Search Yellow

8th of March

The next morning you get woken up by the sound of the door of your room opening, so you slowly open your eyes to see who it is.

It's Midori, who came to wake you up.

She notices that you are already awake.

"Good mornin— oh god!" she suddenly says, surprised.

She probably noticed that there's another girl sleeping in your bed and, from the sound she just made, Leaf starts to wake up too.

"Mhh... who is making all of this noise..." Leaf says as she sits up and rubs her eyes.

She then opens them, noticing that a blushing Midori is looking at the two of you, so she also blushes a little and covers herself with the sheet.

"S-sorry, I guess I came in at the wrong time" Midori says.

"Y-yeah, give us a minute before barging in" Leaf says in her usual cheeky tone, though she is noticeably embarrassed by the situation.

"R-right, I'll see you downstairs for breakfast" Midori says before hurrying out of the room.

"Well, that was not a great start to the day" Leaf says.

"I don't know, I think it was pretty funny" you reply.

She pinches your cheek.

"Stop being cheeky and let's shower, the others are waiting for us for breakfast," Leaf says.

You nod and the two of you quickly take a shower together.

You then get dressed and head downstairs.

At one of the tables you see your musu friends sitting together with a still rather sad Katy.

The two of you sit down with the others.

"Hi guys!" Charlie says, as energetic as always.

"Y-you should not make the great Marine wait for you," Marine says with her usual proud tone, though there is a hint of awkwardness in her voice.

"Yeah sorry, we slept a little too much," you say while noticing a slight tension of embarrassment between Leaf and Midori.

"So... how are you feeling today, Katy?" you ask.

"I-I'm better than yesterday..." she mumbles.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah... I just gotta accept that I got rejected and go home to my teacher..." Katy sighs.

You think about your current situation for a moment.

"You know what... maybe you don't need to do that" you say.

"R-really?" she asks as all the girls turn toward you.

"Well, you see..." you begin before explaining to them what happened yesterday and the mission you have now.

"...So we will create a base near here, and we could use a tailor to adjust and prepare clothes for us," you explain, and you think you see Katy's eyes shine from behind her bangs.

"I accept!" she blurts out. You have never heard her say something so quickly.

"Good, then for now the team is the five of us plus Leaf, obviously if all of you want to join me" you say.

"Well I'll obviously follow you, I'm your partner" Midori says.

"Me too!" Charlie adds.

"More adventures to witness if I come along" Marine says proudly.

"Good, so for now we have to meet this Yellow and discuss getting the place" you say.

The girls nod and then you all have a quick breakfast.

Then you, Midori and Leaf head out to talk with Yellow while Marine and Charlie stay at the inn to keep Katy company.

You walk toward the outskirts of the city, where Yellow's clinic should be according to Blue's information.

After walking around for a few minutes you finally find the place.

It's a modest but charming little building made of pale wood and stone, with flower boxes under the windows and a small painted sign hanging above the entrance. The clinic looks simple, yet warm and welcoming, with medicinal herbs drying near the doorway and a tidy path leading to the front door.

Outside of it you see a man with a musu child in his arms talking with a woman at the door. He soon thanks her and walks away.

After the man leaves, she steps out of the doorway and you finally see her: a young woman with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She also wears a long-sleeved black shirt under a dark yellow tunic dress. She is at least a head shorter than you and has a petite physique.

"Oh... good morning, do you need help?" the woman asks as she notices your group.

"Oh no thanks miss, we are here to talk with Yellow... and I guess that's you" you say as you look at her.

"You are right mister, my name is Yellow Oak and I guess you must be the man my brother told me about" she says.

"I am. My name is Erik, and these are my friends Leaf and Midori" you say.

"Nice to meet you, please come in" she says as she invites you inside and flips the sign that tells whether the clinic is open or closed.

Inside, the place looks like a typical clinic, with a waiting room and another room to the side for patient visits.

She then walks you toward a door at the back of the building.

"I have a little garden out back, we can talk there" Yellow says as she opens the door.

Outside you see her garden, which is extremely well cared for and filled with beautiful colorful flower beds.

Midori's eyes start to shine the moment she sees them.

"Oh I love flowers!" Midori says excitedly.

"Feel free to take a look. I grow various species here, some because I like them while others are useful for medical treatments" Yellow says with a smile.

Midori happily goes to check the flowers while the three of you sit at a small table.

"Sorry if I don't offer you anything, but I was busy with a patient before you arrived" Yellow says.

"It's not a problem, we showed up unexpectedly anyway" Leaf replies.

"So you guys came here to talk about my grandpa's lab?" Yellow asks.

"Yeah, both Lance and Blue proposed it to us since it's unused at the moment," you explain.

"I see... I'm sorry if I don't agree right away to this. It's just... that place was really special to me and giving it to strangers so suddenly is..." Yellow says softly, looking a little sad.

"O-oh don't worry, we know we're asking for a lot. It was the last gift from your grandfather after all" Leaf says.

"So... I-I was thinking that before deciding, we could talk a little. I'm curious to know the people that will carry out this mysterious mission Blue didn't tell me much about" Yellow says.

"Oh sure, that sounds nice," you reply.

You spend some time chatting with Yellow. You and Leaf tell her a little about yourselves, how you grew up together and trained to fight. Later Midori joins the conversation too and tells her about your partnership.

Yellow also tells you a little about herself, about how she was still a child when her grandfather died and how, after failing to continue his project, she decided to dedicate herself to helping others instead.

Eventually you also reveal a little about your powers and the mission given to you by the council.

"Wow... so you're some sort of hero like in the stories," Yellow giggles.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," you chuckle.

"Mmh... since you have such a special ability, the mana inside your body probably flows differently. Can I check it out?" Yellow asks.

"Oh wow, what a request," you joke.

"Damn, flirting already?" Leaf teases.

Suddenly Yellow becomes completely red.

"N-n-n-no! I mean Erik is a really cute guy, b-but that's not what I meant! I-it was only for medical purposes! O-oh geez what am I even saying now..." Yellow mumbles as she grows even more embarrassed.

"Relax, she was just teasing you," Midori says as she gently pats the blonde girl's head.

"Exactly, and I have no problem letting you do a checkup" you say.

"T-then let's go inside."

The girls wait in the garden while the two of you head inside and enter the examination room.

There, Yellow asks you to take off your shirt before placing her hands against your back and channeling magic.

"Mmh... you definitely are in good health... your mana flow is quite dense, so I guess you have trouble adapting to different types of magic" Yellow says.

"You're pretty accurate about that," you reply.

"Now can you summon one of your weapons?" she asks.

"Sure," you say before summoning one.

She gasps as you do so.

"It's just... wow... when you summon a weapon your mana suddenly increases and extends outward to create it. And some characteristics of your bodies change too. I've never seen something like this before. Do you feel tired after summoning them?" Yellow asks.

""Maybe a little, but nothing serious unless I switch between weapons many times in a short span of time," you explain.

She asks you a few more questions about your health before sighing softly.

"You must be... someone that a lot of people rely on, right Erik?" Yellow asks.

"I hope I am. Though honestly I often need help from others to get out of my own problems, especially recently. Why do you ask?" you reply.

Well... you are strong and surrounded by people that count on you... while I wasn't even able to protect the only thing I was asked to take care of," she sighs.

"Still thinking about the lab? Yellow, I know you're sad about what happened, but you were far too young back then to handle something like that" you say.

"Maybe you're right... but I still feel like I let my grandpa down" she murmurs.

"I don't think so. You still help a lot of people with your work and... honestly I think someone with your skills could help us a lot too" you say.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we are going to build a base at the lab and we don't only need fighters. Midori can heal us with magic, but she isn't a real doctor. We could genuinely use your help" you explain.

"Oh... oh my, I'm not sure... I still have my clinic to take care of here" she says uncertainly.

"We're only about twenty minutes away on foot from here" you point out.

She thinks about it for a few moments.

"You know what? Fine... I want to help you, Erik" she finally says.

After a few minutes the two of you head back outside.

"Girls, I have something to tell you," you announce, making them all turn toward you.

"We got permission to use the lab... and we also got a doctor to join us!"