『 The Snowy Forest — Suuran — Everi, ?? h ?? 』
The two young boys had stopped running ten minutes ago and had been walking for a little while.
"Alright, you can put me down, Itoî," Uyan said, annoyed.
"Oh, uh, yeah, sorry," Itoî replied, setting his little brother down.
He had been carrying him on his back.
"It's been about twenty minutes since we split from Big Bro," Uyan said.
Itoî nodded and walked, staring straight ahead. The snow kept falling and seemed to be getting heavier. The forest felt almost suffocating with all this snow and these gigantic trees.
"Itoî, I'm talking to you. Stop walking," Uyan told his brother.
Itoî still seemed lost in his thoughts:
If Vars hadn't stopped me and the demon had come out, would it have changed the outcome of the fight? Could we have saved Mom?
He clutched the amulet his mother had given him. Its sky-blue glow almost blinded him.
Uyan ran to stand in front of his brother and threw his arms up to signal him to stop.
"Itoî! I'm talking to you! There's no point going further! We're getting farther from Big Bro!"
Itoî stopped and realized his brother was talking to him.
"Sorry, I... Yeah. You're right, we need to stop walking."
Uyan worried about his brother's state and started bouncing on his feet.
Intrigued, Itoî asked:
"Why are you jumping?"
"Duck down!" the little boy said, annoyed.
"Huh? Uh, alright."
Itoî crouched. Uyan placed a hand on his older brother's forehead to check for a fever.
"You don't have a fever, though..." Uyan said, perplexed.
Itoî laughed:
"Hahaha! You're worried about me, little redhead?"
Uyan blushed and exclaimed:
"See! That's your problem! The moment someone's nice to you, you make fun of them!"
Itoî stopped laughing and ruffled his little brother's hair.
"Sorry, sorry," he said with a smile.
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Uyan blushed and huffed, pouting, before turning serious again:
"Was something bothering you?"
"A lot of things, Uyan. A lot of things."
"You shouldn't overthink it," Uyan said, looking at his brother.
Surprised, Itoî replied:
"You're telling me that? Hmm... I must really be thinking a lot today, then."
Uyan nodded and looked up.
"It's weird. The trees form a natural canopy, and yet the snow is falling heavily."
Itoî scratched his head, then said:
"Either way, it's cold. And that's actually perfect: look just to our left!"
He pointed at a cave. It was small, but looked like it could shelter at least five adults, maybe six.
"Awesome!" Uyan said, smiling and giving a thumbs up.
Itoî raised his hand in a V sign, smiling at his brother.
The two boys walked toward the cave.
"Itoî, we should gather branches," Uyan said.
"What for?" Itoî asked.
"Well, to make a fire."
"Huh? But we don't have matches, and neither of us has the Fire element!" Itoî said, not understanding where his brother was going with this.
"You'll see, don't worry," Uyan replied.
The two boys gathered sticks of every color and shape: some were white, others long, short, light brown, or black...
After collecting a good amount, they entered the cave.
It was a bit dusty, but strangely comfortable. There weren't that many rocks on the ground, as if someone had already sheltered here and cleared the space.
Itoî and Uyan set down the branches. The little redhead sighed, then thought:
I wonder how Vars is going to find us... I'm not worried about him: given what he made for us, he's capable of casting fairly complex spells. But I'm mostly wondering how we're going to signal our position to him. This forest seems so vast.
"Itoî, can you take some branches and do what I do, please?" Uyan asked, grabbing a few branches.
"Uh, yeah, go ahead."
Itoî didn't understand how Uyan planned to make a fire.
Uyan took the few branches and slipped them inside his armor, right against his skin. Itoî did the same.
"What do we do now? Gotta admit, it's pretty gross, wet and frozen branches. Plus, it makes you cold," Itoî said.
"Yeah, we don't really have a choice. If you noticed, the armor's light is calibrated to maintain an ideal body temperature. But with the branches, our temperature drops," Uyan replied.
"Uh... Okay, and so?" Itoî was still a bit lost.
"So, the light heats up more to bring our body back to a temperature between thirty-six and thirty-seven degrees," Uyan continued.
"Aaaand?..."
Uyan placed his wet hand on his armor. As explained earlier, it was surrounded by a luminous aura that, besides providing good resistance, also served as a heat source. His hand was dry a few seconds later.
"Ah! So then—"
"Exactly," Uyan said.
"How long do you think it'll take for the wet branches to dry a bit?" Itoî asked.
"Normally, several days, but—"
"Several days?! We're screwed!" Itoî exclaimed.
"Let me finish..." Uyan said, annoyed.
"Sorry," Itoî said, making a zipper motion across his mouth.
"Once they've dried just a little, we'll take them out and place them near the cave entrance. The wind will speed up the process greatly. Truth is, the cave keeps us warm enough, so we shouldn't die—at least not right away. So I volunteer, if you want, to place my armor over the lighter branches we gathered," Uyan said.
"But you'll freeze to death!" Itoî exclaimed.
"No. Like I said, the wind is blocked by the cave. So even if I'm cold, it should be fine. Not to mention we'll have your armor: you hold me, even if the idea disgust me, I'll admit," the little boy said.
"What? I disgust you that much, you bastard?" Itoî asked, annoyed.
"It's not that. I just don't particularly like being held by a boy, don't hold it against me," Uyan said.
"W-Well, put that way, we're the same," Itoî said, laughing.
"So how long do you think it'll take?" he continued.
"Less than twenty-four hours, honestly, since the snowflakes that land on the armor will disappear instantly. Not to mention the armor is waterproof," Uyan replied.
"He really thought of everything," Itoî said.
"Yeah... It's not for nothing he's our Big Bro..." Uyan replied.
"By the way, what were you thinking about earlier? Be honest," the younger boy asked his brother.
"Don't freak out, okay?" Itoî said, looking embarrassed.
"Come on, stop dragging it out," Uyan replied.
Itoî sat cross-legged on the ground and gestured for Uyan to sit too. He looked him in the eyes, then said:
"Alright... It's up to you whether you want to hear this or not. I have a demon inside me."