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God it hurts. Everything hurts, but it's all routine for Lou now. Sure it hurts, but it's more annoying than actual pain.

...well it is pain, but you get what I mean!

It does hurt but the reason you're complaining is not particularly because you're experiencing pain or the existence of pain but because of the hindrance and troubles that pain brings, like limited movements and shit of the like!

...well if you put it like that then it does count as 'caused by pain/the existence of pain' because none of this would be a problem if Lou never felt the pain.

He sighs before submerging into the water once more. God his body felt sticky too... thank god he found this river when he was exploring the forest or else he was going to be uncomfortable for weeks!

Those shitty teachers didn't allow anyone to use the bathhouse except for them and a couple special kids that got put on the list just in case someone comes over looking to adopt.

Lou ruffles his hair out of stress. ARGH! Never miind, it doesn't really matter. Lou is just muttering to himself at this point as a way to cope.

He's had this habit in his old world where he'd have conversations with himself either in his head or out loud ( preferably out loud honestly ) because nobody else could hold an interesting conversation with Lou back then so he's just adapted to having it with himself.

He's currently stressed—well not really, he also has a weird thing with emotions—but regardless!

Lou is currently emulating the feeling of stress as he's trying to find a way to juggle everything this world is currently throwing at him, plus the ones he threw himself into ( no regrets though! )

His sense of time might be shit, but Lou is sure at least two months has passed by, or at least a month and a half, which—fuck, time flows so fast.

He hasn't done anything to prepare for the child trafficking aside from the knife he did and he surely doesn't have any plan on how to either convince the kid that's getting sold to not go with his 'adopted parents' or where they could go if he needs to do an extraction and run away.

Fuck.

Think, think, think Lou. Is there a way to warn the boy and not sound like a lunatic?

Then a memory came into mind... wasn't Leonia originally close to the boy? He could just ask her to be his messenger! And if she isn't close, then he could send her to get close to him before it's too late.

Lou needs to pack up his things first though. First clothes... weapon is already secured... he needs to get a cloak for both of them somehow... and lastly food and money.

Bread! There's probably some bread that the teachers like to snack on in the kitchen! He remembers seeing extras on the day he and Leonia stole some knives.

I can probably make a cloak from the cloths used for my make-shift bed and blanket if I have some sewing tool, Lou thinks to himself.

Alright, that's everything checked aside from money. They could probably just live on the run or do a couple errands at a nearby town... or steal it from the child traffickers... or just steal for a living.

Lou waves the thoughts away for now, that's a problem for future Lou. Right now, he just needs to find his precious little sister.

.
.
.

"Hey everyone! How are you all doing?"

"Big brother Lou!"

Lou happily greets the group of children playing at the back of the orphanage. The young'uns run over to the boy, with one particular girl jumping and tackling him down.

They fall with an "oof!" with Lou particularly baring most of the impact as he falls on his butt. Leonia is hiding herself on Lou's chest again as she hugs him tight.

Lou's ears start to ring as black spots cover his vision but he ignores it and acts like nothing happened. He looks down at the girl with a guilty look but a smile nonetheless. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to hang out with you guys for a long time."

Lou wraps his arms around the black haired girl which makes her tighten her hug. Lou chuckles at Leonia's actions and chats away with the other kids.

"Big brother Lou, are you really okay?"

Lou pats the boy's head, "Yes, of course Johan, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well...," a girl, Pam, hesitantly starts, "aren't you usually with the... Chief?"

Anna jumps in. "He's not hurting you, is he?!"

Lou softly chuckles to lighten up the mood, "No, of course not."

"But...! He usually...!"

"I simply help him with his work and that includes reading and writing, which takes a long time."

"Woah, big brother you can write?" Arne looks at Lou with stars in his eyes.

Lou chuckles again as he smiles, "yes I can, I can teach you guys next time I'm free."

"Really?!"

"Oh yes yes please!"

The kids cheer in excitement which makes Lou's heart melt. "Of course I will, now off you go play! I want to speak with Leonia for a moment."

"Okay!" The kids answer in unison before running off doing whatever they were doing beforehand.

After making sure that the kids are out of trouble, Lou shifts his attention to the girl that's still in his arms. He pats her back slowly, "Leonia, I want to show you something, can we go somewhere?"

Leonia mumbles her answer into Lou's clothes which Lou can not discern at all. An amused smile forms on Lou's face. "What did you say?"

Leonia moves her face from Lou's chest ever so slightly so that at least her mouth is not covered, "let's go..."

Lou is pretty sure the words Leonia said earlier were longer than what she repeated, but it's alright. If little Leonia is angry that Lou left her for quite a lengthy period of time then she shall be angry, he deserves it anyways.

Lou chuckles as he pats her head, "Okay... let's grab your clothes first before we head out."