The rain kept pouring for the next hours, bouncing off the woollen roofs and onto the patches of stone neatly laid around Ranpa's garden. Chyuuichi sat by the windowsill, trying to make things out of the blur. His vision focused on a few orange lights that passed through the adjacent streets, and silhouettes of people running through the various roads, screaming or even laughing.

"It's a little cold now, eh?" Chyuuichi muttered, turning to Atomu, who hid everything except his head under the thick, white blanket.

"Now," he repeated. "First thing in the morning is both of us waking up in a pool of sweat."

"Hopefully not!" Chyuuichi added, before jumping down on the big mattress, as Atomu's body bounced a little. He lay on his back, and stuffed his hands under his head, smiling a little. "Even if, I'm sure ya will know where to head to give ourselves a little wash."

Atomu nodded, despite his head being barely visible.

"Ya can expect things to be safe when yer home," Chyuuichi uttered. "Just like Rowan said."

Atomu's eyes widened, and a small frown replaced his neutral expression. Although he didn't necessarily face Chyuuichi, the Mirillian's eye still landed on the Paladian's body which hasn't budged since.

"Or I'm wrong."

"N-No." Atomu sat up, turning to Chyuuichi. The blanket's rolls dropped on his legs. "You should be right."

"I can sense it, Atomu! Something isn't going the way ya intended it to." he waved his finger around.

"Y-You perfectly know," Atomu whispered. "It's that thing."

Chyuuichi stared at the beige ceiling, focusing on all the rain slowly sliding down the curve onto the grassy porch. Atomu's unsure gaze shifted back to his figure. He looked at his hairy chest and his bigger arms. He felt his small stubble and dark brown hair falling onto his shoulders.

Just like every Paladian.

He looked at his nails, which could shift in or disappear, change colour if he wished for them to do so. He thought about the tail that could stick out from under the blanket or the wounds he had to cover after his horns had appeared.

Just like a demon.

Chyuuichi covered his eyes. "I'm mad."

"W-Why?" Atomu suddenly moved back, nestling into the blanket.

"Well, I hate to agree with..." he sat up, looking at the wall. He whispered the last word. "Rowan."

Something shifted in the other room, and Chyuuichi rolled his eyes, before smiling a little. Yet, it wasn't a beam of joy or reassurance, but rather, a cousin of a distant frown. Atomu shared a similar expression but seemed a little puzzled. "This right here. Ya and me." he pointed to himself and Atomu. "Is where home ends."

The Paladian gulped, blinking, and sticking his teeth out, a little unsure.

"The Klakunhoi shares at least one trait, then," Chyuuichi uttered. "None of us have that safety we can come back to."

"What do you mean?" Atomu said, just as Chyuuichi landed on the sheets again, curling into a different position. "What about Soban?"

"I said I'll tell ya that story later, Atomu."

"So, when is later?" Atomu shook his head.

"Ya gotta sense it out." Chyuuichi's voice softened. "Just like I sensed that you were sad. Now that makes me sad too."

Atomu stared at the Mirillian hopelessly, unsure which words to spit out and which thoughts to form into sentences. It seemed that, no matter how he would put it, things couldn't make sense, and he doubted that Chyuuichi would answer his questions.

The Mirillian put one hand up to his eyes and eventually closed them, drifting off.

***

When the sun's morning rays shined through the window and overwhelmed the drippy drops of rain left over from last night's storm, a sigh could be heard, followed by a loud and annoyed groan.

Ranpa climbed out of the armchair, ducking behind and putting on new clothes for the day, namely, a brown linen shirt and thin pants which ended where his rather peculiar shoes began, as that part of his outfit was made with his job in mind.

Afterwards, despite feeling the heat climbing through the entrance, he put on a woollen jacket, which indicated what profession took most of his free time. Paladians were required to bear some proof of their hard work since all the money came from the town's mayor, Linno Palski. Shepherds received about thirty Silver for each hour of their hard work, and surprisingly enough, he didn't work for too long each day.

Snacking on some leftovers from yesterday, Ranpa stepped out of his tent, leaving the sleeping Klakunhoi behind, but not before making room for the bodies and covering them with yet another blanket. Venturing at exactly seven, the town was already littered with residents, all talking about yesterday's storm.

Townsfolk had nothing else to discuss but the things which kept happening. It was gossip, in its purest form, and Ranpa even heard some words directed at his family.

"Did you see who Danuta made out with yesterday?" A voice whispered, as two men sat by a wooden pub, waiting for it to open.

"Shh, shh! That's her brother!"

He passed by many whispers, more of the same, or rumours of yesterday's storm. Apparently, the Iners were accused of some cult-like activities which summoned particularly bad weather for the day, mainly because the Saski and Ohnonum families had too loud of a supper that evening. Iners were always thought to be occult, after all, only because the youngest one of that big tent-house disappeared for three days and came back telling stories of witches and, bear this, even wizards.

Ranpa tried telling a few believers that the child was in with a fever but no one believed him. Despite being a shepherd, he drew attention to himself for many reasons.

"Good morning," Ranpa muttered, to no one in particular, stepping into the pen as all the sheep made various noises at his sight, some even running away. A dog chased in, following with the crowd of animals and helping the Paladian with his mundane job.

He trod around, holding his shepherd's crook. He went from one side to the other, out of the pen to chase sheep that strolled around Medulla carelessly for some strange reason. People always blamed the Punahon family for building such ineffective fences.

The next hour was filled with eye rubs, yawns and even small snoozes near the fence. His streak of good luck was broken two times, one with an elderly man (funnily enough, one of the oldest of the Iner family) passing by and leading two pigs on a leash. Ranpa chatted with him for about five minutes, mainly wondering what on Errarion the pigs were to be used for, but never got an answer.

The second time occurred right as he sighed.

"Ranpa, I'm here!" A raspy voice sounded from the other end, as a man with a well-kept beard and short black hair jumped over the fence, landing on the dirty grass. He closed one eye standing up and spewing some of the stubs out.

Ranpa chuckled, waddling over, and before he could say anything, the man put his hands together. "I'm sorry, Ranpa!"

"No need to be. I was handling everything on my own." Ranpa muttered, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Sorry, sorry." he bowed. "Had a-"

"Little party last night?" Ranpa finished his sentence, turning around.

"N-No!" he shook his head, swallowing saliva. "It was a very stressful few hours. The storm got so bad around Agroste and my younger siblings just wouldn't stop crying." he shook his head. "Maria didn't know what to be afraid of, while Kan and Rob were consciously t-terrified. Mum was at her friend's house, and Dad was sound asleep. There was no one to take care of them, other than me." he shook his head.

"You sure work hard," Ranpa commented, opening a small bottle of water coated in wool similar to his vest and chugging most of it in one go. Breathing out, he looked at his friend again. "What about Paula?"

The other man chuckled, rubbing the sweat off his forehead. "She was the one who had that little party last night."

"Oh!" Ranpa raised his voice, a little enthused. "At the Parsons house?"

He nodded.

"Danuta went to the same place."

"R-Ranpa. Did you hear about the-" he whispered.

"I don't care." Ranpa took another sip, leaving his canister empty. "I'm not full of energy either, and especially not in the mood to deal with something like this."

"I'm guessing it was a hard night for you too?" he fixed his vest and essentially took the shepherd's crook out of Ranpa's hand.

"You could put it that way, Sam." Ranpa nodded to himself, looking into the bottle, making sure that it was empty. "Firstly, they chose me for the night shift, and if that wouldn't have sucked already, the storm came crashing in."

Sam put his hand near his teeth, clenching his jaw.

"Then, nearing the end of my shift, three people came in. This wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary if it wasn't for the things they carried." Ranpa stopped, looking into the distance. "Talked of two corpses."

Sam opened his mouth, slowly covering it with his hand. "Oh, my," he whispered.

"Having nowhere to go, I let them sleep for the night. Strange, isn't it? But I'm guessing you'd let them in as well."

He quickly nodded. "Did they leave already?"

"No, they were still sound asleep when I woke up. Although I don't think they have a place to stay for the next night. The Paladian mentioned wanting to give the bodies a proper burial." Ranpa informed.

"It takes time to have everything arranged, depending on who died," Sam informed. "I'd... know."

Ranpa stared at the ground, squinting his eyes. "Your family had to wait an entire season."

Sam sighed, reluctantly having to engage in such a difficult conversation. "Mom told me that when Grandpa eventually passes, we'll set out to Orania. To bury his body beneath the soil."

Ranpa scratched his cheek.

"It's... a little silly, isn't it?" Sam looked up, meeting Ranpa's gaze. The latter looked away, covering their face. "It's an old w-witchtale. Orania was, supposedly, where the tree's nymph, Mariam Halfspade, forged the Holy Crown. An item that would bring people back from the hallows and into the real world." Sam pushed his hands onto the fence. "Who would know nowadays where it tumbles?"

"Some rumoured Bancho, one of the Wise." Ranpa scratched his chin. "That's beside the point. I'm not going to judge you based on following that story, rather, it's dangerous heading into Orawood."

"To us, it's even more dangerous for the dead to wait." Sam gulped. "Our family always believed that the longer the dead stay with the living, the less fortunate lives they'll have."

Ranpa always thought of his coworker as a brave and hard-working man. Despite the misfortunes, he strived to find happiness. He always thought it was unfair for that fate to be brought down upon such a pure-hearted individual.

Hearing various stories, he started considering that there was something above them that unfortunately punished innocent people. It wasn't only Sam in this kerfuffle, as Ranpa served punishment as well.

Ranpa ducked, picking something up from the ground. "Mentioning your family. You dropped this." he opened his palm, revealing an earring connected to a thin, black and white paper.

"O-Oh, thank you, Ranpa!" Sam smiled, quickly taking it from his hands, and stuffing the metal into one ear.

"You don't want to lose such a memento." Ranpa folded his arms, digging into his pocket, unearthing the small green dragon, with his friend taking a glimpse. "I almost got choked by fate earlier that day."

"Oh, my." Sam put a hand on his bearded chin. "They didn't find out, did they?"