The morning had already settled over Eman Village by the time Elifero and Jon left the house. Their goal was simple enough: search the village for anything—or anyone—that might help Elifero recover his memories. A familiar face, a familiar street, perhaps even a name might be enough to awaken something buried in his mind. Neither of them knew exactly what they were looking for, but at this point, anything was better than doing nothing.
The two walked through the narrow backstreets of FareBare, their footsteps carrying softly between the closely packed houses. During their walk, Jon explained how Eman Village was divided into two major phases. Phase One was further divided into two sections: BeMare, where much of ordinary village life took place, and AeMare, the central district. Jon hadn't explained much about AeMare, telling Elifero only that he would recognize it when he reached it. Apparently, a large statue stood somewhere at its centre, and the people there could often be seen wearing clothing different from what Elifero had encountered elsewhere.
Then there was Phase Two: FareBare, the very place they were walking through now. Even Jon didn't seem to know exactly where the name had originated—or at least, that was what he claimed. Compared with the rest of Eman, FareBare was noticeably less lively. Its streets were quieter, its buildings stood closer together, and its residents seemed to keep mostly to themselves. There was one rule Jon had made particularly clear, however: those who lived in FareBare were forbidden from approaching the statue in AeMare. Elifero didn't know why, and Jon hadn't offered an explanation.
Beyond Eman Village stretched thick forests and towering mountains, surrounding the settlement like enormous natural walls. For now, though, Elifero had more immediate things to worry about.
Jon suddenly slowed and stroked his chin. "Look, this is how I'd like us to do things." He inhaled deeply before letting out a sigh. "We've got two options."
Elifero turned toward him as Jon raised one finger. "Option one: we stay together and search the entire village. Problem is, that'll take forever. We probably won't cover everything today, which means we'd have to come back tomorrow and do the same thing all over again." He raised a second finger. "Option two: we split up."
Jon glanced toward the sky, squinting thoughtfully. "I'll stay around BeMare and ask people if they've ever heard of your village. You head toward the central area and look around. Maybe you'll see something familiar." He lowered his hand and looked down at Elifero. "We cover more ground that way. So? Which one do you prefer?"
Elifero offered no response. Jon waited several seconds, but the boy continued walking beside him as though he hadn't heard a word. Eventually, Jon's eyebrow twitched.
"...Elifero?"
Still nothing.
It was almost as though Jon had spent the entire time explaining his brilliant plan to himself. Elifero's body was present, but his thoughts were somewhere else entirely—back at the house, back in that hallway, back at the partially opened bedroom door. His mind kept returning to the image of Jon's mother hunched over her bed, her violent coughing shaking her body as blood dripped from her mouth and stained the cloth between her trembling fingers.
Crimson.
The image refused to leave him.
Elifero swallowed and glanced toward Jon, wondering whether his companion even knew what was happening. Jon had called it a small cold, a fever, nothing serious. But Elifero knew what he had seen, and whatever that woman was suffering from, it certainly hadn't looked like an ordinary cold.
Should I tell him?
The question lingered in his mind. Perhaps Jon had been lying, deliberately hiding the truth about his mother's condition. But another possibility troubled Elifero even more.
Maybe he doesn't know.
What was he supposed to say? Hey, Jon. I looked through your mother's bedroom door this morning and saw her coughing blood. His stomach twisted at the thought. That sounded terrible, and he had no idea how Jon would react. Yet pretending he hadn't seen anything felt just as wrong.
"Hey!"
Snap!
Elifero jolted at the sudden sound, his thoughts scattering as he looked up. Jon's fingers were still raised in front of his face.
"You alive?" Jon asked, staring at him suspiciously. "Because I've been talking for a while now, and I'm starting to think I could've replaced you with a wall."
Elifero lowered his eyes. "Sorry."
The apology came sincerely, and Jon studied him for another moment before asking, "Is something bothering you?"
Elifero stiffened. For one dangerous second, he almost told him everything. His lips parted, but the words refused to come, and he slowly closed his mouth again. Jon noticed the hesitation.
"If there is, you can tell me."
Elifero remained quiet, so Jon shoved his hands behind his head. "But if you need time to think about whatever it is, that's fine too. We can even start tomorrow instead." He glanced at him. "Only if you want to, though. Because right now, you look like you didn't hear a single word I just said."
"...Sorry," Elifero repeated.
Jon sighed. "You're really bad at pretending you're fine, you know that?"
Elifero managed a faint, embarrassed smile. Before either of them could continue, however, the atmosphere around them began to change. Sounds drifted toward them from somewhere ahead, growing louder with every step. Children laughed, people talked over one another, and shopkeepers called out to passing customers. Objects clattered as sellers rearranged their goods, someone argued over a price, and another person laughed loudly enough to be heard halfway down the street.
Elifero lifted his head as the cramped, gloomy streets of FareBare gradually opened before them. The narrow passageways gave way to a busier stretch of road, where people crowded around stalls and moved between the buildings with little regard for the growing bustle.
They had entered BeMare.
Elifero's attention immediately wandered. Stalls lined the street, displaying food, household goods, and other items. Children weaved recklessly through the crowds while irritated adults shouted after them, and sellers competed for attention, raising their voices whenever someone so much as glanced in their direction. It was completely different from FareBare, and Elifero found himself looking everywhere at once, turning left, right, behind him, and then forward again.
Jon stopped near the middle of the busy street and turned toward him. "So? Option one or option two?"
Elifero considered the choices. If they stayed together, there was less chance of him getting lost, but Jon was right: they would cover far more ground separately.
"Option two," he finally answered.
Jon grinned. "Good choice."
Then Elifero realized something.
"Wait."
"Hm?"
Elifero looked around at the streets branching in several directions, each disappearing between houses and buildings. "So how am I supposed to know which way I'm going? I don't know these streets. What if I get lost?"
Jon stared at him before his grin widened.
"Oh."
Elifero narrowed his eyes.
"Oh?"
Without explaining himself, Jon raised two fingers toward his mouth. Elifero frowned, watching him with growing suspicion.
"What are you—"
FWEEEEEEEEEEET!
A piercing whistle ripped through the street, making Elifero flinch. Several conversations stopped instantly as heads turned toward Jon. A child froze mid-step, two women standing near a stall stared directly at him, and even a man carrying a basket looked over his shoulder. Jon slowly lowered his hand while Elifero stared at him in disbelief.
What the heck was that for?
A furious shout suddenly erupted from a nearby stall.
"SHUT YOUR TRAP, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
Elifero turned toward the voice. A shopkeeper selling poultry meat glared furiously at Jon from behind his counter.
"Can't you see we're trying to run businesses here?!"
Jon scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, everyone." He then looked toward the angry man. "Sorry, old man."
Silence fell between them.
The shopkeeper's face hardened. "...What did you call me?"
Jon's smile weakened as the man's voice rose. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLD?! Show some decent respect, you little shit!"
Several nearby sellers immediately joined in, complaining about the younger generation and its lack of manners. Jon's eyebrow twitched.
"Oh, yeah?!" He pointed toward the poultry seller. "Then stop calling me a little shit!"
"You ARE a little shit!"
"I'm not that little!"
"That's the part you're arguing about?!"
"Obviously!"
Another shopkeeper shouted something at him, and Jon fired back without hesitation. Within seconds, what had begun as a whistle had turned into an argument between Jon and several grown adults in the middle of BeMare. Their voices rose over one another as the sellers hurled insults at him, only for Jon to return every one of them with an answer of his own.
Elifero watched the spectacle, his lips trembling as he struggled to hold back his laughter. He really did try, but then the poultry seller called Jon an "ungrateful little rat," and Jon immediately demanded to know what being a rat had to do with anything.
Elifero broke.
"Pfft—"
He covered his mouth, but it was too late. Laughter burst out of him, and he bent forward slightly, clutching his stomach as another laugh escaped. Jon stopped arguing, though the shopkeepers continued grumbling around him. He no longer seemed interested in their complaints and instead turned toward Elifero, who was still struggling to catch his breath.
For the first time that morning, Elifero wasn't thinking about the crimson cloth. He wasn't thinking about Jon's mother or his missing memories. He was simply laughing, caught up in the ridiculous spectacle unfolding before him.
Elifero wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as his laughter began to subside. Jon smiled at him.
"At least you don't look as tense as you did a few seconds ago."
Elifero's laughter gradually faded, and he looked at Jon with lingering curiosity. Did he do all of that on purpose? For a moment, he considered the possibility, but then again, this was Jon. Probably not.
Shaking his head, Elifero managed another smile. "But why did you whistle?"
Jon folded his arms. "I was calling someone."
"Someone?"
"Your partner."
Elifero blinked. "My... partner?"
"You're the one who just said you don't know these streets."
Elifero glanced around. That was true. Jon nodded confidently. "So I'm giving you someone who does."
A partner, huh...
Elifero thought about the whistle again, and his expression changed as another question occurred to him. Wait. Who calls another person with a whistle? Wasn't that disrespectful? Or perhaps it was normal here. Elifero genuinely didn't know anymore.
Then—
BARK!
His head snapped toward the sound. Another bark followed, closer this time, and then a second pair of barks rang through the street. People began moving aside as something came racing toward them at an astonishing speed. Elifero barely had enough time to make out four legs before the animal launched itself forward.
"Jon—!"
THUD!
Jon disappeared beneath it.
The two crashed onto the ground, and Jon immediately cried out in pain. "Ow—! Hey! Hey!" The dog attacked him mercilessly—with its tongue. Jon burst into laughter as the animal enthusiastically licked his face, its tail wagging so violently that its entire backside seemed to move with it.
"Okay! Okay! I missed you too!"
Elifero stood frozen. He knew that dog.
His eyes widened. "Wait!"
The dog briefly looked toward him, and Elifero pointed at it in disbelief. "You! You're the dog from yesterday!"
It was the same dog that had been beside him when he'd awakened on those crates, the same one that had followed him from the passageway before eventually disappearing without warning. Elifero looked between the animal and Jon, struggling to make sense of the situation.
"Wait... that's your dog?"
Jon finally managed to push the animal off him. He climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off before answering, "Not really."
Elifero frowned. "What do you mean, 'not really'?"
Jon crouched and scratched behind the dog's ears. "He's not mine." The dog's tail continued wagging as Jon rubbed its head. "He's more like... everyone's dog."
"Everyone's?"
"Pretty much. He goes wherever he wants. Sleeps wherever he wants. People feed him, look after him, chase him away when he's annoying, then feed him again when he comes back."
Elifero stared at the animal. Jon shrugged, seemingly unbothered by the unusual arrangement. "Everyone around here knows him."
The dog looked extremely pleased with this description.
"Actually," Jon continued, "he's the only dog in the village."
Elifero looked back at him. "The only dog?"
Jon thought for a moment. "Well... the only pet, really."
That only confused Elifero more. He looked down at the dog again, which stared back at him with its tongue hanging lazily from its mouth.
The only pet in the entire village?
Elifero wasn't sure whether that made the dog special or Eman strange. Probably both.
Jon stood and brushed off his clothes. "Anyway, he's going with you."
Elifero's eyes widened. "With me?"
"Yep."
Jon pointed toward the direction of AeMare. "You don't know the streets. He does."
Elifero looked at the dog, and the dog looked back at him.
"...You're serious?"
"Completely."
Jon crouched beside the animal again. "If you get lost, stick with him. He knows his way around better than half the people living here."
Elifero wasn't entirely convinced that was reassuring.
"And if something happens," Jon continued, "he'll make enough noise for someone to notice." He scratched underneath the dog's chin. "Especially me."
The dog barked once.
Jon grinned. "See? He agrees."
Elifero stared at them. "I don't think that's what he said."
"How would you know?"
"How would you know?"
Jon opened his mouth, then paused.
"...Good point."
Elifero couldn't help smiling again. For the first time that morning, the weight inside his chest felt slightly lighter. But it hadn't disappeared. Somewhere beneath the laughter, the image remained: a trembling woman, a violent cough, and a white cloth stained crimson.
Elifero looked at Jon. He still needed to ask him about his mother, but he couldn't bring himself to do it just yet.
Jon pointed toward the road leading deeper into the village. "Remember. You're heading toward AeMare."
Elifero nodded.
"Look around. Talk to people if you need to. If anything feels familiar—even something stupid—pay attention to it."
"What about you?"
"I'll stay around BeMare." Jon glanced toward the crowded streets. "I'll ask around about Oatile. Someone here has to know something."
Elifero's expression softened. "...Thank you."
Jon waved him off. "Save that for when we actually find something."
The two stood there for another moment before separating. Jon gradually disappeared into the crowds of BeMare, stopping at the first few stalls as he began asking questions.
Elifero remained where he was, the dog waiting patiently beside him. Ahead lay the road toward AeMare, toward the central district, toward a place Elifero believed he had never seen before. He had no idea what he might find there, or whether anything in the district would help him recover the memories he had lost.
Nevertheless, he took his first step.
The dog followed.
Neither of them knew what awaited them there.