Suspicion.

Susie frowns at your examination, looking rather displeased by the attention. "Hey, the hell you staring at, creep?" Before the situation can escalate any further, Ralsei interjects. "Susie, where is Kris? I thought they were supposed to be coming today too?" Susie starts scratching her chin as she responds to Ralsei. "Well, since you weren't waiting at the entrance like you usually do, we decided to go looking for you. Kris went to check if you were in your room or something." Ralsei suddenly has a look of panic on his face. "M-My room? Oh no no no, I haven't cleaned up in forever, it's so messy." Ralsei says, right before he gets grabbed by Susie and put in a headlock. "Heh, is that what you're worried about? Knowing you there's probably just a book out of place or something." Susie lets go of Ralsei, but not before playfully ruffling his hat. "Alright, let's go stop Kris from seeing your 'messy' room, ya nerd." Susie says, starting to walk away from you. She gets a couple step in before she remembers you are also there. "Oh yeah, you can come too, I guess." Susie shrugs once more and turns back on the path. Ralsei hangs back a bit to give you a small smile, before he too follows after Susie. With nothing else to do, you follow them.

After a little bit of walking, the environment around you changes. Instead of large swaths of nothing broken up with the occasional pale pillar, there is now a bustling town. A wide variety of residents make their way to whatever destination they have in mind, flowing around your group like water. Only a few actually take notice of you, with most of the residents waving to Ralsei, or making brief eye contact with Susie. Those that do acknowledge you only stare at you for a few seconds, before going about their business. Your group passes several kinds of buildings, including a café, a bakery, a dojo, and a shop of some kind. You pass by all of those, instead approaching a formidable looking castle with a beam of shifting darkness flowing upwards into the sky from somewhere behind it. When you enter the castle you find that the interior is cozy enough, even though there is a large cauldron bubbling away in the middle of the entrance room. You notice a door that seems more decorated than the other ones, but you don't get a chance to investigate as you continue to follow Susie and Ralsei as they go up a flight of stairs, passing by a few doors, and going up another flight of stairs. Finally arriving at your destination, Ralsei hurriedly opens a green door and steps inside, causing a bucket of water to fall right on top of him. "Kris! Did you really have to trap my own bedroom?" Ralsei asks, his outfit thoroughly soaked. Susie lets out a deep laugh at Ralsei's appearance while pointing at him. "Haha, got ya! Kris was right, this was a great prank!" As you get closer to Ralsei's room, you see the prank master themself.