(Y'all, I finally did it. Now hand over your money. And your love and affection)

After Anna patched up Jin and Hayato's minor wounds they thanked us once again, loudly, might I add, before beginning to talk about "William Minerva". I listened quietly- for once in my life, while they spoke, pondering on my best decision. I came to the conclusion of my plan just as Ray verified that Hayato and Jin knew about the 'Jaws of the Lion' to make sure that they were genuine.

"From here, we can arrive at the hideout in about 3 days if we head for it." Jin finished explaining.

"Can you use a gun?" Ray asked the two cattle children, to make sure they could fend for themselves, at least.

"Yes!" Hayato answered, raising his hand "If needed!" I snorted as his actions reminding me of a small puppy, picturing him with a wagging dog tail.

As everyone was clamouring about excitedly I pushed my way towards where Hayato and Jin were conversing with the others. "Excuse me..." I hummed, arriving in the middle of the group. "But I have a proposition." I grinned. "Hayato, you're really fast, right?" I asked him with a hum.

Hayato looked shocked, nodding his head. "Yes, but... how do you know that?"

Ray, along with the others gave me a look that read "vision again?" and I nodded. Alas, instead of telling Hayato the "truth", or what the cattle children thought was so, I made up another fake deduction. "You managed to spin on Ray and drop to the ground before he could shoot you. And when you jumped on me- although it seemed controlled, it was inhumanly fast. And then there's your plantation logo-" I gestured to the large muscly boy who was at the back of the group. "It's the same as Adam, who has an inhuman strength." Hayato looked at Adam, eyes wide, while I continued. "So it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that you had similar abilities."

I heard Ray mumbling to himself quietly. "I don't know what would be scarier- if you were actually making these deductions, or that you're making them up in an instant to support your visions." He huffed.

"So here's what I want to do," I turned back to Hayato without saying a word to Ray. "I want you to help me get to Minerva first-"

Ray recoiled in shock. "Wha-?!" I pushed his comment aside with the wave of my hand.

"If it's just the two of us, we can move quickly. I'm pretty strong as well. And, I have something I want to say to n-...your boss... before we arrive." I shoved my hands in my pockets.

Hayato hummed. "Well, it's doable." He shrugged. "But will everyone else be okay with only one guide?"

I nodded. "They'll be fine. They've got these idiots with them." I elbowed both Emma and Ray, who were standing beside me on either side. "And then those two parents-" I pointed to Yuugo and Lucas who were eyeing us from the back of the crowd.

"WAIT- ADULTS???!" Hayato and Jin exclaimed in unison. Yuugo and Lucas made their way forward, the younger children parting ways for them.

"Frankly, I don't approve of this idea." Yuugo grumbled and I tch'ed, puffing out my cheeks. "But Y/N has her weird little brain and her weird little ideas. Only god knows what she's thinking."

Lucas nodded. "And Yuugo trained her himself. She'll be fine." He tilted his head with a smile, reassuring Yuugo and everyone else with a nod.

"I'm sure she'll survive, so I'll approve of it...I guess." He agreed, pursing his lips.

I huffed. "And who are you to need to approve of my ideas?" I pushed my face into my shirt collar.

Yuugo looked to the sky with a hum. "You're still just a kid, brat. Think of me as... a babysitter."

"A babysitter??! I'll kick your *ss, you little-!!" Yuugo wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought his fist down on my head, rubbing it in a noogie. "OIOIOI STOP-!!" I yelled, struggling to get out of his grip. He released go at last, letting out a loud laugh.

"You messed my hair all up~" I whined, trying to fix it before pulling it back into a long ponytail.

"See! A brat!" Yuugo smirked. I delivered him a swift kick to the shin and he let out a yell, grabbing it in pain. "Ankle-biter." He cussed once he recovered.

"Moving on-" I turned from him to the shocked Hayato after kicking Yuugo once again for good measure. "We can do it, right?" I asked.

Hayato took a moment to recover from his shock then nodded. "Sure, but will you be able to keep up?" He raised an eyebrow, still glancing between Yuugo and I.

I tilted my head with a hum. "You'll have to slow down a little, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

I soon waved goodbye to everyone, receiving multiple hugs from the worried children. After I finished reassuring them and my goodbyes, I made sure to have extra ammo, knives, and everything else ready, packing everything needed into my bag. Once I finished stood up and brushed my legs off. Another chilly wind blew past me and I shivered with a frown. Maybe I could ask Emma if she had her scarf packed, she wasn't using it anyway...

I heard footsteps approaching from behind me and turned to Ray, the ravenheaded emo stalking towards me with his hands in his pockets. He came to a stop a few feet away. I pulled my backpack onto my shoulders and adjusted the straps a little. Shuffling a little, I realized my laces were a little loose. I bent down and began to tie my boots tighter so they'd be better suited for running. "Are you going to go?" Ray asked, breaking the silence.

I blinked while I crouched. "Uhhh...yes?" There was no response to Ray, and I switched to my other boot, tightening it as well. As another cold breeze blew by, I went to rub my cold nose when a soft material was wrapped around my head. "Eh?" I hummed, looking up while Ray draped his soft scarf around my face.

I stood up and pulled the long fabric down a little, feeling the warmth surrounding my once cold nose and ears. "Uhhh,,, don't you need this?" I asked, grabbing the scarf.

Ray turned away with a shrug. "No, I'm sure you need it more."

Hayato came up behind me. "Are you ready?" He asked.

I grinned. "Yep!!" I nodded, turning around to face the light-haired boy. I then turned back around to the ravenhead behind me. "Stay safe, Ray!" I waved to him with a small smile hidden beneath the scarf.

He turned back around to face me, raising his hand with a nod. "Stay safe."

I began to jog with Hayato, snuggling my face into Ray's scarf.

We soon picked up the pace, trees beginning to blur by as we dashed. "Now that I think about it," Hayato hummed as we ran, the extremely taxing pace not having any effect on him, "You look a lot like William Minerva." He stated, turning back to look at me.

I poked my chin above the warm scarf with a closed-eye grin. "I know."

Hayato hummed curiously. "I see..." We ran in an awkward silence as Hayato began to speed up more and more, myself just barely managing to keep pace with him. Finally, Hayato asked the question that was on his mind. "...You're not really a goldfish, are you?"

I blinked, processing his question as my brain lagged, before snorting. "I'd love to say yes again, but it's no fun when you genuinely believe me."

"...then, you're not...?" Hayato asked, still confused.

I laughed despite being so out of breath. "No, I'm not a goldfish." I then hummed with a grin. "Although I do have the attention span of one."

-----

I stared in awe at the big- no, big can't even begin to describe the size of the trees. Perhaps "Massive", or "Enormous", or "As big as my co-" No, enormous, would be a better use of imagery. I hopped over a tree root as Hayato and I had slowed to a walk. We alternated between travelling slowly and quickly and arrived here without rest in just under 24 hours.

"We're almost there!" Hayato exclaimed. "Then, I'll run ahead and warn Minerva! He's not expecting us for another 2 days, so-"

"No need." I turned a grin to an owl as it took liftoff from a branch, swooping down before soaring up in the direction of the base, and I'm sure, Norman- or 'William Minerva', as well. I watched as it flew away with a slightly anxious grin on my face.

Hayato looked confused but shrugged, leading me to the correct tree. We walked for a while longer before we arrived at the biggest tree I'd seen yet. "We're here." Hayato said, leading me through the entrance.

I looked in awe at the village, the bridges spanning across the inside of the massive tree, the houses along the edges, the people clamouring around on the inside. I took only a moment of break from looking to blink before analyzing my mystifying surroundings once more. The manga panels didn't do this tree-village justice.

Hayato led me up a series of stairs and across a few bridges. I watched in astonishment as children ran passed me, happy smiles on their faces. They were playing instruments, playing sports, cooking, cleaning, and the like. I received many stares of awe from the children. A kid with a Lambda Farm mark on his hand offered me some hot chocolate and I accepted gratefully. A little pigtailed girl held up a platter of sweets and I grinned. "Don't mind if I do!" I grabbed a handful of cookies. I crouched down to eye-level with the children and patted their heads. "Thanks a lot, you two!" They giggled and ran away, back to their respective families.

"These are good~~" I hummed in bliss, munching on the cookies, as Hayato led me to Norman. When we arrived at the door, my heart jumped in my chest while Hayato knocked twice.

"Come in." Norman's voice rang out, sending chills down my spine. Hayato opened the door and I entered slowly, bracing myself. "Thanks, Hayato. You may leave now."

I stuffed my hands into my pockets, pushing my nose deeper into Ray's scarf.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Norman asked, turning to face me on the desk, placing his hands on the table.

"Yes it has, Norman."

(I forgot to put this here in the last chapter,,,

This is the 10K art!! Although the story is now nearly at 20K reads now👁👄👁💧(Edit: Yeah,,, it's at 20.5K views now,,, we'll see if I can complete the art before 30K lmaooo) (Yeah, it's at 60K views now... u h...)