The weekend arrived, and it seemed that all of Novato came out to celebrate! The crowds became a sea of people that shifted in and out as they went about weekend plans. The throngs were so thick, so packed that hardy anyone noticed even the slightest brush of those around them. However one particular person stood out in the midst of these endless, faceless crowds…

"Excuse me! Sorry! Coming through!" Chihiro cried as she ducked and dodged through the tight crowds, and tried her hardest not to bump into whatever unfortunate sap blocked her out of the streets. Geez, she knew it was the weekend, but this is ridiculous!

After what seemed like an eternity of struggle, Chihiro gasped. She finally found an opening: a small gap in the flooded streets that served as her escape! Chihiro tucked and rolled headfirst without thinking—but just got herself sandwiched between a couple of businesspeople who headed to a meeting. Chihiro grunted as she squeezed herself through just to inelegantly faceplant on the asphalt. Nice.

Letting out a groan, Chihiro squirreled herself into a relatively-unoccupied alleyway as she fished something out of the cloak she wore. There in her palms laid a small console that buzzed not with electricity, but magic underneath its coils and cogs. Hopefully, this would be the key to ending this long, long search.

"We might not be able to track Kaos the normal way," Chihiro whispered to herself as she toyed with the device, "but if I track traces of magic in general, and he gets caught up in some magic nonsense, I'll find him for sure! Just gotta get this thing running."

Chihiro's hands turned clammy as she clenched the device, cold sweat dripping down her back. The tension rose with every buffer, every beep, every flash as the machine worked its magic. It shouldn't have been this anxiety-inducing to actually do this! If it didn't work, she could just search for Kaos the old-fashioned way and call it a day, but, she couldn't lie. She'd like for something to make things just a little easier, just this once.

Chihiro bit her lip as the machine let out a few more beeps, and, and—it finally caught something! A ping beeped on the screen, and pulsed like a heartbeat as it stood just a few stretches away from her!

Chihiro grinned and quickly tapped the side of the console. The console shimmered with magic as it folded in on itself. Its panels twisted and contorted, and it shrank itself until it transformed into a wristwatch that comfortably coiled itself around Chihiro's arm. A compass laid on its face in lieu of a clock, and its needle pointed towards the magic's source like a guiding star.

With that needle as her guide, Chihiro wove through the passerby as she ducked and dodged out of Novato's busy streets once more. She mumbled out apologies as she accidentally shoulder checked someone, let out a shout as she herself got shoulder checked in turn, and squeezed through one last particularly ornery crowd to finally find herself at her target! A friendly chime from her watch confirmed that this was her destination, so now, all that was left was to find that magical disturbance.

Chihiro peeled her eyes, and kept a firm glance on the open mouth of the school she now stood in front of. It looked like an ordinary school with its tall brick buildings and parking lot devoid of any company that wasn't stretches of empty school buses, but the watch beeped and chirped with an excitement that showed something magical was afoot here. So, Chihiro quickly silenced it to avoid drawing attention to herself and scanned the premise.

A rustle brought her attention to a tree, maybe one with a spell to fire off, but all she saw were a couple birds flying the coop. She heard some strange noises, but it was just some guy shouting as he chased after a particularly large dog… That headed right her way! Chihiro yelped as a gigantic, fluffy white dog bowled her over and showered her in licks. It was a good thing it was friendly, for the thing was so heavy that she could barely lift it off!

"Fluffy! No!" the man, presumably Fluffy's owner, wailed as he frantically lifted Fluffy from Chihiro's person. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, he's just so energetic, and I can barely keep up—"

"No worries, isn't the first time this happened," Chihiro chuckled. She gave Fluffy a couple quick pets and giggled. "Certainly lives up to the name!"

The man sputtered out a few quickly apologies before Fluffy dragged him off the path, and Chihiro let out a chuckle as they disappeared into the distance. She turned her attention back to the school, and—wait. Was that stand always there? Chihiro perked a brow and moved forward.

There, at the opening that led to the school parking lot, was a small stand staffed by a girl! She was thin and pale, with extremely long, dark brown hair she kept in wavy, fluffy twintails, and her yellow eyes shone with a bit of magic, a bit of intrigue, as she fiddled with a tarot deck. She wore a pair of green overalls over a light purple-pink sweater with darker-colored accents and a star in the middle, a bucket hat of the same color as her sweater to match, and the orange, round barrettes that kept her ponytails in place sparkled like jewels.

"Tarot readings! Get your tarot readings here!" the girl cried.

Chihiro's brow raised even higher. Was this what the device picked up on? Well, Chihiro supposed tarot readings WERE pretty magical, so she might as well give it a look. She took a step to the booth, and the girl who staffed it immediately folded her deck together.

"Come to get your fortune told?" she asked.

Chihiro gave a sly smile. "No, I'm here to ask you to find my missing cat."

"Oh, tarot can do that plenty—"

"I was joking, I don't actually have a missing cat." Chihiro placed a hand on the table. "But, I am curious about what you're doing out here."

The girl leaped from her seat and cleared her throat. Her chest puffed out, and her tone took on the gravitas of someone who'd prepared this speech a million times in her head.

"I'm Ryeo, an amateur tarot reader, but I want to someday become a pro! Every weekend, I take shop here to read people's fortunes so I can get practice! If you've got questions about how you'll do on your test next week, if the cutie from the next class likes you back, or if your parents can be talked into getting takeout for dinner, well, I'll see what's in the cards for you!"

Chihiro glanced around and then up at the sky. Well, there was still plenty of time in the day, so she supposed a quick break couldn't hurt.

"Alright, lay it on me!"

Ryeo's eyes shone like stars as she grabbed her cards. "Sure thing! Just let me get my cards together first."

Ryeo quickly yanked a bright yellow and black book labeled Tarot Reading for Dummies from underneath her table and narrowed her eyes.

"'Before you begin the reading, shuffle your cards with intent…'"

Ryeo's voice was dull and monotonous as she read. It was almost like her mind splintered between it and the cards, and she couldn't spare a moment of energy for anything else. She clumsily cut and shuffled her deck as she scanned the book's pages; half-hearted mumbles left her lips as she did.

"'Once your deck is shuffled, ask the readee what they want—'"

Ryeo leaned forward as she read, but while she did, she didn't once mind how her desk wobbled! She let out a squeal and frantically pulled it back before it could topple over, but her cards went flying all over the sidewalk! Ryeo let out a panicked squeak as several cards coasted down onto Chihiro's head, and the book became a footnote on the pavement as she knelt down and collected the cards.

"Is 52-card pickup part of tarot readings, too?" Chihiro asked as she knelt down and helped Ryeo collect the cards.

Ryeo sighed and shook her head. "No, it's not supposed to be." With another sigh, Ryeo collected her half of the discarded cards back on the desk. "Something like this always happens whenever I try to do readings! I knock the cards everywhere, or I completely mix them up, heck, one time a raccoon even tried to run off with one!"

Chihiro eyed one of the cards she collected, which had some suspicious creases and bitten-off parts. A sigh brought her attention back to Ryeo, who slumped down in her chair as her bucket hat tucked over her eyes.

"It seems like no matter how hard I try, I always mess up. My parents always say I should leave tarot behind and focus on the important stuff like school, and, maybe they're right. Maybe I'm just not good at this."

Chihiro frowned as she glanced over the cards. They all looked like really nice, high-quality stuff. If she had to guess, it was probably the kind of thing you could only get in those fancy magic shops that never sold near where Chihiro lived because the Sunday school frequenters would keel over at the sight of anything witchy in their good, Christian town.

"These cards look really nice. You must've spent a lot to get them."

"Yep! I saved up like, two months' worth of allowance to get a decent set!" Ryeo proclaimed as a bit of pride seeped into her voice. "I make a point of keeping them as nice as can be! Pretty sure I clean them like, five times a day on the hour!" Ryeo winced as she glanced over the chewed-up card. "For the most part."

"And you said you set up here every weekend, right?"

"Yep, exactly from 10 to 2."

Chihiro smiled and offered the cards she'd collected back to Ryeo. "Honestly, I'd say you've got the makings of a tarot master! Kinda seems to me like you're just worrying too much and thinking too hard, and that's why you're always messing up. I'm no tarot expert, but being a tarot reader is about trusting your cards and stuff, right?"

Ryeo frowned, quickly retrieved the Tarot Reading for Dummies book, and skimmed through a few pages once she'd dusted it off. "Well, the books says so, at least."

"Then I think you just need to relax and do your thing! You're already putting in the work on your end, so just trust them to do theirs."

Ryeo's eyes fluttered, but somehow, it seems like those words lifted the weight from her chest. She gleefully took the cards from Chihiro's hands, brushed off any stray dirt, and quickly shuffled once more with not a single glance spared towards Chihiro.

"So, what do you want to ask the cards for? Love? School? A good vacation?"

Chihiro's lips pursed, but she forced herself to draw a breath.

"Well, I'm… Looking for someone. I really need to find this person, but they've evaded me no matter where I look! I guess what I want to know is, will I be able to find them?"

"I see, I see." Ryeo laid out a trio of cards and turned up to Chihiro as she stowed the rest away. "So, these cards represent your past, your present, and your future. This should give you an idea of where your journey for this person will go."

Ryeo flipped over the first, which showcased a printed image of a wrinkly old man in robes holding a staff and lantern.

"Okay, so, your first card is, er, uh…" Ryeo winced and immediately fished out her book once more. "Your first card is the hermit! It says here that this card means you're seeking something, something that only you can find."

Yeah, that tracks, Chihiro mentally remarked. It's not like anyone else on this planet could possibly know where that guy went.

Ryeo flipped over the next card, and her eyes only briefly glanced at the card she unveiled as she fumbled over the pages. "Now, your next card is the chariot. It means you're dedicated and driven in your goals—"

Certainly doesn't feel that way.

Ryeo took a glance down and shook her head. "—wait, no, that's the chariot reversed! That means you're directionless and confused, and have no control in your current circumstances."

Yeah, that sounds more like it.

Ryeo drew a breath, and finally, shakily, flipped over the last card. She took one glance down, and clenched her teeth as she caught the image of a tower caught in disaster. She glanced at Chihiro almost like she didn't want to give an answer, but Chihiro just tilted her head.

"And, what's the last one?" Chihiro asked.

Ryeo sucked in a breath. "That, that's, er, the tower. It means, well, you've got a seriously drastic change in your future, and it might not be a good one. Uh, good luck, I guess?"

Chihiro winced a bit, but quickly shook her head. Tarot was all for fun and games, after all, and she knew most of this fortunetelling stuff was just self-fulfilling prophecy anyways.

"Thanks for the reading, Ryeo! I'll keep that in mind!" she said with a friendly wave. "See you around!"

Ryeo just gave Chihiro an awkward wave back, and nervously lingered on the cards as she folded them back into the deck. Chihiro only barely caught Ryeo's hesitation, however, for she was back on the road! Chihiro dove near a park that was surprisingly void of life, and tucked herself behind a particularly sturdy-looking tree as she adjusted her watch.

"Well, that didn't lead me to Kaos, but maybe there's some other stuff running around here."

Chihiro twisted the dial, and a screen leaped from its face as it beeped with cheery recalibration. It only took a few seconds before it tucked itself back into the face, and now broadcasted that there was a sign of magic activity… Right beside her? Chihiro raised a brow, but as she did, something nudged against her arm! She yelped as she quickly hid the watch and turned her attention away.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" Chihiro asked.

She took a glance down, and there beside her stood another kid!

They were probably about six or seven, if she had to take a guess. They had tanned skin, short-cut black hair with spiky bangs, and big blue eyes that were so deep in color they were almost black (a look only accentuated by the giant coke-bottle glasses they wore). They wore a grayish-blue striped turtleneck underneath a puffy blue vest, a chunky black belt with a gold, square-shaped buckle, and blue pants and sneakers, while a half-opened backpack shaped like a whale hung from their back.

Chihiro frowned as she noted the slightly concerned look in their eyes, and knelt down to meet their height. "Is something wrong?"

The kid just stared at Chihiro and let out some half-hearted mumbles as they pointed away; they made a point to keep from meeting her eyes. They couldn't seem to make many words, but out from their backpack floated a pamphlet for… Something.

Chihiro frowned as she snatched the pamphlet before it hit the ground, and gave it a quick look-over. Apparently, it was a promotional pamphlet for some local aquarium, but something about the nervous look in the kid's eyes as they grappled for it showed it was a bit more important to them than that.

"Do you want to go here, maybe?" Chihiro asked, pointing to the aquarium.

The kid's eyes lit up and they furiously nodded.

So, Chihiro smiled as she brushed magic-charged fingers against the pamphlet, and quickly handed it back to the kid. The coordinates flooded into her watch, and she grinned as they loaded out. Thankfully, it didn't seem like the place was too far, and she could probably look for Kaos while helping this kid. Killing two birds with one stone and all that!

"Alright, just follow me! I'll get you there in no time!"

The kid seemed reluctant to hold Chihiro's hand, but nonetheless tailed after her as she abandoned the park in her rear-view. They didn't say much, and only clung to their backpack like a security blanket as Chihiro occasionally cast glances at them to make certain they were still there.

Thankfully, the trip really didn't take that long! The aquarium she sought was just around the corner, and even though it was still distant, she could hear the sound of chittering dolphins and splashing waves the moment she came into view!

The kid gasped, and a sparkle shone in their dark eyes as they broke away from Chihiro. She looked away for a second, and the next thing she knew, that kid rushed off to the open platform that marked the aquarium's beginning!

"Hey, wait up!" Chihiro cried, but she slowed as soon as she stopped running for him.

At the aquarium's mouth were two women: one bulky with tanned skin, short black hair, and features much like the kid's own who dressed in a ship captain's wear, and another thin and lanky with pale skin, blue eyes, and long dark hair who dressed in a scientist's clothes. They both looked frantic as they rushed and glanced around—but as they did, neither of them saw the kid!

The kid launched themself right into the bulky woman's arms, and both parties went wide-eyed.

"OSCAR!" the women cried as they both hugged him tight. "Thank goodness!"

Oscar had the widest grin on his face as he slipped out of the woman's grip, and greeted Chihiro with a wave as she caught up. One look at Oscar and these women—from the strong resemblance to the warmth that came from their hug—and there was no doubt in her mind that these were his mothers.

"Were you the one that found our kid?" the bulky woman asked. Her voice was smooth, and had a warm tone to it matched by her honey-like grin. "Thank you so much! He was supposed to come here after school, but his usual helper ran late, and when he got there, Oscar had completely wandered off…"

"Hey, it's no problem!" Chihiro chirped back, offering them a thumbs up. "See you around!"

Chihiro skirted around them and towards the aquarium entrance, slipping a map of the premise from a stand. Of course, she'd gotten herself off-track once more, but she still had plenty of daylight at least. So, she tweaked her watch once more and frowned as it buffered. Chihiro raised a brow as the watch beeped, and grinned as she dove deeper into the aquarium; speaking of tracking Kaos, it seemed like he decided to sleep with the fishes!

The blue of aquarium light filled the halls as Chihiro dashed down, yet occasionally took pause to glance at the many fish and other aquatic creatures that lined the walls. Still, no Kaos to be found. He wasn't cracking jokes with the clownfish, or getting skewered by a swordfish. Heck, he wasn't even pestering the pufferfish! So, Chihiro sighed and took a glance back at her watch, which still claimed that whatever magical signature it picked up was straight ahead of her. She drifted down the halls, and only partially paid mind to some fancy displays.

"But I wanna see the penguins! I wanna see them now, now, now!"

"I'm telling you, Aviva, we have to wait for the rest of the group!"

Chihiro raised a brow as she turned the corner. Now, she no longer found herself the only one wandering the halls!

Right before her stood a skinny, pale-skinned boy with messy blond hair and blue eyes who wore a dark brown, short-sleeved hoodie with pale chartreuse accents over a blue turtleneck with a zipper going down the front and similar pale chartreuse accents around the bottom, a brown belt with a green buckle that held up blue jeans, and blue and light chartreuse sneakers.

He antsily examined a wristwatch on one hand, but the other was pulled by a smaller girl with green eyes and blonde hair kept in pigtails with pink hairbands that was almost definitely his sister. She wore a pink tank top over a white shirt with pink cuffs on its short sleeves, a green pleated skirt, white stockings, and green shoes, and she had a nasty pout on her face as she tugged and pulled.

"I'm going! I'm not gonna wait any more!" the girl cried, darting off in a flash!

"Aviva!"

For such a small thing, Aviva was awfully fast. She zipped off under the aquarium's blue light before the boy could even stop her, and might've disappeared into the dark… But, a quick spell slipped Chihiro right in front of where Aviva projected her freedom!

Aviva skidded to a stop before she could cause a head-on collision, and Chihiro chuckled as the boy caught up.

"Aviva, you're not supposed to run off like that!" the boy scolded as he frantically took Aviva's hand. "It's already bad enough that we got separated from the rest of the group! I can't have you getting lost too!"

Aviva pouted and crossed her arms; her voice cracked like she was on the verge of tears. "But, George, the penguins!"

"I'd listen to your brother if I was you," Chihiro intervened, sensing tension. "It's way easier to get lost than you think! I just had to help a kid who tried to get here all by himself, but he ended up at the park instead!" Noticing the deepening frown on Aviva's face, Chihiro pulled out the aquarium map and unfolded it to full display. "You know, the penguins aren't very far from here, and I'm sure your group's close behind. Once you're all caught up, you'll be right there in a snap!"

Aviva gave Chihiro a glance like she wasn't really sure she believed what Chihiro said, so Chihiro pushed the map closer to her.

"See, we're right here now" — Chihiro planted a finger on her current location, and quickly drew a path up to the penguins — "and the penguins are just up ahead! I'll bet your group's already going to see them as we speak!"

Aviva blinked and gave her scrutinous glares, but finally, she shrugged and gave a big smile, showing off a round buck tooth.

"Okay! I'll wait up!"

George only sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "All that complaining just to listen to a total stranger."

Still, he shook his head as he guided Aviva over to some fish, and Chihiro couldn't help but take a glance and marvel as well. There were starfish strung about like actual stars in the sky, eels that playfully popped in and out of their holes, seals that waved and barked as they jumped around… She could look at them forever!

In fact, Chihiro was busy admiring some octopuses who disappeared in and out of view before something important finally hit her.

"Wait a second, I'm supposed to be looking for Kaos!" Chihiro cried as she frantically pulled out her watch. "What am I doing standing around here?"

Chihiro bounced around the displays as the signal grew fainter and fainter, but soon, as she entered the dark of the halls, it became nothing at all. Great, she lost the trail again. Chihiro sighed as she dipped into a thankfully empty part of the halls, and quickly recalibrated the watch.

"Alright, come on, come on" — Chihiro narrowed her eyes, but they popped right back open as the signal beeped back to life — "there! It's on the move!"

Chihiro teleported away in a snap, and now, she found herself back on the streets! The bustling sounds of crowds hit her immediately, and she winced as she dove into a slightly less crowded area.

Taking a survey of the area, it seemed as though she was in some kind of shopping district. Stores, restaurants, and all other sorts of buildings lined the street like a tightly-packed can of sardines. Thick crowds lined the sidewalks as they pooled in and out of the stores, but despite all the alluring and overwhelming sounds, sights, and scents alike, Chihiro had one goal. Her watch pointed her north like a compass, and that's where she would go!

So, Chihiro shifted and twisted through the throngs of crowds, rubbing elbows and pushing knees alike. God, she hated crowds. She had fifty million different textures on her skin, fifty million sounds ringing in her ears, she felt so squeezed that she almost struggled to breathe, and it made her wanna scream! Worst part was, crowds on Earth were ten times worse than the ones on Skylands, for she couldn't just teleport out and calm herself down!

She was about ready to cry bloody murder when she finally freed herself, and quickly pushed aside to bounce her legs a little. Just the action grounded her enough that she glanced aside, and her eyes fell on one figure.

"'Scuse me, mister, did you lose this pocket watch?" asked a kid as they held out a pocket watch.

"I'm afraid not. I've never seen that pocket watch in my life!" the man they spoke to replied.

"Alright, thanks!"

Raising a brow, Chihiro crept closer to the kid to get a better look. They had dark brown skin, darker brown locs kept in tight, carefully-crafted rows with light chestnut shaved sides, and amber eyes that sparkled with just a twinkle of mischief. Their long nose and plump lips accentuated their square face in a way that seemed almost childlike, like an impish sprite looking for the next prank to pull. They wore golden, oval-framed glasses, a yellow sweater over a white button-up shirt, a brown belt with a gold buckle over ocean blue jeans, and brown boots with darker brown straps held in place with gold buckles, and they glanced over the shiny pocket watch in their hand as they glanced it over.

Chihiro crept closer, not really in the mood to speak…

"Hey, did you lose this?"

However, the kid noticed her first. Their eyes sparked with curiosity, and Chihiro quickly shied away from the eye to eye glance as she shook her head.

"No, not really," Chihiro finally sputtered out at last.

The kid shrugged with a smile. "Eh, it was worth a shot."

"What're you doing, er—"

"Bruno." Bruno twirled the pocket watch around his finger with a smirk as he strode down the streets. "Walk with me, I've got some interrogations to do."

Chihiro let out a small chuckle. The way he said that made him sound like he was some hard-boiled detective, and not some kid on the street looking for a missing item's owner. It was an attitude that reminded her a bit of the one she often took working in Skylands. So, she stuck close to Bruno, and tried not to get crushed by the crowds or overwhelmed by the assault on all her senses.

"Anyways, as I was saying, what's with the pocket watch?"

"Oh, this thing?" Bruno swung the watch in such a way that it nestled perfectly in the palm of his hand. "I found it all rusty and broken in the grass on my way home from school. I" — Bruno stopped short as he swung by an old lady — "did you lose this, ma'am?"

The old woman paused in her tracks, and knelt down as she marveled the watch. "I'm afraid not, sonny," the old woman sighed as she adjusted her glasses, yet she still made a smile. "It certainly is a nice pocket watch, though. What a nice young man, trying to find its owner! I'm sure it's quite valuable."

"Thanks!" Bruno twisted around and addressed Chihiro once more. "Like I was saying, I brought it home to my grandpa and we got it fixed up, so we're trying to find the owner. Grandpa just wanted to keep it at his—"

Bruno stopped short as he caught a father carting some kids. "Is this your pocket watch, sir?"

The man twisted around while his kids dragged his arms in the other direction. "I—ACK!"

"Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!" the kids chanted as they dragged the man away.

Bruno just frowned as he watched a grown man get dragged off like a rag doll by children a quarter of his size and age with a shrug. "I'll take that as a no."

Twisting back to Chihiro, Bruno closed the pocket watch once more. "Anyways, Grandpa wanted to just keep it at the shop 'cause he runs a clock shop, and people come in to get their clocks fixed all the time, but, I figured it'd be quicker to just ask around town! Surely somebody's missing this thing!"

"That's nice of you!"

"And then, I'm sure whoever gets it back's gonna give me a ton of money for it! I've got this video game I've been eyeing, but it's so expensive that Grandpa won't get it until Christmas or my birthday, but those are so far away, and saving allowance takes too long, and, well… If he finds out that I found out his Rainforest password and ordered stuff under his account for the third time in a row, I'll be dead. So, quickest way to riches!"

"Ah, ulterior motives." Chihiro sighed. "Well, they do say that a rich man who builds an orphanage for glory still gave the orphans a home and all."

Bruno grinned and ribbed Chihiro in the arm. "See, you get it! When I told Grandpa, he just started bothering me about whether or not I was doing this just to look good or something. Does it really matter if I'm doing it for a reward if the person gets their watch back?"

"Sure looks old. You sure the person who had it is even alive still?"

Bruno held the watch up to the sun. "That's what you think. Truth be told, this model's actually pretty new. This is a hunter-case style watch, so you can estimate its age by where the hinges are." Bruno tapped the hinge of the watch. "The hinges for the lid here are at six o'clock, which means this is a pretty new watch. If it were vintage, the lid hinges would be at nine o'clock instead."

Chihiro's eyes sparkled as she tapped the watch's side. "I didn't even know watches had styles!"

Bruno let out a small chuckle as he withdrew the pocket watch, and puffed his chest with a proud smile. "I grew up in Grandpa's clock shop, so I've been working with these things practically all my life! I know clocks like I know the back of my hand!" Bruno peeked a glance at the sun. "And speaking of clocks, that one's running out! I've gotta get asking before it gets too dark!"

"Then let me help you!" Chihiro cried. "If we both ask around, surely we've gotta find something, right?"

And maybe, looking around will help me find Kaos! Chihiro added in her head.

Bruno grinned as he stuffed the watch away. "Hey, good idea! Let's get going!"

So, Bruno and Chihiro bounced around the streets, jumped in and out of shops, popped by parks… They looked everywhere they could for Kaos or that pocket watch's owner, and yet, there was no Kaos to be found, and only one answer to be heard.

"Nope, not mine."

"Sorry, that doesn't belong to me."

"Afraid not."

Soon, Bruno and Chihiro plopped atop a bench, all slunk over in exhaustion as the world's colors warmed around them. An amber light tinted the world around like a stopwatch's ticking come to an end. They didn't need to say anything, for they knew the day—and their search—was coming to an end.

"I guess I'll just ask around some more tomorrow," Bruno sighed, absentmindedly rubbing his thumb against the watch's face. "Still, thanks for trying, I guess."

"Yeah."

Chihiro hadn't really meant to sound so defeated, but she supposed that not being able to find anything does that to a person. She and Bruno shared a wave as Bruno headed back down the street, but Chihiro didn't find herself in the mood to move, so she just plopped down on the sidewalk and sighed.

"Well, so much for that," Chihiro scoffed. "All those signals, and not one of them was Kaos! Nice going, me, you basically wasted the whole day."

A pit of anger bubbled a little in Chihiro's heart, and she almost considered launching the watch into traffic and letting the trucks run over it for catharsis—but no, that wasn't the watch's fault. She let out a groan as she flopped backwards onto the sidewalk…

"Yeah! We didn't find the watch's owner yet, but she was a riot!"

Chihiro perked up at the sound of those voices, for she was sure she heard them before! Something about their tone felt vaguely familiar, a sound she recognized as if she'd just heard it. She followed the sound of the voices, and right before her were George, Bruno, and Ryeo! George had Aviva in hand as the three chatted on the sidewalk, and seemingly didn't even notice how Chihiro sat across from them.

"Y'know, Bruno, that kinda sounds like the person who got a reading from me at the school today!" Ryeo remarked.

"Yeah, and that person who got Aviva to stop complaining when we went to the aquarium," George remarked. He hummed and rubbed his chin, but finally, he cast a glance aside and gasped. "Wait, Bruno, is that the kid you were talking about?"

Bruno jerked back around and grinned. "Oh, yeah! Hey, thanks for earlier again! It was a lot less boring looking around with another person!"

"Oh, no problem—"

"Huh, guess meeting again was in the cards!" Ryeo chirped. She made a chuckle at her own dumb pun before her smile softened somewhat. "I'll think about what you said back at the school, alright?"

"Hey, you came back!" Aviva squealed as she rushed right up to Chihiro. "We saw all these funny fish at the aquarium, and a bunch of dolphins, and we got to see a bunch of penguins! There were these really fat penguins that could barely even waddle, and these cute little chicks, and these really funny ones with big yellow feathers—"

"What Aviva means to say is, we had a really good time," George said, taking Aviva back in hand. "Thanks for helping us sort things out."

Chihiro's eyes fluttered for a moment, but she finally forced a smile. "No problem!"

The four of them cheered out goodbyes, and Chihiro sat up with a bit of wonder. The sounds of footsteps plodded beside her, the sounds of voices rang in the air, and Chihiro couldn't help but turn around… Right as Oscar and his mothers passed her by! Oscar gave her a friendly wave as he squeezed his mother's hand, and Chihiro smiled as she waved back.

Soon, the sidewalks cleared, and it was just Chihiro. She watched as the world around wrapped her in a warm blanket of gentle sunlight and evening tones. The weight in her heart lifted some, a smile finding its way on her face in moments. She looked up at the warm skies and let out a relieved sigh.

"You know, maybe it wasn't a total loss, though." Chihiro frowned as she examined the watch. "Might need to fix this thing, though, seeing as how it kept leading me to non-magical beings."

A wave of orange washed over her, and Chihiro just shrugged as she pulled out a warp start.

"Ah well, I can worry about that when I get home."