Chapter Text
Okayu couldn’t deny that she was getting worried: these men could have been lying about coming from this Iza city, and the fact that they couldn’t see what seemed to be any sort of building made things worse.
Was it a trap?
They continued walking for about 10 minutes when the men stopped. The leader of the group of strangers kneeled on the ground in a completely random point and Okayu glanced at Botan, eying the gun that strapped to her shoulder. The lioness nodded to the cat girl, slowly reaching for the rifle. However her actions were stopped when the man stepped back as his eyes were fixated on the ground.
It was at that point that the girls heard the ground rumble and all of their eyes went towards the terrain in front of the man. The snow seemed to be moving away and a hole appeared out of nowhere. The girls all looked quite shocked by seeing this happen right in front of them and the men chuckled a bit at their reactions.
“There we go, follow us!” The man spoke as he climbed down a ladder inside the hole, followed by his group who seemed to not really pay attention to the girls. Okayu thought that if they had wanted to hurt them, they wouldn’t have let their guard down by climbing down first. The cat girl let go of Korone’s hand as she climbed down first, followed by the others soon after.
Fubuki struggled a bit with climbing down as she had to tie Mio’s body around her back with a rope and the extra weight made things 10 times more difficult.
The climb down lasted about 5 minutes and, from what they could tell, they had dropped down at least 100 meters, but soon they reached the end of the ladder and a rail was in front of them. The man was standing at the border of the rail as he shouted something about ‘finding refugees’ and the girls all walked over to where he was standing.
Their eyes widened as they saw something never seen before in their entire lives: a city built underneath the earth.
The city was slightly smaller than First City and, more surprising, was the amount of cultivated land filled with different amounts of crops as well as the animals eating kept in their stalls. Looking around, there was a bright red light coming from afar and away from the buildings.
“W-what is this?” Okayu found herself asking.
“This is Iza, the city built underground after the cold started seeping in.” the man explained. “But… how? How can you have crops and- and why is it so warm in here?” Okayu had dreamed of a place like this all of her life, but now that she was witnessing it she found herself questioning how it was possible.
“Well, you see that light over there?” Okayu nodded as the man pointed towards the red light.
“That’s magma.”
Everyone’s eyes went wide “Back when the cold was getting stronger, a group of people had built a sort of underground cave. But then as they kept digging they discovered that there was a magma pool not far from where they had started living.” The man continued.
“But wait… how can there be magma this close to the surface?” Korone was the one that asked this time, remembering that back when she still lived in the bunker they used a generator to keep themselves warm. “You could call it luck, but not too far from where they had built there was a volcano. It’s isn’t active, but the magma is still underneath it.” Okayu pondered at the explanation.
“But we haven’t seen a volcano…”
“Are you sure? It’s the only kind of elevated ground around here.” The man questioned her and it was at that point that Okayu made a realization. “Wait… you mean that mountain-“ “Yep, that’s the volcano! It’s hard to tell since it’s covered in snow.” At the answer, the cat girl found herself smiling. “So you are using natural heat to keep the city warm?” the man nodded.
“And that’s also how we get good crops: volcanic soil is hard to maintain, but once you have the technique down it’s the most fertile type of ground you can get.”
By the time the explanation was finished, the group went down the city by walking down a long ramp and reaching what seemed to be a main entrance gate. There, a group of people came to greet the newcomers, looking at the girls curiously because of their outfits. “Iza is a growing city: we manage to get fresh air from above and we never have to deal with the cold… from what I can see you guys have been through a lot, but I hope that you will be happy to join us and help the city grow even more!”
At his words, the girls looked at each other. They had escaped hell and reached a place that, back when they were younger, they could only dream about.
Starting a new life in an unfamiliar space after everything that happened would have been scary, but they could not contain their joy. Okayu felt herself being embraced by Korone, soon followed by everyone in the group and it was at that point that the tears finally broke out of their eyes. Finally, they would have a place where everyone could be warm, where food wasn’t something limited and where they could feel at peace.
When the hug was over, the girls all looked at the group of men that had taken them there and smiled with teary eyes.
“Thank you for the hospitality.”
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*A year later*
Okayu held a tiny bouquet of day lilies in her left hand while the other was holding tight onto another warm hand. Korone stood next to her, holding a tiny smile on her face as she saw the cat girl kneel down and place the flowers against a stone slab inside a lovely garden. “Fubuki is really keeping this place beautiful, huh?” The dog girl commented, kneeling beside Okayu.
“Yeah… this is really a good place.”
The silence that followed was calm, the kind that is to be enjoyed without any worry. The cat girl found it almost surreal how long had it been since Mio’s passing and their arrival at Iza. Things had changed so much and at first adapting to their new reality was hard.
When they finally had the chance to process Mio’s death without having to worry about their own lives, it was particularly harsh. The wounds that they had figuratively received had scarred and, while the memories of those days would never be forgotten, the pain had lessened. Sometimes they would think about First City and if things there had gotten better, but they had no desire to go back there as they were now safe.
Okayu looked at the flowers she had placed against the tombstone and smiled when she saw a couple of red roses lay next to her own.
“Seems like Fubuki was here this morning as well.” Korone glanced at Okayu when she heard that statement. “Wait, wasn’t she supposed to help Botan with forging a ring?” The dog girl asked. “Maybe she came here before going with Botan, her house isn’t too far from her place after all.” Korone nodded at the explanation and couldn’t help the smile on her face.
Botan had already proposed to Lamy a month ago, but she had promised her girlfriend that she would forge her a ring with her own hands. Fubuki had decided to help the lioness with the process and now all that was left was making the actual ring. “I wonder when they will get married…” Korone mumbled “Well, Lamy is taking care of the weddings preparations after work so I think it won’t take too long.”
The girls chuckled, remembering how excited the elf was about the wedding.
Okayu glanced at Korone’s face and a happy sigh escaped past her lips as the memories started flowing in. It had been a year since her and Korone had shared their first kiss and since they started dating: things were going smoothly and, now that they had settled into Iza, their happiness was basically endless.
Her memorial daze was cut off when she felt a kiss against her lips, causing Okayu to blink before reciprocating the sweet gesture before Korone separated herself from the cat girl.
“You looked a bit distracted so I thought to steal a kiss from you!” Korone exclaimed, her tail wagging excitedly as Okayu laughed softly.
“Oh no, you fooled me!” Okayu teased, trying to sound scared and causing Korone to pout.
“Hey! You were the one that got distracted, so I win-“ It was at that exact moment that Okayu’s lips planted themselves against Korone’s, catching the dog girl completely off guard as she blushed profusely. The cat girl kept kissing her girlfriend for a minute, before gently biting her lip and smirking at Korone’s flushed face.
“I win.” Korone couldn’t even make a comeback as she was too busy trying to contain her blush.
After the kiss, however, it was time for them to leave. Okayu lifted herself up and helped Korone as well: Both girls needed to go to work and needed to go and get Subaru to test a new vehicle for the police force of Iza. They glanced at the tombstone once more before they gave a silent prayer, hoping that Mio was resting well.
“Let’s go.” Okayu spoke and, grabbing Korone’s hands, they walked away as another new day started for all of them.