Love Beyond the Ashes

Reading the File

Ina pov: Sana cleared her throat, getting ready to read the file, but Noel finally spoke up, "Wait, I don't agree with this..." She said we all glared at her, not understanding why she had an issue with this when we were trying to help Flare. "Flare doesn't need you snooping around her past!" she said, "We understand that, but we need to know what happened in order to help her overcome the past." I told her but she didn't want us to look into Flare any more than we already have, which was frustrating. "We really need to do this!" Gura groaned.

"Ina I'm getting a call from Suisei. Can I put you on hold for a minute? " Sana asked. I told her it was alright since we had to talk Noel into letting us listen to her file. Ame was trying to talk her into it, but she was acting like we were trying to kill Flare or turn her in. "Come on, we work for Mumei, so why the hell can't we read the damn file?" Gura growled. I could tell she was livid. Noel told us it was for safety reasons. Elves are the target of many people, so we may have altered motives.

"Why can't you trust us?" I asked. She looked at me sideways and said, "If there is a slight chance you will turn Flare in after you read her file, I can't take it." Her state of mind was insane. She was really interfering with the mission on a 1% probability that was completely wrong and wouldn't happen. Ame got a phone call from Calli, forgetting she had gotten her number before we left. She stood up, saying she had to take this call real quick. She came back after about five minutes, sighing. "Calli told me that she and Kiara wanted to meet up with us in a little bit. That sounded fun, but we need Flare to come with us.

Sana came back to our call, telling me that she now has plenty of time to go over these files. The issue is that we still don't have Noel's consent. I sighed, standing up, and I motioned for Gura to do the same and told her to show Noel out back. Gura reluctantly agreed, and we showed her the photos, which revealed the crimson flower mark that had affected so many of us. "See, not only Flare has suffered," I explained. Noel pondered on it for a minute, telling us we could read the file but only up to a certain point. She would tell us when to stop. Sana began reading out loud.

"Shiranui Flare is half elf. She was born of a human woman and a male elf". I told Sana to cross reference the prices of half elves and pure elves on the market. As expected, the half elves go for more money for some reason, maybe because they are more rare. The thought sickened me to my core. I told Sana to continue reading since we needed to know this information for later.

"She was born on the 2nd of April 1798, making her 221 years old, and she is 158 centimeters, or about 5'2." I told Sana her height wasn't that important and to start going into familial records. Sana told us she seems to have made a pact with a panda named Kintsuba, so that made me wonder if that had any effect on her market price since she seemed stronger than most elves and her beauty was undeniable, plus she's a rare creature.

"Sana, look to see if you can find anything about Shirogane Noel in her files." I said to Noel's dismay. Sana agreed, looking at the files. "It says she is engaged to Noel." Sana said. I glared at Noel, noticing the ring on her finger. "This is the info we needed." Gura said asking Sana if she could find the amount of time she was imprisoned, but that portion seemed to be censored by a tear in the page. "I can't read this. Someone tore out that part." Sana said Mumei couldn't have done that. If she did, she must have had a reason to do so.

"Wait, maybe Mumei wants us to talk to Flare to get us to learn about her and make her feel safe around us." I said Gura and Ame nodded agreeing with me.

"Is that alright, Noel?" Ame asked. She was reluctant, but since Gura and I suffered just as her beloved had, she had no choice but to trust us and accept. She went inside her cabin to ask Flare if she wanted to talk, but she came out shaking her head. "She told you three to go away." she said. I bit my lip in annoyance.

"Sana, we may need to go to the coordinates Zeta gave us early." I said, despite the strict orders from Zeta not to go until at least tomorrow, but if we did, then we would get something that would allow us to talk to Flare, but again, we needed to do this without any help." Ina, my scanner is showing a presence near the mystical forest slowly approaching," Sana said.

"Who could this be?" I asked, telling Gura to go check the entrance out. "How did another outsider find this place?" Noel grumbled, biting her thumb. I started to worry, so I took Ame, telling her to come with me before turning to Noel. I told her to grab Flare and meet us there.

We made our way to the entrance, where we were met by a red-haired girl with an eyepatch and a pirate outfit. "So this is the mystical forest," she said, looking around. She started calling out someone's name, Pekora. I think it was we that approached her and started to question her.

"Ina, Same-chan!" The girl said, waving We recognized the voice from anywhere; this was Houshou Marine, the "17-year-old girl." "Oh, it's just the old hag..." I said, getting yelled at by the girl, that we were lucky things didn't have to end with an altercation. However, we did bring her back to the cabin for interrogation.

We needed to know why she was here and how she found this place.