Canary POV

Today was a very exciting day for me! After a misunderstanding, I befriended these Hawk and Dove! They were super kind and played with us. Hawk was especially amazing. He taught me a lot of stuff and played with me. He was also very strong. During the Duel, I lost despite using the strategy that I defeated Razor with the first time we Dueled, although I lost every Duel to Razor after the first one.

Dove was also cool. She had a similar personality to my older sister Trice before her intelligence was discovered and gradually drew away from me until she left the house to study abroad permanently. Seeing as those were the happiest days of my life, I was overjoyed by Dove’s presence.

At around ten, Hawk called Dove and Razor for a talk. Probably adult-stuff since they asked us not to bother them. I played with the other children for fifteen minutes before Razor came out and wanted me to join their talk.

I entered the Inn and sat on the same table with the three. The aura was serious but not tense.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked.

“No. Canary, do you like Hawk and Dove?” said Razor.

“Yes! I like them both very much!” I expressed my true feelings with great enthusiasm.

“I see. Hawk wants to ask you something then.” explained Razor.

I looked at Hawk as he smiled at and patted my head.

“Do you want to join my Party, Azure Rain Forces?”

“EHH!?”

“Razor told me you wanted to join Lime Breeze, but they refused because they thought you were too young and they had many members already. So if it’s fine with you, please join us instead.” said Hawk.

I could not believe Hawk’s words. I always wanted to join a Lime Breeze to explore Reality. Since Sister Trice fitted all the requirements, I wanted to see her here since I hadn’t seen her for a long time. Razor always supported me, but the rest of Lime Breeze refused due to my age despite Razor vouching for my abilities. They said it was more of an immaturity problem than a skill problem. So given another chance, I thought about Hawk’s offer for a bit.

“I am very thankful for the offer, but I must refuse, but I’m afraid of leaving these children. Unlike if I joined Lime Breeze where I could come here with Razor every other day, joining you would prevent me from doing so.” I declined and explained my reasons.

“I have no intention of tying you up. You are free to come here as much as you like as long as the Party isn’t doing anything urgent.” said Hawk.

Hearing this, my heart wavered a bit. Nothing stopped me from joining Azure Rain Knights, but I was still hesitant in leaving the children.

“Go for it, Canary!” interrupted one of the children in the orphanage. He was Kyle, the crying boy earlier. It seemed he was eavesdropping and hiding behind the door. As he ran towards me, all the other children followed. They were all listening to our conversation.

“Canary, fight!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine!”

“Find your sister!”

“You always wished for this!”

“Don’t let us tie you down!”

One after another, the other children encouraged me to join Hawk. These children who were scared of Reality were now encouraging me to play it. I always thought of myself as their leader, that I was more mature than them. It seems I underestimated them. Immature kids would refuse to let me go and beg for me to stay even if they knew what I really wanted, but these kids were selfless and realized that playing this game was what I truly wanted.

I gathered the children and stretched out my hands, trying to hug as many of them as possible. My eyes began crying as well. This was the first time I cried in front of them. I always kept up a strong front them, but it seemed the people that made me stop crying were the same as the people who would be crying again.

“Hawk… Dove… if you’re satisfied with me, then I will gladly join the group.”

A smile emerged from their faces when I said that. Razor seemed like he was about to cry as well, but he smiled at me and said, “Do your best Canary!”

“Yes!”