"Avalanche?" Aiden suddenly found it funny, "You all think I'm someone from Avalanche?"
"What?" Sonon's hands stopped moving after this sentence, and he himself also raised his head in panic, looking at Aiden, "You're not someone from Avalanche?"
"Then why did you say you came to pick us up?" Yuffie also sat up from the bed, looking at him in a fluster.
"I indeed came to pick you up, but I never said I was someone from Avalanche. As for picking you up, it was because I received a commission. Mm, I'm a mercenary, a mercenary who works for money." Aiden smiled while looking at the two of them. They really were so naïve and adorable.
Hearing Aiden's words, Yuffie and Sonon exchanged a glance, then leaned in together and began whispering softly. From time to time, they even sneaked a glance at him.
"What should we do, senior? Seems like we're exposed." Sonon's tone was a bit anxious. "Although he was hired by Avalanche to pick us up, he probably didn't reveal his true identity. When he goes back, he won't report us to Shinra, right?"
"Don't panic, Sonon, he probably isn't that kind of person." Though she said that, Yuffie's eyes were full of panic. Thinking about how her first mission outside had already gone awry, this still-underage young girl's heart was beating like a drum.
"How about… we just…" After thinking for a moment, Sonon made a gesture.
"That's not very nice, is it?" Yuffie looked at Aiden with difficulty. He had just saved her, after all. She still had a good impression of him in her heart.
Aiden was already lying down on the bedding, but the room was only so big. Even though Yuffie and Sonon were lowering their voices, he still heard their conversation. He pulled the quilt over himself, changed to a more comfortable position, and said, "Don't rush, take your time to discuss. But it'd be better to wait until I fall asleep first, then it'll be easier for you to make a move."
Realizing that their words had been heard by him, Sonon scratched his head awkwardly and looked toward his senior for help. But Yuffie had already wrapped herself in the blanket, muffled her voice, and said, "I'm already asleep. I didn't say anything just now."
Seeing his senior acting like an ostrich, Sonon sighed helplessly, then hugged his bedding and lay down in the corner.
The room quickly fell silent, as if everyone had fallen asleep. Just as Aiden was half-squinting his eyes, preparing to enter dreamland, Yuffie's voice rang out, "Sonon, are you asleep?"
"Not yet." Sonon opened his eyes and asked, "Senior, what is it?"
Yuffie said faintly, "We didn't eat anything tonight. I'm hungry."
Hearing Yuffie bring it up, Sonon also felt a bit hungry. He hadn't had dinner either.
"I'll go find something to eat. Senior, please hang in there a bit longer." Sonon got up and opened the door to go out. At this moment, he heard Aiden say, "Wait a second, I…"
"I know, I'll bring you a portion too." Without waiting for Aiden to finish, Sonon shut the door.
"I was trying to say, I already have food." Aiden held up the snacks he had just taken out from the system space, then sighed, "Well, guess it's not needed anymore."
"I need it." Seeing the snacks in Aiden's hand, Yuffie suddenly jumped up from the bed, pouncing like a hungry tiger.
When Sonon returned, carrying the bread and porridge he had managed to buy from the innkeeper, what he saw was his senior sitting in front of a pile of snacks, eating happily.
"Senior, what's going on here?" Sonon looked at Yuffie with bulging cheeks and asked in surprise.
Yuffie couldn't talk with her mouth full, so she pointed at Aiden with the hand holding a potato chip, indicating that he brought it.
Sonon immediately looked at Aiden with dissatisfaction and said, "Then why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"I was just about to say it, and then you interrupted me." Aiden spread his hands with an innocent look. Seeing that the other didn't speak anymore, he turned to watch Yuffie continue eating.
'No doubt about it, cute girls, no matter what they do, are really cute…'
———
"Aiden, get up!"
Early the next morning, Aiden heard Yuffie's noisy voice near his ears. At the same time, he felt a pair of small hands pinching at his face.
Waving away the hand pinching his face, Aiden opened his eyes and saw Yuffie's cute little face right in front of him, blinking her eyes.
Maybe it was because he saved her yesterday, or maybe it was the effect of the snack feast last night, Yuffie's attitude toward him had obviously changed, becoming very close.
So when she saw him open his eyes, Yuffie hugged his arm and dragged him up from the "bed".
"Hurry and get up. We're about to depart."
"This early? It's just barely dawn, right?" Aiden squinted at the window. The first rays of sunlight at dawn hadn't even lit up the whole town yet.
"It's not early. Back when I was at Wutai, I had already finished morning training by this time." Yuffie pressed on Aiden's shoulders and shook hard, as if trying to fully wake him up.
"Okay, okay, stop shaking." Aiden felt like his brain was being shaken into mush. He pushed Yuffie aside and grumbled as he stood up.
"Where's Sonon?" Aiden looked around the room. The corner where Sonon had slept last night was now cleaned up.
"He went to buy breakfast. After all, we enjoyed your treat last night and ate so many good things, he felt a bit embarrassed." Yuffie didn't dare say it was herself who felt embarrassed, since she ate the most. Then, while speaking, she pushed Aiden toward the washroom, "Hurry and wash up. After breakfast, we're setting out."
In the washroom, the toothbrush was already prepared. It seemed Yuffie had done it, which made Aiden glance back at her. But the girl wasn't at the door anymore, she was sitting on the bed, humming an odd tune.
After Aiden finished washing up, Sonon returned with food. The three of them quickly ate, then left the room to prepare for departure.
However, just before setting out, a problem came up, because of her carsickness, Yuffie actually proposed to follow behind them on foot to Midgar.
Sonon pushed the motorcycle they had chosen from the wild bandits last night, continuously trying to persuade Yuffie. But the girl simply wouldn't get on and was already walking off with her bag.
Left with no choice, Aiden went to a chocobo merchant in the village and bought a chocobo for her to ride.
"Senior, how could you have the nerve…" Seeing Yuffie happily accept it and already riding the chocobo, Sonon blushed and quickly took out all his money, handing it to Aiden.
But Aiden just shook his head and didn't accept it.
"Please take it. We'll find a way to reimburse you when we get to Midgar." Seeing Aiden still refuse, Sonon added.
Seeing Sonon's gesture, Yuffie's little face also turned red. She seemed to feel this wasn't very appropriate either, too shameless, so with a pained look, she pulled out a magic crystal from her cute Moogle waist pouch, then clenched her teeth and held it out, "Here, this is for you. Should be worth one chocobo, right?"
Seeing Yuffie's face clearly showing pain, Aiden pretended to take it, and she instantly tensed up and flinched.
"Forget it, it's just one chocobo." Aiden smiled and pulled his hand back, then started the motorcycle and slowly drove toward the village entrance. Since a chocobo's speed and stamina were far worse than machines, he had to wait for her.
Only then did Yuffie cheerfully put the magic crystal back into her Moogle pouch, then rode her chocobo behind Aiden, happily humming the Chocobo Song,
"Chocobo, I'm a Chocobo~ You're also a Chocobo~ He's also a Chocobo~"
As a mount, although chocobos cannot match machines in terms of speed and stamina, there is a reason they have remained popular in this world for so long. At the very least, they are one of the few vehicles suitable for Yuffie to ride.
And because they had to accommodate Yuffie, who was riding the chocobo, Aiden and Sonon had no choice but to reduce their vehicle speed, causing what should have been a little over an hour's journey at full speed to stretch to nearly three hours.
———
It was around 9 a.m. when they finally arrived near Midgar.
Looking at the grand and magnificent city not far away, Yuffie exclaimed with a loud "Wah", "Th-this-this is Midgar? It looks so grand!"
"It only looks grand. If you go inside, you'll feel Shinra's evil." Sonon had been to Midgar before, and knew well that beneath Midgar's magnificent appearance lay Shinra's endless exploitation of the planet and its people.
"Of course I know, I was just sighing with emotion." Yuffie pouted, displeased at her junior's lecturing, and gently tugged on the reins to urge the chocobo to speed up.
"Hey, slow down. Entering the city at that speed will get you stopped." Watching the speeding Yuffie, Aiden felt helpless toward the reckless girl, and twisted the throttle to follow her.
Entering the city was not smooth. Due to the collapse of Mako Reactor No. 1, inspections were much stricter than before.
However, Aiden had a special pass given to him by Scarlet not long ago, and after offering a small "gesture of goodwill," he finally managed to bring Yuffie and Sonon into the city without any mishaps.
"This is what it looks like inside?" Once they entered Sector 7, Yuffie looked very disappointed, it was completely different from the grand scene she saw from the outside.
"This is the slums. If you want to see something more prosperous, you'll have to go above." Aiden pointed to the plate overhead.
"So high!" Yuffie looked up at the plate above and let out a sigh, then asked, "Can you take me up to have a look?"
"I can, but it'll cost you." Aiden rubbed his fingers together, looking more and more like the temporary mercenary he was pretending to be.
"Then never mind, I don't have extra money." Yuffie shook her head, she was telling the truth.
"You can also pay with Materia, you know." Aiden's eyes fell on the Moogle pouch on her waist, which made Yuffie nervous and clutch her bag tightly.
"Just joking, I'm not interested in your Materia." Seeing Yuffie's look of guarding against a thief, Aiden laughed and shook his head.
"Um, where are we going now?" At that moment, Sonon, who hadn't said anything so far, finally asked. He didn't want to interrupt the two's exchange earlier and waited until the topic ended to speak up.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Hearing Sonon mention it, Aiden took the slip of paper Billy gave him from his pocket and handed it to Sonon. "The address is on there. Just go there and wait, someone will connect with you."
"You're not going to take us there?" Yuffie widened her eyes at him, suddenly feeling inexplicably reluctant.
"Sorry, my task was only to bring you into the city." Aiden shook his head. He just wanted to go back as soon as possible, after being out all night, Aerith and Tifa were surely anxious by now.
"Alright then." Yuffie could only wave him goodbye.
Aiden also waved back at her and Sonon, then controlled the motorcycle and headed in the direction of Seventh Heaven.
However, before he got far, Yuffie's voice came from behind, "Aiden, wait a moment!"
Aiden turned around and saw Yuffie riding the chocobo to catch up. He asked, "Is there something else?"
"This is for you." Yuffie raised her hand and threw a shiny orb to Aiden.
Aiden caught it and saw that it was a Materia orb, and was instantly surprised as he looked at Yuffie. 'This girl, how did she suddenly become so generous?'
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