to get into town, like the "Official Entrance" which is south of Morinoya that has a sign that says "Welcome to Morinoya" with little pines decorating it. However, in order to get to it from my cottage, you'll have go through the part of the woods that has all the bobcats and shit. Hell no.

I walked through the alleyway and stopped when I got to the end of it. I stretched by back in a flourish and gave a big, dramatic sigh.

"It's nice to be back," I said happily as I relaxed and looked around the block.

I was currently in the residential area of town. Since it was midday and a majority of the people was at work or school, it wasn't choke full of people. It was good for me since no one, from the looks of it, saw me come in.

"Enough stalling, lets get to shopping!" I cheered as I broke into a jog wanting to get all of the necessary stuff done so I can do everything else at my leisure.

I was mentally ticking off the things that I would need to get first, after getting a motel room first and foremost, when I heard someone call out my name. I looked towards the direction of the voice and gave a grin towards its owner, waving and greeting them back. Then, my name was called again by someone different. Soon, I was handing out greetings left and right to many of the townspeople that seemed to appear out of no where. The amount of people appearing on a work day was something else entirely, but I couldn't complain; being around people after being in solitude for so long was refreshing. Times like this makes me wish that my entire situation different, that I could be around people without any repercussions biting me in the ass.

My chest suddenly felt tight with an intense sense of longing- longing for something that will never come to be. My face twisted underneath my mask with self loathing. With such feelings swelling inside me so suddenly, I had to excuse myself from the people around me and get to myself for a moment.

By Thioriginell... Why me? I thought vainly as I quickly walked away, my emotions getting the better of me. A beat later I scoffed inwardly. It was a question that I already knew I'd never get the answer to. I should know this but even after fourteen years, I never stop asking.

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After taking a nice, silent walk through the back roads and alleyways, I deemed myself stable enough to walk amongst the townspeople without relapsing into an emotion mess of a deviant and booked myself a room at a local motel.

I really need to get it together if I break down so quickly from a small group of people saying "Hi", I scowled myself.

I then took back to the streets, giving out greetings and an occasional hug or two as I walked about aimlessly around town.

I felt so pumped up to shop, but now I don't really feel like it, I thought as I browsed through a window of a shop advertising AllMates of various types.

My eyes lingered on one particular AllMate that posed on top of a display stand. The AllMate was modeled after a Japanese Spitz and had dark blue fur that matched his eye color. The robotic dog gazed emptily in my general direction with his tongue hanging out making me smile despite myself. It was a rather adorable AllMate. At that moment, my eyes began to warm up.

I stood there staring at the Spitz for a moment with a vacant expression before I blinked and chuckled. I crouched over and touched the glass before the AllMate with an intrigued smile.

"You would've played an important role in another life, no?"

With those words, I stood over and walked away from the shop with a strange feeling in my chest and an odd smile on my face hidden by my mask.

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A small bell above the door signaled my intrusion of the small book store.

After spending a good while of time wondering around and spending money on random nick-nacks, I decided to come and visit a bookstore that I use to frequently visit back when I lived here. Upon entering the shop however...

"Excuse me sir, I'm going to have to stop you," a voice spoke up.

"Hmm?" I perked up and gazed lazily at the speaker.

It was a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair casually sitting at the cash register reading a newspaper.

Who reads newspapers nowadays, by Thioriginell... I thought randomly. That fad ended a century ago. Use your coil, old man.

"I like to consider myself old school thank you very much, ya brat," the cashier answered with a strained smile on his face as he placed said newspaper down.

I inwardly cursed my lack of a thought-to-mouth filter. I really need to work on that...

"And besides," the cashier went onto say, "I prefer to do things the manual way anyway. I'd rather not become dependent on a piece of metal like a majority of these spineless wimps out here anyway."

The middle aged man gave a pointed look towards the coil on my wrist at the end of his sentence making me narrow my eyes in slight irritation.

"Now back to the point," the man continued on, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave on the account of you breaking several policies regarding your attire."

I raised an eyebrow and gestured towards myself with a flourish.

"Just so you know, I dress normally like another person," I defended.

You just gotta ignore the mask and bandanna and the fact that I look like shady as fuck with them on.

The cashier raised his eyebrow back at me as to say, "Really? Who are you fooling?"

So we stood there staring each other down, both of us refusing to bulge in our opinion. Five hours have passed. Shops have been bombed and lives have been lost. Children are screaming in the background but I refuse to-!

Sudden laughter filled the air as the cashier began to walk towards me. The older man gave me rough hug filled with affection and I returned it all the same. After a while we separated and gave each other wide grins, still chuckling at one another.

"It's nice to see you again Mr. James," I finally said, gripping the older man's shoulders tightly.

The said man reciprocated my actions and nodded, his blue eyes crinkling with mirth.

"Same for you, son," he replied, "Same for you."

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Mr. James and I sat down together in the back of the bookshop to catch up on the things that I missed since I last visited. (It was mostly one-sided since I didn't have much to chat about other than my visitors from a couple of weeks ago.) I teased Mr. James about sitting out on the job to gossip about mundane things. He snorted at me.

"It's not as if I'm going to get fired or anything," he said smugly, "That's one of the perks of being your own boss. Now shut up so I can tell you about what happened with the Yuno's!"

And what juicy gossip it was. It was a scandalous story filled with secret lovers, cheating, and both Mr. and Mrs. Yuno being gay.

"So they broke things off, but they remained as friends," Mr. James finished off, leaning away from me whist crossing his arms and nodding.

"Bruh," I said dumbfounded, "That had so many plot twists that I just can't even."

Mr. James gave me a look that said that he could relate.

"Come on with me to the front," the older male said as he stood up from the box he was sitting on, "I've kept the people waiting long enough."

But when we arrived, there was no one there. I chuckled while patting the dejected Mr. James.

"There's always next time!" I cheered before I began to walk through the book isles.

Mr. James' bad mood cleared away almost as quickly as it came, this being proven with his retort: "Maybe they saw you come through and thought you where a robber and was scared away. You look shady as one."

I snorted as I waved him off.

"It's only a mask and bandanna, that's all," I said as I picked up a book from a shelf. After a small bit a consideration, I took it with me as I ventured down to browse at books similar to it.

"I still want to know why you suddenly picked up the habit of wearing such head attire," Mr. James called out from his perch at the cash register.

I paused in picking up another book, deliberating as to how to answer his question. I picked up the book and walked to the man silently with a serious air about me, making the humorous mood in the air dissipate.

"If you must know," I murmured as I took my glasses off and leaned close to look the man in the eye from across the counter, "I..."

I trailed off and waited for a moment, leaving the man in suspense.

"You what?" he whispered after a while.

I looked down with furrowed brows and looked back up at Mr. James who seemed to be holding his breath.

I whispered, "I have wicked razor burns on my face."

Mr. James' face went slack with disbelief.

"You should've taught me how to fucking shave my face properly, you old fart," I continued, my voice cracking in my effort of keeping myself from laughing.

I found myself being slapped repeatedly in the face with a rolled up newspaper. My laughter, soon joined by Mr. James', filled the air.

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After a bit of goofing off together, Mr. James and I chatted some more before I purchased my books and headed off to my motel room. I examined my purchases in the waning afternoon light with muted excitement; they were books regarding deviants and the ODW. Most likely they'll just repeat the information that I already know back to me, but you never know. Knowledge is power! At least, according to Aeron it is.

"Gramps you're so slow~!"

"Yeah, yeah! Hurry up!"

I put my books back into my bag and looked towards the direction of the voices I heard. They sounded close by, but they were actually across the street. I saw an elderly grandfather with his grandchildren from the looks of it.

"Oh, hush you two," the old man said gruffly, "I ain't young like I used to be, so I can't go as fast." His cold voice was outweighed by the gentle look of affection in his eyes.

The children giggles from their places beside him, both of them, a girl and a boy, gripping one of his hands.

The girl beside him opened her mouth to say something in reply, but by then I tuned their words out. I pursed my lips at the sight of love that was flowing through the trio. I know without a doubt that I'm a loved person throughout the town but that kind of love was nothing compared to one of family members.

I was struck with a sudden urge to go back to Mr. James and talk with him a little more. I wanted to call up Adara or Aeron or someone to talk about everything and nothing. I wanted to go back home.

My eyes heated up and suddenly I had a brief flashback to my childhood before it was filled with death and grief. I shook my head. That home was long gone, and there was no way I could go back, even if I went back there.

I cast my eyes downwards with a heavy sigh.

I may live in the cottage in the woods but that empty place devoid of life is far from home. Home was where my grandfather was. My home was back at Midorijima. But despite this sentiment, the mere thought of Midorijima made a sinking feeling appear in my chest. But my want to see Gramps overcame that feeling.

I shook my head and continued walking, muttering to myself, "I hope Gramps is okay."

My eyes warmed in response making me fear the worst.

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When I finally returned to my motel room, I felt exhausted mentally; all I wanted was to curl up on the bed and sleep the rest of the day and night away. But with me being me, I found myself propped up reading one of my books that I purchased at Mr. James' bookstore. The title of the book was called "The Intricacies Of Deviants" and so far my predictions were correct- it was just restating what I already knew.

The book began on a common fact that mostly everyone knows: all deviants were born from still born fetus...

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{AN: Happy belated Valentine's Day / President's Day! Just to let you know, typing up this chapter hurt me- At first, everything was going great, but then once I got to the middle-ish part of it, my inspiration died on me. I tried to type past that part, but nothing satisfied me. But the dear Goddess of Inspiration visited me and blessed me in her holy power! ...Sorry it's two o'clock and I've been working on this chapter for the past couple of chapters! But oh well! I'm glad that I got this chapter out. May the next chapter not be met with the same results~

So, until then, see you on the next update!