Unpacking didn't take as long as Aya thought it would. As she placed one of her shirts on a hanger provided by the apartment complex, she took a moment to glance around her new room. It was spacious, more than her shoe cupboard in Axen had been.

"It even had its own bathroom, connected to Mars's room with a porcelain tub for long bubble baths. Aya imagined herself taking long baths after a long day of work, but she supposed she didn't have to work now, did she?

The room was pretty bare, but she had only just moved i,n and even then Aya didn't have as many items as Mars but looking around now, she no longer needed to sleep on just a mattress on the floor. Her new bed frame was made of dark, polished wood that gleamed with the light from the window.

With Mars's help, Aya had been able to lay the mattress on the bed frame without much of a hassle.

A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts.

"Pizza's here, I know you'd rather not complain, but I know you're starving," Mars said, jabbing her finger in Aya's direction.

Aya grinned sheepishly.

"Well, you were just so busy I didn't want to bug you!" Aya whined. Mars walked over and, as Aya pouted, flicked her forehead.

"Ow!"

"Always tell me when you need something, you'd want me to do that for you, right?" Mars said, leaning back and folding her arms.

Aya nodded, she rubbed her head, and looked up at Mars, who was still staring at her with a fixed glare. A shudder raced up her spine.

"Yeah."

"Exactly, now come and get your pizza before it's cold." Mars said, taking Aya's hand and pulling her towards their new living room.

----------

"So what do you think about the new place?" Mars asked as she tore a piece of her pepperoni with her slightly sharper than average canines.

Aya thought she detected a hint of uncertainty in Mars's ton,e but that had to be just her imagination, right? Mars was one of the most confident people she knew.

Aya made a show of thinking about her answer, even though she had wanted to blurt out how much she loved the place from the beginning of their entry into the lobby.

"I love it, I've only ever dreamed about living in a place like this!" Aya said with a bright smile. "I'd always wake up and feel sorely disappointed, and deep down I feel like I'm about to wake up again."

"I have a family and friends who care about me, and this new house. It's more than I ever thought I'd get." Aya said she was tearing up now, prompting Mars to put her arm around Aya and rest her head on her shoulder.

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"I know." Mars said quietly, still gnawing on her pizza. "But I think you deserve a good life."

Aya sniffled.

"Thank you."

----------

After another visit from Lisa, who happily dropped off Aya's keycard and extra key. Aya and Mars decided they were done unpacking for the day.

"The wifi in this building is so strong!" Aya said.

"Yeah, it's included in the rent, so don't worry about it."

"Oh yeah, how much is the rent It's a two bedroom, and despite this counting as the outskirts, it's actually very nice." Aya asked nervously. She didn't know much about houses and could only estimate the cost to a thousand Lue or more.

"Not that expensive actually, about 2500 Lue a month minus utilities."

"2500!"

"Aya, calm down, you know I have that money, besides, you could always contribute in your own way. You do most of the cleaning and I'm not someone who discounts domestic stuff, God knows I can't clean for shit." Mars said, yawning. "Besides, I leased it, which got us a discount, so it was about 1700 Lue actually."

Aya relaxed, though there was still a weight in her chest, she didn't want to be someone who used Mars for her money.

"You're thinking about using me for my money, which you couldn't even if you wanted to." Mars laughed. "Come on, Aya, who do you think I am?"

The brunette laughed a bit and relented. If it was fair in Mars's eyes, then she wouldn't argue with it.

"Thank you for everything." Aya said genuinely. Mars patted her curls.

"Silly girl, you can count on me, you know."

"And you can count on me too."

----------

Yvlena opened her eyes to the beautiful visage of the Rose Manor, she looked around. Squinting her eyes at the sight of the building and its surroundings.

Something had changed.

"What the hell?"

Before she could begin her inquiry, a message popped up notifying her of something important within the game.

[Soren the blacksmith has upgraded your weapon, return to the Artisan District's Smithy]

She read the notification and quickly forgot about the new feeling the manor evoked within her. Yvlena ran towards the gate, hurrying towards the District so she would claim her augmented sickle and begin her backlogged quests.

As she ran, she began to notice more and more faces within the town. The Floral District was even more lively than usual, brimming with wreaths and other botanical decorations.

"Are they celebrating something?" Yvlena asked. It wasn't long before she recalled the Bloom Festival was undergoing its preparations.

"Oh yeah! I can't wait to see what that's about, but I also don't even fully understand how time passes in this game,to be honest." Yvlena said, laughing.

She burst out of the Floral District to see the decorating continued well into the town square, shops were lined with NPCs holding large baskets of flowers in their arms, and talking amongst themselves.

Yvlena weaved through the crowd, pumping her legs until she finally reached the Artisan District.

"Phew, the streets are so crowded with NPCs now, it was tough to get here." She said, walking down the somewhat clear path toward the Smithy.

It brought a smile to Yvlena's face to see little kids and their parents stroll the town with flowers and toys as they stood outside their homes decorating.

"Yvlena!" A male voice called from her side. It didn't sound like Laurent at all, She turned to find herself face to face with Dylan, the NPC she had helped not too long ago.

But he was different now, he seemed calmer, a lot more mature than she had left him. Where he had worn plain clothes before, he now had armor marked with a crest.

"Did you join the town guard?" Yvlena asked in surprise, she didn't think the story would progress that fast, but Moon Valley worked in mysterious ways.

Dylan beamed in pride and, without warning hugged Yvlena and lifted her into the air.

"Well, you've certainly gotten stronger too!" Yvlena laughed when he put her back down.

"I've been training a lot since I joined. I wasn't trying to impress you or anything." He said, blushing furiously.

"Right, well, it was really nice seeing you Dylan. It's wonderful that you're following in your dad's footsteps. Get strong enough and maybe we'll do another quest sometime." Yvlena said, running off.

"You bet!"

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