(Varia POV)

  After Mom left and Lou Xia and I got over the fact that I had basically just been kicked out of the house, we both made our way to the gate of the sect. I had never been there before, but thanks to the occasional outdated maps of the town, I at least knew where the road leading to it was. I also had Lou Xia guiding me, so it was not much of an issue.

  When we finally made it to the valley where the gate was located, we saw ft nd filled with blossoming Sakura trees. On either side of this small stretch of ft nd were cliff faces that led halfway up the twin peaks of this small mountain. Sticking out of the cliff faces was the occasional Sakura tree pced on small ledges. In the middle of all this was the gate to the sect that appeared to be styled after the Japanese Torii gates. There were only some minor differences that stood out, with the most notable one being the rge sign covering the middle of the top section that dispyed the name of the sect.

  Beneath this gate was supposed to be the watcher assigned to me, but all I could see was the receptionist, May, standing there alone with nothing else around.

  I was slightly confused by this for a second until I thought about how she left the administration hall and realized she must have been assigned as my watcher. I was still confused about what a watcher was supposed to do, per se, outside of their title, of course. However, this did not stop us as we continued walking toward the gate.

  When we reached a few dozen feet away from the gate, Lou Xia suddenly shouted, “May, where’s the watcher?”

  This caused me to jump as I had been ignoring — focusing on the path and had not spoken with her since we left town. My surprise did not escape Lou Xia's or May’s notice. They did not comment on it, though, as May responded to the question by saying, “I am the watcher.”

  She did not appear to be very pleased about Lou Xia’s question from the slight frown on her face, but I did not care that much and asked her, “Since you’re the watcher, does that mean we can set off now?”

  My question resulted in silence for a moment, as I felt two pairs of eyes looking at me even though I could only see May. She then nodded and said, “That is indeed possible. But I would need to know if Lou Xia is helping you on this mission because, if that is the case, then it will affect your final score.”

  I froze at that. It was something I had not even thought of until now, as Lou Xia kind of just tagged along, and I forgot to ask. Thankfully, I did not need to think about this as Lou Xia’s voice suddenly sounded from beside me, saying, “I’m not part of the mission, so you don't have to worry.”

  Originally, I was happy not to have to expin anything, but now I am slightly upset that Lou Xia did not accompany us on the mission. It is probably for the best, though, as I would eventually have to do things without anyone else around. So it was alright for her not to come. I mean, I do not know why I was even expecting her to come along in the first pce, as she was only walking around with me and did not say anything.

  My mind was intent on continuing its spiral when I heard Lou Xia continue saying, “Because I have taken my opportunity this year to leave the sect and experience the world.”

  This forced my mind to come to a screeching halt as I processed what she had just said. It was only after what felt like an hour to me that I finally understood: Lou Xia did not continue expining but actually answered a question from May that I did not hear. Her answer was apparently enough, though, as May stopped talking and only gred at me for some reason.

  No one talked for a few moments after that, so I took it as the perfect opportunity to end this and quickly ran through the gate while shouting, “Enough talking! Let’s go!”

  Vulthurtoor