Ball of Nothing

Panting and in tears, Zero chose to teleport about a few hundred kilometres away from Truen. This was probably the first time he felt 'hurt' as Mii termed it. That unsettling feeling in his chest and churning in his stomach was a side effect of pain. Mii mentioned that pain comes in many forms and this was an emotional kind of pain. However, Mii couldn't explain why it exists.

"It's a human thing," she said and Zero wanted to ask Truen who was once human about it. However he quickly remembered the 'argument' they had and curled up into a small ball underneath a random tree.

Time passed very quickly and Zero's stomach growled in protest. The sun was high up in the sky indicating it was already lunchtime. Normally, Truen would gather food for them while Zero looked for wood to make a small campfire. That had been their routine for the past few days. Now that Zero had left Truen behind, the young boy frowned. He had no problem gathering food for himself with Mii's help. The strawcherry assistant was good at identifying unknown plants. However, his mind went back to Truen. Was the elf looking for him?

"Mii, do you think Truen will look for me?"

The assistant was silent. She knew that Truen was trying to chase after Zerol after she texted him Zero's coordinates. She also knew how Truen had called Gaia and received a flower fairy guide. He was flying at top speed using magic but even so, it would take at least two days before he can reach their current location.

"I don't know, Zero. Do you want him to look for you?"

The brunet plucked a purple fruit from one of the lower branches of the tree he was curled up under. Zero bit into the juicy fruit and grimaced. The fruit was edible but extremely bitter. No wonder there were so many fruits on the tree! Zero bet nobody wanted to eat it. Then again, with his protesting stomach, it wasn't time to complain about the taste.

"I don't know, Mii. While I want him to look for me, I don't want him to find me because he wouldn't allow me to check out the small house."

Mii was silent. Although she wasn't originally designed to aid Zero without orders, after her evolution and increased intelligence, she could make some smaller decisions without Zero's consent if it does not harm him.

"In that case, why don't you check out the house first before going back to find Truen?"

Zero thought over it for a while. One part of him didn't think it was right to do something that Truen didn't want him to do. The elf had no reason to harm him and there might be a reason why Truen acted that way. Oh yes, Zero recalled with a sigh. It was stranger danger. He still didn't understand why it was bad meeting people he didn't know. He didn't know the goddesses or Truen at first but after he did, they became really close. Going by this reason, Zero decided to support his initial decision to visit the house. However, since Truen didn't want him meeting the strange old man, Zero will visit the house without alerting the old man.

With his mind made up and belly satisfied, Zero took out his communicator and started planning.