Aya left the arcade with a copy of City Warrior and a coupon for a tech store within Axen City and Mars in tow. The streets were less busy now that it ast noon.
"I know that tech store," Mars said, chewing on some soft dy she had picked up on the way out of the Pinhole Arcade.
A high sued them on their way out, nearly blinding Aya from the light as her eyes adjusted to being out in natural light.
"All that sugar's not good for you," Aya said after a while of walking. Mars hmm'ed shrugging as she tio chew.
"Here food time, not a long time," the girl said, winking at her friend. Aya ughed.
On their way to the bus stop, Mars took notice of something peculiar, someone was following them.
Aya stopped, catg Mars' eyes, the girl had noticed it too. It wouldn't be the first time she was tailed by someorange. All her years living in Axen had subjected her to just as much.
If the man wao mug them he was going to have to try a lot harder than simply following them with his hands in his pockets.
"Follow my lead," Aya whispered, already knowing a surefire way to lose their stalker. Mars nodded, allowing Aya to lead her into a random bus slowly b its passengers.
The man had no choice but to follow, getting on the bus and sitting away from Mars and Aya uhe impression they hadn't noticed him.
"What now?" Mars whispered to Aya. The bruioned for her to follow, quietly following the bus's back exit, dismounting, and walking off. By the time the man noticed his targets were gohe bus was already moving.
Mars and Aya watched him run to the window, pounding on it as the bus drove away, it wouldn't stop until it got to one of its stops no matter how much he protested.
"Once again I'm impressed," Mars said.
"This isn't the first time someoried to follow me home," Aya revealed, the two began walking toward the Seelim bus also b passengers. Aya regaled Mars with tales of how she’d almost been kidnapped multiple times withiy.
"For real?" Mars said with a frown, every time she heard something about Aya's life within Axen her chest tightened with ay. It was so different for the safety of Evangels.
She had to vihis girl to move to Mericross or something, or just move in with her.
----------
The ride back to the apartment plex was silent, Aya hummed happily to herself while Mars checked her phone.
"I've gotta ask, just what have you been looking at all day?" Aya asked with a giggle. Mars smirked.
"I noticed for someone so adamant about being in produ you don't do a lot of produg."
Aya pouted but nodded. Mars went back to staring at her phone.
"I'm piling a list for you, of the rare pnts, recipes, and items that go crazy on the au house. It's not a lot because they're rare but this should help," Mars expined. She lifted a fio tap Aya's nose.
"When you get home, do some produg!" Mars said with a ugh.
"Hey, I produce stuff!" Aya rebutted. Mars flicked her forehead pyfully. Aya whined, rubbing the sore spot on her forehead.
"And you still owe me one Ever Bloom," Mars reminded as she tio tap her phone’s s.
"They're growing!" Aya whined. Mars ughed.
"This is me being nid helping," Mars said with a shrug. "Silly girl,"
" I see?" Aya asked leaning over her seat to peak at Mars' phohe dark haired girl prese to her.
Aya sed the page critically, reading through it.
"Heartish Robin Eggs?"
"Yep, they're notoriously hard to find, just one of them goes for a ton of gold, Alchemists hem, and chef csses hem food food with stat buffs," Mars expined.
"Good thing I have some then, I'll au them off tonight!" Aya said. Mars sputtered.
"You what?!" She whispered.
"I pleted a special quest and found them in an abandoned Outpost," Aya said. "I was just going to cook them but now, I guess I could au some,"
"Could you sell me 3?" Mars asked, holding up three fingers. "I'll give them to you at 75 Gold each, that's the highest you could possibly get for them,"
"Mars! I would literally give them to you for free! You're my friend,"
"That's why I'm giving you the highest price, I know o take a friend's earnings franted," Mars said.
Aya opehe app and swiftly traded 3 of the 9 Heartish Robin Eggs in her iory. She receives 225 Gold in total, 75 per Egg as Mars promised.
"Phew that's a weight off my mind," Mars said rexing into the headrest of her bus seat.
"What do you for?" Aya asked.
"An elixir i Hollow, I it to an NPC Shaman to plete a quest, some items only be found in ions and I ko find some Heartish Robin Eggs I would o go all the way back to Alquisia," as the aumbled out of Mars' mouth, Aya nodded and smiled.
It was always o hear about Mars' side of the game. Moon Valley Online was a really big game after all. And it only tio grow.
Like a brang tree of sorts, more things would always be added, more mysteries, more quests, and more secrets.
"I'm gd I could help with your quest, I just finished one for the Aruergo mert and it was the toughest I've dohink," Aya said.
"You mean Aruergo, as in one of the three great mert families?" Mars gasped. She smacked Aya on her arm pyfully.
"Why didn't you tell me, it's very rare for them to give out quests!"
"I didn't know that!" Aya said ughing. "He lost his stuff on the way to Bloom Haven. I had to fight a ghost, a zombie, and some kind of weird pnt man!"
"Must have been one hell of a quest, so that's why you aren't produg," Mars teased. The two girls ugh.
"I'll get to it, I just o fulfill these ghosts' wishes and I will," Aya said. Mars nodded.
"I believe you, need I remind you, you o find out what es your parents have to the game and you only do that by pleting the quests tied to your special css Aya," Mars said.
"You're right," Aya said, nodding. "I've got to unlock the secret room within the Rose Manor,"
----------
They disembark from the Seelim bus, watg it drive away with no other passengers. The apartment plex always ended up being the st stop. As long as Aya lived here, there would always be someoo take the bus to the top.
"Let's go ba, I o cate z's," Mars said.
"Did you just say cate z's?" Aya ughed, Mars gred, raising her hand to pyfully smack the irl. Aya ran off before Mars could nd a hit on her.
The staircase was bare with no sign of Lydia on the prowl for Aya and her whereabouts.
"She's not here thank God," Aya said heading up the stairs with Mars. The dark haired girl escorted her to her apartment. As they reached the door Aya's hand hovered over the door knob before she noticed something.
The brue pulled her hand back, then leaned forward to ihe strange markings she had noticed on her door. Her s locks, the keyhole, in particur, had been scratched up. The culprit was obviously trying very hard to break into her apartment but failing.
"Someoried to break in," Aya whispered. Mars gasped, ing to the level of the door and .
"Do you think Lydia tried to test the locks again?" Mars asked. Aya nodded, immediately fishing out her key from her pocket and slotting it into the lock.
----------
The apartment was still in pristine ditiohey stepped in, everything was left exactly where Mars and Aya had pced them from the previous shopping trip. Aya searched the small apartment space looking for just about anything that would give away a successful break-in.
Nothing out of pce.
She exhaled in relief, feeling a weight lift off her shoulders, those locks were the best things she ever purchased, time and time again they tio protect her from the maations of her aunt.
"Do you think it could have been that guy, the ohat tried to follow us on the bus?"
"How would he know where I live?" Aya asked.
"He was tailing us, ces are he wasn't just some mugger Aya," Mars said. Aya took a step back shaking her head.
She had her reasons to dismiss the man as a mugger, but she had even more reasons to sider this might be something more. Her Aunt or Fid a actic to get her to release her grandmother's property.
"Stay safe Aya, and you know you always sleep at my pce if you so choose," Mars said sing the home for any signs of danger. "I know yrandmother's deed isn't here, but I don't think Fido and Lydia know that,"
Aya sat at the ter with her head reeling, the ime she came into this apartment would someone have successfully broken in?
"Mars, what am I going to do?" Aya asked, looking up at the girl from where her head was bowed. "I don't know if I live with this, I've do for as long as I ,"
"Don't worry Aya, I'm here," Mars said, her eyes softened as she stared at Aya's cute oval face. Mars sighed and grasped the girl's hand in her own.
"You aren't safe here," Mars said. "We've got to find a neartment, both of us," Mars said.
"But you haven't even been here a month," Aya said.
"That doesn't matter, I've been found and you've been found. The best thing for us to do now would be to disappear," Mars expined. "So I have just ohing to ask you?"
"Yeah?"
"e to Mericross with me,"