Not straying far from the Heim family farm house, Bethany brought Ren with her to her uncle's peach orchard. Under the guise of going out for a walk within her family's property to "clear her head", the jovial redhead brought her best friend deep enough within the orchard to seclude themselves.
Sitting down cross-legged, with her back and head resting against the trunk of the tree they chose to take refuge under, Bethany had Ren laying down with the back of head resting between her thighs— her fingers gently running through his thick lockers of gray hair, while she let out a muffled hum while her eyelids were gently closed.
For an hour, Ren laid with his head resting on Bethany's soft lap; telling her all about his adventure, he started from how he chased Amerika into the outer rim of the Equipoise Forest. When the eleven year-old boy got to the point of his journey where he was ambushed by wolves in the dark, it was during his herculean tale of survival did he notice Bethany protectively wrapping her arms around his head— unsure whether or not she was even aware of her actions, but nonetheless felt comforted by her endearing presence.
When Ren began going over his firearms training with Amerika, he made sure to unholster his revolver from his hip to show Bethany what each component was, before going into detail about the shooting techniques he had used while retaking the goblin girl's underground bunker.
Making sure to empty the .357 rounds from his revolver's chamber first, Ren handed Bethany his sidearm while beginning to tell her all about what he had learnt of the Old-World from Amerika— specifically, about the gold-plated device that he wanted to help her search for.
"So, before I explain to you what a "Sternengesang" is-"
"-Wait, what now?!" Bethany interrupted with a bewildered smirk across her face— finding the foreign word to be silly, as she tried quietly repeating it back to herself, "Scht-hurn-gkin-zungk…?!"
"It's more like, "Sch-turn-gng-e-zugng"," Ren clarified, and paused briefly before somewhat embarrassingly muttering, "Or… At least that's how I've been saying it… You can just say "Star Singer" too; that's what it translates to."
"Oh? And what language would that be, huh?" Bethany asked curiously, while still fidgeting with his gun.
"It translates from this old language that's called "Doitsch"," Ren incorrectly replied with confidence in his low, gentle voice. "The peculiar thing about that though, is that it wasn't even the native language spoken here back then."
"Oh? So what DID people speak then— back in the day?" Bethany asked, with an intrigued, yet carefree voice.
"They spoke "I'talyen-en-ush", is what Amerika told me," Ren answered, and immediately widened his eyes the moment he heard Bethany chortle loudly. "Why'd you laugh at "I'talyen-en-ush"?"
Snickering ever harder at Ren's incorrect pronunciation of "Italienisch"," Bethany had an immature grin across her lips, as she looked down into the boy's confused gaze before telling him, "Heh, haha, ah~…! I-It sort of sounds like you just said "In-Talion's Anus"~!"
Reinforced by Amerika's vulgarity and shared crudeness with Bethany's usual sense of humor, Ren was able to share the laughter with the redhead— albeit, he was far quieter about it than she was.
Once their shared moment of jovial laughter had passed, Bethany asked Ren about what the Sternengesang was.
"From what Amerika told me, it's sort of like a crystal ball; except instead of seeing the possible outcome by looking into— like how most mediums do— you have to place it into a specific slot, in a specific room called a "mainframe"," Ren explained, while recalling the empty docking station where the gold-plated device was once inserted into.
"Anyway… Basically, what it does is hold a bunch of archived records inside of it that date back all the way to the Old-World; back when it was first placed into the underground mainframe— and it's been recording information around the world since then,"
"Sounds really cool and all, buuuut… I still don't get why she wants it back bad enough to willingly go on some wild goose chase for it," Bethany remarked, while fanning the hammer of Ren's revolver to repeatedly click it, each time she pulled its trigger in tandem.
"Amerika told me that she and her clan have been safeguarding it from humanity for a few centuries now; it might be out of a sense of duty to her family, especially now that they're gone," Ren hypothesized, as he gazed up at the bottom of the gun. "It's how they made that firearm— they learned it from the Star Singer."
Narrowing her eyelids slightly, while staring thoughtfully at the nickel-plated revolver, Bethany frowned a bit as she said in a cautious tone, "If that thing, or whatever, is capable of showing goblins how to make something as deadly as this thing supposedly is, then… It's probably best that it doesn't get in the wrong hands, huh?"
Nodding his head in between her thighs, Ren took the gun back from Bethany politely, and began reloading the .357 rounds back into its chamber. "I think so too, Beth; that's why I have to go."
Finding that somewhat difficult to believe completely, Bethany let out a throaty chuckle as she smirked knowingly at her puzzled best friend. "What?"
"Come on Ren: you and I both know that's not the reason you're leaving," Bethany challenged with a raised brow, and saw a glimmer of sheepish guilt twinkling behind his dusty rose eyes as she elaborated, "I mean… Don't get me wrong: that's a very good reason, in of itself! But… We both know that's not why you're going— it's just easier to tell yourself that, instead of just admitting the truth, isn't it?"
Opening his mouth to speak, Ren paused as he noticed the way Bethany's smug grin suddenly became supportive— her pink eyes lacking any semblance of judgment, while he felt her hands reaching down to rest against his chest. Unable to look her in the eye, Ren averted his gaze away from hers, as an ashamed look crossed his face.
"It's… It's not that I… That I want to be away from you, or from Vivi-"
"-Oh, I know that already; kind like of how I've always known you were going to leave the nest," Bethany interrupted with a positive tone in her voice, before suddenly curling inward to hover her face inches away from Ren's— causing him to look back up at her, as her long strands of hair draped over his shoulders. "This? This was always always going to play out like this— one way or the other."
"... Do you truly think that, Beth?" Ren asked in a quiet voice, while staring deeply into her loving pink eyes, and at the warm smile across her pink lips that offered nothing but warmth for him.
"Yep! I've always known that about you, Ren— ever since the day I met you, and your sister," Bethany replied honestly, and with sincerity in her voice as she reached down to rest her hands on top of his chest— taking comfort in the beat of his heart, and with each breath he took in-and-out of your lungs.
"But even so… It wasn't until I got to know you did I realize something else," she said in a voice that was growing quieter— more intimate.
"Oh…? And… And what was that?" Ren asked, while also feeling the butterflies swarming around in his stomach, as the red-head who was caressing drew her lips closer to his.
"That no matter how far you'd go— where that inevitable journey would lead you— that you weren't the kind of person to abandon others… You were always so caring, and so selfless," Bethany spoke amorously— her fingers curling up, as she felt Ren's heart racing inside of his chest.
"... It's what made me fall for you," Bethany whispered softly, before taking a risk as she leaned further down to press her lips against Ren's open mouth.
Although the moment indeed had awoken unrelinquished feelings within Ren, that still didn't stop their first kiss from being messy and awkward— as the two inexperienced children tried to emulate what they had seen from the adults in their life.
With their kiss only having lasted a few seconds, it wasn't long until the two of them started busting up laughing at themselves with Bethany cracking jokes, while Ren continued to lay there in her lap— listening happily to his best friend ramble, as the wind blew gently on their flushed cheeks.