By the ti Shu finished making lunch, Raniel had already been forced to accept that this apartnt was not going to stop shocking her anyti soon.
Now she was sitting at the table with a plate of warm food in front of her, ’woah, chicken and rice, what the hell. Where did he even get these ingredients?’
She stared at the plate for a second, then at Shu, ’just how much can you do with that mysterious power of yours?’ She thought, looking at Nari who was eating her food happily.
’What is this guy’s setup?’ she thought, picking up her spoon slowly. ’No matter how you look at him, he has big advantage over everyone.’
He noticed her staring and leaned back in his chair with a tired look. "If you keep looking at it like that, the food is going to get cold."
She looked up at him, then down at the plate again. "I am looking at it like that because it is chicken and rice," she said, finally taking a bite. "Do you understand how insane that sounds right now?"
He shrugged and took another mouthful of his food. "I understand you are talking too much instead of eating."
She clicked her tongue, but the second she chewed properly, her eyes shifted a little.
’Bruh, it is actually really good,’ she thought, staring down at the food.
Nari looked up from her own plate and smiled a little. "Sir Shu made it," she said, sounding oddly proud of that.
Raniel looked at the girl, then back at him. "You can cook too?"
"Barely," he said. "This is just simple stuff."
"If this is simple, then I have been suffering for no reason." she took another bite, her face feeling with so much it looked like she was about to cry.
Raniel wiped her mouth and looked between him and Nari again, then set her spoon down with a quieter expression than before.
"Can I ask sothing?" she said, leaning a little toward Shu. "Is Nari your little sister?"
He paused mid-bite and looked at Nari first, then back at Raniel while he shook his head once.
"No," he said, putting his spoon down. "I found her in an apartnt building near by a few days ago, being chased by a monster."
Nari’s hand slowed on her spoon after hearing that, her eyes staying on the plate for a second before glancing up again.
"I was alone, scared and hungry," she said softly, then looked at Shu. "Sir Shu helped without asking for anything in return, he is the best." She said with big bright smile.
Raniel’s face softened right away as she leaned back in her chair while exhaling slowly.
"I see," she said, voice lower now. "Sorry, I just assud because of how she looked at you."
He gave a small shrug and took another bite, though his eyes stayed on Nari for a mont before shifting back to Raniel.
"It’s fine," he said. "She has been with since then, and I told her we would look for her parents."
She straightened a little after hearing that, "her parents?"
He nodded once and set his spoon down, "yeah," he said. "I was planning to start the search tomorrow, I have delayed it long enough."
Nari sat straighter in her chair and watched him closely while hope slowly appeared on her face, "tomorrow?" she asked, her voice shaking a little. "We’re really going?"
He t her eyes and nodded right away, then leaned forward and tapped the table once so she would stay focused on him.
"Yeah," he said. "Tomorrow we go and start properly."
Nari let out a small breath she had been holding for too long, then looked down at her plate with her fingers still wrapped around the spoon.
"You won’t change your mind in the morning, right?" she asked quietly. "You’re not just saying that to calm down?"
He shook his head and pushed his plate aside, then pulled a folded paper from his pocket and opened it beside the bowls. A rough map and short notes were already written in dark pen.
"I already mapped the first route," he said, sliding the paper closer. "If I was going to back out, I wouldn’t waste ti planning."
Raniel leaned over the table and scanned the page, then looked at him with one brow raised. Her tone stayed calm, but she was clearly paying attention now.
"Hmm, so you are starting by that area, I don’t think you will find them there," she said, still looking at the paper.
"Really, I was sure there was a safe zone there," he said, looking at her in confusion.
Raniel tapped the center of his map and slid her finger west, then stopped at a boxed area he had circled twice. Her expression stayed serious while she looked up at him.
"There is a safe zone there, yes," she said. "But that one only accepts awakened people now, and they started enforcing it after the second breach."
He frowned and leaned in closer, then checked the mark again. Nari looked between them, already picking up that sothing in the plan had shifted.
"Awakened only?" he asked. "Since when was that a rule?"
She exhaled and sat back, then folded her arms while keeping her voice low for Nari’s sake. She did not look happy about the policy either.
"Since resources got tight," she said. "If soone isn’t awakened, they get redirected to civilian overflow shelters outside that zone."
He stared at the map without speaking for a few seconds, and his jaw tightening as he thought back to the novel.
’I don’t rember this rule at all,’ he thought, rubbing the side of the paper with his thumb. ’Either the tiline shifted, or this branch made its own policy under pressure.’
Nari lowered her spoon and looked straight at Raniel, then at Shu. The hope on her face did not disappear, but it turned sharper and more afraid.
"Then mom and dad won’t be there?" she asked softly. "They never awakened."
Raniel shook her head once, but she leaned forward so the answer didn’t feel like a door closing.
"Not in that zone," she said. "But that doesn’t an they’re gone, it just ans the search starts sowhere else."
Shu nodded and pulled the map back to his side, then uncapped his pen and crossed out the old route in one clean line.
"Then give the best place to search first," he said. "Not guesses, priority order."
She pointed at three spots in sequence while he marked each one. Every location ca with one short reason and one expected risk.
"First, West Transit overflow camp," she said. "Most non-awakened evacuees from residential blocks got sent there in the first wave."
Her finger shifted down one street to a second mark near a broken plaza. Shu wrote fast and did not interrupt.
"Second, Saint Mia church basent," she said. "dical volunteers moved families there when the clinic line collapsed."
She tapped a third location near an old school icon, then pulled her hand back and watched him finish writing.
"Third, victoria high school," she said. "Late arrivals and separated families usually end up there for registration checks."
He underlined all three, then circled the first two twice and capped the pen. The plan in his head shifted again, but this ti it felt usable.
"Good," he said. "I hit Transit first, then church, then the school if needed."
She gave a short nod and pointed to the margin where he still had blank space.
"Write this too," she said. "If you find checkpoint officers, say you’re tracking separated civilians from Block C housing, not asking for favors."
He added the wording exactly and looked up with one brow raised. She already knew what he was about to ask, so she answered before he opened his mouth.
"That phrase gets faster answers," she said. "It sounds official enough to avoid getting brushed off."
’Well, tomorrow will be another long day, I better rest up well today.’
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