Yui muttered to herself,
"How… how did I end up with these two lunatics?"
Just a year ago, she had been walking alone through the streets of Valorie, searching for a chance, a job, or even just a meal…
Until she suddenly bumped into the back of a tall person wearing a strange coat.
Yui caught herself and expressed her anger:
"Are you blind?!"
Rin, with a forced smile:
"Ah, sorry. I didn't see you. You're… small."
Rio (peeking from behind Rin):
"Oh! A girl! Are you a thief? You're a thief, right?! Your eyes say so!"
Yui, angrily:
"What?! My eyes?! Are you talking to my hair?!"
After a long argument in the middle of the market, drawing the attention of everyone around, the Royal Police came to disperse them, and they escaped together from the chase of this "misunderstanding."
A few hours later, they were sitting in a small garden, eating meat-filled pastries.
Yui (while chewing):
"Why were you two arguing with the fishmonger?"
Rio, confidently:
"He was selling suspicious fish."
Rin:
"Suspicious? It's just fish. That's its natural description."
Rio replied:
"Oh Rin, we're humans, not animals that eat anything even if it's spoiled."
Rin, tilting his head in surprise:
"Huh? Does food quality really matter? What matters is that it's food."
Rio, in despair:
"Yes, quality doesn't matter."
Yui laughed for the first time in months.
That night, they asked her to join them on their journey.
Yui:
"Why should I join you?"
Rio and Rin looked at each other with a sarcastic smile and shouted with childish enthusiasm:
"Because we're the best!!"
That night, a new member entered the family.
In the present…
Yui sat on a comfortable couch, sipping tea, Rin sleeping beside her, while Rio shouted from the kitchen:
"Yui! How do you make tea like this?! There are herbs that taste like dry grass and mold!! Is this a ritual to summon spirits?!"
Yui, calmly:
"These herbs help with focus and calmness. Something you lack."
Rio:
"I need something to escape this… strange taste!"
Rin, turning in his sleep, says:
"No… don't take the pastries… they were the last of what I had…"
Yui, smiling:
"Is he always like this?"
Rio:
"That's him being weird. Usually he dreams about dying in some training session."
Yui replied:
"Ohh… now I understand why he doesn't like training."
A little later… at the local market
The three of them wandered among the vendors, Rin buying strange books, Yui pulling a cart full of spices, while Rio tried every food sample he came across.
Rio (chewing a pastry):
"This is delicious!"
Yui:
"It's a free sample. Don't eat five of them!"
Rio (mouth full):
"You're not my mom!"
Yui:
"I can be if you don't stop acting like a child."
Rin (from behind them):
"Can I buy the book 'How to Lose Your Friends and Gain a Cat: A Practical Guide to Social Failure' and the book 'The Art of Procrastinating Everything… Even Your Dreams'?"
Rio and Yui together:
"Huh?? Rin, is there something wrong with your mind?"
In the evening, on the inn's rooftop
The three of them sat looking at the sky, the stars quietly twinkling.
Yui:
"Why did you ask me to join you?"
Rin (with a smile):
"You're strong… and smart… and most importantly, you laughed at Rio's joke."
Rio (looking at her with mock seriousness):
"That alone shows you have a strong heart worthy of respect."
Yui (laughing lightly):
"You're insane."
Rin:
"But we're family."
Yui fell silent… then said quietly:
"That's the best thing I've heard in a long time."
A few minutes later, while everyone was asleep…
Rio suddenly woke up and whispered:
"…Yui, are you awake?"
Yui (drowsily):
"What?"
Rio:
"You hid a pastry under your pillow, didn't you?"
Yui:
"…Go to sleep before I freeze your lungs."
Rio slowly retreated.
To be continued…